GRAGSON'S COFFEE TIPS

BREWING

Tips Index

It's always better to purchase smaller quantities of bulk coffee for home use and grind them yourself with the best grinder you can afford. Buying smaller quantities ensures you will always have the freshest coffee.
To brew a quality cup of coffee, you need to be sure that your equipment is clean, you have good water, the water heats to the right temperature, and you have the correct grind, formula, and brewing time for your equipment.
It is better to brew small amounts and store your coffee in thermal carafes than to brew a large pot all at once. Similarly, it is better to roast in small amounts like many specialty roasters do to maintain the best control over the process.
If you let your coffee sit after brewing on the burner of your electric drip machine, your coffee will begin to turn bitter. This process likely occurs due to a chemical reaction -- the polymerization of phenols or pyruvic acid.
Avoid using aluminum pots or cups when making or serving coffee. Aluminum can impart a bitter taste to your coffee. Glass and porcelain are the best materials to use in brewing and serving, but if you must use a metal, you will find stainless steel the better of the choices.
The best iced coffee is made from coffee brewed double strength then cooled and not made more than three hours in advance.
"Hard" water contains alkalines that will neutralize the acids in coffee that give it its flavor. The phosphates contained in water run through a water softener can add a soapy taste to your coffee. For best results, use a water filtration unit.
An often forgotten step when brewing manual drip coffee is not covering the filter holder after the last of the water is poured in. Covering the filter holder helps minimize heat loss.
Though time-consuming, brewing in a vacuum pot truly brings out the best in a coffee. To shorten the prep time, boil the water separately and then add.
Some coffee drinkers contend that one gets a richer body by brewing with a metal instead of a paper filter.
Flip-drip pots require a higher coffee-to-water ratio than other brewing methods, but flipping the pot can be fun!
When making manual drip coffee, let your boiling water stand for a few seconds before pouring it onto the coffee grounds. Wet the grounds completely first, let that soak in, and then add the rest being careful to never overflow your basket. Swirl the final brew when done.
Two of the biggest problems with electric drip coffee machines are incorrectly calibrated brew times and insufficiently hot water temperatures.
Making manual drip coffee is easy, portable and allows great control of the coffee-water ratio. It takes slightly longer than using an electric drip and you do have to stand there with it. It is a great way to make coffee however!
Just can't resist waiting for that first cup of coffee in the morning? Feel the urge to pour it before the brewing cycle is done? Well, resist the urge for the best taste. The first part of the brew is stronger than the latter part. The entire brew should be completed for the most best and most consistent flavor.
Burners will keep coffee hot, but they will also ruin it. If you do not have a thermal carafe to put your coffee in immediately after brewing, you will do better to turn off your burner and re-heat the coffee as it cools in a microwave oven.
When making drip coffee, it is best to stir or swirl the pot when finished to thoroughly mix the coffee because the coffee toward the bottom will be stronger since it was brewed first.
An artful way of making coffee is with a metal flip-drip pot. This device has two cylindrical pots that fit one atop the other. One has a spout. A coffee compartment with screens fits between the two. Boiling water is put into the pot without a spout, then the unit is flipped to make drip coffee.
For making great coffee and performing what appears to be a magic show for your guests at the same time, try making coffee in a vacuum pot. An ingenious German invention, the pot is a glass, two-globed unit from which pressure moves water from the lower to the top globe to mix with the coffee and then a vacuum forms to pull the coffee back into the lower globe for serving.
When purchasing a brewing unit, always test it for comfort. If you are a regular coffee drinker, you may be lifting the carafe with coffee in it 10 or more times a day, or over 3,650 times a year.
There are coffee experts who argue that paper filters absorb some of the coffee's rich flavor. Paper filters are however easier to use and keep your brewer clean.
No matter what your brewing equipment is, water should not be in touch with the coffee grounds more than 10 minutes. After that amount of time, chemicals from the coffee will be extracted that make the taste more bitter.
If you use a non-electric drip coffee maker, boil your water, take it off of the stove for ten seconds (enough to cool just slightly and no longer be boiling), and then pour it into your coffee maker immediately for the correct temperature to make your coffee.
