Coffee is one of today’s most loved beverages with almost 2 billion cups being consumed daily worldwide. What many people don’t know is that coffee is in actual fact a science, there is so much more to it than just pouring hot water over some coffee grounds. You need to know how to enhance the many variables affecting the particle size of the coffee grind in order to get the best out of the coffee you’re making.

But before we get into that, let’s start with how the beans change from farm to cup. Every cup of coffee is the combination of complex chemical and biological processes that alter a seed into a beverage of infinite diversity. It goes through many developments to bring coffee from the farm to your cup. The first is processing the country of origin, the second is blending, the third is roasting, the fourth is degassing, the fifth is packing and the final event is brewing.

Although at Avanti, we take care of all the background steps, it’s important for you to know how to brew the perfect cup to get the most out of your coffee at home. From a scientific point of view, brewing coffee is the process of extracting soluble flavour from roasted and ground coffee beans.

While there are a number of ways to make coffee, we are taking you through one of the more popular techniques known as the French press or plunger. We have chosen this method because it’s one of the most accessible coffee tools to get your hands on as well as one of the most cost effective.

The plunger calls for a coarse, even grind. If you are purchasing Avanti coffee, your barista will ask you what method of brewing you will be using and he or she will give you a bag that’s ground especially for French press use. We recommend using a 1:15 ratio of coffee to water. So for every 1 gram of coffee, you will add 15 grams of water which converts to approximately 3 tablespoons of coffee for every 1 cup of water.

From there it’s pretty simple, preheat your plunger with hot water and then throw it out. Add your coffee and pour hot water over the grounds, making sure to try and cover all the coffee at the bottom of the plunger. Once it’s filled to the brim, allow it to steep for 4 minutes, then stir it and allow to steep for another 2 minutes before slowly plunging. After plunging, pour into your cup and drink up.

The flavours in the plunger are generally more intense because the stainless steel mesh doesn’t filter out the fine particles or the natural oils. This way of making coffee is great for the discerning coffee lover who enjoys a strong cuppa. Next month, we will take you through the steps on how to make a perfect pour over coffee so be sure to keep your eyes open for the next instalment.