Brewing Coffee - Part 2 - Freshness

Let's get fresh. (coffee, that is)


Its simple- fresher is better. As I tell every barista I train: You can make good coffee bad, but you can't make bad coffee good.


Whatever coffee you use, from a basic blend to Jamaican Blue Mountain, the coffee needs to be fresh. So, what makes fresh coffee? And where can I get it? There are a few factors.. Here are some of the most important:


First - do you know when the coffee was roasted? How long has it been on the grocery store shelf, or in that bin of beans? You want to get coffee that has been sitting on the shelf for the least amount of time. Check with your coffeehouse.. they may offer a Roast to Order program like we at Peaberry's do. This will ensure that your coffee is at the peak of freshness. One of the ways you can tell if the coffee is fresh is by smelling it.. Does it have a good aroma? or does it smell stale or have a weak smell? Is it a good representation of the origin of the coffee? (compare a Kenya AA with a Sumatra Mandheling - there is a big difference) Or simply ask when it was roasted.


Next -keep it whole bean as long as possible. The less surface area that the coffee has, the less flavor will escape. This means having a good grinder, and grinding as close to brewing as possible will help keep it fresh. And never buy pre-ground coffee. Let you coffeehouse grind it for you if you need it that way, but ground coffee significantly reduces the life of the bean.


Third -storage. Keep your coffee out of the freezer! Especially oily & dark roasted coffees. Freezing will damage the delicate flavors of coffee. I recommend keeping it in the bag you bought it in, closed, and in an sealed container away from temperature extremes. Some people will store it in the refrigerator, which is another barier to the air. But coffee is like a sponge and will absorb any flavors that are nearby, so - you have been warned! Don't put it next the the onions or tuna salad!


Storage Part 2- Coffee that is in a sealed contatiner that doesn't have a valve may already be stale. (Coffee Cans.. I'm looking at you) As soon as coffee is roasted, it startes to release its flavor in the form of gases. Presure will build up, and if there is nowhere to go (through the valve) there may be a problem. So any factory sealed container should not be trusted as fresh coffee.


Last - Enjoy a fresh cup shortly after it is brewed. Letting coffee sit in open containers allows the flavors to escape. Also - don't cook your brewed coffee, continued heat applied to brewed coffee will cause it to burn (yuck!).

For more info.. Stop in and talk to me.

See you soon,
Chris

Brewing Coffee - Part 1

One of the most common questions I hear is "How much coffee should I use?"

Simple Answer:
2 level tablespoons per cup

Complex answer:
This depends on many factors..
How fresh is your coffee?
How fine is your grind?
What method are you using to brew?
How hard/soft is your water?
Not to mention the type of coffee, total amount of coffee you are making, the water temperature, how much, if any, of the water are you bypassing, and the total brew time.
And most importantly, how do you like your coffee?

We will delve deeper into these issues in the future. But for now, I'll cover the basics.
When you are brewing coffee, you are dealing with the extraction of the flavors locked in the coffee bean. Finding the perfect balance of the factors mentioned above will help to unlock the potential of your coffee.

We'll assume that you are using fresh coffee.. please not from a can!! If not- Please stop in to see me and we will get you set up with the good stuff! Basically, fresh coffee has not lost its flavor yet; stale (ground, older that a month) coffee will start to have the flavor deteriorate.

Starting with a fresh, basic, non-flavored coffee - say, Peaberry Blend - you will want to have it ground according to the method of brewing you are going to be using. Generally, cone filters use a finer grind, percolators use a coarser grind. This may require that you use slightly more or less coffee to achieve the perfect cup.

Different brewers may cause slight changes in the amount of coffee you will need, consult you manual and if is says anything other than 2 tablespoons per cup, take note.

The water is also vitally important to a good cup. Filtered water is what I recommend, not distilled. I have a lot to say about water.. no, really.. I do. I'll rant about that later, for now, just know that water that is too soft will not extract the flavors very well, and water that is too hard will ruin you machine. The water in this area needs help.. Since you probably don't have a massive sub micron filtration system like we do at the store, at least run your tap through a filter to remove some of the particles.

Taking note of all that we've covered above, here is the most important part: Your tastes. To make the coffee stronger, simply add more ground coffee to the filter and brew until the taste you enjoy is achieved. If you enjoy a weaker brew add hot water to the coffee after brewing. Increasing the water to coffee ration simply makes the coffee thin and over-extracts the grounds in the filter, causing an undesirable cup.

I hope that this helps.. check back for more in-depth posts on different aspects of brewing.

See you soon

Chris