How to Brew Specialty Coffee at Home — A Guide from caféAtaraxia
Buying a bag of freshly roasted specialty coffee is the first step. Brewing it well is the second — and it's the one most people skip past without thinking too carefully about. The gap between a mediocre cup and an exceptional one is rarely about the equipment. It's usually about a few key variables: grind size, water temperature, ratio, and timing. Get those right, and almost any brew method will produce something worth drinking. Get them wrong, and even the finest beans in the world will taste flat, sour, or bitter.
This guide covers six of the most common home brewing methods in detail — what each one does, how to set it up correctly, how to troubleshoot when something's off, and which of our coffees work best in each. Whether you're pulling shots with a home espresso machine or making cold brew in a jar in the back of the fridge, the principles are the same. It's about understanding what the method is trying to do and giving it the best possible conditions to do it.
Before You Start — The Fundamentals
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Grind FreshIf there is one single change that will have the greatest positive impact on your home coffee, it's grinding your beans immediately before brewing. Ground coffee begins to lose its aromatic compounds within minutes of being ground — the surface area exposed to air increases dramatically, and oxidation does its work fast. Whole beans, stored correctly in an airtight container away from heat and light, will stay in excellent condition for three to four weeks post-roast. Pre-ground coffee from the same bag will lose a significant portion of its character within a few days. |
You don't need an expensive grinder. A decent burr grinder — manual or electric — makes a meaningful difference over blade grinders, which produce uneven particle sizes and inconsistent extraction. But even a modest burr grinder used fresh will outperform a blade grinder used on week-old pre-ground coffee.
If you don't have a grinder, we're happy to grind your beans to order at the café. Just let us know your brew method when you collect, and we'll set the grind accordingly.
Water Quality and Temperature
Coffee is approximately 98% water. The mineral content of your water affects extraction — too soft and the coffee tastes flat; too hard and you get mineral interference and scale buildup in your equipment. Filtered tap water or a good-quality bottled water with moderate mineral content (around 150 ppm TDS) is ideal for most home brewing situations.
Water temperature matters because it determines how quickly and completely compounds dissolve from the coffee grounds. Boiling water (100°C) is too hot for most brew methods — it over-extracts bitter compounds and burns delicate aromatics. The sweet spot for most methods is between 90°C and 96°C. A simple approach: boil your kettle and let it sit for 30 to 45 seconds before pouring. For lighter roasts, which extract more easily, aim toward the lower end of that range. A kettle with temperature control is a great tool for achieving consistency in your brewing.
The Golden Ratio
Coffee-to-water ratio determines strength. The widely recommended starting point is 1:15 — one gram of coffee for every fifteen grams (mL) of water — which produces a balanced, medium-strength cup. For espresso the ratio is much higher (more coffee, much less water); for cold brew concentrate it's much lower (more coffee relative to water). We'll give specific ratios for each method below, but 1:15 is your calibration point for most filter methods.
Weighing your coffee and water with a kitchen scale, rather than using scoops or cups, takes less than a minute and produces dramatically more consistent results. It's the single easiest upgrade available to any home brewer.
Espresso
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Espresso is a concentrated brew produced by forcing hot water through finely ground coffee under high pressure — typically around 9 bar. The result is a small, intensely flavored shot with a thick body and a layer of emulsified oils and CO₂ bubbles on top (the crema). It's the foundation for flat whites, lattes, cortados, and cappuccinos, and it's the most technically demanding of the common home brew methods.
Ratio: 1:2. For a standard double shot, use 18g of coffee and aim for 36g of liquid out. Grind: fine — similar in texture to table salt, though this varies by machine. Time: 25 to 30 seconds for the shot to fully extract.
The grind is your main dial for adjusting espresso. If your shot runs in less than 20 seconds and tastes sour or thin, grind finer. If it takes more than 35 seconds and tastes bitter or harsh, grind coarser. Small adjustments make a significant difference — move your grinder one setting at a time and brew, taste, and adjust before moving again.
