SCAA Golden Cup standard ratio of coffee-to-water is 55g/L ± 10% (1:18 ± 10%). [SCAA is the Specialty Coffee Association of America, one of the leading authorities in the world of specialty coffee (aka fancy coffee)].
What you need:
- Freshly roasted coffee
- Kitchen scale
- Timer
- Coffee grinder
- Pour over brewer
- Filter
- Carafe
- Kettle for boiling/pouring water
What you do:
Use scale to measure out coffee and water for brewing. A good starting ratio of coffee to water is 1 to 16, and since we’ll be brewing a 12oz cup with this recipe, we’ll be using .75oz of coffee, or 22 grams of coffee to 350 grams of water for you metric folks.
Boil water and grind coffee to medium fine grind setting (around the consistency of table salt).
Once water is boiling, place filter in brewer and use hot water to rinse, then discard rinse water. This rids the filter of its papery taste and preheats your brewing equipment.
Add coffee to filter, and shake to level brew bed. Place brewer with coffee and carafe on top of scale and tare.
Start timer and begin to pour water. The first pour should take around 10-15 seconds and amount to around 50g of water. Pour in a circular motion to ensure all coffee is evenly saturated.
Allow coffee to off-gas, or bloom, until timer reads 45 seconds.
For the second pour, add 100g of water in around 15 seconds, pouring in a circular motion and avoiding the edge of the brewer. Allow coffee to drain for 15 seconds.
Repeat the same pattern (15 sec/100g pour with a 15 second drain) twice more. Once you’ve added 350g of water, allow the coffee to drain into your carafe. The entire process should take around 2:30-3:00.