Hi, it's Tsubasa.
While being free and spontaneous when picking which and how much coffee to brew at home is fun - after all that's what's great about home brewing -, it's also nice to be able to plan and make the most out of the limited amount left in that bag of your favorite beans, and I think you know which one.
So you have a 100g bag of coffee beans in front of you.
You don't want to waste anything, and you want a solid plan to make the most out of that small bag- here's how I do it.
1. Wait until it's 9 days from the roasting day.
-Opening a new and exciting bag is an urge very difficult to resist. Consider it a mental workout. (Remaining: 100g)
2. Eat 1 or 2 beans.
-Well, it doesn't mean anything much, but it's my ritual before brewing. (Remaining: 99.5g)
3. If you find the beans hard, try grinding it a little fine, and use a little more water ( 200g~215g). If the beans are soft, grind a little coarse, and use less water (170g~190g).
-Nibbling on beans can be useful to figure out the recipe. Stick to using 13.5g per cup.
4. Focus on the first 1 minute with 120% attention.
-Pour 40g~50g of hot water for the blooming process. I like pouring taking about 6s~7s.
5. Enjoy your first brew.
-While sipping, think of all the possible ways you could brew it tomorrow. (Remaining: 86g)
6. Try something different.
-Reduce/increase the amount of water, or adjust the grind size and see how it turns out. (Remaining: 72.5g)
7. Spend few days trying different things until you get it right.
-Until you come to the point of 17g remaining, don't worry. Keep trying. (Remaining: 17g)
8. The final 17g. Use it all and brew a luxury cup.
-So this is your last cup. At this point I usually find the coffee I've been working on would be around 2 weeks and a bit old from the roasting day. By then, all I want in my cup is sweetness. So I leverage all of my experience and knowledge, focusing on the balance of the coffee's sweetness. I even go extreme and pour 170g of hot water within the first 1 minute. (Remaining: 0g)
9. Buy a new bag of coffee.
-I've been enjoying buying coffee over the internet, and if I get a very fresh coffee I consider that lucky, and start my routine all over again by working on my will power.
For your reference, I share how I categorise the hardness of the coffee using Kurasu's coffee as an example. It's a quite personal measurement, but I hope it helps you in some ways.
House Blend Dark - Soft
Fuyu Moe Winter Blend - On the harder end of spectrum. I would say medium-hard.
Colombia Alipio Zuniga - Hard.
Ethiopia Karamo Natural - Hard. Probably as hard as the Colombia above, or just a tiny bit softer.
Thanks for reading!