To get started, all you need is a cup and hot water.

Preparation

1. Boil your water
2. While the water is heating up, open the pack and tear off the top of the filter bag 
3. Place the bag on top of your mug, with the handles hanging over the edge of the cup. You can use any kind of cup you like.
4. Add 160mm of hot water per drip bag. – Your water should be hot enough that you can only hold your hand over it for a couple seconds
5. Pour the water slowly over the coffee grounds – don’t let the water flow over the top of the bag!
6. Throw away the bag, add milk and sugar if you want and enjoy!

How to make the best drip bag coffee

Do you have time and a small scale handy? If you do, you can make a cup that comes close to a traditional hand drip coffee:

1. Boil your water
2. While the water is heating up, open the drip bag and tear off the top of the filter bag
3. Place the bag on top of your mug, with the handles going over the edges
4. Put your cup on the scale and zero it out. Decide on how much water you want to add:
   1. 150ml of hot water will give you a strong cup of coffee
   2. 160-180ml will give you a coffee with a lighter taste and clean aromas
5. Check the temperature of your water
   1. For nutty coffees like Guatemala or El Salvador use just-off-boiling (98C)
   2. For fruity coffees like Kenya aim for 85 to 90C water
6. Using a gooseneck kettle, dampen the coffee grounds until they are wet and let your drip bag bloom (i.e. bubbles appear).
7. Wait about 30 seconds until the bubbles disappear
8. After the bubbles have stopped pour in the rest of your water over the grounds in a consistent flow. Don’t let the water flow over the top of the drip bag!
9. When you pour our all of your water, wait for the water to filter through
10. Throw away the bag and enjoy!

BeanCurious Drip Bags

Click below to get a selection of 3 single origin packs.

View our drip bags

Picking coffee for pour-over really only requires a couple basic rules to keep in mind. The first is to find a coffee that has a lot going on. Anything that is described as complex, fruity, or floral is a solid bet. Cheap blends or coffees with a one-note profile such as “chocolatey” or “nutty” will work, but they’re kinda boring. Pick something that gives your hand brewing technique a challenge.

The second rule to keep in mind is roast-level. Delicate tastes like “floral” and “fruity” are the first ones to go up in smoke – literally. Dark roasts will burn off these flavors so for the most complex tasting coffee, you’ll want to look for beans roasted light to medium-light. Some dark roasts can make good pour-over, but they’ll be less interesting and be simpler than the same bean roasted lighter.

Improper technique has a simple solution: grind finer, brew hotter

– Anthony, BeanCurious’ in-house roaster

Now, your knee jerk reaction might be to say, “Hold on medium or light roasts are acidic aren’t they”? But please don’t think this holds true for all lighter roasts. Sour coffee could be the result of a few things including oxidized or old beans, or the result of improper brewing. Improper technique has a simple solution: grind finer, brew hotter. If you use a good burr grinder that produces uniform sized grinds, along with hot, near-boiling water, all the lovely sugary sweetness in the beans will get pulled out. The finer grind also limits the amount of acids dissolved from the beans, creating a better balance in your brew.

With roast and taste firmly in place, the rest is up to you. Single origin and specialty coffee beans are a good place to start as these tend to come from high-quality producers, especially those delicate coffees from Africa.

Famous for complex, layered coffees, Africa is home to a huge variety of coffee regions with an equally wide range of flavors. Ethiopia is particularly famous among pour-over lovers. If you are interested in something fruity, pick up an Ethiopian Natural Sidamo to hone pour-over skills on. Coffees from this region are grown high-up in the mountains, at around 2,200m, that results in very dense beans with concentrated flavors. The combination of fertile soil, hot days and cold nights creates highly floral beans with rich berry notes – a far cry from your usual cup of coffee.

Or if floral accents and lemon zest notes interest you, then Ethiopian Washed Yirgacheffe would be your cup. Similar to Sidamo, these beans are famous for their floral accents but the soils and terroir here create a cleaner flavor with a more lemon/citrus taste that balances beautifully with the inherent sweetness of the beans.

Too tame? Then look no further than African Washed Process coffees from Kenya. Coffees grown here, have very low acidity indeed and instead are renowned for a unique black grape-like winey character. The light roasts even take on a savoury tomato soup like character. Once you smell it, it’s impossible to forget.

For the intrepid pour-over enthusiast, fermented coffee beans are another avenue to explore. Look for packs with labels such as Wine Process or Barrel Fermented, Anaerobic Fermented, Honey process, Semi-washed or Pulped. All these production techniques let the beans go through a long aerobic or anaerobic fermentation phase (like wine). The result? A complex brew of heavy tropical fruits, intense sweetness and wine-like flavours.

