For The Love of Beans, Perfect Your Pour

Featuring best-in-class retailers such as Blue Bottle Coffee and ROAM Artisan Burgers, Bay Meadows’ Town Square is shaping up to be the ideal gathering place with more ground floor retail, dining and pop-ups to come. Blue Bottle Coffee’s brewing guide walks us through how to make the perfect pour-over coffee in 2 ½-3 minutes. Begin perfecting your perfect pour-over and shop daily for fresh beans or plan a Bay Meadows Blue Bottle Cafe meet-up for sipping alongside your neighbors. The pour-over method is nothing flashy—just good, solid technique that produces the best cup of coffee. With just you and a few simple tools you’ll be enjoying a delicate and complex cup of Blue Bottle that is worth the extra time and effort.

What You’ll Need: Pour over dripper, #2 filter, kettle, grinder, digital scale, and a timer.

Step 1: Bring at least 600 grams (20 oz) of water to a boil.

Step 2: Grind 30 grams of coffee (3 tbsp) to a coarseness resembling sea salt. To enjoy the nuanced flavor of a single origin coffee that is lightly roasted, we recommend less coffee: 23 grams for every 350 grams water

Step 3: Place a filter in the dripper.

Step 4: Pour half of the hot water over the empty filter to remove any “papery” taste and warm your dripper. Discard rinse water.

Step 5: Add the ground coffee to the filter and gently tap it to level the surface of the grounds. Place the brewer on a carafe or cup, place this entire set-up onto a digital scale, and set it to zero.

Step 6: There will be four pours total for this coffee preparation. This is the first, and the most magical, because it is when you will see the coffee “bloom.” As hot water first hits the grounds, Co2 is released creating a blossoming effect—the grounds will rise up en masse.

Start a timer. Begin pouring water slowly over the coffee, starting at the outer rim and moving in a steady spiral toward the center of the grounds. Stop pouring when the scale reaches 60 grams. Make sure all the grounds are saturated, even if you need to add a little water. The pour should take about 15 seconds. Give the coffee an additional 30 seconds to drip before moving on to the second pour.

Step 7: Starting in the center of the grounds, pour in a steady spiral toward the outer edge and then back toward the center. Add roughly 90 grams, bringing the total to 150 grams. The goal during this pour is to sink all of the grounds on the surface of the bed. This creates a gentle turbulence that “stirs” the coffee, allowing water to more evenly extract the grounds. Allow 45–65 seconds to elapse.

Step 8: As the mixture of water and coffee from the second pour drops to the bottom of the filter, coming close to the level of the grounds, pour an additional 100 grams of water using the same pattern as the second pour. This brings the total up to 250 grams and should take 15–20 seconds.

Step 9: When the water and coffee from the third pour drops to the bottom of the filter, complete your fourth and final pour. Add 100 grams, bringing the total up to 350 grams of water. This pour should take 20 seconds.

We asked T.J. Foster, Meadow Walk – Shea Homes Community Representative his favorite Blue Bottle paring and he replied, “Blue Bottle Latte and a Blue Bottle Waffle, are you kidding!!?? AWESOME!

We agree! So we dug up a recipe for you… Whip up a delicious, sweet side of Blue Bottle’s famous Liege Waffles paired with a coffee or a latte in the comfort of your home at Bay Meadows!

LottieandDoof.com Liège Waffles (adapted slightly from The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee)

LottieandDoof.com Liège Waffles (adapted slightly from The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee)

Looking for recipes to enjoy your favorite Blue Bottle brew year-round?

Try Macchiato Pops for a tasty, cool Blue Bottle treat all summer long!

DailyWaffle.com Zoku Popsicle Maker: Blue Bottle Macchiato Pops

DailyWaffle.com Zoku Popsicle Maker: Blue Bottle Macchiato Pops

 

Experience Midurban life. Bay Meadows is a family-friendly neighborhood with lots of open space to enjoy all year long. Whether it’s growing your own vegetables in a gorgeous community garden with expert guidance, playing a game of pick-up basketball after work, team building over bocce, picnicking with family on warm summer nights or getting fit with pop-up fitness and yoga classes curated just for you, there’s no shortage of green space to explore. If you have little ones, create a regular play-date in Paddock Park with neighboring parents! Check out life out and about at Bay Meadows by following us on Instagram.