Brew with ORIGAMI by Noah McKeown, Go Get Em Tiger in Los Angeles

Barista Talk- Brew with ORIGAMI is our new blog series featuring local baristas with their coffee stories and favorite recipes with ORIGAMI.

The first story is from Noah McKeown, General Manager of E-Commerce, Go Get Em Tiger in Los Angeles.

I’ve been working in specialty coffee for 10 years. Most of that time was spent in cafes as a barista. My journey has pulled me away from the cafe environment to the digital world of coffee!  Even though I miss serving drinks and tasting espresso and delicious batch brews, this career transition has reignited my obsession with my coffee “first love”, the pour over.  As a barista, I enjoyed most of my coffee while at work. Now I have time to make myself a pour over every morning. I can’t be productive without that first cup. The ritual of grinding, brewing, and enjoying my coffee is a highlight of my day, every day.  

At Go Get Em Tiger, I serve as the GM of E-commerce and my biggest project is managing and leading our subscription service, the GGET Coffee Club. Customers who join the Club get a new coffee sent every other week, right to their door. The diverse and special coffees we send also present an opportunity to keep experimenting and learning. Best practices in specialty coffee brewing are always changing. The evolution of the pour over alone is astounding! I remember thinking a Melitta cone was the be all end all coffee brewer. Now, I brew with the Kalita Wave, Hario V60, and my new favorite, the Origami dripper. Keeping up with all the developments in brewing allows me to also share my findings with our Club members! Whether it’s brewing advice via text or a one on one brewing tutorial Zoom call, I want to make sure I help the Coffee Club brew the best coffee possible.

I love my Origami for its quick flow rate and wide surface area, allowing for better water to grounds contact time and optimal extraction. The brews I’ve been tasting with the recipe provided have been so sweet and balanced. It also helps that the dripper itself is aesthetically stunning.  

Origami Brewing Recipe

What you need:
Delicious coffee
Origami dripper and filters
A scale
Filtered water
A kettle
A carafe for large mug to brew into

Recipe:
22g of coffee ground medium fine on a burr grinder
360g of water at 208 degrees
Brew time: 2:45-3:15 minutes
Place the Origami dripper on your carafe and pre-wet your filter thoroughly. This will also preheat the dripper.

Dump the rinse water, set scale to zero, and add the coffee. With any handy utensil or your finger, create a small divot or pit in the middle of the coffee bed, this will help make sure all the coffee is saturated evenly.
Start your timer and pour 66g of water in concentric circles with medium velocity. Pick up the dripper and give it 4 vigorous swirls to ensure even saturation. This is the bloom phase of brewing.

At 30 seconds, pour gently to 200g in concentric circles, starting from the center, working your way out and back to center.  Give the dripper one gentle swirl.
After roughly one third of the coffee has dripped out, start pouring again, this time to 360g, in concentric circles from the center to the outside and back to center. Give the dripper 2 gentle swirls.
Let the coffee drip out completely. If executed properly, you should have a nice flat bed of coffee grounds with minimal large particles sticking to the sides of the filter.

Enjoy your pour over coffee!!