Pour-over is a great way to be more mindful about your coffee and really highlight the effort, terroir and skills coffee farmers have put into their products. Once you have the technique and established your morning ritual, don’t squander your talents with the boring stuff. Go explore what your neighborhood roaster has to offer and pick up a range of beans you wouldn’t normally try. You’ll be surprised at what tastes your hands can pull out.

“Deep caramel flavours, with lingering notes of lemon peel and cashews”

What you think:

“This tastes like… coffee”

Is there a divide between what you read on the bag and what you’re tasting in your mouth? Probably. Grapes? Those taste grapey. Chocolate cake? Chocolatey. Our expectations of what things should taste like and what we actually taste usually sync up.

But what if you are trying to describe flavours to someone who has never tasted grapes or chocolate cake? Let’s make this harder, can you describe to a foreigner what durian tastes like? “A raw garlicy custard, doused in gasoline… but delicious?”

This is the problem with coffee. The baseline flavour for (most) beans is “coffee”. But for good coffees (for example fancy single origin, specialty grade beans, i.e. everything in our shop) there are other tastes in there. These small taste differences add up to making coffee from origin A very different from origin B.

If you want to get those caramel, lemon peel, cashew flavours from your cup, you’ll need a different approach.

Now there’s no need to produce a silver tasting spoon, noisily take a slurp and write down poetic tasting notes in a leather-bound journal. All you need is 30sec to be mindful of what’s in your cup.

First, stop and smell the coffee. What does it smell like? Your brain will give you a dumb, “smells nice” answer. Make your brain work harder, try and pin down what you are smelling reminds you of. Aromas evoke memories of the food and drinks that we all have tried before. Paint a picture in your head of what you are smelling.

Is it sweet?

Is it sour?

What kind of sweetness is that? Is it sweet like fruit? More neutral like the caramel candies of your childhood? Or is it a darker sweetness like the burnt top of a Creme Brulé?

Keep in mind that there is no correct answer. It’s 100% based on your past experiences with food. Your “burnt top of a Creme Brulé” might be someone else’s Dan-tat (Eggtarts) or Azuki beans to someone else.

Got that mental picture? Ok Good! Next we sip.

Hey, don’t gulp that coffee down! Take it slow. Chew it. Allow it to spread across your tongue and mix in some air. This will help your taste buds and nose get a full picture of the coffee. Engage your brain a bit. Does it taste like it smells? Are there new flavours in there?

While you’re chewing your coffee also consider how the coffee “feels”. Yes, it feels wet, duh. But I mean, is it light like a tea? Is it heavy like cream? Does it leave a bitter taste? (If it’s a good coffee it shouldn’t!).

Now that you have a full mental picture of your coffee there’s one more thing to note. Do you like it? Why?

It doesn’t really matter if your mental image matches what’s written on the bag. Our tastes come from our personal experiences and your experiences will never the author on the bag*.

What matters most is that you can associate your preferences with the tasting notes. It’ll help you discover more coffees you love and less wasting cash on the ones you don’t.

Now go out there and explore! Coffee appreciation should always be simple and enjoyable!

*Unless you’re a professional taster, then these tastes are rigorously standardized.

Have a good cup of coffee!

The zone you are about to enter is the land of Specialty Coffee. Here bags of coffee beans are not cheap, going for $160HKD + for 200g. But how do you ensure that you are picking beans that are worth the premium price beyond the usual “grind it yourself” and “buy fresh roast” tropes? BeanCurious has four tips to give you the best chance of picking coffee you going to love:

1. Go High Altitude – The higher the better. Look for 1,000m+
2. Check the Processing – The processing technique gives a huge clue to how the coffee will taste
3. Location – Gives some clues to the flavor profile
4. Varietal – Doesn’t matter unless it’s Geisha (good!) or Robusta (bad!).

Why go high altitude?

When picking coffee, you want the beans that came from a plant that struggled to survive. Coffee grown at 1,000m and below are slackers: warm sun, mild days, easy living = a large harvest coffee cherries that are soft (literally! The bean at the center is softer), flat-tasting and boring.

The plants grown way up in the mountains? Those plants have it tough. Way up high, coffee plants suffer through blazing days and fridged nights. The large changes in temperature forces the fruiting process to slooooow down. At this slow pace the plants have to spend months creating just a few cherries. But what these cherries lack in abundance they more than make up for in flavor. The structure of high-altitude beans are dense making it easier to roast evenly with a consistent flavor.

There are a few exceptions to this rule (Kona coffee is grown at low elevations but the plants still experience hot days and cold nights due to the ocean) but 9 times out of 10, high elevation = better coffee.

Why care about coffee processing?

Right after altitude, processing methods have a huge impact on the final taste of a coffee. No one process is necessarily better than another, so you need to remember the processes that create the flavors you like. Fortunately there’s only four you need to know:

Natural Process : Sweet, fruity and wild

Cherries are picked, quickly cleaned and dried as a whole cherry in the sun for a few weeks. During this time the flesh ferments and the cherries shrivel up, condensing the flavours. The outer pulp is then stripped by machine. The result is sweet and fruity, with “wild” tropical fruit flavours which are a result of fermenting in the sun.

