In this section of the website we will discuss everything Coffee, from growing regions to brewing.
Drip coffee seems simple enough...but it isn't. We will discuss here the specific criteria required to prepare a good cup of drip or press coffee. Believe it or not, there are other methods like vacuum pots and pour-through drip pots. The resulting cup is severely impacted by the freshness and quality of the beans you purchase as well as the size of the grinds (size must be consistant). We will discuss grinders - both burr types and the infamous whirly-blade grinder, which is better put to use smashing dry herbs and nuts than smashing coffee beans.
There are new restaurants experimenting in food pairing with coffees from different origins. As with wine, coffee will taste differently depending on what region it is grown in, who grows it and how it is processed.
There are new restaurants experimenting in food pairing with coffees from different origins. As with wine, coffee will taste differently depending on what region it is grown in, who grows it and how it is processed.
Good coffee starts with good beans roasted by someone who knows what they're doing. This could be you someday, since home-roasting is becoming more and more popular and it is not a very difficult thing to do in small batches. Most of us like to find a great local roaster or coffee shop that sells beans that have been roasted recently. For example, the place I usually get my beans is a local shop that is serious about good coffee and about fresh roasted beans. Their bags have labels showing when the coffee was roasted. They sell excellent quality coffee. There are many towns with now coffee shop that knows or cares about this and so you must turn to the internet. It is quite easy to find artisan roasters online. One excellent place to get your beans is a place called Terroir Coffee (terroir is a term the French use to describe the climate, soil, weather and skill of the grower - all things that have an effect on the end product's quality and flavor...this is so with coffee and chocolate as well).
Coffee Machines
That's right, the grinder is the most important piece of equipment in making good coffee at home. This is because if the grinds are not consistant in size the water will seek the path of least resistance through the bed of grinds and overextract solids, soluables and oils from those particles resulting in bitter and weak coffee. Consistancy of the grind and grind size are extremely important to getting good results in your cup. Now you have to know what kind of grinder you need. Since we're talking about coffee I'll skip the parts about the $400 grinder you'll need when you decide you want to make espresso at home. And before you even think about it, NO, you do not want to have them grind your coffee for you at the store, shop, market, etc... because this results in stale coffee very, very quickly. Coffee goes stale much faster once it is ground so you do not want to grind your coffee until you are ready to use it. That's right, the coffee that comes pre-ground in those tins and tubs in the supermarket, they stay fresh for about a day or so after you open the nitrogen filled (to flush oxygen out) container. For good coffee we need fresh beans.
Another important truth you should know is that once coffee is roasted it needs about three days to rest because it gives off quite a bit of carbon dioxide for a while, and then you can go ahead and grind away. The sweet spot on fresh roasted beans is 3 to 8 days, depending on how you store your stuff. We'll talk about storage later.
Another important truth you should know is that once coffee is roasted it needs about three days to rest because it gives off quite a bit of carbon dioxide for a while, and then you can go ahead and grind away. The sweet spot on fresh roasted beans is 3 to 8 days, depending on how you store your stuff. We'll talk about storage later.
Coffee Storage
Your best bet on a grinder is one that probably costs between $80 and $150 and has burrs - flat or conical burrs. You do not want that whirly blade grinding thing because it does nothing but smash your beans into a mess. You cannot get great coffee this way. You need burrs. The least expensive one that I would buy for myself is by a brand called Baratza. You can find it easily on the internet. To learn more about why the grinder is so important, check out the espresso page on this website.
For best results store your coffee in the bag it came in. This is your best means of storage - not an airtight canister. This is because the airtight canister locks in oxygen, it locks in more and more exygen as the coffee gets scooped out and more airspace is created. You can roll the top of the bag down as you use the coffee (see image on the left). Air, light and moisture are the enemies of your coffee beans. Fresh roasted coffee must be pampered to stay fresh for even just 2 weeks after roasting. You can freeze your beans but only in a moisture proof container (yes, I mean airtight) and do not let them "thaw" when you remove them from the freezer. Take those cold beans directly to the grinder and go!
