Fresh Beans
No matter what coffee beans you use, the correct grind of coffee depends on the brewing cycle of your coffee equipment. Vinaccio Coffee recommends that if you don't know your equipment's brewing cycle, time how long it takes for the water to pass through the coffee grounds and fill the airpot or coffee urn. Once you know your brewing cycle, match this with the correct grind of coffee below.

Fine Grind: For brewers with a 2 to 3.5 minute brew time.
Drip Grind: For brewers with a 3.5 to 6 minute brew time.
Coarse Grind: For brewers with a 5.5 to 8 minute brew time.

For instance, if you use a coarse grind of coffee in a filter-drip brewer with a short (2-4 minute) brewing cycle, the coffee will be weak and tasteless. This is due to the large particle size and short contact time. Conversely, if you use a fine grind with a coffee maker with a 4 to 6 minute brew cycle, the result would probably be very bitter tasting coffee. So, in short, use our coffee guide to perfect the brewing process. Remember to match your brewing cycle with the correct grind!

Coffee to Water Ratio
The proper ratio of coffee to water is two tablespoons per 6 fluid ounces of water, or 2 to 4 ounces of coffee for every ½ gallon of water.
The first step in determining the correct coffee to water ratio is to determine the relationship of coffee to water. To do this, first run a brew cycle of water and measure the quantity of water in the airpot or decanter. With this knowledge you can then determine the proper amount of coffee to use.
Let’s use our café as an example. Since 3 liters (the size of our airpots at our Sultan, WA café’) equals approximately 101 ounces, we divide 101 (the size of our airpots) by 6 (the amount of water, in ounces, per two tablespoons of coffee). This gives us approximately 17. We then multiply 17 by two (because it is two tablespoons per 6 ounces, not one). That means that we put 34 tablespoons of coffee into our 3 liter airpots. Of course we don’t scoop a tablespoon 34 times; we convert tablespoons to cups and end up with approximately two cups of coffee per 3 liter airpot. Now of course this number can be adjusted accordingly. For instance, if we are brewing Sky Valley Mud (French Roast), we do, in fact, use two cups of coffee per 3 liters of water. However, if we are using a medium roast coffee such as African Fields, we can drop the amount of ground coffee used down to, say, one cup. Remember, individual taste preferences play a large factor in this equation, so don’t forget that these are ballpark numbers. Feel free to email us at info@vinaccio.com if you have any questions pertaining to your particular situation.

Know Your Coffee Fundamentals

Water Temperature
In order to properly extract coffee, the water temperature must be between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature must be maintained throughout the brew cycle.

Water Delivery
It is very important that the bed of coffee is THOROUGHLY and EVENLY wetted. It is imperative that you inspect the sprayer head to ensure that a spray of water is being evenly applied to the coffee grounds. A quick note: Spray heads are what separate cheap coffee makers from higher quality units. Cheap coffee makers will shoot a stream of water directly into the middle of the coffee bed; this results in over extraction in the center of the coffee and under extraction in the outer edges of the coffee bed. Higher priced coffee makers will have spay heads which spray the water evenly and in multiple directions across the coffee bed.

Brewing Time
Make sure that your brewer consistently produces batches that are of the same time length.

Brew Basket and Filter
Make sure that your brew basket is clean and that the paper filter is placed into the brew basket evenly. Also, if you are going to use a paper filter, make sure that it is of the oxygen processed variety. Vinaccio Coffee recommends the use of gold plated reusable filters such as those made by Swissgold. These filters allow essential oils and flavors to pass through into the cup of coffee producing a more well balanced cup.

Proper Holding Time
The bottom line on holding time is this: Never, ever, keep freshly brewed coffee warm by using a heat source. Heat will continue to “cook” the coffee and alter the coffee to water ratio while changing the flavonoids within the coffee. The only acceptable way to keep coffee fresh and hot is through the use of an airpot.

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