Washed or Wet Processed : Clean “coffee” taste

Most coffee is washed/wet processed. The cherries are pulped by machine, then soaked in a tank of water for anywhere form several hours to a few days. While in the controlled environment of the tank the beans ferment. The parchment (outer layer) of the beans are then washed and dried either in the sun for 2-3 weeks or by machine with continuous flow of hot air for a few days. The result is a clean taste with brighter acidity and medium body.

Pulped Natural / Semi-Washed / Honey Processed (as defined by the SCA) : Maximum sweetness and fruit

The name “honey processed” and “pulped” actually comes from the fact that the cherries are pulped, then left with their sticky, honey-like exteriors (called mucilage) to dry in the sun without any tank fermentation. After the cherries are dried to the producer’s target moisture content the parchment is stripped by machine. The results is a coffee with maximum sweetness and a complex floral or fruity flavor.

Anaerobic Fermentation / Wet Hulled / Giling Basah : Earthy, spicy, cedar, mossy

The origin of wet-hull fermentation came from the local Mandlehing tribe in Indonesia. The beans start out like honey process but then instead of drying, the coffee beans are fermented anaerobically in sealed containers without water. Once fermented, the beans are left to dry in the sun for a short period of time. While the moisture content is high, the parchment is stripped off and the beans are left in the sun for a quick drying off. The beans are then packed and shipped out with a relatively higher moisture content than the other processes. The moisture makes them a bit tricky to roast so you need an experienced roaster to handle these beans. The result is a coffee that smells of moss, cedar wood, or cardamom spices.

Local beans = Local taste.

The information below is so broad it borders on being criminal, but it works as a starting point for trying out different beans.

South America

Colombia, Peru, Bolivia

Coffee is grown up in the mountains (in Bolivia, it’s way, way up, over 2,500 meters!). Beans usually go through the washed process with sweet, bright acidity and medium body. Nuts / honeyed / caramel are common flavors, some varietals bear apple notes due to the rich malic acid produced during maturation.

Brazil

These are low altitude beans that are processed by pulped natural method. Low acidity, mild tasting with good body, kind-a boring but great for blending with other, stronger tasting beans.

Central America

Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico.

Beans are usually washed and have that “Classic Coffee” taste with a medium body and medium acidity. Nuts, chocolate, fruit and citrus flavors are common, for some varietals floral flavor is the signature.

Panama (Geisha)

Extremely expensive. Silky light body, complex floral aromas and honey-like sweet. Worth trying at least once.

North America

Hawaii Kona

Low altitude but still great tasting due to the influence of the ocean. However don’t judge these beans by their price: they’re very expensive due to American labour costs, not necessarily quality. Generally medium bodied, light berry with a hint of citrus notes. Aromas of light flowers and vanilla are common.

Asia

Indonesia

These come in two types, both of which have pretty unusual flavour profiles:

Anaerobic Fermented and Wet hulled beans beans are earthy and mossy with spices. An acquired taste. When someone says they dislike Indonesian coffees, they usually mean wet hulled Indonesian beans.

Washed or natural processed beans from Indonesia are subtly floral with sweet spices like cinnamon, caramel with cedar notes when roasted light or medium. Some have aromatic herbal aromas. Dark chocolate is common when roasted dark.

Papua New Guinea

Washed processing here gives the coffee milk chocolate, light citrus, vanilla and curiously floral notes. Coffee from Papua New Guinea is famous for its good balance.

Africa

The origin of coffee, this continent has a wide, wide variety of beans to explore.

Ethiopia

The OG of Arabica coffee. Thousands of varietals, styles and sub-regions are found here making it pointless to categorize but let’s try anyway, right?

Natural/Honey Process beans from Ethiopia are wild, fruity and may have a complex berry or wine like sweetness to them

Washed Process Ethiopian beans like typical Washed Sidamo or Yirgacheffe are light bodied, very floral and citric.

Kenya

The coffee mills here use a unique processing method. The cherries are washed and undergo double fermentation (soaked in water twice). Finally, the cherries are stripped, dried and shipped. The result is very acidic but balanced with sweet fruitiness and a heavy body.

Rwanda, Burundi

These coffees are floral and milk chocolate alike with prolong sweet finish. The acidity is also bright and smooth.

Bean Types

Another important thing to pay attention to in terms of the effect on coffee flavor is the bean varietal. So long as they are 100% arabica, you probably notice some differences among varietals. There are way too many varietals to cover but for the sake of completeness below are some of the more common ones you may come across.

