Soft Pour: 2nd Time's the Charm

The Coffee Chroniclers have been messing around with the "soft pour" technique recommended to us by Scott Richardson from Herkimer Coffee (see, "Finessing the brew method" and "Pour speed and silt behavior with the French press") and we're happy report that we have been able to consistently repeat the technique.

We were concerned at first that the episode might be an anomaly, but our success in replicating the results with the Coffee Catcher screen are quite encouraging.  The real yield of this success is the consistent flavor and even longer cup-life it's helping us to pull from The Coffee Catcher - due to the containment of the silt below the Coffee Catcher screen.  (Also, see "does the Coffee Catcher improve flavor?")

In addition to enjoying our ability to recreate the technique, we've also really been enjoying using it in our own coffee each morning.  French press is already such a fantastic brewing method - who knew it could be better!

Finessing the brew method

We at the Coffee Chronicles are really getting into the French press brew method recommended to us by Scott Richardson of Herkimer Coffee:

1. Once pouring the water, allow 3 minutes with the cap off the press so the bloom can aerate.
2. Gently shake in the bloom (no spoon).
3. Allow the grind to settle.
4. Press.

This process seems a lot gentler on the coffee, and has been given the thumbs-up flavor wise from members of our team. We would like to do a head-to-head comparison with this method and our traditional approach.