How to Cafe-in-place: Making Cafe Quality Coffee at Home

These days, most folks are spending more time at home than ever (maybe even much more time than we’d prefer). This means that our cafe or coffee shop routines may be on hold for a little while. It may seem that we no longer have the option of getting that rich, artisan flavor from our coffee that we look forward to downing each day while we work, but we are here to share with you the three things you need to recreate that coffeeshop flavor, and four simple steps that can improve your ‘cafe at home’ experience.

First, you will need coffee

Big surprise there! Fresh roasted coffee from your local roaster is the best way to go for this. Many roasters all over the world are changing their business model to cater to those of us in self quarantine. Sequential Coffee is glad to ship or deliver freshly roasted local coffee to you any day of the week (try out the Triptych Blend if you haven't already).

A clean grinder

A conical burr grinder is best and you can easily find hand grinders or electric ones for sale online. Blade grinders aren’t ideal for specialty coffee, but will work just fine in a pinch.  If you can shake the machine just right and pulse the grinder, you can get a relatively even grind.

A coffee machine helps

Your coffee machine could be as simple as a Mr. Coffee or as high-end as a Moccamaster, but either way it must be clean. For the best flavor and experience, be sure not to skip this part! Something tells us you may have some extra time to be thorough.

• Step One

  Get all of the old oils out of every nook and cranny in your brew basket, your carafe, etc. Pull what comes apart off and clean it thoroughly with soap and rinse with clean water. The extra benefit in this is that you have also just washed your hands (in case you weren’t doing enough of that already)!

• Step Two

  Run a “Full Batch” with no coffee or filter. Do this twice to loosen any extra old coffee out of your basket and carafe. If your carafe is dirty, swirl ice and salt inside of it until it is sparkling. Then rinse. With the second batch of hot water, run that through your reservoir so you can use the hot water to clean the lines on the inside of the machine.

• Step Three

  Weigh the “output” of hot water into your carafe. This will give you the basis for doing your dosing math. Most machines have a capacity indicator, such as “1-10” but that doesn’t necessarily mean 10 cups; it may just mean “Max”. To discover exactly how much water is put through the machine into the carafe, run this quick test to help you brew a better pot.

• Step Four

  Using a 30:1 ratio to start, brew a batch of coffee, medium ground. For instance, if your reservoir holds 6 cups, that is roughly 1400 mL. 1400/30=47g of coffee. If you don’t have a scale in the kitchen, a tablespoon holds 6.5g of coffee. Taste this, and if it’s too weak, add 10g of coffee for the next brew. If it’s too strong, take 10g away. Now you’re at a great starting point for assessing the perfect brew for your machine. This ratio may sound stretched, but many home coffee makers use water hotter or colder than suggested for a pour over in their machines. This method makes it possible to use less beans per brew, dependent on temperature (which means more cups of coffee in the long run!).

Having delicious coffee at home doesn’t have to be a chore, it can be a small labor of love that brightens your day. Oh and one more thing: make sure you empty the basket after brewing! This will prevent oils from building up. Now get brewing!

Share with us how you like to make coffee on instagram! Show us your ‘cafe at home’ set up, use #sequentialcoffee and we will very happily take 25% off your next order!