Coffee 101: Batch Brewing at Home
Hello and welcome to the 5th (is it?) of my brewing guides! This week we are going to look at Batch Brewing at home.
“Wait, what? Batch what?” Batch Brewing guys. Similarly, some of you may know it as a home coffee maker or a drip. Basically an automatic coffee maker. Which is what it is.
Batch Brewers are a great way to brew your coffee not only for yourself in the morning, but also if you have a large party at home (whenever those are possible again). Or simply you have lots of people asking you for coffee in the morning because you are the coffee person at home. They are much used in the industry as they can make lots of coffee ( we are looking at 2+ litres). This means your favourite barista can concentrate on chatting to you instead of spending 5 to 6 minutes brewing your coffee with a pour-over.
You can get all sorts of brewers out there, depending on how much coffee you wan to make in the morning. Some are more expensive than others, but don’t be fooled by the price or brand! It doesn’t mean they may be actually good. We own this beautiful babe you see up here, the Aromaboy from Melitta, that makes up to 2 cups. Perfect for me, when I study really! And it’s not expensive at all!
Anywaysss let’s delve in how to make a great pot of joe, shall we?
Coffee 101: Batch Brewing at Home – a quick guide
Prep Time: 2 mins
Active Time: 8 mins 6 secs
Total Time: 10 mins 6 secs
Materials
- Filtered Water, about 1liter (1a)
- A kettle, preferably with temperature control
- A Automatic Brewer Of preference. (See notes)
- Filters, that fits the size of the brewer
- 60g of freshly ground coffee, Ground very coarse. (1b)
- A good quality scale, possibly that weights to the 0.1
Tools
- Filtered Water, about 1liter (1a)
- A kettle, preferably with temperature control
- A Automatic Brewer Of preference. (See notes)
- Filters, that fits the size of the brewer
- 60g of freshly ground coffee, Ground very coarse. (1b)
- A good quality scale, possibly that weights to the 0.1
Instructions
- If you haven’t ground your coffee, grind it now and place it on the side.
- Put the filtered water cold (2) in the brewer,
- Place a paper filter in the portafilter, with the decanter underneath, and with any water ensure the filter is well wet all throughout. The paper should adhere to the side of the brewer, with no air bubbles on sides that have not fallen in.
- Place the portafilter back inside the brewer, ensuring is well positioned.
- Empty the water into the decanter, and place it again with the brewer.
Weigh the coffee in, to max .1 of a gram, and give it a gentle nudge to flatten the coffee up. (3) - Start your brewer and voila! It will take roughly 5/6 minutes depending on your brewer. More on these below!
ANNOTATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS ON BATCH BREWING…
Before you brew, read these annotations and explanations. They are quite geeky, I know. But it will make sense of the brewing process.
- (a & b) Grams per litre: with Batch Brewing calculating how much coffee per water to have the perfect cup of coffee is much simpler than a V60. This is because batch brewers are designed to brew bigger amounts in a shorter time, so you can safely follow the SCA Guidelines. 60g per litre is the recommended standard for the UK & 70g per litre for the USA.
- Cold Water: yes! Cold water, always filtered, is ESSENTIAL here! The brewer will have a set temperature that it will boil the water to. If you have one that lets you change the temperature, we always recommend 94C for Batch Brewers. This is 2C higher than other brewing methods, but it compensates for agitation. (see below)
- Flattening your coffee: this helps with an even brew. Similarly to when we brew pour overs!
- The one thing Automatic Brewers do not have is ways to agitate or bloom your coffee bed. To compensate for this you may have a function called “pulses” which controls the way water is let into the coffee. You can also manually pause the brew and do it gently with a spoon. The world is your oyster on this.
Remember that each Batch brewer is different. You should always read the manufacture instructions before using any new appliance or electrical equipment.
As always, any questions you may have just pop me a message on here and we will be happy to help! If you are not sure, check out our other brewing guides, we may already have spoken about your brewing method!
Happy brewing!
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This sounds really interesting – I always just make an instant coffee since I don’t have a lot of time x
🙂
How interesting! I did not know that cold water was necessary for batch brewing. My parents always had a batch brewer growing up, but I have a single pod coffee maker. When I visit them, I never know how to use the darn thing, lol. Thank you for explaining this. xx
Ahah now you know! X
Oh, now I want a mocha! I had no idea this is what baristas used, no wonder they can have convos without seeming to worry about anything else. Cheers to coffee!
Eh, we do worry lots! This is only one tenth of coffee shops sales, most coffees in a coffee shops comes from an espresso machine, so not as helpful as you may think!
I wasn’t a coffee fan two years ago. I didn’t even drink coffee! At all! Since the lockdown though, I have felt myself being drawn to consume more and more!
One day I will be at this level.
It’s never too late! X
Great post! I’m not a huge coffee drinker, but I’ll definitely recommend this to the people I know who are. It sounds really useful!
Thank you!
Lovely guide! This will definitely be helpful for having people around in the future.
Thank you!
Oh indeed!x
Reading this while sipping coffee <3 perfect set-up!
I'm from Romania and here, because of all the turkish influences in culture, we brew our coffee the turkish way, using an ibrik 😀 I will remember to recommend your post though next time a friend asks me on tips for brewing coffee and they don't have an ibrik at home 🙂
Anda @Thebusyshelf
Ahh, lovely Ibrik! Thank you for reading me! X
Fascinating. I never knew there was quite so much to coffee. Clearly, I need to up my game. Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for sharing. I loved the images you used. For someone working at home like me, it can be such a hassle to buy coffee.💞
Indeed, this is so simple!
Not much of a coffee drinker but I have to say, I love the name of the pot… Aromaboy! Hah
Ahah I know!
I always learn something new about coffee with your posts! An interesting read xx
Thank you Della!x
This is really interesting. I’ve never batch brewed before but this would be perfect for when we have guests to stay.
Yes! Especially when you have guests this is the way to go! X
We’re completely a chai family (coffee is just for specific times when we realllyyy need energy) so I don’t think I’d use batch brewing much, but it’s good to know! I like how you explained all the terms briefly, that helps.
Thank you!
I’m love coffee and I love getting to learn how to make coffee. I enjoyed getting to read more about brewing coffee.
Thank you, glad you like them!x
Before I even knew about other ways to make coffee, I batch brewed. My parents always had a big pot of coffee going at home and my sister did the same at her house – so that’s just what I did as well. I felt like Luke from Gilmore Girls haha! It’s still a great way to enjoy a lot of coffee at once or make plenty for me and my husband on a day off. Such a great post!
Ahahah your comment made me smile! I secretly always felt like Luke too ahaha
Yup!! This one is for me. This is how I pretty much brew my coffee every day. I’m pretty much the only one that drinks coffee in my household and I drink coffee all day (I know, so bad)! This has saved me a lot of money as I used to use K-cups which was super expensive over time! Plus, I love my coffee edark and strong. Thanks for sharing, Fred! xx
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
Ah ha! I knew that day will come ahah
This looks cool :- ) I don’t drink coffee every day but I enjoy learning things about it and its preparation :- D Right now I only own a French press :- )
This is so interesting! I’ve never attempted this before but have a friend who’s really into coffee and he does his at home xx
Bookmarked this post! I’ve never tried batch brewing before, and I will definitely do this. I think this will really save my time, especially in the mornings! Thanks for sharing xx
100% will! X
Some great tips in this post. The cold water first is an absolute must – it was my biggest trick for smoother coffees back when I was a barista in a swanky hotel.
Rosie
Cool post about coffee. Really interesting 🧐
Thanks for sharing
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