© 2007 The George Howell Coffee Company

Measuring: Water reservoirs, depending on the brand, measure anything from 4 to 5.25 liquid ounces as a “cup!” There is no standard. So if you are looking for exactly the right scoop for YOUR machine, it will take a bit of trial and error. Terroir Coffee offers a scoop which I feel makes the perfect Technivorm cup (its “cup” is 4.25 liquid ounces) and which can be used for other machines with slight adjustments to the level of coffee put in the scoop. With it, measure a level, or slightly below, scoop of ground coffee per “cup” as specified by the water tank. Even better, measure whole bean coffee in the scoop.  

Grinding: Measure the volume of beans going into your grinder. Given the greater density of beans, the amount of coffee, whether whole beans or ground, retains practically the same volume in the scoop! This way what you put in your grinder is what goes into the brew – no messy, wasted ground coffee getting stale. As mentioned earlier, I prefer a somewhat coarser grind than typically recommended as “drip” grind when making six Technivorm “cups” or more (the more coffee you are brewing the longer hot water is in contact with the grounds so, if you want absolute consistency, you must adjust to favor a slightly coarser grind). A PDF of this grind can be printed for matching.

Filters: you can use paper filters, brown or white (oxygen bleached), or metallic-coated filters, preferably inert gold. Metallic filters add a kind of body, due to allowing very fine sediment through, which clouds the cup and settles on the palate. Paper filters produce a clear beverage, emphasizing more liveliness and greater, unclouded flavor definition. Brown filters impart stronger paper flavor to the brew, according to tests we have made. The most pristine results are achieved by rinsing the paper filter before using. With my Technivorm I simply brew 4 “cups” worth of water into the filter-holder which I keep in the closed position. When all the water is in the filter holder I release it into the receptacle below. I then fill the wet rinsed filter with grounds and brew again. This is a quick and easy exercise. In blind tests it is easy to pick out the rinsed filtered coffee. Try it; you will be surprised.

Cleaning is a critical requirement of your brewer. Each time you brew coffee a film of oils extracted during the process are left on the filter cone assembly, components and the inside of the glass or thermal beaker.It is important to thoroughly rinse these surfaces in hot water and it helps to wipe them dry with a paper towel.