Tuesday, October 23, 2007

How to Brew The Best Tasting Coffee

You don't have to go to Starbucks, Peet's or Tully's to get a good cup of coffee. With the proper tools and recipe, you can brew coffee that tastes great in your own home. Brewing great coffee is part art and part science.

Excerpts from "How to Brew Great Tasting Coffee."

Key Items for Great Tasting Coffee include:

Coffee:
  • Use FRESH Beans!
  • Limit exposure to oxygen, light, heat and mositure.
  • Buy only as much coffee as you’ll need in a week
  • Grind just before brewing
  • Store beans in an airtight container kept in a cool, dark, dry place.

Equipment: Clean and Calibrated

Grind:

  • FRESH! Grind beans just before brewing
  • Use a fine grind for short brewing processes (drip)
  • Use a coarse grind for long processes such as percolated (not recommended)

Storage:

  • Brewed coffee should be used right away or transfered to an airtight thermal carafe
  • "Cooking" the brewed coffee on a hot plate to keep it warm in an open glass container should be avoided.. This rules out most low cost coffee makers.

Water:

  • Use fresh, impurity-free water (filtered) water
  • Heat water temperature to just off a boil (195°-205° F)
  • If the water is too hot, then bitter oils are extracted from the bean.
  • If the water is too cold, then not enough of the good oils are extracted from the beans.

FRESH!

  • Did I mention using FRESH beans ground just before use?

More at "How to Brew Great Tasting Coffee"

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 24, 2007 at 6:58 AM

    Good article.

    No mention of a permanent gold filter?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kirk LindstromOctober 24, 2007 at 10:08 AM

    I used to use Gold Filters but they waste so much water trying to clean and I wondered about dishwasher soap and food residue effecting the taste if you use the dishwasher.

    I found the unbleached brown paper filters at Trader Joes are not supposed to add chemical taste and I believe the coffee shops use unbleached paper filters too. I sure feel better not wasting so much water.

    ReplyDelete