Friday, April 6, 2012

Making A Great Cup Of Coffee

By Beth Willis


Start with the bean and pick your roast. These two things are very important, and indispensable when it comes to making the best possible coffee. Depending on the bean and how you roast it, this could change the taste of your coffee, so don't underestimate this very essential process. If you desire a strong intense flavor to your coffee, choose a dark roast (ex: French Roast). Lighter roasts, conversely, produce a lighter and more subtle flavor.

Never use pre-ground coffee. This is because pre-ground coffee tends to lose its essence before you become aware of it. Grinding before you brew will assure you that no flavor is lost due to time.

Filter your cold water when you start brewing your cup of coffee. Water, after all, makes up about 98% of a cup of coffee. Filtering out the water would allow for a purer tasting, and not poorer tasting cup of coffee. The quality of your water can suffer for a number of reasons. Older houses, for instance, have older pipes as well. This affects the taste of water due to the minuscule rust particles. But with filtering, this shouldn't be an issue. The basic rule is the better the water, the better the coffee.

Gold filters are the way to go, and not those messy paper ones. Gold plated stainless steel filters are a huge upgrade over paper. Paper filters will influence the flavor of the coffee in a negative manner. Your coffee's flavor and aroma can greatly benefit from Gold Plated filters, which release natural oils - paper filters don't do that, and in fact interfere with the natural flavor of your coffee. Another plus is that these filters can be reused over and over, and will last a very long time. Not only do you benefit from this, but so does the environment.

Never over do it on the add-ins. To truly enjoy the essence of a good brewed cup of coffee, minimize usage of sugar, cream or artificial flavor. If you overdo the additional flavoring and condiments, you're messing with the coffee's true flavor.

Finally, a cup of coffee is best enjoyed during certain times of the day or week. We all have our preferences when it comes to this. For me, nothing beats enjoying a great cup of coffee on a Sunday morning and reading the paper.




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