My First Week with the MoJoToGo

Posted on May 22, 2010 by

I’ve spent less then a week with the MoJoToGo and I’m struck by how wildly inconsistent my manual pourover technique has been. Despite my best attempts to reproduce results I’ve found my extraction yields ranging everywhere between 14.89% and 20.66%, though to be fair I should probably stop switching between brew methods before nailing it on one.

Although much of my inconsistency surely has to do with the MoJo learning curve, I’ve quickly raised some new questions for myself. Which variables do I attempt to adjust first? Agitation, dwell time, grind size, brew ratio? Temperature surely has significant impact as well, but is much harder for me to control. David Walsh’s essay on grind size persuades me not to mess too much with that, and Scott Rao provides excellent advice for agitation. That pretty much leaves dwell time and brew ratio. Since brew ratio can be considered relatively standard, I suspect that dwell time will have the most impact on my results.

If anyone has any advice, I’d love to hear it.

  • http://espressoneat.com Lori

    Which brew methods are you experimenting with? We have tested the parameters for clever coffee dripper pretty extensively since opening about 9 months ago. We also switched from a Ditting to a Mahlkonig grinder which improved our consistency considerably (too many fines with ditting is my guess). The other difficulty we have had is in keeping the water temperature high enough (curtis water tower to hario kettle to clever-or V60). But we have been pretty successful with 2 minute dwell, stir at 1 minute and another stir at 2 minutes just before drawdown, finish at 3 minutes-3 minutes 15 seconds. Grinder at 4 (finer than others seem to be using) on mahlkonig, slightly updosed. Very rarely overextracted, sometimes underextracted (according to extract mojo but sometimes I still like the taste). Weather changes seem to affect the drain times and therefore the extraction. I would like to do much more work on brew ratio (we tend to use 24g-28g coffee for 12 oz water depending on the coffee and the roaster).

  • AndyS

    I think your experience isn't unusual; single-serve pourovers are harder to make with consistency than it might seem. Weigh out your dose and weigh out your water carefully.

    You're making it really hard for yourself if you keeping switching brew methods, no?

  • http://shotzombies.com Mike White

    Thanks Lori, this is helpful. I've been using the Clever and v60. Dwell time for both can be easily manipulated, but I've been a bit lazy with the clever- changing both dwell time and grind size without properly controlling one first. But like I said, it's my first week. I'll get smarter.

  • http://shotzombies.com Mike White

    Thanks Andy. I've been careful with my weights, but a bit careless with my methods. I've tried a few just to see how my normal routine stacks up, but will certainly focus on one for the next week or so.

  • http://espressoneat.com Lori

    We should have a New York area manual brew method summit…sort of like the 2 day session the Intelligentsia educators just had. Maybe we could get our hands on one of those Luminaire Bravo water delivery systems.

  • tom

    Excellent post, Mike. Using the V60, I’ve found that the 3 factors that influence the brew the most are dwell time, pouring technique, and water temperature. With regards to dwell time — using the ratio of 15g/250ml, I’ve found the sweet spot to be at about 2 minutes 10 seconds (give or take 5 seconds). As for the pouring technique — making small and tight concentric circles in the center of the cone for anywhere over 20-30 seconds results in over-extraction. Making continuous rounds of smaller and larger circles without allowing the water to flood the cone usually gives readings of 19-21%.

    Water temperature, however, is where my personal taste trumps prescribed methods. I made one of the holes larger on my Buono kettle allowing me to insert a digital thermometer. The kettle does a good job at retaining heat allowing me to always brew with water in the 94-96C range. While traveling in Hong Kong recently, I didn’t have access to boiled water for a couple of days and ended up having to brew freshly roasted (1-2 days post roast) coffee at 83C. The intense aroma and brightness of the resulting brew had me instantly hooked. Yes, the body is a little weak, but this can be remedied by slightly updosing.

    Can’t wait to hear more from your experimentation!

  • http://shotzombies.com Mike White

    Very interesting, thanks Tom!

  • Scott

    Hi Mike,
    So can I assume your're stirring the slurry? Are you stirring both during pre-wet and just before the final draw down? I was getting some great results for a while and suddenly my refractometer too a crap.
    I miss the constant measurements… but for the sake of this comment, let's talk stir/agitation. Your agitation is w/ stir? I'm only curious b/c pour speed might also be linked to agitation.
    Just wondering
    sL

  • http://shotzombies.com Mike White

    I stir while pouring. Then stir again before the drop. Are you thinking that the pour may be enough agitation?

    Sorry to hear about your refractometer taking a crap! Did you accidentally soak it?

  • Scott

    Hi Mike,nSo can I assume your’re stirring the slurry? Are you stirring both during pre-wet and just before the final draw down? I was getting some great results for a while and suddenly my refractometer too a crap. nI miss the constant measurements… but for the sake of this comment, let’s talk stir/agitation. Your agitation is w/ stir? I’m only curious b/c pour speed might also be linked to agitation.nJust wonderingnsL

  • http://shotzombies.com Mike White

    I stir while pouring. Then stir again before the drop. Are you thinking that the pour may be enough agitation? n nSorry to hear about your refractometer taking a crap! Did you accidentally soak it?