Stale coffee is a result of the coffee's exposure to oxygen which through a chemical reaction called oxidation changes the actual composition of the coffee. Long-term exposure to oxygen can turn coffee rancid. While coffee can become stale within a couple of weeks, it takes months for coffee to become rancid. How you store your coffee is important. It is not necessary to refrigerate or freeze coffee. However, it is important to contain your coffee, either as whole beans or ground, in an airtight container. This diminishes exposure to oxygen and helps prevent absorption of other particles that can affect the taste of the coffee.
It's important to pay attention to the water you use to make your coffee. A filtration system at your tap or a filtration pitcher can help remove some of the chlorine, alkalines, minerals, and salts. And, be aware that if you use a water softener without additionally filtering your water, you may get a somewhat soapy taste to your coffee from the addition of phosphates.
Still deciding on whether to use paper filters or a gold filter for your drip coffee? If you don't like even the tiniest bit of coffee sediment in your coffee, you will want to use paper. In the long run, however, they will cost you more.
When buying an electric drip brewer, the most critical component is the heater. The temperature of the water before it filters through the coffee is critical. Your best buy for better coffee is a unit with a heater with a rating over 1,000 watts.
Brewing temperature in making coffee is important. Lighter roasts do better with a slightly lower brewing temperature than darker roasts.
Hard water produces mineral deposits which clump together in tanks and tubing to form limescale. Limescale in your coffee or espresso equipment affects the water flow and temperature ultimately changing the taste of your coffee or espresso.
Watch for calcification in your home brewing machine and be sure to thoroughly clean your machine once a month. Use a decalcification powder in water or a solution of white vinegar and water (1:3). After running this through a brewing cycle, be sure to run clear water through your brewer at least three times. Taste the water following the third time to be certain you don't need to rinse it more.
If your cup of coffee seems too weak, you may be using too little coffee. However, it may also be because your grind is too coarse, your water too cool, or your brewing time too short. The strength or weakness of your cup of coffee is dependent upon the brewing process so be sure all factors are considered. Weakness, however, should not be confused with blandness or mildness which is a result of the brewing or blending process.
Be sure to keep your brewing device clean. Coffee contains oils that can almost invisibly stick to your brewer. Over time, these oils, if not removed, can turn rancid and taint any coffee brewed.
If you want to keep brewed coffee hot without ruining it, the only thing you can do is to pour it into an airtight, preheated thermal carafe.
Making coffee at home does not have to be high tech. Your coffee, a kettle or pan to heat the water, a plastic filter holder, a filter, and a carafe capable of holding a quart of coffee are all you need. Boil your water. When it boils, let it cool for a few seconds before pouring it over your coffee. Proportion your coffee and your water correctly, and you will have a great cup of coffee every time!
If you buy your paper filters one size larger than recommended for your filter, you won't have to worry that water will overflow the filter.
When pouring water into your filter, it is a good idea to moisten the coffee grounds first to make an even resistance for the rest of the water. This will prevent the water from rushing through tunnels it may create if all the water is poured in at once.
It was only a little over 20 years ago that people in the United States began to drink coffee made with a brewer other than a percolator. In the mid-1970s, nearly 9 of 10 Americans drank their coffee made from a percolator. This method is considered one of the worst ways to brew coffee by most coffee connoisseurs.
A good rule for brewing at home: The shorter the brewing time, the finer the grind should be.
Pay attention to the water used to make your coffee. Water is about 99% of each cup. Start with cold water since the properties of hot water from the tap have changed with heating and standing in a tank. Softer water is better than harder water, but only if naturally soft and more free of minerals. Be sure your water doesn't have any undesirable tastes or smells because those will affect the taste of the coffee.
Should you use a paper or a gold filter? Paper is certainly easier and cleaner. If you use paper, use oxygen-bleached filters which do not contain dioxin residues. If you use a gold filter, keep it clean. It requires a little more maintenance, but you do not have to worry about residues from the paper in your cup of coffee.
