The 3fe Home Brewing Guide
31 March 2020
We've been overwhelmed over the last week or so from customers who regularly visit our own cafes, or cafes of our wholesale partners for their daily coffee and are now looking for some advice and guidance on how to brew at home.
Thankfully, our roastery and online store are still 100% operational, and we are delighted to be able to provide many of you with a range of solutions for making delicious coffee within the safety of your own home.
Orders made from 3fe.com are processed from our roastery in Dublin the following working day. Your order will be delivered throughout Ireland by courier, with free shipping on orders over €20 on the island of Ireland. This ensures that your orders arrive safely and quickly and that your coffee is as fresh as possible.
To try and help some of our new home baristas, we've put together a guide for getting set up at home with some of our most popular equipment.
Step 1: Choosing Your Coffee
We have a great variety of coffees to suit all brew methods and tastes, from blends, to single origins available in 250g bags and 1 kilo bags. When you place an order, your coffee is roasted specifically for you, so always arrives fresh!
- Momentum Blend
Our popular seasonal blend, served in some of the most excellent cafes across the country and by far our most popular choice for those starting out home brewing. Smooth and balanced, it works perfectly as a black coffee or with milk. - Ethiopia - Ana Sora: Washed
This washed process coffee is bright and vibrant, with citrus and black tea notes and a lighter body - a great example of an Ethiopian coffee. This coffee will work great as a filtered coffee and has a delicious natural sweetness, best enjoyed without milk - Colombia Viota Palmares CO2 Decaf
We are very proud at 3fe to be able to consistently make delicious decaf available to all of our customers and the Viota Palmares is no exception. This Colombian decaf will work with all brewing styles, allowing you to have the same great coffee taste but without the caffeine hit.
To view the full range of our current coffee list, click here
Step 2: Choosing Your Brewing Method
There are so many different ways to brew coffee at home, with options to suit every level of skill, time, space and budget, and also yield totally different results.
- AeroPress
By far our top selling home brewer, the AeroPress is a versatile and easy to use brewing device that helps you get the most from your home brewing. It only takes 2 minutes to brew, is sturdy and doesn't take up any space. It is also the perfect office or travel companion. - Wilfa Svart Classic + Coffee Maker
We love this brewer! The Wilfa Classic + is an automatic coffee brewer, capable of making up to 1 litre of coffee at a time. It is the simplest way to make consistently good filtered coffee at home, with minimal effort and has a neat foot print so fits onto the smallest of counters. - Sage Barista Pro Espresso Machine
The Sage Barista Pro Espresso Machine allows you to make coffee shop quality espresso in one compact machine at home. With a built in burr grinder, you have full control of you grind size and dose of your coffee, so adjustments on taste are simple. The powerful steam wand produces latte-art worthy micro foam milk, so you will be pouring cappuccinos like a pro. The best part, it only takes 3 seconds to heat up!
To view the full range of our coffee brewers, click here
Step 3: Grinding your Coffee
It is always best to grind your coffee right before brewing, but if you don't own a grinder, you can select the grind style to suit your brewer before adding it to your cart - or you can invest in a home grinder, which will mean every coffee you make is freshly ground and more flavoursome.
- Hario Mill Mini Slim +
A manual hand grinder, the Hario Mill Mini Slim + is the perfect introduction to freshly ground coffee. It is an upgraded version of successful Mini Mill with reinforced hexagonal adapter for the handy lock which makes the hand grinder sturdier than ever before, providing better grind consistency. - Wilfa Svart Grinder
The Wilfa WSCG-2 coffee grinder is ideal for anyone looking to upgrade to the convenience of an electric grinder or begin grinding on demand. It has a small footprint, grinds far quicker than a manual hand grinder, is simple to use for all filter methods and is amazing value. It features a handy timer function and 34 clearly labelled grind settings from frenchpress to moccapot.
To view the full range of our coffee grinders, click here
Step 4: Add on's
From mugs to electric kettles to 3fe scarfs, there is so much more to browse on our webstore to up your home coffee game.
- Filter Papers
Some of the home brewing styles require filter papers. Generally each brewer will have its own specific type of filter paper, designed to fit neatly into their brewer. Using paper filters in brewing means you remove a lot of the oils and sediment from the coffee, and end up with greater clarity of flavour in your cup.
- Scales
If you want to get the best out of your coffee, it is recommended to follow a coffee recipe, which includes weighing your coffee beans and your water. We stock a range of scales suited for different sizes and types of brewers, with different levels of precision, all with built in timers to help you manage your brewing time.
- Books
We stock a range of coffee focused books, some that will help with your brewing methods and theory, and others that give an insight into how coffee beans are sourced or what is involved in running a coffee shop - perfect to read while sipping your freshly brewed coffee!
To view the full range of our equipment, click here
Step 5: Time to Brew
We have a full range of brew guides on our website, which detail everything you'll need to brew your coffee, your coffee to water ratios and brewing times as well as step by step videos to guide you through the entire brewing process.
We also have a series of Brewing at Home videos on our blog, where we chat through our favourite brewing styles, and give tips on how to get the best out of each of your brewers.