It’s pour decision time for Clark County coffee lovers

At Hidden River Roasters, customers can still go inside to order, but the shop also opened a walk-up window.

For those who are making their daily brew at home, many coffee roasters are offering online sales and subscription services.

Kafiex Roasters and Relevant Coffee have closed their coffee shops, but are selling beans and merchandise online. On Kafiex’s website, you can order cans of the shop’s recently released cold brew coffee as well as coffee-making devices.

Thatcher’s Coffee is also closed, but Roseline Coffee is selling Thatcher’s Blend online and donating 100 percent of those proceeds to Thatcher’s employees to support them while the shop is closed.

Brewing at home

The experts agreed that procuring good beans is the starting point for a tasty cup of coffee, but they also offer other tips for making a coffee-shop quality cup at home.

Storage: Keep beans in a vacuum-sealed container and out of sunlight. Hidden River Coffee Roasters uses zip-close bags.

“The longer the beans sit after roasting, the taste changes,” said Holly Metzner of Hidden River Coffee Roasters. They aren’t necessarily spoiled; they just taste different than the roaster intended.

Beans are at their best for 30 days, said Mitch Montgomery of Relevant Coffee.

Grind: Montgomery recommends investing in a high-quality burr grinder.

Jamie Erdman of Thatcher’s Coffee agrees.

“If I had to pick, I’d say the proper grind size is the one of the most important elements — along with proper water temperature — to ensure proper extraction,” Erdman said.

A burr grinder has two revolving abrasive surfaces that yield a more uniform grind than a blade grinder.

If the coffee grounds are different sizes, they react differently with the hot water and create bitter or sour flavors in the coffee. If you don’t want to invest in a burr grinder, Erdman recommends getting your beans ground at the coffee shop.

If your coffee is too sour, you need a finer grind. If it’s too bitter, go coarser. Coarse grounds are good for a percolator or French press. Medium grounds are good for the pour-over method. Espresso is made with finely ground coffee. Getting the right grind for your cup of coffee takes a bit of trial and error.

Measure: A kitchen scale that measures grams will ensure the proper coffee-to-water ratio.

“I know it seems fussy, but it is actually a lazy and easy way to ensure a good cup of coffee,” Erdman said.

Method: Although some coffee enthusiasts have an espresso machine at home, for the rest of us, drip machines are the method of choice. Even Ken Fletcher of Paper Tiger Coffee Roasters uses a Mr. Coffee drip machine for his morning coffee.

“I highly suggest trying out your coffee-to-water ratio at least three different ways, one each day until you find how you like it best,” Fletcher said.

Metzner of Hidden River Coffee recommends 2 tablespoons of medium ground coffee per cup.

“You can always add more water to make it weaker,” she said, “but you can’t do anything to make it stronger.”

A French press is an easy option for a flavorful, heavy-bodied cup of coffee at home. For one cup, Metzner uses 40 grams of coarsely ground coffee, adds hot water, and then lets it sit for five minutes.

Making pour-over coffee requires the most patience and skill, but many coffee aficionados believe that this method is the best way to bring out coffee beans’ flavor. Pour-over coffee requires a funnel (typically a Hario V60), a coffee filter, a vessel to catch the coffee, and a kettle to boil the water and swirl it over the coffee grounds. A gooseneck kettle, with a long, thin spout, is ideal because it allows control of the flow of the water.

Seidy Selivanow of Kafiex uses a basic recipe for pour-over coffees: 60 grams of coffee per 1,000 grams of water. This can be scaled down to 15 grams of coffee per 250 grams of water for a single cup of coffee. For those who don’t have a kitchen scale, 15 grams is about 2 tablespoons.

For a pour-over coffee, beans should be ground medium course, Selivanow said. Place a coffee funnel with a filter on it over a receptacle or coffee cup. Boil water in a kettle. The boiling water should be used immediately because you lose temperature as you’re pouring. Swirl the hot water in the empty filter. Add ground beans and swirl hot water over the coffee one time to let the coffee bloom, and then continue to add water in stages allowing it to drain into the receptacle.

At home and for competitions, Selivanow uses a Behmor Brazen Plus coffee brewer. This is an automated pour-over machine priced around $300 that allows control over temperature and per-soak time. Selivanow likes it because it’s very easy to use and will brew a reliable good cup of coffee.

The same coffee bean will taste different depending on which brewing method you choose. In the end, the important thing is that you find a cup of coffee that tastes good and doesn’t feel like too much work.

“I honestly think the most important thing is, does it taste good to you? Or do you like it?” Erdman said. “That’s really the ultimate goal, right?”