Water temperature should be around 93°C. Distribution matters: ensure your grounds are level and evenly distributed in the basket before tamping with firm, even pressure. Channeling — where water finds a path of least resistance through the puck — is the most common cause of inconsistent espresso, and it's almost always a distribution problem.
Best with: Our Brazil, Rwanda, Colombia, and Guatemala espressos. These coffees have the body, sweetness, and structure to perform under pressure. Our Ethiopia Filter is intentionally roasted too lightly for espresso — the extraction would push it toward sourness — but our Colombia and Rwanda espressos both pull exceptional shots with real complexity.
Brazil - Espresso - Medium Roast - Chocolate
Rwanda - Espresso - Medium Roast - Chocolate, Caramel, Raspberry
Guatemala - Espresso - Medium Light Roast - Chocolate, Pecan
Colombia - Espresso - Medium Roast - Passion Fruit, Caramel
Moka Pot
The moka pot is a stovetop brewer that uses steam pressure — lower than espresso machine pressure, but significantly higher than filter methods — to force hot water up through a packed basket of grounds and into a collection chamber above. The result is a strong, concentrated brew with a deep, bold character. It's not espresso — the pressure and extraction dynamics are different — but it occupies a similar flavour territory and has been a fixture of Italian and Portuguese kitchen culture for decades.
Ratio: Fill the basket level without tamping. The basket size determines your dose. Grind: medium-fine — slightly coarser than espresso, closer to coarse sea salt. Time: 4 to 6 minutes on medium heat.
The most impactful technique improvement for moka pot brewing is to start with hot water in the bottom chamber rather than cold. This reduces the time the grounds spend exposed to heat before extraction begins — which, with cold water, can push the early stages of the brew into a temperature range that extracts bitter compounds before the main extraction has properly started. Pre-heating the water shortens that window and produces a noticeably cleaner, sweeter cup.
Remove the moka pot from heat as soon as you hear the brew beginning to sputter — this signals that most of the water has passed through the grounds and the remaining brew will be over-extracted and bitter. Don't wait for it to finish on its own.
Best with: Brazil or Colombia espresso. The sweetness and low acidity of these coffees translate well to the moka's bold, concentrated extraction style. The Ethiopia Filter, by contrast, can turn sharp and astringent in a moka pot — it's not the right tool for that coffee.
Brazil - Espresso - Medium Roast - Chocolate
Colombia - Espresso - Medium Roast - Passion Fruit, Caramel
French Press
French press is a full-immersion brew method: coarsely ground coffee steeps in hot water for a fixed period, then a metal mesh plunger is pressed down to separate the grounds from the liquid. Unlike paper-filtered methods, French press allows the coffee's natural oils to pass through into the cup, producing a full-bodied, textured brew with more weight and mouthfeel than a pour-over or drip.
Ratio: 1:15. For a standard large French press, start with 30g of coffee and 450ml of water. Grind: coarse — similar to coarse sea salt or raw sugar. Time: 4 minutes steep.
Use water just off the boil, around 94°C. Add the grounds to the press, then pour the water evenly over them, ensuring all the grounds are saturated. Give it a gentle stir after 30 seconds to ensure even extraction. Place the lid on (plunger up) and leave it for exactly 4 minutes before pressing slowly and steadily — don't force it. Pour immediately; leaving the brew in contact with the grounds after pressing will continue the extraction and introduce bitterness.
If you find sediment in your cup (which is normal with French press), let the last 10–15ml settle before pouring, or consider a slightly coarser grind. If the brew tastes thin or weak, try a finer grind or a slightly longer steep. If it tastes bitter, shorten the steep time or coarsen the grind.
Best with: Brazil, Rwanda, or Colombia espresso. These medium-roast coffees have the body to hold up in an immersion brew and the sweetness to stay balanced through a slightly longer extraction. The full-bodied character of French press also works well with naturally processed coffees.
