By Adam, our Coffi Lab roaster and…cat lover! (It’s ok, we love all pets here).
Fox Red is a beautiful all-rounder – our signature house coffee. It pops with vibrant tangerine and warming caramel, presenting a sweet chocolatey finish however you love your sip. Hailing from sunny Costa Rica, this single-origin coffee has a wonderfully rounded bean, roasted lightly to release its fine-tuned balance of acidity and sweetness.
“When rustling up a cup of Fox Red at home, my favourite way to brew is with a V60.”
Let’s use a tried and tested method to bring out that bright chocolate orange flavour in the cup.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 15g of Fox Red, filter grind.
- A set of coffee scales accurate to 0.1 of a gram, and a timer (expensive scales are almost never worth the money).
- A gooseneck kettle (expensive kettles are almost always worth the money).
- V60 cone and white type 2 filter papers. We’re using a Hario V60 with a Glass Range Server, but any will do the job.
- A decanter or favourite mug to pour into.
“We’ll be pouring in increments here – restrain those eager paws!”
Follow these steps for a lovely cup of Fox Red:
1. Start by rinsing and pre-heating your cone and filter paper with hot water. You want the paper to stick nicely to the inside of the cone. Then, place your cone atop your mug or decanter and boil the jug. That’s fancy talk for “get the kettle on”. If you own a smart kettle, anywhere between 95-100 degrees will suffice.
2. After taking your mandatory sniff of Fox Red, place your prepared cone and decanter on a scales, set back to 0 then dose 15g into the centre of your cone. Create a small spiralling hole in the middle with your finger or a spoon.
3. We’ll be pouring in increments here – restrain those eager paws! Once your kettle has boiled, reset your scales, start your timer and begin your first pour. Pour up to 50g of water somewhat vigorously over your coffee bed with the aim of saturating all the grounds. Give the cone a hearty spin in a clockwise manner to ensure the water reaches every nook and cranny.
4. Admire your bloom for 30 seconds then begin your second pour. Take this one up to 150g. Pour slowly in circles around the centre of the brew, but aggressively enough to agitate the grounds to release their sweet acidity.
5. Pause for around 15 seconds to allow the bed to drain slightly, then begin your third and final pour at around 1 minute 15 seconds on the timer. Pour very gently in circles until you hit the 250g mark, then give the cone another swirl to catch any grounds stuck to the side of the paper. When the water fully drains you should be left with a nice flat bed of coffee and a total brew time of 3 minutes.
6. Compost your paper, decant, and with extra emphasis on this step: enjoy your sip!