Putting Everything Together
The grind for drip coffee should be about the size of average sugar granules. For brewing in a press pot you will want to go just a bit coarser so you keep a lot of the grinds out of your cup. Here are some images of the grind for drip coffee and some things to look for. You want there to be some foamy turmoil on top of the grounds in the filter basket. This means that your coffee is somewhat fresh and that you have a good grind size. This occurs because the gasses from the ground up beans is escaping as the water hits it. If you see that the bed of grinds looks like wet sand after your brew is complete then you grinded your beans to coarsely, if it looks like mud with pits and divots then your grind is too fine. Remember, two tablespoons (you can purchase coffee scoops that are two tablespoons in volume). If the coffee comes out too strong then add some water, this is better than brewing weak coffee - you want full flavor. One last note - paper filters offer the best clarity of flavor but the least body for your cup while gold tone or mesh filters that are reuseable offer full body but less clarity of flavor. I prefer clarity of flavor so I have been using paper filters. Cloth filters offer a happy medium but they are a pain to maintain.
The Beans
Coffee will only grow in the tropical areas surrounding the equator. The flavor potential, that is - the flavor that could come out of the beans if they are treated right after picking and they are roasted in a way that best brings out the flavors - is directly affected by where the coffee is grown, how it is cultivated (skill of the grower) and the soil. The end resulting flavor of the coffee will also be affected by the roaster. A good roaster tries to bring out the best flavors and nuances of the beans by roasting it to different levels and cupping (tasting) the coffee produced by the beans at these different levels of roast.
Coffee grown in Asian and Indonesian locations like Sumatra, Java, Celebes and Papua New Guinea usually have an earthy aroma and flavor. These coffees are typically roasted quite dark. Some may have hints of tropical fruits and most are full bodied.
Africa and Arabia are the original home of the coffee plant and the coffees from places like Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda have wine-like qualities and bright but not overpowering acidity. Some have berry and citrus notes. Beans grown in Yemen are slightly lower in acidity and have chocolatey tones. India produces a very Indonesian like bean.
South American coffees from places like Brazil and Columbia range from very low quality to very high quality depending on the exact growing area and of course depending on the grower. You should find lots of nutty and chocolatey aroma and clean to bright acidity with some bitterness. Central American coffees like Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica are bright and clean with medium body and natural sweetness, sometimes you may find floral or nutty notes mixed with some cocoa.
Africa and Arabia are the original home of the coffee plant and the coffees from places like Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda have wine-like qualities and bright but not overpowering acidity. Some have berry and citrus notes. Beans grown in Yemen are slightly lower in acidity and have chocolatey tones. India produces a very Indonesian like bean.
South American coffees from places like Brazil and Columbia range from very low quality to very high quality depending on the exact growing area and of course depending on the grower. You should find lots of nutty and chocolatey aroma and clean to bright acidity with some bitterness. Central American coffees like Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica are bright and clean with medium body and natural sweetness, sometimes you may find floral or nutty notes mixed with some cocoa.
Making Coffee
For a french press pot just grind course, use two tablespoons per cup, let it sit for about four minutes, plunge and pour. If the coffee isn't all going to be poured right away then you need to pour it into some kind of carafe or it will get bitter and bad after minute six or seven.
The most important thing a coffee maker does is maintain a good water temperature. Too cold and you don't get enough from your coffee grinds; too hot and you get a bitter cup of crap. Some brands care and some don't. Why, you ask - because most people do not know what good coffee tastes like. Another feature of a machine is the control of the water flow rate over the coffee grinds. I'll just come right out and say that some of the best coffee makers are built by Cuisinart and Capresso. Now we can talk about the most important factor in your coffee making world: the grinder.
Many believe that the best level of roast for just about any bean is the roast called Full City, which is just as the bean begins to turn dark brown right about when something called Second Crack starts to happen. First Crack happens fairly early in the roasting process and is the sound of things expanding in the coffee beans. Not too long after this there is another cracking and popping sound signifying some more cellular breakdown within the beans. Lots of roasters think this is a good time to stop the roast. This does not mean that some beans taste better when roasted a little lighter or even a bit darker. Many Indonesian grown coffees are roasted quite dark and some African coffees are roasted very lightly because these are the roasts the get the most from these coffees.
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This may be as good a time as any to tell you that beans start out green and as the pit of a berry. They stay fresh for quite some time in the green stage and are packed into large burlap sacks and cotton bags and sold for incredibly low prices that will make you wonder why you're paying what you pay for a pound of roasted beans with a fancy label on the bag...or maybe you'll wonder why the farmers aren't paid more for their product. The coffee world is working on that one currently. What you're paying for is middle-men and the skill of the roaster (partly). There are places on the internet you can find that will sell you green beans and a small roaster for around $150 and you can roast your own beans very easily and have fresh coffee just about any time.
