# Brewed coffee flavour adjustments



## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Hi all,

while playing espresso last night then drinking an Aeropress this morning it occurred to me that there is a whole heap of info out there about tuning your espresso by taste time weight and so on but there appears to be much less on tuning your brewed coffee. I have been tuning my Aeropress brews using espresso guidelines (obviously ignoring extraction times and volumes though!) while I have had some epic drinks I have also had some rubbish, this morning included.. So how should you tune your brew, obviously by taste but do the espresso rules still apply?

For example this mornings offering was thinner and more acidic than I hoped but with a cranberry like mouthfeel. Now I would consider a greater dose (today was 16g) and a longer brew time (today 1:30 brew +30sec plunge) to find some more body and the darker sweetness.

What would you do? Are we all following espresso guidelines or is there a better resource I'm yet to stumble upon??!


----------



## ajh101 (Dec 21, 2013)

I am looking to move from espresso to brewed also - can you tell me about your grind/er please? Thanks...


----------



## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

ajh101 said:


> I am looking to move from espresso to brewed also - can you tell me about your grind/er please? Thanks...


Depends on the method. For pour over such as V60/Chemex - quite coarse - think granulated sugar for a base line. V60 is a great method - cheap - £12.00 with 100 filter papers delivered - see Ebay. You tune your grind by tracking total brew time temp (and taste of course). You shouldn't go over 4 minutes. If it goes through too fast - tighten the grind. If it takes too long - back the grind off.


----------



## ajh101 (Dec 21, 2013)

I very nearly bought a Porlex but heard it had mixed results at coarser grinds. Worth getting despite this? (I already have a Mignon and cannot justify the Hausgrind). I like the idea I could take it travelling. I have seen a Tiamo in stainless steel as sold by Amazon and BB which may be better for coarse but is altogether larger. Which would be the better option?!


----------



## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Porlex is pretty good for coarse - light weight and relatively small size makes it good for travel. Porlex will grind finer - Aeropress and espresso but it takes more time and effort.


----------



## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

For me my grind depends a bit on the grinder, I have only recently got the mignon and am still dialling for espresso so not tried brewed with it yet. For my brewed I use either a porlex or more usually one of 3 vintage hand grinders, my grind is close to sugar but finer, somewhere between that and table salt (that's for my Aeropress I'm yet to tackle another brew method. All of my hand grinders produce some fines/inconsistency but not enough to worry me. I might change my mind when I try the mignon though!

From what I have read water volume and brew time have as much if not more impact on brewed than grind. I guess what I was trying to see is if there were any guidelines on parameter adjustments for brewed like there are for espresso? I.e if your drink is too sour brew longer or grind finer etc. I know each brew method would probably merit it's own set but it would likely be useful to many including me to put it all in one place.

I seem to have lost the knack this last week or so, probably as I am chopping between trying to dial I a lever espresso machine and brew Aeropress lol


----------



## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

I'd throw in agitation and how even the extraction is as the two things to worry about as well.

Regards,

T.


----------



## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Check out the brewed coffee subforum, there is LOADS of info there!


----------