Brazil - Espresso - Medium Roast - Chocolate
Rwanda - Espresso - Medium Roast - Chocolate, Caramel, Raspberry
Colombia - Espresso - Medium Roast - Passion Fruit, Caramel
Pour-Over / Filter
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Pour-over is a gravity-fed, paper-filtered brew method that produces one of the cleanest, most nuanced cups possible. Water is poured slowly and in controlled stages over a bed of ground coffee sitting in a paper filter, and gravity draws the brew through into a vessel below. The paper filter removes the oils and fine particles that French press allows through, producing a bright, clear, aromatic cup with excellent clarity. |
Ratio: 1:15 to 1:17 depending on preference. Start with 20g of coffee and 300ml of water and adjust from there. Grind: medium — similar to coarse sand. Time: 3 to 4 minutes total brew time.
The bloom is the most important single step in pour-over brewing: before your main pour, add approximately twice the weight of your coffee in water (40ml for a 20g dose) and wait 30 to 45 seconds. This allows CO₂ built up in freshly roasted beans to escape — CO₂ repels water, and if you skip the bloom, the initial extraction is uneven and the cup suffers for it. After the bloom, continue pouring in slow, steady circular motions, keeping the water level consistent and avoiding pouring directly at the filter edges.
Water temperature matters more for pour-over than for any other method. For lighter roasts — our Ethiopia Filter and Colombia Filter — aim for 91–94°C. Higher temperatures will push the acidity of these coffees into sharpness.
Best with: This is the home of our Ethiopia Filter and Colombia Filter. The clarity of pour-over is what these coffees were designed for — their delicate florals, fruit notes, and bright acidity come fully alive in a slow filter brew in a way that no other method quite replicates. If you've invested in good light-roast beans, brew them this way.
Colombia - Filter - Light Roast - Passion Fruit, Redcurrant
Ethiopia - Filter - Light Roast - Wild Berries, Yellow Peach
Hario Switch — Immersion Pour-Over
The Hario Drip-in Switch (commonly called the Hario Switch) is a hybrid brewer that combines the best qualities of immersion brewing and pour-over into a single device. It looks like a standard Hario V60 dripper, but with one important addition: a small switch at the base that opens and closes the drain. When the switch is closed, the brewer behaves like a French press or AeroPress — the coffee steeps fully immersed in water. When the switch is opened, it drains through the paper filter like a conventional pour-over. This simple mechanism gives you a level of control that neither method offers on its own.
The practical benefit is consistency. Standard pour-over is sensitive to pour technique — the rate, pattern, and timing of each pour affects how evenly the bed of coffee extracts. With the Switch closed during steeping, all the grounds are in full contact with water simultaneously, which produces more uniform extraction and makes the result less dependent on technique. It’s more forgiving than a standard V60 while still producing the clean, paper-filtered clarity that makes pour-over worth drinking.
Ratio: 1:15 to 1:16 (e.g. 20g coffee to 300–320ml water). Grind: medium — the same as standard pour-over, though you can go slightly finer since the full immersion phase evens out any inconsistency. Time: 3 to 4 minutes total, including a 2 to 3 minute immersion.
A straightforward starting recipe: rinse the paper filter, add 20g of medium-ground coffee, then pour 40ml of water at 93°C and let it bloom for 45 seconds with the switch closed. Add the remaining 260ml of water, close the switch, and steep for 2 minutes. Open the switch and allow the brew to drain fully — this takes around 60 to 90 seconds. The result is a cup with the clarity of a pour-over and the sweetness and body of an immersion brew, without the fine sediment you get from a French press.
Best with: Ethiopia Filter or Colombia Filter — the same coffees that shine in a standard pour-over. The Switch’s immersion phase tends to emphasize sweetness and body slightly more than a conventional V60, which can bring out the stone fruit and caramel qualities in these lighter roasts particularly well. It’s also a good method for our Guatemala if you want a cleaner, brighter version of that coffee than French press provides.
Colombia - Filter - Light Roast - Passion Fruit, Redcurrant
Ethiopia - Filter - Light Roast - Wild Berries, Yellow Peach
AeroPress
The AeroPress is a manual brewer that combines elements of immersion and pressure brewing in a simple, durable, and remarkably versatile package. Coffee steeps briefly in a chamber, then is pressed through a paper or metal filter into your cup using manual pressure. The result sits somewhere between espresso and filter coffee in terms of character — more concentrated and body-forward than a pour-over, less intense than espresso — and is highly adjustable depending on how you use it.