Bourbon

No relation to the alcoholic drink (unfortunately), instead it is a natural mutant of Typica. This varietal’s name comes from its home, Bourbon, which is/was an island near Madagascar. The island has since been renamed Réunion. These beans are normally sweet with good body.

Catimor

A hybrid vigor crossing Caturra with Hybrid de Timor. Made to be easier to grow and disease resistant with little consideration for flavor. Sadly.

Ethiopian Heirloom

Native varietals that are found in Ethiopia, usually classified by the area they are grown in, i.e. Harrar, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe.

Geisha

Very complex and floral, eye wateringly expensive. This varietal was accidentally discovered in Panama where Geisha bushes were being used as a wind shield for more “valuable” crops.

Pacamara/Maragropye

Really big beans. Taste-wise they are the same as Typica but richer.

Peaberry

Not a varietal but actually beans with stunted growth. About 5% of all coffee comes out smaller and rounder than the normal ones, with only a single seed (coffee cherries normally have two). These cute little beans are separated from their bigger brothers and sisters because due to their small size they roast faster. No major taste difference here but some marketers saw an opportunity to make money so Peaberries now go for a premium price – not worth it.

SL-28 / SL-34

Obviously named by a botanist and not a marketer. Cultivar under the effort of Scott Lab. These beans are known to be fruity with brighter acidity. SL-28 has a curious blackcurrant flavor.

Typica

Like Heirloom, one of the original coffee varietals and the one you are most likely to find on the shelves of your local roaster.

Robusta

Like the Timor Hybrid, these are fast growing, cherry producing machines that are resistant to rust disease. Even worse tasting than Catimor. Expect notes of cardboard and a very bitter finish. Avoid.

2022 Update: there are some farmers in Vietnam that are trying to make good Robusta with mixed to not bad(?!) results. Watch this space (Source: The Atlantic, The Best Worst Coffee).

TL:DR

Ok that was a lot to digest. The best way to remember it is put that knowledge into practice! To help you get out there and explore here’s a condensed version of our tips:

1 High Altitude!

1,000 meters or above. If you remember anything, remember this.

2 Check the processing method.

• Natural Process: fruity, tropical, fermented
• Washed /Fully Washed Process: Clean. “Coffee tasting”
• Pulped Natural/Semi-washed/Honey Process: Max sweetness, fruity
• Anaerobic fermentation / Wet hulled / Giling Basah (Indonesian): Mossy, herbs, cedar, spices

3 Check the location

• Americas: Nutty / Chocolate / Classic
• Asia: Spicy / Earthy / Cedar / Herbal
• Africa: Floral / Fruity / Citrus

4 Varietal Doesn’t Matter

Unless it’s Geisha or Robusta .

You probably know that a wine’s region imparts certain characteristics on the wines produced there (called terroir in the biz). Places like Napa Valley, Bordeaux and Tuscany are famous throughout the world for their incredible wines, and the special sense of place that each region evokes. But did you know that a coffee bean’s region has a similar impact on the flavor of the bean?

Just as terroir affects the flavors and aromas of a wine, so too does a coffee bean’s place of origin impact its flavor profile. Let’s explore this idea with a few examples.

What are single origin specialty coffees?

Single origin coffees are specialty coffees that are a pure representation of the region where the coffee beans were grown and produced. Single origin coffees are often brighter, and their flavor profiles are more distinct than traditional coffee blends, which include a mix of beans from different regions.

The regional impact on coffee beans

Each coffee region has its own unique climate, which affects growing conditions, and how the plant produces fruit. Factors like: elevation, the type of soil the plant is grown in, the amount of water it receives, even the amount of air flow and wind conditions in the region impact the flavor profile of the bean.

Wet vs. dry processing

Similar to the way a wine is fermented, the way coffee beans are processed impacts the flavor profile of the bean. When Kenyan coffee beans are harvested, they are wet processed, as opposed to the dry process methods used in Ethiopia. This means that the fruit is removed from the bean and then dried, rather than drying the bean whole, and then removing the fruit for roasting.

Using a wet processing method typically results in a coffee bean with a higher acidity level.

Kenya AA coffee

Kenya AA coffee refers not to a variety of bean, but to the Kenyan coffee grading system. These beans are 100% Arabica, and among the finest in the world.

Much of Kenya AA coffee comes from the areas in and around Mount Kenya, or from the southwest region near Nairobi. Both areas have significant rain falls, volcanic, mineral rich soil, and a warm climate, which coffee trees thrive on.

View our Kenya AA

Kenya AA coffee beans have a truly unique flavor and aroma. There’s a distinct tanginess to these beans that’s similar to a bowl of tomato soup. Both the flavor profile and the aroma evoke a savory, almost umami-like flavor that is balanced by a juicy acidity. Kenya AA coffee beans must be tried in order to be fully appreciated.

Ethiopia Sidamo Coffee

The Sidamo region of Ethiopia is located in the southern part of the country. Here, fertile soil nourishes the coffee trees to produce beans that are universally loved for their notes blueberry, chocolate and jasmine.

