COFFEE BREWING APPARATUS AND METHOD

Provided is an apparatus (100) for preparing a coffee beverage portion from a volume of water and a mass of coffee beans. The apparatus comprises a brewing chamber (102) for containing the ground coffee. The chamber admits water via an inlet (128). The water contacts the ground coffee contained within the chamber, and exits the chamber via an outlet (130). A ground coffee supplier (104) dispenses coffee beans to the chamber, and a water supply (124) supplies water to the chamber. A controller (134) controls the ground coffee supplier and the water supply such that the coffee beverage portion is brewed in a plurality of brewing steps. Each brewing step comprises passing a fraction of the water volume through the chamber so as to contact a further fraction of the coffee beans mass during a time period equal to the desired brewing time. Further provided is a method of preparing a coffee beverage portion.