We first came across Canyon Coffee in a little market, where we were immediately struck by its simple and beautiful design. Much to our delight it tasted even better than it looked. Years later as we launched Ordinary Habit we were in touch with Ally, one of the co-founders of Canyon Coffee, and felt a kinship to her brand. The way they speak to slowing down with coffee is very much aligned with how we encourage slowing down with our products. We’re so happy to share her recipe below.

Our journey into coffee began with a jump start when we accidentally broke our french press one morning, and replaced it on a whim with a Chemex. The contrast in flavor—smooth, clear and sweet compared to the press’s more robust, thicker body—was a pleasant surprise, and we’ve been enjoying the daily pour over ritual ever since. In addition to brewing a delicious cup, we love the Chemex’ timeless design. It’s also made here in the USA — in Massachusetts! — Ally Walsh

The Perfect Chemex Coffee

1. Start your kettle on the stove (if you have a variable temperature electric kettle, set it to 203°F)
2. Grind 40 grams of coffee (roughly 7 level tablespoons) medium-coarse 
   * We always recommend investing in a solid burr grinder! It’s the biggest game-changer for making great coffee at home. As opposed to blonde grinders which slice the coffee and produce grounds of all sizes, burr grinders produce an even, consistent grind which makes for a much cleaner, smoother cup!
3. Once your water’s at temperature, pour through your filter into the Chemex to initiate the osmosis through the filter and pre-heat your Chemex (this will make your coffee stay hotter for longer)
   * If your water boiled, let it sit for a minute to cool a bit. Water that’s too hot will result in a bitter cup!
4. Pinch the top ends of your Chemex filter to lift it, and discard your hot pre-heat water
5. Pour ground coffee into the filter.
6. Bloom the coffee — slowly pour just enough water to get all the grounds wet, and stop pouring to let sit for 30 seconds. This wakes up the gas in the coffee, which brings a lot of the flavor!
7. After bloom, proceed to pour water slowly over coffee, moving from the center out and back in concentric circles.
8. We recommend a water-to-coffee ratio of 16-to-1. So for your 40 grams of coffee, we recommend pouring 640 mL of water (grams are 1:1 with mL). This is easy to perfect with a drip coffee scale. If you don’t have a scale, fill your Chemex up to the round “belly button.” 

Give the Chemex a good swirl to mix all the coffee, pour and enjoy!

One thing we always stress about brewing coffee at home is that you have control over how your cup tastes! If your cup has more body or is “stronger” than you prefer, simply grind your coffee coarser or use more water next time for a clearer, more tea-like cup. If the coffee tastes diluted or weak to you, grind finer or use less water. If the coffee tastes sour, use hotter water. If it tastes bitter, let your water cool more before brewing. It’s fun to experiment and see what different flavors you can achieve!