Like the coffee regions of Kenya, Sidamo coffee trees thrive in the higher elevation levels, the volcanic soil, and abundant rain. It’s believed that planting coffee trees at higher elevations causes the tree to mature more slowly, resulting in fruit whose flavors are concentrated and complex.

To preserve these rich flavors, Ethiopia Sidamo beans are dry processed in the sun, rather than wet processed.

See Our Ethiopia Sidamo

Appreciating coffee’s diversity, one sip at a time

The sense of place that a cup of single origin coffee evokes reminds one of the diversity among coffee beans, and the regions that produce them. Sampling different coffee beans from places like Kenya, Ethiopia, and beyond, instills a sense of connection to the people that grow coffee trees, harvest the fruit, and care for the land. To appreciate these special qualities in each cup is to experience coffee as it was meant to be experienced.

For decades, coffee auctions have been a means of showcasing high-quality coffees to buyers from around the world and discovering what the market is willing to pay for them. The Cup of Excellence is the most famous auction, there are also many others held globally in different cities or producing countries after harvest season every year.

What Is a Specialty Coffee Auction?

Green coffee has been traded at auction for centuries. Exporters and coffee organizations typically host these auctions–on-site or online–to showcase specialty producers, allowing them to reach new buyers across vast, unexplored regions.

A few well-known auctions include Taste of Rwanda, Best of Panama, Best of Guatemala, and the Cup of Excellence.

Virtual vs. On-Site

On-site auctions are usually held by the hosting exporters, NGOs, or other industry stakeholders. They allow producers and buyers to meet in person and get to know their products, usually participants will be invited to participate in farm visits, cupping sessions, and the auction itself.

Although these in-person events can foster new relationships or strengthen existing relationships between producers and buyers, they are often costly. Even if there are no participation fees, farmers potentially lose money while not working on their farms.

Producers have more flexibility to access the international green coffee market with online auctions—buyers from around the world tune in virtually to bid on judged, scored, and awarded coffees. Additionally, roasters can typically order cupping kits, enabling them to sample all the enrolled coffees before the auction so as to make more informed purchases.

While online auctions may lack the personal touch of an on-site convening, they continue to grow in popularity due to the tech-driven world we live in and the expanded opportunity for producers.

The Process of an Online Coffee Auction

Take Cup of Excellence as an example, when a specialty coffee auction takes place in a specific country, coffee producers are asked to participate and submit their beans (with a specific quantity) to a central warehouse. There the beans are classified by their processing method and given a code. Each coded coffee will be cupped (i.e. tasted) blindly and repeatedly at least 20 times (!) by an international panel of experts. The scores from all these tastings are recorded and tallied. With the scores confirmed, the judging panel selects the top 20 coffees that are later auctioned off to the buyers (like us!).

The buyers typically pay $1,000 USD to become a bidding member of the auction. Then another fee of several hundred USD is needed to receive samples of the selections. Finally, once samples are sent out, members can go online to bid against fellow coffee lovers worldwide.

Here’s a play-by-play breakdown:

1. A CoE (Cup of Excellence) Auction will take place in specific country, and all the coffee producers there will receive invitations to participate.
2. Producers need to submit approximately 300kg of processed green coffee beans which are stored in a CoE assigned central warehouse.
3. The beans are split up, classified by their processing methods, then assigned a code.
4. An international panel of coffee professionals conducts a blind tasting to judge the beans.
5. A minimum of six to seven blind tasting rounds are setup to quantify ( score / give points ) to the taste profiles and quality.
6. The scores of each, still coded, coffee are then compared. With the highest twenty scorers being called the finalists. The judges include notes on the flavour profile and the breakdown of awarded points.
7. A few weeks before the live auction, buyers can pay about $300-600 USD to receive samples of each of the 20 finalists.
8. We conduct an internal cupping tasting after receiving the samples to determine our own top picks and to double confirm the tasting notes.
9. Once auction day arrives, we go online and bid against everyone worldwide in real-time.
10. If we win (fingers crossed!), we will receive the coffee in a few months.

Where to Find Auctioned Specialty Coffee

When we win auctions, we distribute them to all our fellow coffee lovers to enjoy. The BeanCurious Curious Collection has a few auction beans currently available:

• El Pitarillo from Honduras
• BufCoffee won at Taste of Rwanda
• El Cipres from El Salvadore

Take a sip of our winnings and host your tasting and judging!

We compare our four favorite methods, from the Japanese method to the laziest way we could think of, to find out which one produces the best results.

Cold Brew Coffee: What Is It?

Specialty coffee shops have been brewing and selling cold brews for years, and this gourmet coffee is now becoming more mainstream. But what exactly is it?

