I have been so excited to partner up with Brim Coffee to share my at home pour over routine– taking something that was positively terrifying to try to understand at a coffeeshop to an experience of learning every morning.  Taking the fancy coffee out of the coffee shop has helped me save money, reduce single-use waste, and made my usual “throw it down” on the way out the door coffee into a special routine in the morning. And spoiler alert– you can do it too. So happy to share my morning routine with Brim.

What you need:

• Brim Pour Over Coffee Kit: has everything you need to achieve a perfect cup of coffee in one kit: 30oz glass decanter, permanent filter, SCA scoop. Allows essential coffee oils to pass through the filter, for perfectly saturated grounds which create the blooming process, resulting in a richer and more full bodied cup of coffee. Easy to clean and dishwasher safe.
• Brim Electric Handheld Coffee Grinder: Easy 1 button use, featuring a slow speed (less heat = more of that perfect coffee smell). The grinder has 9 precise grind settings for a large range of brewing techniques from the finest espresso grind to the coarsest French press grind.
• Your favorite freshly ground coffee beans – I have been loving the seasonal Intelligentsia Santa Theresa Peruvian single origin blend, but also picked up some honey washed beans in Bali I can’t wait to try!
• Hot water kettle and something that is easy to pour– I used a glass pyrex measuring cup. If you’re fancy and have a coffee specific kettle, more power to you but it’s not required!
• Kitchen scale set to grams
• Your favorite coffee mug.

Step by step:

Put water in the kettle to heat — keep it below a boil! In coffee and tea communities it’s thought that boiling water disrupts the energy of the people who consume it.

Decide on what kind of filter you will use: different filters change the size of grind you’ll need, and the length of time it will take to brew, and ultimately the taste and mouthfeel of your cup of coffee.

• Brim Laser Etched Permanent Filter: (my favorite feature of the Brim Pour Over Coffee Kit– it’s great for the environment– you can wash and reuse it ;)); A permanent filter doesn’t collect the oils and particulates from the coffee, so it will have a more complex, earthy taste. The permanent filters allow for better airflow so it will brew faster– go with a slightly finer grind.
• 3 Fold Paper filters: removes more of the particulate and oils from the coffee for a cleaner taste and brighter mouthfeel. Will have lower airflow and a longer brew time (so go with a slightly coarser grind).

While water heats, measure out your coffee in grams. To make your coffee, keep in mind a 1:16.5 ratio of water to coffee: For a 12 oz cup of coffee, you’ll need 25.5g of coffee beans, or about three and a half SCA scoops into the Brim Electric Handheld Coffee Grinder, and 415g of water.

Set your grind preference (for the Brim Pour Over Coffee Kit I usually do about setting 4), and turn on the grinder with the single press button. The Brim Electric Handheld Coffee Grinder uses less heat to protect the coffee aroma and flavor, so enjoy the AMAZING way your kitchen will start to smell as it grinds.

Once water has been heated, I transfer it to a glass measuring cup to make it easier to pour than the kettle. Since coffee is sensitive to temperature you’re going to pre-heat and rinse your Brim Pour Over Coffee Kit and filter set-up with about 1 cup of water. For the permanent filter it doesn’t matter as much, but if you are using paper filters this also has the added benefit of keeping your coffee from tasting like paper. (i usually rinse mine twice just to be safe). Swirl the water in the 30 oz glass decanter and then dump it out – i let mine cool and then water plants with it! Pour hot water into your coffee mug as well; leave it to sit until you’re ready.

Put the 30 oz Glass Decanter and filter on top of a kitchen scale and zero it out; using the easy dispensing feature on the grinder, add ground coffee to measure 25 g, and then zero out the scale again. Gently shake out the filter to create a flat “bed” of coffee.

Refill the glass measuring cup with hot water and get ready– brewing coffee is time and measurement sensitive! Start your timer and begin pulse pouring to “bloom” the coffee; This means that you pour directly into the coffee bed in a clockwise circular motion to fully saturate. The grounds will bubble carbon dioxide (the older your coffee beans, the less it will do so! #science) Be sure you are pouring directly down in order to get a more even brew.

• For the bloom, you’ll want to pour out 2x the grams of your coffee grounds (for our recipe, that will be 50g of water) within about 20 seconds.
• Once you have poured 50g of water, allow the coffee to bloom for 1 minute.
• After 1 minute, continue to pulse pour up to 250g water within 20 seconds, continuing in even, circular motions.
• Pause for 10-15 seconds.
• Pulse pour again, up to 415g of water (between 1:30 and 1:50).
• Allow the coffee to filter and monitor the drop down time–different kinds of filters (and different size grounds) will have different brew times!

Once the coffee has dropped down, remove the filter and used coffee grounds. The Brim Pour Over Coffee Kit is super easy to clean– I just dump the grounds into our compost container, rise with water and throw it in the top rack of the dishwasher every few uses.

Dump the pre-warming water out of your coffee cup (again, adding to the plant watering stash). Swirl the Glass Decanter to evenly distribute the particulate and oils, and then pour directly into your mug.

Sit down and enjoy — preferably with a loved one and some baked goods!