When you taste a really fabulous cup of coffee you can be
sure that a lot of care and effort has gone into its
preparation. Great tasting coffee does not happen by
accident, but represents the culmination of preparation,
cleanliness and meticulous brewing methods.
The starting point for great tasting coffee does not come
from choosing the right blend of coffee or even the type of
brewing equipment to be used, but in the quality of the
water used and the cleanliness of the equipment!
As coffee is more than 98% water is should come as no
surprise that the quality of the water has a dramatic
impact of the quality of the finished beverage.
Freshly filtered water should be used when making coffee.
Many domestic and commercial water filters and calcium
treatment units are available and most do an excellent job
in removing heavy elements, impurities and odours from
water.
Always draw off a little water from the system first and
discard it. Use fresh clean cold water for starting off the
process of brewing your favourite beverage.
The equipment used to brew the coffee should be clean and
free of coffee stains and grounds. Coffee contains many
complex compounds that can go rancid when left on equipment
for a while and will adversely effect the quality of the
coffee produced.
Choose a good quality roast coffee bean to suit your taste
and make sure you buy it in a sealed bag or container.
Avoid buying pre-ground coffee - it may be more convenient
but it will start to oxidise the moment you open the packet
and even if subsequently kept in an air-tight container
much of the damage will have been done. The flavour of
freshly roasted coffee can deteriorate remarkably fast and
within a week or so much of the flavour will be lost.
Whole roast coffee beans will also begin to lose some of
their flavour once the seal has been broken on the coffee
bag, but so long as you keep them in a cool dry place, out
direct sunlight and not open to the atmosphere they will
stay fresh for quite a while.
For these reasons you should only grind as much coffee you
need for the brew in question and not be tempted to grind
more than what it going to be used immediately.
Don't be tempted to store you coffee in the refrigerator as
it may become tainted by the odours of other products.
The grind of the coffee is very important to the taste of
the final coffee brew. Always follow the guidelines of the
brewing equipment used and grind your coffee beans to their
specification. Grind too small and the coffee may clog the
equipment and grind too large and expect to get a
wishy-washy brew.
As a guide brewing on a traditional filter drip machine
should take between 4 and 6 minutes depending on the size
of equipment used.
Keep your grinder clean.
Grind a little coffee and then discard it, this should get
rid of any old stale coffee within the grinder that you
cannot see or reach after cleaning.
Wait until the full pot has brewed from your machine before
pouring. Typically a drip filter machine will produce
slightly weaker coffee at the start of its cycle as it
comes up to temperature and slightly stronger towards the
end. All good things come to those who wait!
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For more information about coffee and coffee making
equipment visit http://www.cafebar.co.uk and view our
Coffee School Section
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