The mega success of the Starbucks franchise just shows how incredibly popular coffee is. In fact, it is one of the few foods or drinks that many people cannot live without. You probably know a number of people who cannot start the day without their cup of coffee. You may actually be one of these people.
If you are a coffee lover, then you know that there are numerous choices of coffee beans and blends. It is all up to you to choose what you like but if you are after making a good cup of coffee every morning for you or for someone else, then here are some useful tips:
A good part of any cup of coffee is water so the purer the water you use, the better tasting your coffee is. Filtered water is the ideal water to use but if your only choice is tap water, store a gallon of it in the fridge to let the impurities settle to the bottom. Heating the water to the right temperature is also important and you can easily do this with most electric coffeemakers.
While pre-ground coffee is widely available, easy to prepare and many are affordable and actually taste great, only freshly-ground coffee beans make the freshest coffee. So, use whole bean coffee instead and grind the beans yourself using blade coffee grinder or burr coffee grinder.
The blade type costs less but since it uses a metal blade to cup up the coffee beans, there are irregularities in the size of the grinds that affect the quality of the coffee. Also, you may get a burnt taste in your coffee if you try to grind the beans finely because you have to leave the grinder running longer which may cause the blades to heat up considerably. To get a medium grind (most recommended), you should grind the coffee for about 20 seconds.
Burr grinders al
low for more consistency in the grinds because the crush the coffee beans between a fixed surface and a grinding spinning wheel. The best burr grinders to use are the conical ones because they are not messy and noisy compared to wheel burr grinders but they are also the most expensive.
So, what is the measurement for a perfect cup of coffee? Typically, that would be six ounces of filtered water for every 2 heaps tablespoon of your chosen whole bean coffee. Contrary to what most people believe, adding more coffee beans does not make the resulting brewed coffee stronger. The strength of the coffee depends on the type of beans you are using.
Another important part of your coffee brewing is the type of filter you use with your coffee maker. Coffee experts recommend gold tone filters instead of paper filters for more flavorful coffee. The paper types are more effective in straining the grounds but aside from lightening the taste of the coffee, they also leave a bit of papery taste to the brew. For superior quality, try Swiss Gold coffee filters made with 23 karat gold lining. After brewing, do not keep the coffee sitting in the pot for more than 20 minutes if you want the freshest taste.
You need to store coffee in a cool place but it is not really a good idea to refrigerate it because it also needs to be stored somewhere dry and there is a lot of moisture inside the fridge that can spoil the quality of the beans. Make sure to keep the coffee in a tightly-sealed jar or any container placed away from sources of heat and direct sunlight. Buy just about two weeks worth of coffee beans so you always have fresh beans to brew.
The tips above are just guidelines. Judging by your own taste is still the best way to make a perfect cup of coffee. So, feel free to experiment with all the coffee flavors out there until you have the right blend for you.
