Afternoon AeroPress

Afternoon, fancy a brew?

After a mornings shopping I grabbed my trusty AeroPress and set to. Using a fantastic single origin coffee from Guatemala, roasted by Square Mile, I used my current favourite recipe;

15grams of coffee

200ml of 94c water

45second steep

15second plunge

I've found this produces a well balanced, complex brew allowing each particular coffees unique flavours to really shine.

For home brewing I generally use my faithful Tiamo hand grinder.

With it's adjustable ceramic burrs and inexpensive cost it makes a great grinder for most home brewing methods. It can also cope (just about) with espresso, but with every dose taking so long to produce it does become a bit tiresome on the arms! 

The aromas released when ground are incredible, wetting my appetite even more for the all important drinking.

Chambered in the AeroPress and ready to go. The kettle has just boiled and I'm now letting the water cool to 94c. I always use either filtered or bottled water, an absolute must for good coffee.

A tricky shot to get one handed, but here is the plunge. I always stop just as the air is about to escape from the bottom, this tends to hold the most bitter and unpleasant tasting part of the brew.

Once plunged, ideally into a jug or similar, leave it alone (hard I know) for a few minutes. What this achieves is it lets the temperature fall a little, any fines (not so tasty) to sink and the oils (tasty!) to rise. Then all that's left to do is pour, sip and enjoy!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to follow me on here, Twitter and Instagram

Oak

Exciting times!

Hello and welcome to my first blog!

As the title suggests exciting times are both happening right now and on the horizon for me and Crema Espresso. One bit of good news to come my way recently was the Beverage Standards Association annual awards, where I picked a 5 Cup (Outstanding) rating and the Best Latte in the UK award. I was absolutely chuffed with both these, it's a real mark of confidence and theoretical pat on the back from some hugely respected people in the coffee industry.

Another recent exciting development was the arrival of several new roasters appearing at Crema, including; Square Mile London, Workshop and Alchemy. All three of these are some of the most respected and revered roasters in the country and they want to supply me! What does this mean for me I hear you cry? Well it means in short that the amount of amazing coffee and the variety of your daily cup has just grown a whole lot. 

All in all we have to look forward to here at Crema, seeing us through the gathering winter months with ease... Hopefully!