Chemex preparation - we interviewed the best woman of the 1st Chemex Cup. Ruth is known as the "coffee aunt" and she conjured up a great recipe for us for Chemex preparation.
Along the way, we talked with Ruth about her participation in the 1st Chemex Cup, from which she emerged as one of the winners.
19grams: As part of the 3rd Berlin Coffee Festival, the First international Chemex Cup was hosted by Coffee Circle. What moved you to participate in the Chemex preparation competition?
Actually, there were several reasons: First, the Chemex is my absolute favorite as a preparer. Especially in the office, when I make coffee for several people, it's great. You can brew directly at the table, which I find very comfortable. And of course the result in the cup is also top in terms of taste. When I read about the Chemex Cup, it was clear that I wanted to participate. The 2nd reason is that I personally am bothered by the low quota of women in (coffee) competitions. And that's when I decided to tackle it quite pragmatically by entering competitions myself. And then it is unfortunately the case that I take too little time in everyday life to experiment. So I thought the Chemex Cup would be a good occasion to try something new again and work out a recipe for a particular coffee (in this case, a filter coffee from Kenya).
19grams: How did the Chemex preparation competition proceed in detail?
Beforehand, Coffee Circle sent us the competition coffee "Karani/Kenya" to practice. This means that all 9 participants were able to work out a recipe at home. At the competition itself, there were then 3 preliminary rounds. In each preliminary round, 3 participants competed against 3 others, with the two first-place finishers advancing to the next round. By the way, I really liked the fact that the field of participants was so diverse - from hobby coffee drinkers to professional baristas!
19grams: You took 3rd place, congratulations! How did you prepare for the competition?
Aside from the fact that I always like to brew up a Chemex when I have visitors in the office (see above), I really didn't start to specifically develop a recipe until I got the practice coffee from Coffee Circle. To do this, I experimented with the grind and mainly played with the temperature. In retrospect, I have to say that I could have been even more courageous and creative. I was lucky that the winner of the competition, Haider Adams from Poland, told me his recipe. And that was really cool: For example, he folded the Chemex filter in a special way to allow a bypass technique. So all in all, very educational and exciting and a great competition atmosphere.
19grams: How do you personally prefer to drink your coffee?
Actually, I don't have one favorite drink, but I always try to try as many new things as possible and I'm really happy about that! On a standard day, it still looks like I have a Flat White in the morning to wake up, and then I like to have filter coffee throughout the day.
19grams: What is special for you about the Chemex preparation in contrast to other filter preparation methods?
I really like the taste. Because of the dense filter, you get a very clear cup with Chemex preparation, which I find pleasant. And then the Chemex is just beautiful in my eyes! It is also fun to prepare them for several people directly at the table.
19grams: You created a recipe for our readers with our coffee Costa Rica, Finca Las Lajas, Perla Negra Natural for the Chemex: From the great Tres Cabezas Advent Calendar, I picked the Alma Negra Natural from Finca Las Lajas in Costa Rica because I really like naturals.
Chemex preparation: here is my recipe in the small Chemex for 1-3 cups:
1. 12g coffee to 200g water
2. grind: medium coarse
3. water temperature: 89 degrees
4. blooming: 30g water, 30 sec
5. then continue to 70g and finish brewing in small intervals until 200g.
6. total brewing time: 2 min
The result is a clear cup with a coffee that tastes fruity, sweet and smooth. Yummy! Thank you very much and we will try it right away. ...... If you want to try it too, go here to our Costa Rica coffee: Las Lajas Alma negra Here you can find Ruth's blog: Blog / Kaffeetante and here her great Instagram pictures: Instagram / Kaffeetante
