The rise and rise of home brewing
Standing behind your hot new espresso machine, stovetop or cold-drip system, you feel pretty smart. You aspire to the beautifully balanced coffees of your favourite coffee haunt but is there any chance you'll make it at home? There are home baristas who will go to every length possible to achieve just that.
Alex Millier is a clarinetist with WASO and a self- confessed coffee obsessive. He's not alone in his love of the culture, where people talk of coffee like fine wine. "I like to experiment, so if I go to a cafe and I particularly enjoy the coffee, I'll take away a bag of beans and try to get a similar result at home."
There are three stages to the perfect coffee. The bean, the roast and the brew. Each is crucial. The flavours inherent in the bean are rich and varied, as with grapes. Most coffees we see are produced from either Arabica or Robusta beans but there are many variables. Crops from different locations will produce different results. Soil, temperature, weather and location all impact the flavour.
Blends were king for a long time, aimed at mass appeal. Now they are out of fashion. Professional and home baristas alike now taste varietals and look for terroir. Justin Gardner, of Pound Coffee Roastery, is passionate about the need to explore flavours. "You should taste coffee like wine and seek to understand the flavour profiles you enjoy. Especially when it comes to espresso, drinking not just single origin but coffee originating from just one farm or plantation can be wonderful because you get more nuance," he says.
"Before I was a roaster, I was a chef and so I approach coffee in much the same way as food. It's about using top-quality produce, treating it with care and creating a balance of flavours. The process of roasting is like the balancing act of making a caramel. There is an optimum time for the beans to roast. Too long and they are ruined, too little and you won't be bringing out the best in the flavour. It's a balancing act between bringing out the best characteristics of the beans and burning them," he says.
All this means nothing if you don't use fresh beans, according to Rob Mayberry, of Little Willys in Northbridge.
"The difference in flavour with beans that are a month old is definitely there. Coffee should be part of your weekly shop not your monthly shop. I recommend buying only what you can use in a week," Mayberry says.
It's a point not lost on Millier, who goes further than most for his beans. A keen cyclist, he rides to Fiore with his Friis - a steel coffee container.
To keep roasted beans at their optimum, they should be ground at home - per serve - with a good-quality grinder, that is a Conical Burr grinder, not a blade or spice grinder. The mechanics of the brew raise plenty of options when it comes to the serious home barista, but across the board the recommendations are standard - keep it simple.
Basic espresso machines can't replicate what you taste in the best cafes. Gardner's personal favourite is the American-made Aeropress, which is a simple and fast method of brewing, halfway between as espresso and an inverse plunger. He also raves about the Hario V60 which uses the pour-over drip method. Both are affordable and simple (Aeropress $45, Hario from $8.50) but produce excellent coffee for home. Millier uses a Rancillo Miss Silvia (about $800).