Be sure to check your brewing machine for accuracy. Some machines have inaccurate cup markings. If the markings are not accurate, determine the adjustment you have to make in measuring the proper amounts of water and coffee. And remember too that of the water that goes into your machine, only about 92% comes out. The other 8% is absorbed by the coffee grounds.
When cleaning your coffee equipment, consider using a mixture of baking soda and water. Soap can leave a film and an aftertaste. For best results, clean your equipment daily.
Percolators boil coffee. Boiling coffee eliminates most of the aromatics by burning and oxidizing them, and the coffee becomes much more bitter. Avoid percolators whenever possible.
If you use an electric drip brewer, the most important element is its heater. The water should heat to just less than boiling (195-200 degrees) and run for four to six minutes. The temperature and the time it takes for the water to run are important in getting an extraction of the soluble substances in the coffee as near to 19 percent as possible for the best tasting cup of coffee. If you buy a lower-priced drip brewer, you may find that the water runs for 10-12 minutes and your coffee is more bitter. Also, if your water is not hot enough, you will get less than the desired 19 percent extraction.
For the best tasting coffee from the start to the finish of your pot, pour the coffee in your pot into a thermal carafe to maintain its heat after brewing.
When you are looking for a coffee maker, check to see if the product is approved by the Underwriter's Laboratories (UL). UL specifies product guidelines including burn-proof exterior and interior electrical requirements. It would be wise to purchase only UL-approved equipment for your own safety.
A good cup of coffee should stay hot for 10 - 15 minutes. If you are drinking from glass or ceramic mugs, you can let hot water stand in them five minutes before you pour in your coffee. This will help your mug maintain its heat when you are drinking your coffee.
There are at least five ways of decaffeinating coffee. The most common of these is the Swiss Water Process. The Swiss Water Process is an all-water method and a trademark of Coffex, a Swiss company which patented the process in the 1950s. The company is now located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This is where all "Swiss Water Process" decaf coffees are treated.
Soft water is preferred over hard water for espresso machines. Hard water can cause the build up of lime inside the boiler and can ruin the machine's efficiency.
Dishwashing machines will not always eliminate the coffee stains in your mugs. It is best to hand scrub your cups with baking soda and water, rinse, and let dry. The cleaner your cup, the better your cup of coffee.
When buying a thermal carafe to store your coffee, consider buying a taller, thinner one rather than a shorter, more round one. The taller one will expose more of the coffee to the interior surface area of the thermos and therefore keep your coffee warmer for a longer time.
If you use a thermos as a carafe to store your coffee in after brewing, be sure to use one that is lined with glass. Plastic and other liners will change the flavor of your coffee due to what may have been stored in them previously.
Keeping your brewing equipment clean is important. Residues from brewed coffee remain on equipment and will eventually turn rancid. Use a mixture of water and baking soda for best results. Scrub and rinse your carafe and filter with this mixture well and often. At least every 30 brewings, run a quart of water with one teaspoon white vinegar added through your brewing unit. Follow this by running a quart of cold water through your brewer.
Freshly brewed coffee begins to lose its freshness within 20 minutes. However, freshness can be extended for up to two hours by keeping the freshly brewed coffee in a vacuum thermal bottle.
When brewing at home, empty your filter basket as soon as your coffee is finished brewing to prevent condensed steam from passing back through the used grounds and dripping back down into your fresh coffee.
Never pour freshly brewed coffee back through the grounds just used just because you think your coffee isn't strong enough. This will only add to your coffee all the components you want to leave behind in the grounds. If you insist on strengthening coffee, pour it through freshly ground coffee.
You are more apt to get overflow in your drip brewing process when you use freshly roasted and ground beans since fresh coffee has a higher carbon dioxide content and this bubbles up through the water while brewing.
If you prefer to use a paper filter instead of a gold filter for making your drip coffee at home, keep your paper filters out of your spice cabinet. Paper filters can absorb odors from whatever is nearby. This can affect the taste of your coffee.
