Christmas is coming and with it are holiday parties, get-togethers with friends, and visiting with family. Unfortunately, some of these gatherings also include sub-par coffee. The more you learn about and experience the potential of coffee, the harder it is to settle for a basic, run of the mill cup of joe.
Tag: coffee (Page 9 of 9)
Grinding your own coffee at home can dramatically increase the your brewed coffee quality. Coffee loses it’s freshness much faster in ground form over whole bean form. If you are looking to increase your cup quality and you are not grinding your own coffee, buying the right coffee grinder will give you some serious bang for your buck.
There are two basic types of coffee grinders you can purchase. The first is a standard blade type grinder (think Magic Bullet). The second type is what is known as a burr grinder. These two types of grinders have totally different ways of grinding coffee and thus have different results.
The importance of particle size and consistency
Before I break down the two types of grinders and make a few recommendations, I would like to talk about particle size and consistency . Particle size as It relates to coffee is how coarse or fine you grind your coffee. Based on your brewing method, you may want a larger particle size (for an immersion brewing technique like French Press brewing) or smaller particle size (Like for espresso).
One of the most important elements with particle size is consistency. You want to have all the particles to be roughly the same size. You do not want some really big chunks and some fine powdery chunks in your grind.
If you have an inconsistent grind, you will have an inconsistent cup of coffee. You will not get all the flavors you want out of the big chunks of coffee and the powdery coffee dust will be over extracted. The result will be flavors you do not want in your cup. Particle size and consistency are very important for cup quality.
Getting Started- Pour-Over Brewing 101
A Genuine Handmade Cup of Coffee
Brewing a cup of coffee manually- without a coffee maker, can be a relaxing and enjoying daily ritual. It can also seem pretty daunting at first. If you are curious about manual brewing, the barrier to entry is actually really low. It can be about as simply as you want it to be.
One of the most popular methods of manual coffee brewing is a manual drip brewer, also known as a pour-over. This method is comparable in concept to what a standard coffee maker does with some very important exceptions.
Probably the most commonly known manual brewing method is the French press. Nearly everyone is at least familiar with the iconic glass pitcher and plunger attached to a screen combination. If you are interested in a French press brewing guide, it can be found here.
One important difference between an automatic drip coffee maker and a manual drip brewer is the water temperature. Many automatic coffee makers simply do not get the water hot enough to extract all the flavors you want out of your coffee. Water that is just off the boil, around 200-208 degrees Fahrenheit is widely accepted as the standard for ideal water temperature range.
Most pour-over brewers are a simple design— a device filter extracted ground coffee from hot water. Still, there are lengthy YouTube videos, heated forum debates, and even a manual brewing championship. Don’t get too caught up in all the technical details. You are just brewing a cup of coffee. It’s going to be great.
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