Brew: Better Coffee at Home

by Brian W. Jones

If you're on a first-name basis with your barista but haven't perfected (or even attempted) making cafe-quality coffee at home, let Brew show you the way. In this approachable guidebook, author and coffee expert Brian W. Jones demystifies specialty coffee's complexities, teaches you how to buy the best beans and brewing equipment, offers in-depth primers for mastering various slow-coffee techniques (including pour over, French press and moka pot), and supplies you with dozens of recipes for invigorating coffee-based drinks and cocktails. Brew isn't a book for coffee professionals, but rather an indispensable and accessible guide for any specialty-coffee lover who wants to make better coffee at home.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Food and Drink, Coffee Table Books

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2016

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very easy read about how to brew the best coffee at home. It also includes a lot of information about coffee beans and how they are roasted, which seems helpful for finding good quality beans to brew at home. I'm excited to try the methods explained in this book!

[Viet Vu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entry level book for coffee lover. I learnt something basic about coffee with this book, especially the making process. Design of the book is fine, pleasant to read.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It was basic enough to be approachable to beginners but even as an experienced coffee drinker who already owns all these dorky gadgets and a few more, there were still things to learn. I especially liked the recipes and resources at the end.

[Ryan Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coffee table book about coffee. It was given as a gift, and I read it because I simply enjoy reading about the process of harvesting, roasting, and brewing coffee. It is 150+ pages, but half are pictures. So, it's short. But I did enjoy it, and it had some great, clear, concise info, similar to the Time Magazine Coffee book/magazine I read last year.

[Glownthedarc · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is beautiful. The pages are high quality and well laid out. The coffee snobbishness was a bit much for me. I would have liked if the author expressed that if someone likes their coffee, brewing, and/or style a little differently than he, then great! It came off as condescending if the reader likes anything outside what he does.

[Brian Nwokedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Introduction
The retail value of the U.S. coffee market alone is estimated to be over $48 billion dollars and specialty coffee comprises well over 55% of the market. Coffee shops are a staple of our lives and many of us know our local baristas by first-name. But as the coronavirus pandemic has continued, we have all been forced to invest in quality experiences within our homes.

Brew: Better Coffee at Home attempts to help the average joe brew a better cup of joe (see what I did there). And while I could have simply googled ”How to brew a better cup of coffee, I wanted to go a bit deeper. After reading Brew, not only have I been able to make very good, almost cafe-quality coffee at home, but I have also learned a bunch more about the varying and complex aspects of specialty coffee itself.

Why Should You Read This Book?
Brewing underwhelming coffee happens to all of us and can be extremely frustrating, especially when using really good coffee. Coffee expert Brian W. Jones takes the time in this book to simplify the complexities of coffee, especially speciality coffee. Within Brew you will learn how to make a good cup of joe across a variety of brewing techniques from the simple electric drip to the aeropress. Throughout this book, Brian W. Jones strikes a friendly, balanced, and approachable tone, and really spends his time trying to guide you to better overall coffee at home. You should read Brew if you are interested in taking your in-house coffee game to newer levels.

Final Thoughts
Historically I have inconsistently brewed coffee in three ways:
1. Electric drip
2. French press
3. Moka pot

Some mornings my coffee would be delicious while other mornings it wouldn't. This inconsistency is something that many home brewers face more than we would like to.

After reading Brew, I realized that my inconsistent coffee experience was predominantly driven by my inconsistent application of the ideal coffee-to-water ratio for each brewing method. I have always invested in really quality coffee, but I hadn’t realized how off I was when it came to how much ground coffee to use for every ounce of water. The following is a detailed mash up of what I learned from Brew.

The electric drip machine is one of the more common ways to make coffee in homes throughout the United States. But as I came to learn, it’s very easy to go wrong when using an electric drip machine. Based on Brew, when using the electric drip method the ideal coffee-to-water ratio is 1:16. Said more simply, for 3-4 cups of brewed coffee use 9 tablespoons of ground coffee and 25 ounces of water.

Turing to the French press, it is one of the easiest ways to make coffee at home and it usually leads to a full-bodied brew. Even at my historic 9 tablespoons of ground coffee to 30+ ounces of water, I was getting a decent tasking brew through the French press. Brew recommends that when using the french press the ideal coffee-to-water ratio is 1:14. Said more simply, for 4-5 cups of brewed coffee use 14 tablespoons of ground coffee and 33 ounces of water.

And lastly, when using the moka pot the ideal coffee-to-water ratio is determined simply by the size and design of each individual moka pot. There really isn’t much room to experiment with this device.

Since finishing Brew, my morning and afternoon coffee game has dramatically improved, and I have learned a bunch of new ways to enjoy coffee like the Coffee Milkshake on page 151 or the Cold-Brew Shakerato on page 127.