Ratio: 1:10 to 1:16 depending on whether you're aiming for a concentrate or a full cup. A good starting point: 15g of coffee and 200ml of water at 88–92°C. Grind: medium-fine. Time: 1 to 2 minutes total.
The AeroPress has an unusually active and experimental community, and there are dozens of well-documented recipes available — from the standard upright method to the inverted method (which gives you more control over steep time) to various competition-style approaches. If you're new to it, start simple: 15g coffee, 200ml water at 90°C, stir once, steep 90 seconds, press slowly over 30 seconds. From that baseline, adjust grind, temperature, and steep time until you find your preferred result.
The AeroPress is also excellent for travel and for situations where you want a quick, quality cup without setting up a full pour-over. Its forgiving extraction window means small errors in grind or temperature are less consequential than with other methods.
Best with: Guatemala or Colombia. Both have the balance and structure to work well across a wide range of AeroPress parameters, and their flavor profiles translate well to the slightly concentrated character that AeroPress tends to produce.
Guatemala - Espresso - Medium Light Roast - Chocolate, Pecan
Colombia - Espresso - Medium Roast - Passion Fruit, Caramel
Cold Brew
Cold brew is produced by steeping coarsely ground coffee in cold or room-temperature water for an extended period — typically 16 to 20 hours — and then filtering the resulting liquid. Because no heat is involved, the extraction process is slower and the resulting beverage has a fundamentally different chemical profile from hot-brewed coffee: lower acidity, smoother texture, and a sweetness that comes forward without the brightness that heat amplifies.
Ratio: 1:8 for a concentrate (100g coffee to 800ml cold water), which is then diluted 1:1 with water or milk to serve. Grind: extra coarse — the coarsest setting on your grinder, or close to it. Time: 16 to 20 hours in the fridge.
Combine the grounds and cold filtered water in a jar or dedicated cold brew vessel, stir to ensure all grounds are wet, cover, and refrigerate. After 16 to 20 hours, strain through a fine mesh sieve, then strain again through a paper filter for a cleaner result. The concentrate keeps in the fridge for up to two weeks without meaningful quality loss.
Cold brew is forgiving in terms of technique, but the long steep time means that grind size matters for a different reason than with hot methods: too fine a grind and the extended extraction will over-extract even at cold temperatures, producing a bitter, harsh concentrate. Stay with extra-coarse and err on the side of longer steeping rather than finer grinding if you want more strength.
Take it up a notch and apply nitro to your cold brew to create a smooth, creamy version of this delicious cold beverage.
Best with: Brazil, Guatemala, or Rwanda. Their chocolate, caramel, and nut notes come through beautifully in cold brew's smooth, low-acid profile, and the natural sweetness of both coffees means the concentrate is genuinely pleasant even without added sugar. Our Ethiopia filter, by contrast, loses some of its most interesting qualities in cold brew — the florals and brightness that make it special are better expressed with heat.
Brazil - Espresso - Medium Roast - Chocolate
Rwanda - Espresso - Medium Roast - Chocolate, Caramel, Raspberry
Guatemala - Espresso - Medium Light Roast - Chocolate, Pecan
A Final Word on Freshness and Storage
Every method above benefits from the same foundation: fresh, properly stored beans. Our coffees are small-batch roasted in Parede and available within their optimal flavor window. Once you have a bag, store it in an airtight container away from heat, light, and moisture — a kitchen cupboard away from the hob is ideal. Airscape makes some great containers that remove oxygen. Don't store beans in the fridge: the humidity and absorption of food odors does more harm than the temperature does good.
Grind just before brewing. Use clean equipment — residue from previous brews builds up and affects flavor over time. And use water you'd be happy to drink on its own. Coffee can't make bad water taste good.
The rest is practice. Pick a method, learn its variables, and give yourself time to dial it in. The difference between your first attempt and your tenth with the same setup is always significant. Good coffee rewards attention, and the attention it takes is genuinely enjoyable once you start paying it.