How to Brew Specialty Coffee as a Blind Person

This post is my attempt to describe how I have been brewing coffee as a blind person, focusing on the specialty coffee style.
This is not a guide to teach you how to go from zero to a perfect cup of coffee, because, honestly, there are people way more qualified than I am to explain that.
This is, however, my two cents to help you with the things that you will encounter in tutorials that are hard to follow as a blind person.

Long story short, I would like to discuss how I control some important variables, namely weight, temperature, time, and coarseness.
I will also leave some suggestions for specific methods you can use to brew coffee, including some equipment I use.

This post is not touching on espresso coffee, and I intend to write about this in the future.
Espresso is more complicated, and I still believe there are things to be solved from an accessibility perspective to be able to extract a perfect espresso shot that I haven’t figured out yet.

I also would like to acknowledge the fact that probably over 90 % of what is described here is overkill; you actually don’t need most of that if you just want to drink coffee.
However, if you have coffee as a hobby as I do, like to explore different methods, flavours or are just a coffee nerd, this should be useful.

AeroPress

The AeroPress is my favourite method so far to brew coffee, as I can control many variables and try different techniques in an accessible way.
If you have no idea what an AeroPress is, this description here should give you a good start. The rest of this post assumes you are familiar with it and its parts.

I recommend the regular AeroPress instead of the travel one or even the new premium version made of glass.
The travel version is too small, and the premium one is too expensive, and I don’t think there are many advantages.
You can hear more about it in this review in case you still would like to go with the premium version.

The downside of the AeroPress is that you are brewing one cup at a time, and if you need to make larger quantities all at once, probably other methods are better. I still like this one though because I can try different things and explore more on my own.

French Press

The French press tends to be easy for a blind person to do, because the recipe is easy and the coarseness you have to grind the coffee is easier to feel by touch when you have the right setting.
I have followed this video for a good recipe, but I would like to point out that the step where one needs to use a spoon to gather the larger particles that have floated to the top is a bit tricky.

What I tried to do was throw away an extra two spoonfuls, which likely discarded some more than I needed in the process, but in the end things worked well.

I don’t recommend specific models here; any should be good.

Drip Coffee Machine

A drip coffee machine is simple: you just have to put water, ground coffee beans, press one button (if they are not full of touchscreen buttons and complicated controls), and wait a few minutes to have a good batch ready.

I do use this method when brewing coffee for more people, but when I used to make just for myself I was not getting good results. I didn’t understand the difference until the day that I felt with my hands the shape the coffee was taking when putting the ground coffee in the basket.
For more people, I, of course, was grinding more coffee and the amount was enough to cover the entire paper filter area.
However, when I was doing just one or two cups for myself, the ground coffee was taking the shape of a small mountain only in the middle of the basket.

Pro tip: regardless of the amount you are putting to brew, make sure to use the palm of your hand to spread the coffee grounds evenly within the paper filter to be put in the basket. This way the water will have a larger surface to make contact with the ground coffee and extract better.

I own the Bonavita 8-Cup Drip Coffee Maker Machine, and despite its low rating on Amazon, I think it is really good, easy to start and stop, clean, and is definitely accessible.

Methods I Haven’t Tried Yet

There are other methods that are very popular that I haven’t tried yet. I would like to make a small note about V60, which you will probably read as soon as you start researching this stuff.

In my experience, when I tried it, one needs to make circular movements with the kettle to water all parts of the ground coffee evenly and at specific times. Yes, I think with some training a blind person could do it, but just wanted to point out that this would take a bit more time.

If you have tried other methods and found that some accessibility tweaks were necessary, drop me a message.

Accessible Ways to Control Coarseness

This is an area that definitely needs more exploration, especially when it comes to describing different ground coffee sizes. There are better ways to do this; I just haven’t tried to make them accessible yet.

Common descriptions you will encounter will say things like “thin, like for espresso”, “coarse as in French press”, “middle as in drip coffee”. This already gives you an idea of where you should be grinding, but it is not precise.

What worked for me so far was to have a range of settings that apply to a single grinder. What I do is to experiment with different levels of coarseness for the methods that I normally do, and I count the number of clicks I need to rotate clockwise or anticlockwise the grinder to set it to the desired output.

This, of course, applies to a single coffee grinder model and will not translate to other models. Sometimes people publish the ground coffee size distribution for a particular model, and with that you can try to convert to your own model.
Check out this tool, which provides the size charts for several coffee grinders. With the size of the particles in microns for a particular recipe, you can adjust your own grinder to match the same level.

I can recommend the following grinders:

Porlex Mini Coffee Grinder

• Link to Amazon
• Type: manual
• Good for travel; small, fits inside my AeroPress.
• Easy to count the clicks and adjust size.
• The obvious disadvantage is the fact it is manual and you have to do the work here!

Baratza Encore Grinder

• Link to Amazon
• Type: electric
• Has audible clicks to adjust the coarseness level.
• Not too expensive and a very good entry-level grinder.
• It is a bit too loud for my taste.

Fellow Ode Grinder

• Link to Amazon
• Type: electric
• I own the Gen 1; the current version is Gen 2 (I haven’t tried Gen 2 yet).
• The adjustment of the coarseness level is not as audible in my opinion as the others, but I still like this one more.
• It’s a clear upgrade, and the magnetic cup alignment within the machine is a feature I love.

Accessible Ways to Measure Weight

Budget Pick

I still own a My Weigh SCMVOXEVOL 5000 g × 1 g Talking Kitchen Scale, which is cheap compared to other talking models and works for what we are trying to achieve here. Be aware: it speaks with a long delay, the voice is grating, and readings can vary by ±3 g.

Despite all its shortcomings, it served me well because extreme precision for filtered / pour-over coffee is important, but not necessarily vital. Since we are not talking about espresso in this post, this model works. I am also open to other suggestions that are budget picks.

Extreme Precision

This tip is probably more suited for espresso coffee, but I mention it here because I waited for so long to have a precision scale that talks and this is working very well. Again, this is very overkill but just works better than anything that I tried so far.

Acaia Pearl Model S

What I like about it:

• Very precise;
• It stops talking the moment you pour more water or add more coffee, and returns to talk when the weight has stabilised;
• No delay;
• Small footprint;
• The voice is not annoying as the other model I have.

If you go this route, please note that when you buy it, you’ll need to run the Acaia Updater app once, or the scale won’t speak. It took me a while to figure this out.

Accessible Ways to Control Temperature

I have tried only one method until today to do this in an accessible way, so let’s jump right into it.

Bonavita 1 L Digital Variable Temperature Gooseneck Electric Kettle

• Its gooseneck spout makes it much safer to pour very hot water in a controlled way;
• The buttons on the panel are tactile, and I memorised where to press to go up or down;
• There is a button to save a few preset temperatures, and I use this (again, by memorising the number of times I have to press it) to reach some temperatures I had saved.

Just go with this one; you won’t regret it.

Accessible Ways to Control Time

I set voice timers on my phone or a Google Home device while I prepare coffee.

This section is a work in progress. Feel free to share any accessibility tricks or gear you’ve discovered!