Cold brew is coffee brewed using cold water or even ice instead of hot, resulting in a less bitter cup of coffee. Many people find a cold brew smoother and more flavorful than coffee made with hot water

The Specific Roast & Grind of Cold Brew

You don’t want to use a dark roast when it comes to cold brew. The coffee should be a bit acidic to ensure a balanced taste. When the coffee has low acidity, the result comes off a bit bland.

Additionally, high coffee to water ratio is critical, typically 1:4 to 1:10. If you opt for Japanese methods or brewing hot and sticking it in the fridge, you can use the normal 1:14-1:16 coffee to water ratios.

Lastly, a bit bigger grinds will provide a better cold brew, as fine grinds typically extract too much bitterness during the long contact time with water.

Brewing Methods to Making Cold Brew Coffee

We’ve tried a few different methods of making cold brew coffee, so you can choose which one works best for you without any additional trial and error. Let’s check them out.

#1 The Designated Brewer Method

One standard method for cold brew coffee making is with a designated brewer and a glass jar. You’ll need to put your coffee in a filter, add cold water, and then store it overnight–because the water is cold, it needs a more extended extraction period.

In the morning, you’ll have delicious cold brew coffee concentrate that you can dilute with water or milk.

#2 The Glass Jar Method

The glass jar method is for you if you’re looking for an easy, no-fuss way to make cold brew coffee. All you need is a glass jar, coffee ground, and water. Add the grounds to the jar, cover with water, and stick it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, the grounds will have settled to the bottom of the jar, so all you need to do is pour off the coffee grounds and enjoy. This method may result in a grainier cold brew than if you were to use a filter, but it doesn’t require any special equipment, making it easy and accessible.

#3 The Japanese Method

For those who want to cold brew like the Japanese, you’ll need hot water, ice, and a pour-over coffee-making setup.

The Japanese method is a pour-over technique requiring two-thirds hot water and one-third ice. First, add ice to your carafe. Make your pour-over coffee on the ice, and the hot coffee will melt the ice. 

This process releases flavors and oils from the coffee while the ice chills it immediately. Unlike other methods, you can enjoy this cold brew immediately instead of waiting overnight.

One final tip is to add more ice to your cup as there may not be enough left over from the melted ice in your carafe and thus your cold brew may not be cold enough.

#4 The Lazy Method

If you’re a cold brew lover but dislike the effort required in the above methods, we have a process you may enjoy. It may not 100% fall into the precise “cold brew” definition, but the result tastes mostly the same as other methods.

In the morning, make a big batch of hot, pour-over coffee. If coffee is left over by lunchtime, put it in the fridge for it to get cold. Once it is thoroughly chilled, sip and enjoy like any old cold brew coffee. It still has most of the flavors (yet it may be a bit stale or oxidized) but doesn’t require any extra effort!

To be honest we thought the lazy method comes out best with the Japanese method a close second if you need that cold brew RIGHT NOW without the wait and don’t mind not having all flavors retained.

#5 Coffee Cubes

One of our subscribers, Madeline of the ADHD charity F.O.C.U.S. shared her trick for cold-brewing, which I totally love. She pours her extra coffee into the little Lego molds up there. Not because they are cute (which they totally are) but because they have so many craggy angles the frozen coffee melts quick in whole milk, or condensed milk for that extra indulgent, icy kick.

What’s your favorite cold-brew method?

Have a secret technique we should try? Or a type of bean you think just makes the ideal cold brew? Let us know in the comments, we’ll give it a go.

Finding your Perfect Brew

Coffee beans come in different flavours and varieties, but one of the most significant factors determining its taste is its roasting level.

Roasting coffee isn’t simply a part of the processing; it’s about heating them at distinct levels at certain time intervals to elicit an ideal, final flavor profile.

As you choose your next bag of fresh-roasted coffee beans from BeanCurious, here are some of the roast levels you’ll encounter and what they mean to your cup of joe.

Coffee Roasting Basics

Roasting coffee beans is a process that takes years to master, and experts take great pride in the products they create. Coffee roasters heat beans at various temperatures and lengths of time, depending on the variety and desired roast level.

There are three general roast types:

• Light Roast: At this level, beans are roasted until the end of the “First Crack” or not before the end. The bean won’t have any oil on the outside. Once brewed, it will produce a lighter brown colour than other roast levels. There’s also emerging research about the health benefits of this roast variety.
• Medium Roast: Beans are roasted until “First Crack” is done or even to the full expansion of beans after “First Crack”. This process produces a less acidic, slightly sweeter brew while maintaining the unique flavours of each bean that resembles its origin. Like lighter roasts, the beans will not appear oily after roasting.
• Dark Roast: Dark roasts involve higher temperatures and for more extended periods resulting in less acidic coffee and beans that appear oily. Coffee beans in dark roasts take on the flavour of the roasting process, often featuring the taste of roasted nuts and cocoa. Unlike lighter roasts, dark roasts often lack the unique qualities of the bean’s origin.

