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!
Written by Fenton Wayne - (Fenton Wayne is an independent advisor
in the coffee and vending trade where he has over 25 years
experience. This article has been submitted to and distributed
by www.submityourarticle.com)