We always like a good chocolatey blends for the holiday season. This year we chose to work with low acidity coffees from Mexico and Brazil for strong Chocolate and Cocoa notes without the acidity. The Brazil varietal we used uniquely comes through with nuttiness as the cup cools and then to add a character to the blend we add some fruit tones of a dry processed Ethiopian Sidamo.

All in all, a great blend from drip and espresso.

Whether you use a Chemex, Hario, Clever or a simple plastic mellita filter. There are really 3 tips to get the best cup.

1. Water Temperature: It is essential to use a kettle that gives you a known temperature. I like to be in the range of 198-204F for most coffees. Lower water temperatures will result in a sour cup and higher temperatures causes bitterness in the cup. To get a consistent cup try to budget for a kettle with temperature controls like a BonaVia.
2. Grind Setting: Coffee grind and grind consistency varies over different grinders from a basic burrs grinder at $50 to a Vario at $400+. However, the goal of the grind is to be a medium grind so that you can prepare a pour over in 3 minutes.
3. Contact Time: This is the time for how long hot water is actually in contact with the coffee grounds. I reccommend this to be 3 minutes and the grind has to be adjusted accordingly for the following pouring steps.
   • Pre-infusion: Just Gently pour the hot water, wet the grounds and observe the bloom as the grounds expand and release trapped Co2 from the coffee and hence the aroma. 45sec.
   • Initial Drip Pour: 2 – 3 partial pours to drip for 25sec intervals
   • Final Pour: LAst pour to make volume and let it all drip through and complete in 3 mins. total

Importantly in the pouring process never let the grounds ever dry up, keep pouring and then adjust the grind accordingly as per cup completion time.