Monday, January 24, 2011

Brewing Basics: The Bee House Dripper


Since I am giving away a Bee House, I thought I would give you a tutorial on how to brew coffee on a Bee-House.

First off, a Bee-House is a type of brewing device called a "pour-over". I am giving away a Bee-House from PT's Coffee Roasting Co. Here is what their site has to say about it.


Necessary Tools:

  • A Bee-House
  • #2 Paper Cone Filters from a local grocery store
  • A kettle to boil water in
  • A scale
  • Coffee beans (24g to 26g)
  • A grinder
  • A timer

How-To Make the Pour-Over:

  1. Start the kettle of water on the stove.
  2. Weigh 24g to 26g of coffee depending on the type of coffee.
  3. Grind coffee to a ground somewhere between french press and drip coffee.
  4. Fold the #2 Filter at both ends and place in Bee House.
  5. Place Bee House on a cup or something that can hold 12 oz of liquid.
  6. When the water comes to a boil, take the kettle off and rinse the filter with the hot water. [This also brings the Bee House and mug to a higher temperature.]
  7. Dump hot water.
  8. Place cup and Bee House on scale.
  9. Put coffee grounds in Bee House.
  10. Zero the Scale. And changer to oz.
  11. You want the water to be at a little over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, so it is okay to let it sit on the stove for about 30 seconds before actually letting it touch the coffee.
  12. Pour water in the Bee House just enough to wet the grounds.
  13. Start Timer!
  14. Let "bloom" or sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute. [This depends on the age of the coffee. The closer the roast date the shorter the "bloom", generally speaking.]
  15. Pour water at a steady pace in a figure 8 motion until the water reached about 1.5 centimeters from the top.
  16. Finish pouring very slowing to maintain the height of the water in the middle of the Bee House until you have 13.6 ounces of water.
  17. Let the water finish dripping. It should take between 2.5 and 3 minutes.
  18. Enjoy your cup of coffee from your Bee House.

 Keep in mind this is how I make my coffee in my Bee House. There are many other ways to make it out there as well. Some Baristas suggest different ratios or pouring techniques. Experiment. Make it your own.

Here is a good video on making a Bee House from Topeca. He uses a slightly different technique than what I shared, but if you are a visual learner this might help:


 If you want to win your own Bee House Dripper, get your friends to follow my blog! Enter my give-away!
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4 comments:

  1. That was so complicated! Haha. You might have to show me. But it's pretty epic. And the last Bee House you made me was delicious.

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  2. Thank you for sharing your technique! FYI, the video linked says it is "private" and does not appear to be playable.

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  3. Evelynn, thanks for pointing that out and for stopping by! I guess they must of removed the public video. I'll have to find a new one.

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  4. Nice tutorial – very thorough! The bloom time tip is round the wrong way, though. The fresher the coffee, the longer it should be left to bloom as it will have more gas to release than an older coffee, which will have had more time to degas naturally.

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