How to Brew Colombian Coffee at Home

Start with 1 gram of coffee for every 16 grams of water, water between 195 and 205 °F, and a grind that fits your brewer. Those choices do most of the work, and they are the numbers in our brew guide for the coffee from our family's farms, La Lucia and La Esperanza, in Caldas.

How much coffee should you use per cup?

Use 1 gram of coffee for every 16 grams of water. A large mug takes about 22 grams of coffee and 350 grams of water.

A kitchen scale makes this easy to repeat from one morning to the next. Set your brewer on the scale, zero it, add the coffee, and then weigh the water as you pour.

If the cup tastes too strong or too light, move the ratio a little at a time. A gram or two of coffee in either direction is usually enough to notice.

The ratio scales to any size. A drip machine carafe with 800 grams of water takes 50 grams of coffee, and a smaller 250 gram cup takes about 16 grams.

What grind size should you use?

Match the grind to how long the water and coffee spend together. The National Coffee Association puts it simply: the longer the contact time, the coarser the grind should be.

These are the starting points from our brew guide:

• Pour over: medium fine, like table salt
• Drip machine: medium
• French press: coarse, like raw sugar
• Espresso: fine

If you buy whole bean, grind right before you brew. A burr grinder gives a more consistent grind than a blade grinder, and a consistent grind helps the coffee extract evenly.

What water temperature is best for coffee?

Use water between 195 and 205 °F. If you don't have a thermometer, bring the water to a boil and let it sit off the heat for about 30 seconds.

The water itself matters too. Our coffee has citrus up front and dark chocolate in the finish, and hard tap water tends to mute that citrus.

Filtered water is the easy fix. The National Coffee Association also suggests staying away from distilled or softened water for brewing.

How do you make pour over coffee?

Rinse the filter, let the coffee bloom for 30 seconds, and then pour slowly up to about 350 grams of water. The whole brew should take 2:30 to 3:30.

1. Rinse the paper filter with hot water and pour that water out. Rinsing keeps a papery taste out of your cup.
2. Add 22 grams of coffee, ground medium fine.
3. Pour about 50 grams of water to wet all the grounds, then wait 30 seconds. This is the bloom, when trapped carbon dioxide bubbles out so the rest of the water can soak the coffee more evenly.
4. Pour the rest of the water in slow circles until the scale reads about 350 grams.
5. Let it drain. The total time should land between 2:30 and 3:30.

How do you make coffee in a French press?

Use a coarse grind and the same 1 to 16 ratio, steep for 4 minutes, press slowly, and pour all of the coffee out right away.

For a large mug, the same 22 grams of coffee and 350 grams of water work well here. Add the water, set a timer for 4 minutes, and leave the lid on while it steeps.

The last step is the one people skip. Coffee left sitting on the grounds keeps brewing and turns bitter, so pour every bit into mugs or a carafe as soon as you press.

Why does my coffee taste bitter or sour?

Most off cups come down to grind, time, or water. Change one thing at a time so you can tell what actually helped. A quick note on your phone with the grind setting and the result saves you from guessing next week.

• Bitter or drying: grind a little coarser, or use slightly cooler water.
• Sour or thin: grind a little finer, or let it brew a little longer.
• Flat and dull: switch to filtered water, since hard tap water mutes the citrus.

Clean equipment matters as well. Old coffee oils left on a brewer can make the next cup taste bitter, so wash your gear after each use.

We keep all of these numbers in one place on our brew guide. Start there, taste what you made, and adjust from your own cup.

Luis and Juan