When making drip coffee, the standard amount of coffee to use is one standard coffee scoop (2 tablespoons) or 2 half-size (1 tablespoon) scoops to 6 ounces of water. If you prefer weaker coffee than this, it will taste better if you brew at this strength and then dilute the brew with hot water or milk afterwards.
Ideally your electric brewer should be able to contain at least as much space as it does coffee to avoid overflow. This is more difficult to achieve in cone-shaped filter baskets than in flat filter baskets. The reason is that once the basket filled with ground coffee fills with water, the two together will double in size. Insufficient room may result in overflow. This is more likely to happen if you brew a full pot. So if you run into this situation, you would be well advised to brew smaller amounts of coffee. Coffee is best poured into a thermal carafe after brewing and consumed within one hour anyway.
A "burner" is appropriately named for if you leave your coffee on it, that is exactly what it will do to your coffee -- burn it. For better coffee, never leave your coffee on a burner. Never! For the best results, buy and use a thermal carafe, pour your freshly brewed coffee into it, and consume it within an hour from the time it was brewed.
When buying a new coffee maker, be sure to ask how hot the brewing cycle and how long it takes to brew. Also, be sure it is comfortable since you may be lifting the handled carafe over 3,000 times in a year if you are a regular daily coffee drinker.
For the best in home-brewed coffee, brew only what you will use within one hour. As soon as the coffee is finished brewing, pour it into a glass-lined carafe and cover. If you've paid attention to your extraction rate, the quality of your coffee, and have clean equipment, this will ensure a good cup of coffee.
A good coffee cup should hold the heat of your coffee for about 15 minutes. Of all the materials available, earthenware seems to hold the heat the best, and it also washes up easily after use. To improve the heat maintenance time of your beverage, preheat your earthenware cup or mug with steaming hot water first. After emptying the water, fill your cup or mug with your coffee. You will likely be pleased with the results.
Unless you are purchasing coffee cups or mugs simply for collection or show and not for use, it is a good idea to test them before you purchase them if possible. A set may be beautiful to view, but horrible when it comes to drinking from or handling them. Some mug handles, for example, will be impossible to touch without burning yourself when full of your favorite hot beverage.
You can measure the temperature of the water produced by your home brewer by placing an oven thermometer in the carafe. Allow the water to drip on to the tip of the thermometer and take a reading after about five minutes. The water temperature should be around 195º F if your equipment is working properly.
If you find the standard 1:1 ratio (one tablespoon of coffee for each six-ounce cup to be brewed) formula too strong for your taste in your drip brewer, you might try ratios of 7:10 (7 tablespoons for 10 six-ounce cups) or 2:3 (2 tablespoons for each 3 six-ounce cups).
A simple and fairly accurate rule for your home brewing is each 5-6 oz. cup should take no longer than one minute to brew. For example, if you are brewing eight cups, then your brewing time should not be longer than eight minutes. If it is, you are overextracting components from the coffee which will make your coffee taste more bitter.
Every time you brew coffee at home, think of it as your own taste test. Coffee brewing is both an art and a science. Enjoy the taste and the experiments!
If you add dairy to your coffee, the best way is to warm the milk or half-and-half before adding it. Always avoid powdered creamers. They will undoubtedly worsen the taste of your coffee.
So why is it important to brew only enough coffee to be used at home within one hour to create the best tasting coffee? Because coffee begins to deteriorate from the heat. Most brewing units will hold the coffee temperature between 155 and 175 degrees. Even at this temperature the coffee will start to become bitter in twenty to thirty minutes.
So how does that water taste coming out of your tap? Remember, your water affects the taste of your coffee. If you are going to buy bottled water, be sure to buy spring water which is oxygenated and maintains its oxygen when refrigerated. Distilled water is not oxygenated. If you use water from your tap, remember that colder water maintains oxygen better. Let your tap run for a minute to clear out your pipes where the water has been sitting before using the water. This will improve its oxygen content.
A quality cup of coffee is one in which taste, aroma, body, and acidity are all present in the right mix to create a pleasant flavor. The aroma is perhaps the essential component of flavor. The aroma is a complex of more than 300 hundred volatile chemicals. To get good coffee, you must ensure the extraction of good aroma before, during, and after brewing.

