Your First Brew
Congratulations on your first grinder, or second, welcome to the rabbit hole!
If you're feeling a little lost staring at a bag of beans and your new equipment, that's completely normal. Fret not, we are here to help.
First, let's talk about your beans
This month, we are featuring the Ethiopia Doora Bona Zuria from KerYi Coffee, a natural-processed bean from smallholder farmers in the Sidama region. We picked these beans to showcase the floral and bright flavours that your grinder can unlock.
This is a natural-processed coffee, which means the beans were dried with the fruit still on them. What that gives you is a naturally sweeter, fruitier cup — expect blueberry and orange, with a floral note that opens up beautifully as it cools. Let the cup sit for a minute or two and notice how the flavour changes.
Since Ethiopian beans tend to be denser than most, they produce more fines when ground. We find it helps to start a few clicks coarser than the midpoint of your range and dial back from there, rather than starting fine.
Finding your grind setting
For V60, you're aiming for medium-fine — roughly the texture of table salt. These starting points are based on real-world community testing and grind settings may differ from bean to bean.
Select your grinder to see your V60 starting point:
← Pick a brand first
Getting set up
You don't need to be precise to the decimal to make a good cup, but we find having a working ratio helps. Our go-to receipe uses :
- 15g of coffee to 225g of water (1:15 ratio)
- Water at 92°C — if you don't have a thermometer, boil your kettle and let it sit for about 45 seconds
- Grind size: medium-fine, about the texture of coarse sand
The Brew
Give your brewer a shake to start with a flat brew bed. Pour in gentle circular motions while keeping a consistent water flow. The idea is to minimise turbulence on your brew bed to extract more evenly and cleanly.
| Time | What to do |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | Pour 45g to bloom to release CO₂ trapped in fresh beans. Give it a gentle swirl after your first pour |
| 0:30 | Pour to 100g |
| 1:00 | Pour to 150g |
| 1:30 | Final pour to 225g, with straight pour through the center |
Your total draw-down should finish somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00. If it drains faster, grind finer next time. If it stalls, go coarser. We recommend adjusting one variable at a time when optimising for your brews.
Your first cup won't be perfect — and that's fine
Even experienced brewers dial in a new bean over a few attempts. The point of this sampler isn't to nail a competition-worthy cup on the first go — it's to get you curious about what your equipment can do, and to introduce you to the people roasting exceptional coffee right here in Singapore.
KerYi Coffee is one of those roasters. If this cup speaks to you, go check them out — they're worth knowing.
And if you have questions about your setup or what to try next, we're always around.
Happy brewing. ☕