How to make the perfect coffee at home with The Little Coffee Company
5/5/2020
Here at Social Supermarket, we have a whole range of social enterprise coffees which are having a fantastic social and environmental impact the world over. They make it so easy to make your favourite brew at home whilst feeling more positive about the source and impact of the coffee.
Our friends at Sendero have handy biodegradable coffee capsules which allow you to make delicious coffee at the click of a button and they’re are compatible with Nespresso machines!
Sendero Compostable Capsules
However, if you don’t have one of those, then we’ve partnered up with The Little Coffee Company to give you some handy hints and tips on how to make the perfect brew at home.
The Little Coffee Company sources unique coffee and cocoa at a premium from female farmers who are in regions of crisis, providing support for grass- roots community development projects to ensure the safety and economic empowerment of female farmers.
To get to know them, we asked Lauren some questions about how she got started:
Why did you choose to get involved in creating coffee? I worked in agriculture in all aspects of the coffee trade .. I finished my a levels and went back to Jamaica where I am from. I was really looking for a part time job and now almost a decade later coffee is something that I love!
How did The Little Coffee company get started? After I moved to the U.K. to study law I had the opportunity to pitch to City University on their Incubator which gave us the opportunity to set up our business here and really focus on sourcing from women farmers to help provide a consistent income …this was really important to me because I come from a coffee producing country and I have seen how damaging it is when coffee is traded below market value.
In three words what is your approach to coffee? People, community, quality
Where do you source your coffee from? Jamaica , Tanzania , DR Congo Cameroon
Could you tell us a bit more about working with the farmers you support? We work with female farmers in two ways first is making sure that we are sourcing quality coffee and a price that has impact on that community and the second is working with local NGOS that really tailor to the needs of that community to help support grass roots community development projects… we have worked on quite a few of these but we are really excited about partnering with our rural electrification fund which will help to provide solar to farming communities.
Best cup of coffee you’ve ever had (might be biased!)? I would say it has to be ours 🙂
So now, some tips on making the perfect brew at home:
How much coffee is enough? To be honest, it is all down to taste but as a general guide allow 60g of coffee per litre of water. So if you are making 2 small cups of coffee, that’s about 400ml or 24g of coffee.
To grind or not to grind? That is the question… Many of our coffees are already available ground to the perfect consistency however if you want to grind your beans at home, you’ll need an electric or hand grinder.
Consistency wise, the finer the brew the more intense the brew but generally, you can use the following as a guide:
Coarse Grind for French Press: 5-10 seconds.
Medium Grind for electric drip or most Pour-Over methods: 10-15 seconds.
Fine Grind for espresso machines: 30 seconds.
Truth is, experimentation is your best friend so experiment away until you find your perfect taste!
Should you warm the cup? Always, always warm the cup with some hot water beforehand! This will ensure the coffee stays warm when you pour it in.
Water Type and Temperature If you’re using a french press or a pour over method, best to use water just off the boil at around 90-95 degrees. Lauren’s top tip is to make sure you use filtered water for a better all round taste.
Brew Time: 3mins is the maximum amount of time it will take to brew.
Check out our full range of social enterprise coffee here. Remember to share with our your tips and tricks for making the perfect cup at home.