GRAGSON'S COFFEE TIPS

BREWING

It's always better to purchase smaller quantities of bulk coffee for home use and grind them yourself with the best grinder you can afford. Buying smaller quantities ensures you will always have the freshest coffee.

To brew a quality cup of coffee, you need to be sure that your equipment is clean, you have good water, the water heats to the right temperature, and you have the correct grind, formula, and brewing time for your equipment.

It is better to brew small amounts and store your coffee in thermal carafes than to brew a large pot all at once. Similarly, it is better to roast in small amounts like many specialty roasters do to maintain the best control over the process.

If you let your coffee sit after brewing on the burner of your electric drip machine, your coffee will begin to turn bitter. This process likely occurs due to a chemical reaction -- the polymerization of phenols or pyruvic acid.

Avoid using aluminum pots or cups when making or serving coffee. Aluminum can impart a bitter taste to your coffee. Glass and porcelain are the best materials to use in brewing and serving, but if you must use a metal, you will find stainless steel the better of the choices.

The best iced coffee is made from coffee brewed double strength then cooled and not made more than three hours in advance.

"Hard" water contains alkalines that will neutralize the acids in coffee that give it its flavor. The phosphates contained in water run through a water softener can add a soapy taste to your coffee. For best results, use a water filtration unit.

An often forgotten step when brewing manual drip coffee is not covering the filter holder after the last of the water is poured in. Covering the filter holder helps minimize heat loss.

Though time-consuming, brewing in a vacuum pot truly brings out the best in a coffee. To shorten the prep time, boil the water separately and then add.

Some coffee drinkers contend that one gets a richer body by brewing with a metal instead of a paper filter.

Flip-drip pots require a higher coffee-to-water ratio than other brewing methods, but flipping the pot can be fun!

When making manual drip coffee, let your boiling water stand for a few seconds before pouring it onto the coffee grounds. Wet the grounds completely first, let that soak in, and then add the rest being careful to never overflow your basket. Swirl the final brew when done.

Two of the biggest problems with electric drip coffee machines are incorrectly calibrated brew times and insufficiently hot water temperatures.

Making manual drip coffee is easy, portable and allows great control of the coffee-water ratio. It takes slightly longer than using an electric drip and you do have to stand there with it. It is a great way to make coffee however!

Burners will keep coffee hot, but they will also ruin it. If you do not have a thermal carafe to put your coffee in immediately after brewing, you will do better to turn off your burner and re-heat the coffee as it cools in a microwave oven.

When making drip coffee, it is best to stir or swirl the pot when finished to thoroughly mix the coffee because the coffee toward the bottom will be stronger since it was brewed first.

An artful way of making coffee is with a metal flip-drip pot. This device has two cylindrical pots that fit one atop the other. One has a spout. A coffee compartment with screens fits between the two. Boiling water is put into the pot without a spout, then the unit is flipped to make drip coffee.

When purchasing a brewing unit, always test it for comfort. If you are a regular coffee drinker, you may be lifting the carafe with coffee in it 10 or more times a day, or over 3,650 times a year.

There are coffee experts who argue that paper filters absorb some of the coffee's rich flavor. Paper filters are however easier to use and keep your brewer clean.

No matter what your brewing equipment is, water should not be in touch with the coffee grounds more than 10 minutes. After that amount of time, chemicals from the coffee will be extracted that make the taste more bitter.

If you use a non-electric drip coffee maker, boil your water, take it off of the stove for ten seconds (enough to cool just slightly and no longer be boiling), and then pour it into your coffee maker immediately for the correct temperature to make your coffee.

Still deciding on whether to use paper filters or a gold filter for your drip coffee? If you don't like even the tiniest bit of coffee sediment in your coffee, you will want to use paper. In the long run, however, they will cost you more.

When buying an electric drip brewer, the most critical component is the heater. The temperature of the water before it filters through the coffee is critical. Your best buy for better coffee is a unit with a heater with a rating over 1,000 watts.