Why Coffee Roast Levels Matter

So, we know different roast levels exist. But why does it matter? What does it do to the coffee bean?

Tasting Notes

The origin, growth, and harvesting processes aren’t the only aspects a coffee enthusiast should look into. A coffee bean’s roast level is just as significant and the second most critical factor in flavour next to a bean’s origin.

Light Roast

Light roasts preserve the delicate aromas of the beans best, especially floral and fruity flavours. Some tasting notes, like jasmine, red fruit or zesty citrus, are only detectable if you roast your beans light. Light roast levels will have higher acidity levels and fruitiness than others.

Medium Roast

Medium roasts are all about balance. But don’t be fooled—medium roasts are not always the same, resulting in a vast range of flavours. For example, one well-known coffee brand (which starts with an S and ends in ucks) has a medium roast that is so dark that the beans barely hold onto any of their unique flavours. This darker side of “medium” is not only found in chain coffee stores like this one but also many store-bought varieties, you may find at your local grocery stores.

At Bean Curious, we use our Roaster’s Choice level as a median benchmark, and it varies from bean to bean. Why? Every bean is different, so every bean needs a different roast profile to provide an optimal tasting experience.

You can think of our Roaster’s Choice option as an omakase. Roaster’s Choice strives to find the perfect harmony of flavour by maintaining a bean’s natural floral and fruity notes but with a reduced bite of acidity. Simultaneously, this balanced roast elicits the nutty, chocolate flavours that coffee lovers dream of.

Dark Roast

Dark roasts bring out that familiar, standard “coffee taste” of caramel and chocolate because the natural sugars caramelize throughout the process. Darker roasts also reduce a coffee bean’s acidity, resulting in a round, full-bodied mouthfeel profile.

Additional Influences of Coffee Roast Levels

While the various roasting levels can draw different layers of flavour from coffee beans, they can also influence other factors such as rest periods, brew methods, grind size, and more.

• Rest Period: Dark roasts only need a few days, while lighter roasts tend to express fully approximately after two weeks.
• Brew Methods: Different roast levels call for different water temperatures, such as a lighter roast needing hotter water when brewed for a heavier body yet some acidity and fruitiness will be sacrificed. Keep this in mind next time you put your kettle on.
• Grind Size: The size you grind whole coffee beans will impact flavour balance and acidity levels. For example, finer grinds draw out higher body but lower acidity in lighter roasts.

Another fun fact? Lighter roasts contain higher caffeine content than their darker counterparts when you are comparing their % of caffeine by density yet vice versa when counting their % by mass.

Coffee Roasted How You Like It At Bean Curious

At BeanCurious, we offer all of our beans at three different roast levels: light, roaster’s choice, and dark.

Why? Because it allows you to leverage each subscription package to discover the perfect bean at your ideal roast level, resulting in your perfect cup of coffee.

It also allows you to explore the endless flavour profiles found in the world’s most beloved energizing brew. Which will you try first?

To date, we have shipped out tens of thousands of coffee orders. Our old packaging used aluminum lined plastic bags that kept the flavours of our coffee perfectly, but unfortunately couldn’t be recycled. Polluting the planet isn’t something I signed up for and I don’t want to push the responsibility on to you, so since 2019 we’ve been looking at a few solutions:

Paper bags
Cheap and easy, but no way. Paper lets air in, making your coffee bitter. Oilier dark roasts tend to absorb the paper taste too.

Re-usable containers
Expensive for us to make, clean and I’m sure you don’t want to ship it back. May be viable if we open a physical retail shop one day.

Biodegradable plastics
Turns out not actually biodegradable, they break down into microplastics which poison the oceans and people. Also uses fossil fuels to produce.

Compostable plastics
Surprise, actually biodegradable! These containers break down into natural soil after 12 months, and use way less fossil fuels to produce.

Home Compostable Bags

Compostable plastics are made from some stuff called PLA and PBAT. PLA is built from plant and corn waste (YAY) which turns back into dirt nicely but is stiff as a board. PBAT is made from oil (BOO) but it keeps the PLA soft and breaks down into non-toxic organic stuff (YAY).

Can you recycle them? Nope. But we couldn’t recycle the old bags either and making these kinds of bags releases much less CO₂. Plus if a bag escapes the trash cycle it won’t float in our oceans for a thousand years! The entire bag (including the valve) is designed to degrade to soil in the natural environment with zero microplastics left behind.

We tested the compostable bags and ended up with some pros and cons. On the pro side, they work great! The beans degas properly and the bag protects them from the air. On the con side, they leave a papery taste after a couple weeks in dark roasts. The other downside is these bags are wildly expensive.

