Roasted in Seddon, poured slowly.
Specialty coffee, Melbourne since 2014.

AUD $ Rooms Wholesale
A barista pouring water over a dripper on the bar

Brew guides

The recipes the bar team actually uses, written down so they are the same in every room and at home.

V60, 15g to 250g brewing guide

V60, 15g to 250g

2:45 total

  1. Rinse the paper with water off the boil, then discard the rinse water.
  2. Grind medium-fine, about the texture of table salt. 15g in the bed.
  3. Bloom with 45g of water and wait 40 seconds. The bed should rise and then settle.
  4. Pour to 150g in a slow spiral, then to 250g once the level drops by half.
  5. Drawdown finishes at 2:45. Longer than 3:15 means grind coarser, not pour faster.
Batch filter, 1.2 litres brewing guide

Batch filter, 1.2 litres

6:00 brew

  1. 70g of coffee to 1.2 litres, ground slightly coarser than a single V60.
  2. Pre-wet the bed and hold 30 seconds before the main flow starts.
  3. Aim for a 6:00 total. Under 5:00 and the cup will taste thin and papery.
  4. Serve within 40 minutes. After that it flattens regardless of how well it brewed.
Espresso at home brewing guide

Espresso at home

26–30 seconds

  1. Start at 18g in, 38g out, 28 seconds, and change one variable at a time.
  2. Sour and thin means grind finer. Bitter and dry means grind coarser or drop the temperature.
  3. Weigh the output. Timing alone hides a channelled shot.
  4. Rest espresso blends 7 to 10 days off roast; single origins usually want 12 to 14.
Water, briefly brewing guide

Water, briefly

Before anything else

  1. Aim for roughly 80 to 100 ppm total hardness with about 40 ppm alkalinity.
  2. Melbourne tap water is soft, which flatters delicate coffees and thins out espresso.
  3. A cheap filter jug fixes chlorine but not hardness; a sachet-based mineral mix fixes both.
  4. If a coffee tastes different at home than on the bar, this is usually why.

Fixing a bad cup

What you tasteLikely causeChange this first
Sour, thin, wateryUnder-extractionGrind finer, or add 15 seconds of contact
Bitter, drying, hollowOver-extractionGrind coarser, or drop water to 92°C
Flat, no acidityStale beans or soft waterCheck the roast date, then the water
Muddy, silty finishFines in the bedSift, or stop stirring the bloom
Different every timeInconsistent pourWeigh in and out, keep the timer running