Grinding Your Coffee


If there’s one easy step to dramatically improve the quality of your coffee at home, it would be grinding your beans immediately before brewing. Oxygen and light are the two primary enemies of coffee, and oxidation in particular will degrade the flavor of your coffee very quickly. Pre-ground coffee has far more surface area to degrade than whole beans. If you don’t already own a grinder or would like to improve on the one you own, let us know and we’ll offer a “package deal” discount.

The best grind for the Technivorm is a touch coarser than a typical drip. The proper water temperature of 200º will fully extract from a coarser grind. If there are ten settings on your grinder, 1# being espresso, then somewhere around a #6 should result in a great, strong cup of coffee with full body. Of course you can play around with it to adjust for your own taste. If you grind on the finer side, be sure to stand by the machine to make sure the water doesn’t overflow the basket. This can happen if the water is having a hard time getting through the grinds.


Brewing Your Coffee


First, note that there are three settings on the filter basket. The top setting is for fast drip (full carafe), the middle is for slow drip (partial carafe), and the bottom is for no drip. To fully saturate the beans, you can leave the switch on “no drip” for the first 30 seconds or so to let the water rest with the grounds for a bit, then slide it to the top position or middle position to let the coffee through. You can also remove the lid for the filter basket and give it a little stir to make sure the water completely saturates the grinds. This is not required, but if you find the coffee to be weak, this should be the first thing you try. You can also try using the middle setting (slow drip) rather than the top position to allow for better saturation. Be sure to stand near the machine the first few times you make coffee – if the grounds are too fine and you are using the slow drip setting, you might overflow the filter basket.

1. Fill the water reservoir. Keep in mind that the lines on the water tank are for European cups (4 oz). The 10 cup Technivorms hold 1.25 liters, or around seven 6 oz mugs of coffee. The 8 cup Technivorm holds 1 liter, or five 6 oz mugs of coffee.

2. Add ground coffee to the filter basket. We recommend 6 level Technivorm scoops for the KBT-741 and CDT machines, and 5 scoops for the KBTS machine.

3. Start the brew cycle. Turn the power switch on and push the carafe all the way against the machine so that it depresses the white button. In order for the heating element to be turned on, there must be water in the tank and the carafe must be pushed all the way against the white button. This is a safety feature built into the Technivorm units. Once the water is out of the water tank, or if you remove the carafe, the heating element is off, the brew cycle is interrupted, and the only thing that is “on” is the light on the power switch.
Warning: Be careful not to touch the water arm that brings hot water from the water tank to the filter basket – it gets very hot very quickly.

4. Pour yourself some delicious coffee! To prevent drips, close the filter basket by moving the slider to the bottom position (circle with an “x”). Also, the wide rim on the Technivorm carafe will make for a messy pour without the lid in place. For the best pour possible, tighten the lid all the way, then loosen it ¼ of a turn. The channels built into the screw top lid will allow the right amount of coffee through.

Notes:

• We recommend letting the entire cycle finish before pouring yourself a cup of coffee. It won’t be the worst thing in the world if you just can’t wait, but it’s better if you can wait. It’s only a 5 minute brew cycle anyways.

• If you aren’t currently using a gold filter and are looking for rich, French press style coffee, you might want to consider getting one. The metal mesh will allow more of the coffee oils to pass through, while paper filters tend to wick up some of those same oils. They are dishwasher safe and last for years. We carry gold filters imported from Switzerland that are made of gold plated mesh. You can also find them at most grocery stores. If you are going to use paper filters, you can use any #4 paper filter in white or brown paper found at grocery stores everywhere.