A cafetiere can be an affectionate, loyal companion for years to come if treated with love and respect. If you’re doing any of the following then you need to check yourself, because mistreating an inanimate piece of kitchen equipment is not big and not clever.
- You’re scalding it!
After your kettle has boiled, let the water cool for a minute before pouring it in. As well as scorching the coffee, boiling water is known to make cafetieres squeal and – in the most extreme cases – cry.
- You’re rushing it!
Allow the cafetiere to do its brewing thing for four minutes. That’s the amount of time the little guy needs to deliver the best flavour, any less and it’ll feel harassed and humiliated.
- You’re shaming it!
Before plunging, use two spoons to scoop off any grounds that are floating on the top. These grounds can compromise the taste of the coffee, making the cafetiere feel worthless.
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16 thoughts on “Three ways you’re mistreating your cafetiere (and you don’t even know it)…”
Two spoons!!?? Please demonstrate this “scooping of the grounds” system in a video. Surely one spoon could do all the scooping required!?
Two spoons provide the most effective way to extract undissolved coffee while removing as little liquid as possible. However, one spoon should still do the trick!
Hi again Andy, we have a little surprise for you 🙂
Pop on over to our new blog post, here: the two spoon technique
Wow, I didn’t know about these, I used to pour in the water right after it was boiled! Thanks for sharing this out!
All about temperature, makes such a difference!
Oh dear, better take better care of mine in future! Great to know that my morning coffee will now taste even better!
Great stuff, Molly! Glad we could be a help to you.
I I was wondering if I am able to use this on my website this video. Happy to reference it back to your youtube channel of course. Wont be for a little while but have loved this for years it speaks to my soul and i would like to motivate and inspire others with it.
Hi guys 🙂 I heard that it’s better not to let the water boil at all, in order to keep more oxygen in the water and improve the coffee. So, I stop the kettle before it gets to boiling – is there any benefit in this?
Hi Amy, thanks for your comment. We’ve not heard about that before! Could you let us know where you heard to do that?
I too have heard you should use water just before it boils, if fact it’s something I’ve heard for over 40 years. That said I’ve just looked on Google and certainly on page 1 there is no mention of using water before it boils, so I’ll be boiling water in future and letting it cool for a minute.
It was just an old friend who was very particular about the way he had his coffee! I’ve followed this method since 🙂 there’s a good documentary on youtube from Vice “journey to coffee mecca” which has all kinds of tips like this if anyone is interested 🙂
Oh, thanks for the heads up! We’ll have a look into it 🙂
Wow, my husband will be very happy if he hears that tips. It will make the coffee more attractive. Enjoy coffee as your way.
We’re glad that your husband will find this useful, Tonny!
Surely the plunger pushes the small amount of floating grounds down to join the bulk of the grounds at the bottom of the cafetiere, once the brew time is up? They remain there, so why can’t the top ones?