If you are at all like me, you thoroughly enjoy the morning ritual surrounding one of your most important first acts upon waking… making coffee. Getting correctly caffeinated is one of the most important parts of every KAVU day...Summer, Winter, Spring, or Fall...coffee always calls. An estimated 450 million cups of coffee are made and consumed each day in the United States and there are almost as many combinations of ways to make these cups. Admittedly, being a discerning coffee drinker is a true luxury, but no matter the beans or extraction method there are ways to create a fine cup of coffee by following some simple, yet important rules.
Click Here To Download The Recipe PDF
I met up with Ralph Backstrom to start my education into making a better cup of coffee at home. Backstrom is a living legend, 2013 Free Ride World Tour Champion, who left his snowboard career to completely dedicate himself to his new art—coffee. Megan Michelson wrote a great piece on the shop for REI a few years back and reported that Ralph’s interest in coffee began years ago when his brother, Arne Backstrom, a pro freeskier, got into roasting his own coffee beans. As a Christmas present in 2009, Arne gifted Ralph a pound of green coffee beans—the unroasted seeds of coffee cherries—which they roasted at home in a pot on the stove. “It didn’t taste very good,” Ralph said. “I didn’t roast again for a while after that, but Arne kept at it.” Less than a year later, in June 2010, Arne died in a fall while skiing a high-altitude peak in Peru. He was 29. The loss devastated his close-knit family. Arne, Ralph, and their sister, Ingrid Backstrom, also a pro skier, came from a ski-loving family from Washington.
Fast forward 8 years and Ralph through diligent trial, error, and study had dialed in his process and partnered with another true American mountain town hero, Travis Ganong, a US Ski Team Member, World Cup Winner, and World Championship medalist to open a now local bastion of caffeine and good vibes, Pacific Crest Coffee.
Watching Ralph direct the hyper-focus that propels an individual to be world-class at one thing towards his next passion is refreshing and one can’t help but be in awe of the level of dedication, and obsession, that passion-first folks put towards their endeavors. Listening to his tales of snowboarding adventures while a sponsored North Face athlete and how they were always deeply complimented by purposeful moments of coffee enjoyment, even if that meant lugging grinders and beans to very difficult to reach places, one can’t help but feel a little bit of Backstrom’s lost wanderlust in the reminiscing. There is a lot of literature and techniques for making great coffee online but below is a breakdown of how Pacific Crest recommends making a great pour-over.
Heat your water to 200 degrees.
Wet filter with hot water to warm the dripper, cup, and remove any excess paper residue from the filter that could muck up the taste.
Grind 25-30 grams of coffee so that it is same consistency as Kosher salt, and add to filter.
The BLOOM! Pour 60 grams of water or a ¼ cup to open up the grounds and let bitter gases escape.
Pour 100 grams and wait until water goes through the filter. Repeat 2 more times for a total of 300 grams of water. Start on outside and move toward the center aiming for darker areas.
Enjoy!
Grind size for whatever method of extraction you choose is critical. For a great pour over you will want a medium/fine grind. The Baratza Encore grinder (https://www.pacificcrestcoffee.com/equipment/p/style-02-kagal), which like KAVU, is also designed and engineered Seattle and is a great entry-level grinder. I set it at 20 to 21. You can check this chart to get a better visual idea of what “ medium-fine” looks like, https://ineedcoffee.com/coffee-grind-chart/
If your coffee tastes week or sour, you should adjust your grind to make it finer. If it tastes too bitter, adjust your grind to make it coarser. As I mentioned above, you can also experiment with various beans and the elevations they are grown at to see if you prefer one taste to another.
If you want to just set it and forget it and are looking for a great coffee machine that does all the heavy lifting the Mocha Master is for you. It gets the temperature to 200 and sticks every brew. It also comes in a variety of epic colors... https://www.pacificcrestcoffee.com/equipment/p/technivorm-moccamaster-kbg-select
You will not be disappointed 'getting you some' of Backstrom's Beans, he is a beanologist and the flavors and profiles he peddles are indeed very very good....go to https://www.pacificcrestcoffee.com/coffee
Hosted by: Nick Greece
Follow Nick - @nicgreece
Special Thank You to: Dom Gill
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