If you are one of those people that love to make coffee for friends, up to 2 or 3 persons and you don't know what to do when there are more than 3. Then you should read this post to the end. 

Making excellent coffee for a bigger group can be difficult, especially when you are used to just brewing coffee for a family of 2 or 3. Coffee experts have tested different ways to make top-notch coffee for large groups and found out new methods. We are going to share them with you. 

After reading this, making coffee for your next dinner party or holiday party won’t be stressful because these methods will make the brewing process faster and easier. But first, we’ll tell you the most effective way to scale your brew without sacrificing the actual flavors or quality. 

HOW TO SCALE COFFEE BATCHES

Although when some things grow in size, there is a tendency that there will be a loss in quality, but it doesn't have to happen with your coffee. Once you are careful, it won't happen.

Imagine you want to make coffee for a large group (pour-over coffee). You normally brew with 32g of coffee beans and 525g of water and the brew drains for 3 minutes. Then you try to brew with 64g of coffee beans and 1050g of water and allow it to brew for about 6 minutes. You’d notice that the batch brew will have a dull and bitter taste because it is over-extracted.

This is what went wrong- the extra time that was spent brewing made it over-extract. The normal coffee had already drained within 3 minutes the extra brewing time caused the bitterness. 

There are two ways to improve and fix this problem.

You have to grind on a coarser setting: It may mean you have to practice once or twice to make the batch brew before you can find a sweet spot. The coarser grind will drain faster, so the total extraction time will be normal, and the flavors will balance.

Let the water pour aggressively: When you are making pour-over coffee, the water pouring speed always has an impact on the coffee. Since you are making a larger brew, you need to pour the water faster than normal to reduce the coffee's contact time with water.

Keep in mind that for methods like the French press, this hack also applies. If you use 15 extra seconds when using the French press, make sure that you use the timer to account for the time before you start pouring the water. If you like to use another filter or cheesecloth when making cold brew, you have to take note of the exact filtering time. This is because it can take up to 30 minutes to filter a big batch of cold brew concentrate.

What we have been trying to say is that the key to improving your brew is to avoid over-extraction by using a coarse grind size, pouring the hot water faster, and accounting for the extra time for filtering. Now let's get to the brewing techniques.

BUY A LARGER FRENCH PRESS

You may have a standard 34oz French press. If you don't have a French press, you should buy one for this. Let's give you a few reasons why a French press is effective for making coffee for larger groups. 

• Making the coffee is very easy, and it is a hands-off brewing method: You can start making a batch of coffee. Move away for some minutes, pour the coffee, rinse the carafe and repeat the process. Within the four minutes of brewing time, you can do other things in the kitchen, set up the dining table, or do other fast entertaining tasks.
• Most people love the flavors from the French press: The French press produces coffee that is full-bodied and well-rounded. This means that you won't go wrong if you serve coffee from the French press.
• The quality is not difficult to maintain: As we previously mentioned, the brewing process is quite simple and controllable, so there will be no issues keeping your coffee so delicious when compared to other brewing methods. 
• Very easy to outsource: You have to help hands at the party? It is very easy for you to outsource. Just show them the brewing process, and they will take over for you with ease.  

If you want to brew with 60g of coffee and 90g of water, it will yield about 30z of coffee. This means that you’ll spend 4 minutes plus one more minute cleaning up to produce 3-4 cups of coffee. It is not the fastest way to brew coffee for a large group, but it is among the simplest.

USE THE CLASSIC DRIP POT

This is another easy way to brew coffee for larger groups. Some people may not like the drip brewer because it is rarely equipped with current brewing technology, but the drip brewer is up to the task when it comes to batch brewed coffee.

These are some reasons why you should try it out:

• The drip coffee makers are also hands-off: All you have to do is grind freshly grounded coffee beans, add them to the filter, measure your water and the brewer will do the remaining work.
• They have bigger sizes: There are bigger drip pots in the market. You can brew as much as 60az of coffee at a time. That is the size of 8 normal size coffee cups.

The only challenge you may have with this method is maintaining the same quality for all the brews. You may need to practice more to know the sweet spot. There are chances that you won't have much control over each batch you make and the coffee may not be as tasty as the other methods.  But you can use this method if you don't have much time, and you want to make a decent batch of brewed coffee.

USE POUR-OVER METHOD

This method isn't as easy as the others, but it is not a bad option. We are suggesting this method for those that are used to the pour over method.

If you are still trying to get comfortable with the pour-over method, maybe you should sit this one out.  These are some advantages of using this method-

• There is control over the brewing process: One thing most people like most about the pour-over method is that you’ll have a lot of control, You’d be the one to determine the pouring speed, the grind size, and other factors. This means that you’d be able to dial in the type of flavor you want despite that it's a batch brew. This control can be overwhelming if you don't know exactly what to do. 
• It is a meditative way of preparing coffee: If you are normally stressed when it comes to entertaining a larger group, this method will help to calm your nerves. 
• You can brew coffee in larger batches: The larger the coffee, the more difficult it will be for you to find a sweet spot. Another reason people love this method is because you can brew up to 45oz of coffee at a time, but you have to go for a coarse grind here and have a bigger cone. 

As we mentioned previously, it is quite difficult to maintain the quality of the coffee as you brew in batches. You’d have to use a larger cone, and you have to experiment with grind sizes. If you want to experiment, but you are not confident with dialing in some skills, then it's better to skip this method.

MAKE COLD BREW BEFOREHAND

Making cold brew beforehand is a very easy way to escape brewing batch coffee the next day. You can easily use it to serve a bigger group the next day. if you like to plan, this will soon become your favorite method. 

Generally, the cold brew method produces coffee that has less acidity and bitterness. It will produce coffee with bold and unique flavors. Your guest will make comments on how tasty the coffee drink is, they may not realize that the coffee is cold brewed. 

These are some reasons why this method is very effective:

• You can brew the coffee in advance and store it in the fridge: The flavors will still be preserved in the refrigerator. When you want to use it, just bring out the concentrate and mix it into the coffee drinks. You can use it to make hot or cold coffee: Is it a warm day, add some ice and syrup to the concentrate to make a coffee tonic, iced coffee drinks. If it's cold outside, then add boiled to the concentrate. The taste will still be delicious. 
• You already have a gear for brewing: The cold brew method is one of the easiest ways to make coffee. All you need is a brewing vessel like a mason jar and a filter.  Just know that the brewing process can take up to 12 to 24 hours. 

FINAL WORDS

If you normally dread making coffee for friends and extended family, then you can go for any of these methods.  If you are still worried about coffee for larger groups and maintaining the quality, let's remind you of something: using freshly roasted specialty coffee doesn't just brew delicious coffee, but it is forgiving as well. 

In other words, if you brew with high-quality coffee beans, you’ll be able to avoid making a few mistakes. When the beans are fresh, they tend to be very tasty no matter the situation.