Which one comes first?

We would like to share one secret today. That is the secret to good coffee is actually water.

I mean, not exactly a secret because you need water to make coffee, but how important is it exactly?

One of the best thing about living in Singapore is the water.

Not only the fact that we can drink directly from the tap, it is in the range of ideal hardness for coffee brewing, which still requires water filter to make it ideal for coffee brewing.

If you do notice, aesthetic reason aside, you will realise that most cafes only work with one or two brewing devices for filter coffee brewing.

As a coffee enthusiast, you may own multiple brew devices and may switch around whenever you feel like, however we find that it is easier to work with just one device and get the most out of it.

Straight to the essential, there are mainly three way of coffee brewing; Immersion brew such as French Press or Cupping, Pour-over filter method or Pressurised brewing used in Espresso preparation.

So if we were to break down coffee brewing, you actually need roasted coffee beans, water, brewing device, grinder, kettle and a measuring scale*. (Just needed to highlight the importance of brewing with scale because that is how you get a consistent cup day to day and it will help you to find out what went wrong when your brew isn't tasting the way you would imagine).

In our experience, the order of importance goes like this:

1. Water

2. Your favourite roasted coffee beans

3. Variable temperature kettle or a gooseneck kettle with a thermometer

4. Measuring scale, even if it only measure in whole gram.

5. Grinder

6. Your favourite Brewing Device

Does the list above surprises you? I think most of you do, and it took us some time (and space at home to store all the fancy brew devices) to recognise this order.

While we definitely love playing with new brewing devices, you would recognise immediately that starting with the right water will set your brew game a notch higher than brewing with tap water.

Leave a comment to let us know how do you brew your coffee during this Phase-Two Heightened Alert period.

Extras for the coffee geeks, you can definitely try out the above by getting either a sachet of Third Wave Water or Aquacode Coffee brewing minerals to give it a try!