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Basic Rules
To Follow For Great Coffee |
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1. Start With
Freshly Roasted Coffee The aroma of fresh coffee is intoxicating and its beverage is tantalizing to the palate, while old coffee beans lack aroma and taste. Fresh roasted whole bean coffee has a shelf life for maximum taste and aroma of about one week, so treat your coffee like a perishable and buy only what you will use in one week. Your coffee should be stored in a cool, dry, and dark place in an airtight container (the best type is glass or porcelain). Refrigerating or freezing is not necessary, but if you do refrigerate your coffee, make sure the container does not breathe as coffee will absorb whatever odors exist in your refrigerator. |
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| Storing coffee in the whole bean is the best method, as it exposes less surface area of the coffee to oxygen than ground coffee. | |
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2. Match The
Grind Of The Coffee To The Type Of Brewer Before they can be used to brew a beverage, roasted coffee beans must be ground. Grinding exposes the cell walls within the coffee beans, allowing the flavors trapped inside to be extracted during the brewing process. The degrees of coffee grind range from fine to medium to coarse. Always grind your coffee beans just before brewing for maximum freshness. Consume ground coffee within a few days, and be sure to store as recommended in (1) above. |
| A good rule of thumb is to grind your coffee knowing that the faster your brewing process passes water through the coffee grinds, the finer you should grind your coffee. When using the steep method (french press included), you will have to adjust the grind to fit your taste. The finer grinds will produce stronger/heavier coffee and the coarser grinds will generally produce a weaker/thinner brew (assuming that you brew for the same length of time). Always brew only what you are going to consume quickly as the longer the water stays on the grounds, the stronger (sometimes bitter) the coffee will get. | |
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3. Use Fresh,
Cold Water Water represents between 97 and 98 percent of the finished beverage, so the type of water going into your coffee has a big impact on the final taste of the beverage. A good quality bottled water is recommended, but a filtered tap water will work just fine. It is not recommended to use distilled water as it often produces a very flat/bland taste character. The same holds true for water softeners, as the salt used in the process will often create a bitter character in the brewing process. |
| Ideally, use cold, clear water for brewing. Cold water provides "freshness" because it contains a small amount of dissolved oxygen, which hot water lacks. |
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4. Use An
Established Coffee-To-Water Ratio Start with the recommended ratio of 3 ounces of coffee to every 64 ounces of water, and then make your adjustments to match your individual taste preferences. Use more or less coffee to taste, assuming the grind is correct for the brewing method. Sometimes a slight change in grind will give unacceptable results, but the grind should be your constant. Adjusting the water or amount of coffee will create a more consistent and manageable result. |
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5. Ensure The
Brewing Water Reaches The Correct Temperature Most electric drip brewers heat water to the appropriate temperature. For manual drip methods, bring the water to boiling and pull it off the heat source. The water will have cooled to the appropriate temperature when it is poured immediately over the coffee. |
| Coffee experts agree that the ideal water temperature for extracting coffee is 190° to 200° F. Too low a temperature causes slower extraction, resulting in weak coffee. Too high a temperature leads to an extraction that often results in bitter-tasting coffee. |
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6. Remove
Grounds Immediately In drip methods, remove the filtering device and dispose of the grounds as soon as all the water has dripped through. Once the coffee has released its desirable taste and aromatic properties, all that remains are bitter oils that will continue to drip into the brew if not removed. In addition, never pour brewed coffee through spent grounds; the resulting beverage may look darker but will taste bitter. |
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7. Remove
Grounds Immediately (Flavored Coffee) Drip brewing methods extract the stronger coffee flavoring materials first, followed by the less soluble, weaker flavoring materials. Removing some of the beverage before complete extraction occurs will upset the balance of the total brew. To make sure the flavoring materials mix well, lightly stir or swirl the beverage before serving. |
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8. Serve
Coffee Immediately After Brewing Coffee made in an electric drip brewer can remain hot on a warmer for a maximum of 30 minutes, but the longer the beverage sits the less desirable it becomes. If you plan to transfer the freshly brewed coffee to a thermal carafe or air pot, preheat the container with hot water to enhance its heat-retention capabilities. |
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9. Remove
Coffee From Heat Immediately While it is sometimes impractical, it is strongly recommended that coffee be removed from any heat source as quickly after brewing as possible. Coffee made in drip makers that do not brew into some kind of insulated, non-heated carafe should be transferred to a preheated carafe or air pot as soon as possible. |
| Heat begins to break down the coffee character immediately, and after 15 minutes on the warmer it no longer tastes like the coffee that was brewed. A good air pot or insulated carafe that is pre-heated with boiling water will only lose 5° to 7° of temperature per hour, so the coffee will have a great taste for hours. |
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10. Never
Reheat Brewed Coffee Reheating, even in a microwave, breaks down the coffee’s basic flavor components, results in a completely different flavor than the original beverage, and often creates a very undesirable flavor. |
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11. Regularly
Clean All Equipment After each use, wipe the brewer with a clean cloth and rinse the brewer with clean water to remove coffee oils. Residues of old coffee dissolve in contact with hot water, adversely affecting the flavor of the just-brewed beverage. |
| Also, empty coffee grinders of any remaining particles and thoroughly rinse thermal containers after every use. Pay particular attention to these steps when using flavored coffees, which leave residues that can detract from the flavor of other brews. |
| If soap is used on the brew basket or the carafes, make sure that all soup residues are removed. |
