kit + knowledge = instant expert
Brewed Awakening
Wake up and smell the coffee… You can make barista
quality coffee in your kitchen. All you need is the right kit
and some expert advice from Dorset’s foremost bean guru…
F
ollowing a career that spanned
Whittards and Pret a Manger,
Giles Dick-Read founded Reads
Coffee in 1998. Today, he uses a
25-kilo roaster from Probat to
roast some of the world’s finest
beans. At weekends, you’ll find him doing
the rounds at farmers markets and other
local events, producing speciality coffee
from the Grey Trailer.
“I’m a great believer in taking your
coffee the way you like it,” says Giles,
clarifying his position as a coffee
connoisseur, not a coffee snob. “I
don’t think there are any great rules.”
That said, it’s hard to miss his passion for
the noble bean, and his belief that different
methods bring out different qualities.
Step 1:
Grind your own
“The principle reason is that
beans keep brilliantly. They’re
the closest you can get to the
pod, and the coffee keeps
much better as a bean. In fact,
you can actually freeze beans,
whereas you shouldn’t even
chill ground coffee.” As coffee
is very hydroscopic, keeping
grounds in a refrigerator
makes them damp and likely
to absorb other odours. The
rule for storing ground coffee
is “cool, dry, dark and airtight”
according to the master.
Kilner Manual
Coffee Grinder
Harts Price: £29.99
Giles Dick-Read purchased his
first roaster in 1998 and now
operates this mighty Probat for
his acclaimed Reads coffee
Step 2:
To bean or
not to bean
The freshest cup of coffee with the
most intense aroma will come from
freshly ground beans, so investing
in a mechanical or electric grinder
is essential for entering the major
leagues. “It’s one of the critical
components of making good
coffee,” says Giles. However, he
recommends weighing up precision
versus speed. “If you’re making after
dinner coffee for 10,” he says, “you’ll
want an electric grinder. Hand
grinders can give you an extremely
fine coffee, but you’ve got to have the
patience of a saint.” As with any
purchase, you get what you pay for.
But, Giles warns, “a £25 hand grinder
will massively outperform a £30
electric grinder in its ability to grind
a range of grounds.” If you’re just
grinding coffee for a cafetiere, an
electric grinder will do, though.
Sage Smart
Grinder Pro
Harts Price: £179.95
KrupsTwin
Blade Grinder Mill
Harts Price: £19.95
“For cafetiere coffee, you want a coarse grain of coffee,
and a medium-fine grind for filter. For a domestic espresso
grind, that’s where you benefit from a top-end grinder, like
the Sage or KitchenAid. Avoid the cheaper electric ones,
which make a lot of noise.”
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