Coffee

Light roast, filter, no milk. This is a hill I will die on.

Current setup

• Grinder: Comandante C40 MK4. Hand grinder. Takes 40 seconds. Worth it.
• Brewer: Hario V60 (plastic, not ceramic — heats faster)
• Kettle: Fellow Stagg EKG, 94°C
• Scale: Acaia Pearl — yes it’s expensive, yes it matters

Ratio: 15g coffee to 250g water. Total brew time target: 3:00–3:15.

Pour method

0:00  — Bloom: 30g water, wait 30s (let CO₂ off-gas)
0:30  — Pour to 130g in slow circles
1:00  — Pour to 200g
1:30  — Pour to 250g
~3:00 — Drawdown complete

If it drains in under 2:30, grind finer. Over 4:00, grind coarser. The first variable to change is always the grind.

On light roast

Light roast preserves the characteristics of the origin. A natural Ethiopian Yirgacheffe roasted light tastes like blueberries and jasmine — flavours that were in the cherry the coffee grew inside. Roast it dark and it tastes like roast. You are paying for complexity and then burning it off.

The bitterness most people associate with coffee is roast flavour, not coffee flavour. Specialty coffee is not bitter. People who say they don’t like coffee have usually only had bad coffee.

Favourites

• Square Mile (London) — consistent, well-documented, good subscription
• Tim Wendelboe (Oslo) — Norwegian light roast OG
• Onyx (Arkansas) — very good, ships internationally
• Heart (Portland) — reliable, seasonal