French Presses
Steps to Making A Great Cup Of Coffee Everytime
Steps to Making A Great Cup Of Coffee Everytime
First Step: Water temperature
The first step we will explore is the water temperature the brewing machine delivers. You would think that a drip coffee maker is built to give you the right brew temperature all the time. In our study we found that isn’t always true. As some coffee brewers age the water temperature can lower as much as 20 degrees. So if your gourmet coffee doesn’t taste as good as it once did there is a possibility it’s not the coffee but really the brewing machine. As some coffee makers age their heating elements tend to ware out and not heat the water as hot as it did when new. The ideal water temperature should be around 200 degrees when its hits the ground coffee in the basket or filter. A little lower temperature is ok but if it is below 180 degrees you may want to consider a new machine. If possible take the temperature of the water of the new machine and use that as you guide in the future. I have found that coffee isn’t always served as hot as it was at one time due to the hot coffee law suits. You may recall the law suite against a large company because of one of their patrons spilling coffee on themselves and getting burned.
Second Step: Good coffee
Usually that comes in the shape of a bean, and ideally it should have been roasted not more then 5 days before you bought it. Obviously, roasting green beans in your own kitchen will get you the best taste. There are roasters you can buy for around $150 so you can roast a fresh batch as you need it right there in your kitchen. You can buy the green beans at some grocery stores like Whole foods. The Whole Foods by my house sells the green beans at the same price as the roasted ones.
Third Step: You need to grind your beans
There are two types of grinders, one using a blade and one using two metal plates that spin and mill the beans. In my experience, the mill or spur type grinders give you the best flavor. The blade grinder tends to impart its own flavor, giving your varied expensive beans a more homogenized flavor. For your drip coffee maker you fine grind your beans. For your French press, you course grind your beans. When you fine grind your coffee and use a basket strainer instead of a paper filter you will notice some coffee sediment in the bottom of your cup. You may also notice a little sheen floating on top of the coffee. This is the oil that is in the coffee beans themselves. This is a good thing. Your getting just a little more flavor from the oil whereas when using a paper filter you usually won’t notice this oil as it is absorbed by the paper filter.
Fourth Step: Measuring your coffee
Get yourself a coffee scoop, which is equivalent to a heaping tablespoon. Measure out 1 scoop for every 2 cups labeled on the side of your coffee pot. If your coffee maker is a 10 cup then you want to make a full pot, then use 5 scoops of coffee. I