To be honest, I know nothing about coffee brewing except pouring hot water to my ground coffee. That’s what I do every morning because it is practically the easiest one. Besides, I have no fancy tools or even machine with me. Just a mug and a spoon to stir. But you know, there seem to be some new coffee brewing tools available in store lately. Most of them are very affordable, compared to espresso machine, and easy to use!
I never tried using one until I went to MG&Co weeks ago to attend their Manual Coffee Brewing Workshop.
Brewing coffee is so much fun! It lets you take control of every step in the process, like grinding (except that you buy the grind coffee), setting the water temperature, controlling the brewing time, etc. You might get different taste of coffee each and every time, even if it comes from the same bean.
Natanael Charis, the founder of MG&Co, started the workshop session by giving a small talk about the history of coffee. And also about the coffee farm in Jawa Barat.
After listening to some explanation about the history of coffee and stuffs, we headed to the main cafe area for lunch break. Lunch break was fun! We got to know other coffee enthusiasts. But most importantly, MG&Co offered us free meal and coffee!
Okay, back to the workshop!
Just exactly after lunch break, we learned how to do manual brewing using this 3 tools : Siphon Coffee Maker, V60, and Chemex. The Chemex caught my eyes!
Siphon Coffee Maker
Then just patiently wait… and voila! Your coffee is ready. What I like about this brewing tools is that it allows the flavors of the coffee grind to really bloom. There’s no bitterness in it.
V60
The V60 is basically a cone-shaped dripper. It has this large opening at the bottom and spiral kind of wall inside. What I like about this pour-over brewing method is that it allows you to brew the coffee directly into a cup or a jar or a server, you name it. Very simple and easy to clean!
I found that the V60 makes a rich and smooth coffee with less bitterness.
Chemex
This one is my favorite among all! Look at that elegant-looking glass!
After rinsing the filter (to remove this paper smell) and the chemex with hot water, we added some amount of ground coffee. Then slowly pouring just enough water to wet all the coffee, starting at the middle of the coffee and then moving in and out in a circular motion. Let it rest for about 30 to 40 seconds or until the water has dripped, then continue pouring some more water.
It produced a bright fruity coffee with a sweet kind of taste. I found the brewing process is also pretty simple! You just have to spend some time pouring water.
Oh! You might also wanna know that in order to get the best taste using Chemex, you have to let the coffee bloomed by simply pouring in the first water and let it sit for about half a minute before pouring the rest.
I had a lot of fun at MG&Co! Once again, thank you so much for having us.
And by the way, Natanael Charis is going to London Coffee Festival next month (April 2015) as one of the invitees and he will bring Garut coffee bean with him. You make Indonesia proud! 🙂
MG&Co
Jalan Taman Cempaka No. 7
Bandung
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Sharon Loh 
Thanks for the post. Before I read this post, I really didn’t know about manual coffee brewing. Now I understood this. But, I think, It will be take much more time.
Manual coffee brewing coffee maker, is good but, It is not very easy to use. I had this. Now I switched automatic coffee maker. It is better than old.