Turning Your Gourmet Coffee Beans into Great Tasting Coffee – Every Time
Buying freshly roasted gourmet coffee beans is a great first step to preparing gourmet coffee at home. But the rest is up to you.
Become an experienced barista by following a few simple rules throughout the brewing process. You can create the perfect cup for coffee each morning for yourself and wow your dinner guests with gourmet coffee.
Grind
A gourmet cup of coffee should start with freshly ground coffee beans. This ensures maximum taste and flavor. It doesn’t take fancy equipment or an experienced barista to do this. Simply purchase a good Burr grinder and take the extra 10 seconds to grind your coffee beans.
Not only does this give you the freshest tasting coffee it also allows the perfect grind, which changes with the type of coffee machine used. Use the right grind consistency to help your coffee machine make great coffee. Drip-type machines make the best coffee from medium grinds – similar to granulated sugar. French press brewing requires a courser grind and Espresso machines a finer grind.
Most gourmet coffee roasters will offer their coffee beans in each of these grinds if ordering whole beans is not an option.
Storage
Of course you are not going to use one pound of coffee at once; it is important to store your gourmet coffee beans in an optimal environment. Remember that coffee beans are very porous and will absorb other flavors. Unless you want your coffee tasting like last night’s leftovers, avoid putting beans in the fridge or near strong foods.
The oil on the beans gives coffee its distinct flavor. During storage, you want to preserve all these oils. Avoid freezing coffee beans as the cold temperatures will break down the oils and reduce the quality of flavor when you are ready to brew some coffee.
In summary, coffee beans should be kept away from moisture, light, heat and open air. Keep your gourmet coffees in the original packaging, which should have a valve-seal that allows air out but not in. Keep an open package rolled up as tight as possible to prevent air from entering.
Preparation
Preparing gourmet brewed coffee is quite simple if you follow these five easy tips:
- Always use a clean coffee maker free of mineral deposits or burnt coffee. Check your instruction manual for appropriate cleaning methods – it often takes a single cycle with vinegar water to clean out your appliance.
- Only use cold, fresh water. Your coffee maker has built in settings to heat the water properly. By using bad water, your gourmet coffee can become bitter coffee.
- Measure the coffee grinds to make the perfect strength coffee each time. It is recommended that you use 1 to 2 Tbsp of coffee per 6-8 ounces (or 2 ‘cups’) of water. It is best to start with this measurement, and adjust the measurement accordingly to make a stronger or weaker pot of coffee.
- Though it may be tempting, allow the entire pot of coffee to brew before pouring a cup for yourself. The strength of coffee varies throughout the brew cycle and pouring before it finishes can prevent you from having a perfect, balanced cup of coffee.
By keeping these simple rules in mind, you can become a trained barista in your own kitchen or office and wow everyone who orders a cup of your gourmet brewed coffee!
“Great Tasting Coffee”
courtesy of your online coffee bean store;
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