Coffee Brews

Coffee Brews

The perfect coffee brew can make a day: First the aroma, then the warm cup in your hands, and then that first sip — But it’s more than that.

It’s also about a lifestyle. The preference of coffee beans, coffee brews, or how the coffee is made doesn’t matter. It’s about people, good conversation, stories, brainstorming, sharing, quiet-time, peace, and break times.

Brewing Coffee

Grinding

The type of coffee making equipment that is used will determine what grind will work best. This is because “good” flavors are extracted early in the brewing process, while “bad” flavors come out later. Your equipment will determine how much water comes into contact with your grounds and for how long.

• Finely Ground Coffee: An espresso machines are designed to force a small amount of water through very tightly compacted and finely ground coffee. This way there is a concentration of only the best flavors.
• Medium Ground Coffee:  Drip coffee makers need medium ground coffee for best results. This will enable the water to flow through the coffee quickly in order not to have over-extraction.
• Course Ground: French Presses need the water to soak in the grounds for up to four minutes. Because of this, the grounds need to be very coarse.

Don’t utilize the large grinders available for use at supermarkets because you don’t know what has been mixed through them or the last time they were sanitized. Also, eighty percent of what you grind in these community grinders will oxidize by the time you brew your first coffee.

Instead, keep a mill-type grinder near your coffee maker and only grind the amount of coffee you need at that time. Keep in mind that cheap blender-style grinders will pound your coffee and produce an uneven grind. A better made product will allow you to have better tasting coffee while saving money in the long-run — because they last longer. 

A Clean Coffee Brew

A cup of coffee brew can have contaminants like chlorine, different minerals, salts, heavy metals, and even traces of diesel in it. Here are some ways to ensure you are making a clean brew of coffee: 

• Most of these issues are directly caused by the water you use. To avoid the issue caused by the water you are using, you can use filtered water.
• If you use a drip coffee maker, use unbleached paper filters or permanent gold wire mesh filters. For the later, be sure to rinse them well in fresh water.
• For “city roast” and flavored coffees, which are often made of the cheap stuff shoveled off the back of a truck and roasted a bit darker or flavored artificially to cover up the smell of diesel fumes that have infused the beans during transit. Instead of using this type of coffee, consider buying a bottle of flavor oil to add to your cup only after you’ve poured it. This way you prevent your equipment from inheriting the aura of strange and foreign flavorings.

Where To Get The Best Coffee

Mail-order coffee companies that ship your coffee by priority mail provide the freshest and best tasting coffee. Don’t waste you time with the so-called gourmet coffee displays at the supermarket or local coffe shops, like Starbucks — those beans were roasted weeks ago and then sit in a container.