The house blend on the machine is a washed Brazil and Colombian base with a small amount of natural Ethiopian, roasted for us in small batches in Melbourne's north. It was built for milk, which is most of what leaves the counter, but it holds up black too, and that is the version worth getting right at home. A bag costs $22 for 250g or $72 for a full kilogram, and the roast date is stamped on the bottom seam rather than printed on the label, because a date that changes every batch is not worth a new label run.

The one rule that matters more than the ratio

Grind it close to when you brew it. Ground coffee starts losing the volatile stuff that makes it worth drinking within about twenty minutes, whichever method you use. If you only take one thing from this page, it is that a cheap grinder used the morning you drink it beats an expensive one used a week ago.

Plunger

Coarse grind, close to sea salt. Fifteen grams of coffee to two hundred and fifty millilitres of water just off the boil, about ninety five degrees if your kettle tells you. Pour the water on, give it one stir to break the crust, and leave it four minutes before you press. Press slowly and stop the moment you feel resistance rather than forcing the last centimetre, which is what drags the grit through into the cup.

Filter cone

Medium grind, closer to table salt than sand. Eighteen grams of coffee to three hundred millilitres of water. Wet the paper first and tip that water out, both to lose the papery taste and to warm the cup. Pour a small amount to just cover the grounds and let it sit for thirty seconds, which is the bloom, then pour the rest in slow circles over about two and a half minutes total. If it finishes in under two minutes the grind is too coarse; past three and a half, too fine.

A home espresso machine

Fine, close to caster sugar, adjusted by taste rather than by a number, because every machine and every burr set behaves a little differently. Eighteen grams in the basket for a double, aiming for thirty six grams out in around twenty eight seconds. If it runs faster than that the grind is too coarse and the shot will taste thin and sharp; slower, and it will taste bitter and heavy. Move the grind size one notch at a time and taste before you move it again.

Milk, if you take it

Texture matters more than temperature. Aim for a tight, glossy microfoam rather than a large foam cap, and stop heating around sixty five degrees, which is warm enough to taste but not so hot that it scalds and flattens the coffee underneath it. We do not charge extra for oat or soy on the counter and the same logic holds at home: use whichever milk you actually like, it will not ruin the shot.

Decaf and the single origin

The decaf runs through the same machine, dosed and pulled the same way, and takes the same ratios above. The single origin on filter changes with the season and is sold in the same 250g bag for $28; treat it with the filter cone method above and go a touch coarser than the house blend, since lighter roasts extract a little faster.

Gear, if you want it

We stock exactly one grinder on the shelf, a hand grinder with steel burrs for $95, because it is the one we would actually recommend rather than the one with the best margin. A filter cone and a hundred papers is $42. Beyond that, any decent burr grinder and a kettle that can hold a temperature will get you most of the way to what leaves our counter.

If a batch tastes wrong, the fix is almost always the grind, not the beans. Coarser if it is bitter and heavy, finer if it is thin and sour, and give it a day or two after opening a fresh bag before you judge it, since coffee needs a short rest after roasting to taste its best.

Brewing the house blend at home