To all the specialty coffee drinkers looking for quick and easy tips to improve your brewing skills, Brew is definitely worth reading. Additionally, there are some really good recipes to try at the back of the book.

Easy to Read: (5/5) 100%
Deep Content: (3/5) 60%
Overall Rating: (5/5) 100%

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a coffee professional I really enjoyed this book. Although I didn’t learn anything new (minus the recipes section) I will recommend this book (if not buy this book) for all of my baristas. It’s a great entry level book for those interested in coffee. I really liked how Jones suggested a scale but still converted grams to table spoons as best as he could. Jones really makes coffee making a realistic thing for anyone who has the time to learn!

[Johannes Duckeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been fun to read during slow periods at my work in a coffee shop. So while I am maybe not the target audience of this book, I enjoyed it very much! I feel like it also gave me a good update on how to talk to someone who is new to the craft coffee scene and perhaps doesn’t enjoy the nerdiest of conversations.
This book is written really well, and the cocktail recipes in the back seem really tasty and I want to try them!

[BluMoon Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much from this book! I hope that Brian eventually does more volumes to add on to the basics he talks about here. I personally do NOT drink coffee (I'm allergic!) but I use it when baking and everyone around me drinks it. I loved learning about how to make quality coffee for my desserts.

[Rebecca Scaglione · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much reading this that I have changed the way I drink my daily coffee. I read it in small chunks while waiting in car line to pick up a child, so it took a long time but it was worth it.

[Polina Lyapustina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy book for the beginners. Lovely narrating and with numerous useful details. European readers will lack Scandinavian approach though, and will find the recipe section oriented towards American audience.

[Quinn O'Heeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great intro to coffee, brewing techniques, and the tools required to make the best cup at home. It’s definitely more of a coffee 101 than 401, with a focus on breadth more than depth but a well designed, informational read.

[Steven Gagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great basic foundational teaching on coffee from origin to roasting to brew methods. Read the whole book in one evening.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative, also had great photography. Not much else to say!

Recommended!

[Nico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for an introduction to the never ending world of coffee!

[Nguyên Lê · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book with quite detailed guideline on how to brew a coffee at home.

[Craig Borders · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of coffee and recipes, but nothing in particular goes into extensive detail. Definitely a good reference book for cocktail recipes. I could see this being a good coffee table book (no pun intended).

[Cuong Pham Quoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regrettably, there are less info about espresso, except an useful advise not to think of making a cup of espresso at home ever. :))

[Sang Minh]

04/2020
Có một dạo mình hay ghé anh hàng xóm Trung Phạm, tình cờ thấy mấy quyển tạp chí Coffee T&I hay ho nên mượn về đọc.
Rồi mình có dịp lang thang nhà Sách phương nam trên đường Phan Đình Phùng. Thấy quyển Brew- Brian Jones nên mua về đọc để thường thức nghệ thuật cà phê vì thấy đọc nhiều sách tự thân và kinh tế làm bị choáng không có tí nhân văn nào cả.
Phiên bản Việt dịch là Tuyệt đỉnh pha cà phê tại nhà làm mình thấy nó đi xa so với bản gốc là tốt hơn. Và tất nhiên điều này cũng làm độc giả hiểu nhầm ý của tác giả.
Quyển này giúp bạn “sành điệu” hơn khi đề cập đến cà phê. Xuyên suốt đề cập đến “ cà phê chậm” nơi mà chất lượng chiến thắng sự tiện lợi.
Bạn có biết rằng cà phê sữa đá có gốc từ thế kỉ 19, khi một nhà mục sư đạo Thiên Chúa người pháp giới thiệu đến người Việt.
Những kiến thức cô đọng nhất về các yếu tố pha chế và hành trình của “cục than đắng chát” để có được tách cà phê thơm ngon trên tay bạn.
Nếu bạn là người chỉ uống cà phê sữa hoặc đường là bạn chưa cho cà phê không đường một cơ hội.
Nếu bạn là người chỉ uống cà phê cho “tình” thì có lẽ bạn cần cân nhắc lại nếu lần tới có thưởng thức chúng.
Sách nhẹ nhàng, thích hợp đọc trước khi đi ngủ nếu bạn đã có một ngày làm việc tinh thần căng thẳng.
04/2020 from Ace's farm

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely designed book with great pictures and some interesting recipes toward the end. However, I found it lacking details needed to actually make great coffee. I recommend Craft Coffee as a better application guide. This is more of a coffee table designer piece.

[Micah Russell]

Didn’t learn much new stuff (aside from recipes), but it’s a helpful, aesthetically pleasing book.