Coffee Tips and Tricks

A lot of folks seem to think that the key to good coffee is a good coffeemaker. The coffeemaker plays an integral part, but it's not the coffeemaker. Or rather, it's not just the coffeemaker.

First, this book is a very good reference: The Joy of Coffee: The Essential Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Enjoying, by Corby Kummer.

Second, there are a number of ingredients for good coffee, but consistently good coffee is far more important. (A good cup of coffee is great, but being able to make the same cup of coffee time and time again is even better).

  1. Use the same scoop each time. A proper scoop is 1 1/2 Tablespoons.
  2. Use a properly graduated measure for water. The graduated "water level" meter on most coffeemakers are pretty imprecise. A proper measure should be graduated in 4 oz "cups", not 8 oz cups.
  3. Using the measurements above, my formula is "1 scoop per 1 cup, plus 1 scoop extra for the pot". The "1 scoop extra" is about half a scoop for a half pot, and so forth.
  4. Use fresh beans. Because I live out in the sticks, I order mine from CoffeeAM . They pack and ship the beans to you within 48 hours of roasting, so you know exactly how old they are. The bags with the one way valve are the best - they will keep the beans fresh for up to 6 months. I will buy beans packaged like this in the market, but under no circumstances should one buy loose beans. They've been out in the light and air for who knows how long and are probably stale.
  5. Once you open the beans, pour them into an opaque container with a good sealing lid. Make sure to use something that uses as little plastic as possible - the oils in the beans bond to the plastic and can be a pain to get off. Then, they go rancid. I tend to use stainless steel canisters because they can be washed in the dishwasher.
  6. Grind the beans yourself, in a good grinder. There are two key points here:
    1. Use a burr grinder. Blade grinders do not give uniform grinds.

    2. Use a burr grinder that grinds the beans at low speed - high speed grinding heats the beans and alters the flavor of the brew. Any type of grinder which "blows" the grinds out horizontally into a container is grinding too fast (otherwise, they wouldn't blow out). You need a burr grinder which drops the beans via force of gravity. I favor the KitchenAid Pro-Line Coffee Mill It's pricey, but will last a lifetime. An alternative which might work is the KitchenAid Classic Series Burr Coffee Mill at about half the price, though I have no experience with it.

      Also note that the design of the Pro-Line grinder is crippled by safety features, and requires adjustment in order to function correctly. I have documented what I did here.

  7. Finally, the coffeemaker really only has two important features:
    1. It drips into a carafe, as opposed to sitting on a burner. This lets you have several cups of hot coffee from the same pot without the coffee being burnt by the heating element.
    2. It has a charcoal water filter. This is less important if you have good water. We had pretty yucky water where we used to live, which is why we bought it. The water here isn't too bad, so I wouldn't worry about it if I had to buy another coffeemaker.