Plunger coffee

C-man

Tips wanted

many times I am not allowed to run the pump early.

I made a decent one this morning like this;

1. grab the water just before boiling, ( read somewhere that boiled water is not the best )
2. Not much water maybe 100ml
3. Let it sit for a few mins. while the boiler heats up on the espresso machine
4. steam milk as usual

does not seem to matter if I grind coarser or just leave it on the espresso setting.

mycuppa

Producing a decent plunger coffee is quite easy. Grind is relatively important and coarse works best. Personally, I prefer a drip filter grind for plunger brewing which is about a fraction coarser than "medium". Reason is that the near boiling water remains in contact with the ground coffee for a much longer time-frame compared to other brew methods. The finer the grind, the higher the risk of scalding the very small particles, or "over-brewing" akin to over-extracting espresso. Not all coffees work as a plunger, so you need to pick the bean (or beans) and roast depth. Certain origins are better than others in terms of overall balance - some Ethiopians, PNG, Colombia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, etc. but it really comes down to the bean, roast and brewing technique. I prefer to stir vigorously for more than 90 seconds upon initial immersion with hot water, let it sit for 60 seconds and then stir again for 20 - 30 secs. a bit slower the second time, let sit for 2 mins and then plunge !. For those of you accustomed to adding milk, my advice is just a very small amount of milk should be required, perhaps somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of what you normally use in a milk-based espresso. This will depend upon your dose ratios of ground coffee to water, brew time, etc. but a dash of milk can be wonderful in a nice African-based plunger. Just like the humble stovetop, with a little focus you can prepare superb coffees.

C-man

Good points Jeff, thanks, this should improve things a lot. Maybe this way I can finally get the elusive "fruit flavors" I have been chasing? how much water?  your talking more coffee and less milk so i am guessing about the size of the cup you want less a little room for the milk? sort of like an Amerciano or long black with a little milk. not like a 30-60mm espresso extraction and the rest steamed milk.