Brewing

Brewing good coffee has many variables. One can buy good quality coffee and still end up with mediocre coffee if good brewing technique isn't followed. Use 2 tsp of fresh ground coffee per 6-ounce cup. Adjust to your or your guests taste. Note: 6 ounces is about half of a typical Americans serving of coffee. Coffee should be freshly ground right before using. There are many grinders on the market that will provide years of use. This will add to your coffee drinking enjoyment. Few will buy a set of coffee screens to match up your coffee grinds with your brewer so I give this general rule. Grind your coffee as fine as you can until the resulting beverage is too bitter, and then grind a little less fine than that. If your coffee doesn't have a nice strong coffee flavor, especially if it is some of ours, the grind is probably too coarse. Don't guess about the fineness. If you are using the popular grinder types that have blades that whir around, count in seconds how long it takes to achieve the desired grind.

Water is most of what coffee is. It can ruin good coffee. Make sure your water is good or filter it. Some city water is fine, most is not. It is preferable to use fresh water through a filter rather than use water from a bottle, mostly.The second water variable is water temperature. It should be 195 degrees. If it is too hot, it will make bitter coffee no matter what else you do. Percolators, which boil coffee over and over, are the bane of gourmet coffee, and should be avoided. Cheap coffee brewers often have a problem with their thermostats and don't make good coffee because the water is either too hot or too cold. If the water from your brewer is too cold, it won't make a strong rich flavor no matter what coffee you buy or how fine you grind it.The best way to make coffee is to boil water in a kettle. Learn to listen to your kettle until the correct temperature is reached. Mine is the correct temperature for coffee when steam just begins to whip out of the whistle, I learned this by checking with a thermometer. This all takes so little time compared to the enjoyment a fine cup of coffee can bring.

A fine cup of coffee is truly one of the finest things the planet has to offer. Good coffee is the result of more effort and care from a very large number of people than is generally known. We all work to be our best because we love to do it. Savor and enjoy your coffee.One cup coffee brewers brew a really good cup of coffee. Buying as many as you will need to serve at one time is still less than a good brewer. If you buy a few one-cup brewers, you won't take up counter space. You won't have two devices that are used to heat up water. Your control of the end product will be greater because you will really get a feel for grind quality and water temperature. You will not be tempted to try to store brewed coffee, but will always make it fresh. Brew your coffee freshly right before you drink it. A thermos of coffee will keep you awake on a long road trip, but it will not provide you with an experience. I suggest traveling with an immersion coil and a one-cup brewer so you can have fresh coffee wherever you go.

Yet another way to make good coffee is like making tea. Pour hot water on the grounds in a pyrex container. Let this steep for about 2 minutes. Pour through a filter that will allow quick flow of the product. I personally use a ceramic filter cone and a hemp cloth filter. I use hemp not because i am one of those guys that think hemp is the answer to everything, I use it because it doesn't impart a taste to coffee. I am sure other materials will work. I have heard of people using nylon and metal. I have not yet found a cotton cloth that doesn't flavor coffee, but I bet there is one.

Life is short. Take time to enjoy coffee. You deserve those moments where you are not being treated like a machine that is having fuel poured into it. Stopping for coffee is a good way to stop and take stock of your day.

sincerely,

Greg Gorchels