Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in America. Sadly, most people skip brewing their own and instead race to the corner cafe for their fix. Brewing a perfect cup at home can be easy as long as certain steps are followed.
Always use clean equipment when brewing. Anything left if the machine will either go rancid or burn. This will give the new batch of coffee a bitter flavor.
Obtain the freshest beans you can. This usually means buying at a specialty store instead of the super market. Coffee is a perishable product, so the fresher it is, the better the flavor will be. You don't want beans that have been sitting around getting stale.
Purchase only enough beans to fit your lifestyle. If beans go stale in a store they will also go stake in the house. If you only drink one cup a day, don't stock up on beans. Even if you buy your favorite, it won't taste as good if it goes stale.
Use good, clean water. If your tap water is great as is, use that. If you wouldn't drink the water out of the tap use filtered water.
Fresh ground beans means better flavor. Always grind at home before brewing. A grinder at home is a small investment in fresh flavor.
Select the correct grind size for your apparatus. Coarse grind is best for cold water brewing in a percolator. Medium grind is the most useful. This is used for drip methods and French presses. Fine grind is used for vacuum and Neapolitan flip methods, popular in Europe. Extra fine is used for espresso machines.
Always make sure that the right amount of grounds are used. One six ounce cup needs 2 tablespoons of grounds. More grounds do not make a better cup and wastes beans. Less than 2 tablespoons makes the water work too hard to extract flavors leading to the leaching of bitter tannins from the beans.
Contrary to popular belief, putting beans in the fridge does not prolong their shelf life. The fridge exposes the beans to moisture that ruins flavor. They should be stored in a cool, dry, airtight container. If freezing is necessary, they should be used in 2-3 months.
It is important that the water used for brewing be very hot, but NOT boiling. For most people this is not an issue because they have automatic machines. This is important to keep in mind when using a French press.
After brewing, but before serving, make sure to stir. This helps distribute the particles that have settled on the bottom. It also mixes the oils into the drink. This makes for consistently good cups throughout.
Store any remaining coffee in a thermal carafe or thermos. This will keep it hot and fresh without scalding it on the hot plate of a machine.
Getting the perfect cup of coffee is easy if these steps are followed. It is cheaper and more satisfying to be able to brew your own at home.
Coffee is a huge industry worldwide and employs millions of workers. It is a living for many people, but for others it is a great way to start their day and get a kick start in the morning when they need it. Machines like the single serve coffee maker and the gourmet coffee maker abound. To find out all you need to know, please visit our free website.
Tags:
beverage,
coffee,
food and drink,
gourmet coffee maker,
single serve coffee maker,
vacuum coffee maker
April 27 2010 | coffee | No Comments »
True coffee lovers have been known to engage in some very heated arguments over which type of coffee maker actually produces the best coffee. The answer? It all depends. It's as simple as that.
Originally, coffee beans were chewed like vitamins or even candy. The effects were well known by ancient civilizations as they fed them to warriors before battles. Their descendants, however, figured out a more pleasurable way to enjoy coffee beans, and thus was invented real brewed coffee.
Some prefer nothing more than a good old fashioned pot of coffee that was made over an open fire. Cowboys had their coffee like this for decades as they conquered the Wild West. They drank it straight up - no girly stuff like cream and sugar. Even if you didn't head out to rustle cattle or roam the open range, these same coffee makers were used at home as well. And as anyone who ever percolated a pot of coffee over an open fire will attest to, they will ultimately boil over if not tended to properly.
Fast forward to the late 1950s. A leading houseware manufacturer invented the electric percolator and women scooped them up by the thousands. These worked on the same principle - water boiling up through the coffee grounds - but they had built it controls and monitoring devices to virtually prevent any messy mishaps. Just follow the simple directions and within minutes you'll have very good cup of java.
No major changes occurred until the 1970s when the drip coffee maker showed up. Housewives loved this new invention as well and many families even preferred the end result. These drip coffee makers did just that - they dripped. They water would be trickled from above, over the coffee grounds, and the coffee would drip into the pot. Water was kept separate and only touched the coffee grounds once, as opposed to a percolator where the coffee would continue to bubble through the grounds. Of course, what many women really loved was the fact that they could buy one to match their kitchen; they came in a variety of popular colors of the day from white to avocado.
Nothing much changed until the late 1980s when gourmet coffees became a hit and machinery to brew these new coffees was made available to residential homes, not just restaurants and coffee houses. Machines that made cappuccino and espresso and latte became the rage. Much more expensive than the regular coffee makers everyone used for their morning caffeine hits, these machines were big, bulky, expensive - and selling like hot cakes. Coffee lovers proudly displayed their new espresso machines right next to their regular coffee makers.
American technology didn't advance much further so we looked towards other cultures and borrowed from them. We became fascinated with the French press and what we call "the Cuban coffee maker". Both of these coffee makers tend to produce a very rich, and very strong cup of coffee, not always appreciated by the average American coffee lover. These two machines make coffee in the typical "drip" method, however, the grounds are very fine thereby holding onto the water for a longer time, increasing the strength of the ultimate brew.
Whether you prefer your coffee strong, average, or even a variety, there's a machine to suit your needs.
John McKain used many coffee makers in his restaurant and knows how to choose the best coffee maker that makes great coffee. He writes reviews and talks about his coffee makers in his best coffee maker reviews blog.
Tags:
coffee,
coffee maker,
coffee makers,
coffeemaker,
Drinks,
electrical appliances,
home,
office,
shopping
April 26 2010 | coffee | No Comments »