Be sure to keep your brewing device clean. Coffee contains oils that can almost invisibly stick to your brewer. Over time, these oils, if not removed, can turn rancid and taint any coffee brewed.

If you want to keep brewed coffee hot without ruining it, the only thing you can do is to pour it into an airtight, preheated thermal carafe.

If you buy your paper filters one size larger than recommended for your filter, you won't have to worry that water will overflow the filter.

When pouring water into your filter, it is a good idea to moisten the coffee grounds first to make an even resistance for the rest of the water. This will prevent the water from rushing through tunnels it may create if all the water is poured in at once.

A good rule for brewing at home: The shorter the brewing time, the finer the grind should be.

When cleaning your coffee equipment, consider using a mixture of baking soda and water. Soap can leave a film and an aftertaste. For best results, clean your equipment daily.

Percolators boil coffee. Boiling coffee eliminates most of the aromatics by burning and oxidizing them, and the coffee becomes much more bitter. Avoid percolators whenever possible.

For the best tasting coffee from the start to the finish of your pot, pour the coffee in your pot into a thermal carafe to maintain its heat after brewing.

When you are looking for a coffee maker, check to see if the product is approved by the Underwriter's Laboratories (UL). UL specifies product guidelines including burn-proof exterior and interior electrical requirements. It would be wise to purchase only UL-approved equipment for your own safety.

A good cup of coffee should stay hot for 10 - 15 minutes. If you are drinking from glass or ceramic mugs, you can let hot water stand in them five minutes before you pour in your coffee. This will help your mug maintain its heat when you are drinking your coffee.

Soft water is preferred over hard water for espresso machines. Hard water can cause the build up of lime inside the boiler and can ruin the machine's efficiency.

Dishwashing machines will not always eliminate the coffee stains in your mugs. It is best to hand scrub your cups with baking soda and water, rinse, and let dry. The cleaner your cup, the better your cup of coffee.

When buying a thermal carafe to store your coffee, consider buying a taller, thinner one rather than a shorter, more round one. The taller one will expose more of the coffee to the interior surface area of the thermos and therefore keep your coffee warmer for a longer time.

If you use a thermos as a carafe to store your coffee in after brewing, be sure to use one that is lined with glass. Plastic and other liners will change the flavor of your coffee due to what may have been stored in them previously.

Freshly brewed coffee begins to lose its freshness within 20 minutes. However, freshness can be extended for up to two hours by keeping the freshly brewed coffee in a vacuum thermal bottle.

When brewing at home, empty your filter basket as soon as your coffee is finished brewing to prevent condensed steam from passing back through the used grounds and dripping back down into your fresh coffee.

Never pour freshly brewed coffee back through the grounds just used just because you think your coffee isn't strong enough. This will only add to your coffee all the components you want to leave behind in the grounds. If you insist on strengthening coffee, pour it through freshly ground coffee.

You are more apt to get overflow in your drip brewing process when you use freshly roasted and ground beans since fresh coffee has a higher carbon dioxide content and this bubbles up through the water while brewing.

If you prefer to use a paper filter instead of a gold filter for making your drip coffee at home, keep your paper filters out of your spice cabinet. Paper filters can absorb odors from whatever is nearby. This can affect the taste of your coffee.

When buying a new coffee maker, be sure to ask how hot the brewing cycle and how long it takes to brew. Also, be sure it is comfortable since you may be lifting the handled carafe over 3,000 times in a year if you are a regular daily coffee drinker.

If you find the standard 1:1 ratio (one tablespoon of coffee for each six-ounce cup to be brewed) formula too strong for your taste in your drip brewer, you might try ratios of 7:10 (7 tablespoons for 10 six-ounce cups) or 2:3 (2 tablespoons for each 3 six-ounce cups).

Every time you brew coffee at home, think of it as your own taste test. Coffee brewing is both an art and a science. Enjoy the taste and the experiments!

If you add dairy to your coffee, the best way is to warm the milk or half-and-half before adding it. Always avoid powdered creamers. They will undoubtedly worsen the taste of your coffee.