✓ Unique Monthly Coffee Boxes

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✓ Unique Monthly Coffee Boxes

✓ Global Tracked Delivery

✓ Chosen By Experts

[3/18] coffee box brew guide: Wood Grouse

[3/18] coffee box brew guide: Wood Grouse

Featuring a custom recipe for the Tanzania, Ilomba from Farrah Tan, freelance barista

Previously, we published a summary brew guide for each coffee box edition that we shipped using the recipes provided by the roasters. From now on, in addition to the recipes provided by the roasters, we will take our monthly selection of coffees to three different baristas every month and ask them to brew the coffees for us. The result will be a fresh take on each one of our delicious coffees from a different group of people with a great love of and understanding of coffee.

Today, we are introducing our guest barista Farrah Tan who works as a freelance barista and recently competed in the Dutch Barista Championships where she came in 4th place and won the award for ‘Best Newcomer’.

Our recently shipped [3/18] coffee box
Our recently shipped [3/18] coffee box

Basic setup:

As in any good kitchen or bar, you want to be sure to have a few key items at your disposal that will aid you in preparing a delicious cup of coffee.

These include:

  • Scales (with or without timer)
  • A good quality burr grinder such as the Comandante Grinder
  • Your favourite brew method (Kalita Wave, V60, Aeropress etc)
  • A clean vessel for brewing and decanting
  • A timer (can be on your phone)
  • Filtered water
  • A pouring kettle but a regular kettle will also do, however, it requires more precision

When working with whole beans, it’s crucial to make sure to always freshly grind your coffee just before preparation because it quickly loses its aroma and old coffee ends up tasting stale and hollow.

Now, ready? Let’s brew!


Farrah is one of the most charismatic female baristas in Amsterdam. For many years, she’s been working the café scene in the Dutch capital and toying with the idea of opening her own place. Following her successful debut at this year’s Dutch Barista Championships, she finally has the headspace to properly plan her next steps.

We asked her to swing by our workshop this week and make a recipe for the beautiful peaberry Ilomba from Tanzania roasted for us by Wood Grouse in Hanover.

Barista Farrah Tan
Barista Farrah Tan

After ripping open the bag, she immediately said: “Oh, that smells so good. Reminds me of lemon balm and black tea. Can’t wait to try it.” We left her to her own devices, playing around with the EK-43 to find the correct grind setting for her recipe and reconvened when she was ready to brew.

She used 16,5g of coffee, ground medium-fine and bloomed it with 60g of water at 96°C for 30 seconds. With a spoon, she gave the grounds a good stir to make sure they were all wet before she continued her pour to reach 250g. At 1:20 minutes she gave the v60 a good swirl before letting it complete the brewing process at 3:30 minutes.

Happy with the results
Happy with the result

Once it was finished, she poured herself a cup and passed the rest on to the team to get a taste of her recipe. She took a good sniff of the coffee followed by a few sips before concluding that it was indeed very lemony, tea-like and very good for a Tanzania. Essentially she finished by exclaiming: “DRINK IT ALREADY!”

Serving it up
Serving it up

Farrah’s recipe for filter:

V60: 16,5g of freshly ground coffee (medium-fine). Bloom with 60g of filtered water at 96° for 30 seconds, stir, then pour in one continuous pour until you reach 250g. Total brew time: 3:30 minutes.

Wood Grouse’s recipe for filter:

Kalita Wave: 16g of coffee ground medium-fine. Add 250g of water at 94° – 96°. Brew time: 2:30 minutes.

Wood Grouse’s recipe for espresso (Rwanda, Jarama):

18g of coffee ground fine. Extraction time: 28 – 30 seconds. Yield: 34 – 36g.

Did you also receive this coffee from our box? Add your recipe below and let others know how you like to prepare this stunning coffee from Wood Grouse.

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