Our old, plastic bags cost less than $1 HKD (0.13 USD) each. The compostable ones cost OVER $7 HKD ($1 USD) per pack!!! The capitalist in me cries. But hey I don’t want the earth to burn (more) so we’re sucking it up and making the investment. So as of 2021 all BeanCurious coffee will be shipped out using home compostable paper packs with no price increase.

How to brew coffee is one of the most frequently asked questions we get. If you’re looking to upgrade your Nespresso or Starbucks addiction this four pillar guide will help you brew your favourite cup every time. Four pillars too exhausting? Ok then, just follow the first two and you are guaranteed an immediate, significant upgrade to your morning coffee brew.

Pillar 1

Use whole beans.

We can’t stress this enough, if you aren’t buying whole bean coffee you are missing out on 70% of a bean’s flavour. Grinding coffee beans introduces a tremendous amount of oxygen to the delicate essential oils inside the beans, causing rapid oxidization and deterioration of smells and tastes – basically everything you are paying for in specialty coffee.

Pillar 2

Get fresh roast coffee.

Roasting changes the chemical makeup of the beans and this process doesn’t end when the beans are pulled out and packed. The transformation continues for a few days up to approximately 2 weeks, with the beans slowly releasing carbon dioxide in a process called “degassing”. If you’ve seen a bag of coffee puffed up like a balloon, this is what’s happening.

Once the beans are degassed, their flavour is set and they’ll slowly mature and improve for about a week finally peaking about two weeks in. You should try to drink all your coffee during this window. After 14 days oxygen will start eating up the essential oils and slowly degrade your beans, giving up their flavour and turning them bitter and probably oxidized about a month after the roast date.

This is why supermarket coffee tastes bitter and weird: enormous batches are roasted abroad, then shipped to Hong Kong. By the time they’re on the shelf it’s well over a month old, if you’re lucky. The only way to make it drinkable, is by drowning it in milk and sugar.

A key caveat to the one month after roast rule is grinding the beans. Remember what we said about whole beans? By grinding the beans you create a larger surface area for oxygen to attack and that cranks up the rate of oxidation, transforming your beans from fresh to bitter/oxidized in a matter of hours; days if you’re really lucky.

Rule 3

Adjust your coffee grind size.

This is where we cross over into serious coffee territory. If you really want control over taste, grind size is a good place to start. Keep in mind there are no absolutes here; what grind size you ultimately use is up to your personal preference. But there are a few guidelines you can follow:

• Are your beans going to be sitting in water for a while?
  (French Press, Cold Brew)
  Grind it large to let the flavours extract slowly.
• Are your beans going to have hot water forced through them rapidly?
  (Espresso, Aeropress, Mokka)
  Grind it fine to get maximum flavour.
• Something in-between?
  (Pour-over, drip)
  Grind it medium.

Taste it and ask yourself:

• Is your coffee too bitter or heavy?
  Use a slightly larger grind size. Finely ground coffee extracts the maximum amount of flavour, including proteins, oils and bitter tastes. Proteins, oils and bitter elements dissolve slower, so grinding large will prevent them from getting into your cup.
  
  Keep this in mind with coffees described as “bright” or “lemony”, if you grind them too fine, your coffee may become excessively bitter. Reducing the brew time may also help here.
• Is your coffee too thin?
  Grind it finer. The additional surface area will pull more proteins, oils and smaller molecules from your coffee, giving it a thicker mouthfeel.

Rule 4

Pay attention to your coffee to water ratio.

Do you own a kitchen scale? It’s one of my favourite pieces of kitchen equipment; right up there with my chef knife and temperature probe (I may take cooking a bit more seriously than most). If you don’t have one, try using a container or cup to experiment with how much water you add to your grinds.

When you first start playing around with your coffee to water ratio, a good place to start is with the Specialty Coffee Association (a group of very serious coffee nerds that create guidelines for this kind of thing). Their recommendation is to use 55g of coffee for every 1,000ml of hot water. Most grinders have a 30g capacity (including the ones in our shop) so that works out to be 600ml of hot water for a full grinder (two cups of coffee) or if you’re drinking solo, 15g  of coffee per 300ml, resulting in one cup.

If you find that ratio is too strong, don’t worry! You’re the one who has to drink it so just add a touch more water next time. Too weak? Use a bit less. If you’re brewing with a pour over and a scale, you can really dial in a cup that’s just perfect for your tastes and be able to do it consistently.

That’s it! Your perfectly brewed coffee.

If you really want to dig deep into coffee technique, there are many other variables you can try to get maximum flavour from your beans. You can try to change up how fast you pour, how long you let it steep, the temperature of the water, the temperature you drink it; everything effects the final flavour which is what makes coffee brewing fun. Change it up, adjust your personal recipe with each bean you try, and relax, it’s only coffee. If you screw up you can always make more.

Tools of the trade.

Adjust your grind size:

Dial in your water to coffee ratio: