Coffee

There is an obstacle course involved with brewing a great cup of coffee. When you wake up for work at 6:00 AM and you have 30-45 minutes to hit the road, how are you going to get a good, hot cup of brew in your hand when you do? The chances are, you could be brewing in a way that delivers flavor far superior to what you are getting now, and in the same amount of time, or even less.

To help you decide what brewing method, or methods, will best match your needs, start by asking these questions:

1) What are the occasions do you normally drink coffee, and what is the relative importance of taste and convenience?
2) How much money are you willing to spend on coffee, a coffee maker, or various brewing equipment?
3)Can this particular brewing equipment produce great coffee?

For most coffee lovers, the biggest hurdle to overcome as you begin to get serious about coffee is the fact that you own an electric drip coffeemaker, and the vast majority of the electric drip brewers sacrifice some of the taste for convenience. If good taste is your ultimate goal, you may want to think of an investment of time rather than dollars. Grinding fresh coffee beans, and measuring coffee precisely, will become second nature after about a week. If you will be going to the trouble of buying fresh, perfectly-roasted coffee beans, then you should brew coffee to get every precious bit of flavor and aroma you are paying for.

A great drip maker combines the essential brewing elements in a specific way. You need a filter that contains a large amount of fresh grounds for each 6 ounces of coffee brewing. The water should be heated to 195-205 degrees F. The water should be allowed to saturate the grounds gently and thoroughly. The total brew cycle, from start to finish, must take from 4 to 6 minutes. If it takes longer than 8 minutes, the coffee will be over-extracted and bitter.

It is almost impossible to brew drip coffee that meets the above criteria using your typical home electric brewer. This is what leads to the frustration so many coffee lovers come across when they try to duplicate good coffee-bar coffee at home. Brewing manually, where you can control the brewing process, is still the absolute best way to get a great cup of coffee. Since almost no coffee maker under $150 can produce great coffee, you will have to sacrifice some flavor when using one. Spend some money on a coffee maker that gets the best reviews, regardless of price, always use quality coffee, and you will come closest to the best cup of coffee possible in an automatic coffee maker.

Greg has been writing articles for over 4 years. Please visit his latest website about coffee at http://www.bestdripcoffeemaker.com with information on finding the best drip coffee maker and other coffee products and discussions that any coffee lover would be interested in.

Author: Greg Parsons
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The drip coffee maker was first introduced by the Mr. Coffee company in the early 1970′s and continues to be a popular brand of machines even though there has followed a plethora of coffee brewing options. Mr. Coffee was the prototype of subsequent automatic drip machines that provide a wide array of features and options that meet the particular whims of just about all coffee lovers. Today, choosing the best drip coffee maker generally depends on personal preferences by consumers that are usually dictated by machine features, brewing capacity, and price.

Typical Features

All drip machines are made with heating elements both for heating water for dripping and an element for warming the carafe after it is filled with fresh coffee. Brew baskets are also a common feature among coffee brewing equipment. Baskets usually require either a generic filter or special filter to strain the coffee as it drips through to the carafe below. Some machines are built with a special feature that does not require consumers to purchase disposable filters, but filter the coffee through a stainless steel or plastic grid system. A spray element is also necessary to spew heated water onto the dry grinds.

Optional features include such things as timers to automatically start brewing, built-in coffee grinding systems, and water filtration systems. High end drip coffee systems are more likely to offer these extra features than a basic drip machine.

Brewing Capacity

There are any number of systems that allow for various amounts of cups to be brewed rather quickly. There are single serve coffee makers, 2 cup brewers, 10 cup systems and commercial sized drip coffee machines that will brew for a whole crowd at one time. Pod coffee makers have become extremely popular since they allow a single serving of coffee to be brewed without adding coffee, changing the filter or wasting coffee. These machines operate by holding water in a tank and sending only enough water through the brewing system to make one cup. Pods are manufactured to fit various brewers and are vacuum packed only to be opened by the automated brewing system after the pod is properly placed in the unit. Pod coffee systems are especially preferred by gourmet lovers since various pod flavors can be purchased to be enjoyed at any time.

Price

There are many price variations depending on what drip coffee unit is chosen. A simple, basic unit can easily be purchased for under $10 while a high end pod coffee machine can cost upwards of $400. Of course, there are moderately priced pod systems as well, but generally the more expensive, the more features are included. However, price is not a deterrent for anyone who wants the best drip coffee maker for their own particular needs since a good coffee maker need not cost a lot in order to effectively brew good tasting coffee.

There are many online sales and discounts for quality drip coffee makers if you take time to shop around for the best deals. When choosing the best drip coffee maker for your needs, be sure to compare features, capacity and prices before making your final decision.

P.S. Orr has been writing articles for 6 years on a variety of topics of interest. Come visit the latest website at http://www.singleservecoffeemakerstore.com/ which helps people find the best deals on a personal coffee maker and more information about gourmet coffee machines.

Author: P.S. Orr
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Coffee is one of those drinks you either love or hate.  There seems to be no middle -ground, and as such coffee lovers everywhere are always looking for ways to improve the taste of their brew by testing different methods and techniques in search of the perfect cup of coffee.

So where do you start in working out how to achieve a richer tasting, more flavorsome cup of coffee every time?  Well, you could just throw caution-to-the-wind and see where it takes you, or quite simply you can invest in a machine that is proven to improve the taste of your coffee.

If you love coffee and haven’t already got one, you need a coffee grinder…

The reason is quite simple, only by grinding your own coffee can you hope to achieve the perfect cup.  Why?  Well, you might be surprised to learn that even expensive store bought coffee grounds are likely to already be past their best.  This is because during the packaging process the grounds have already by exposed to air and therefore will have started to oxidize, potentially already running the coffee grounds you’ve just bought.  

Whereas, if you were to purchase actual coffee beans and mill them yourself the air exposure is dramatically reduced due to the beans outer-shell safely preserving the contents.

Now before you rush-down to your nearest coffee retailer, there are a few different types of grinders that we need to discuss before making a decision.

Crusher:

One of the cheapest types of grinders is the ‘crusher’, and as the name implies attempts to squash the coffee beans to produce the grounds.  Although the crusher grinder is a step-in-the-right-direction for making coffee, it’s major disadvantage is that the coffee grounds produced are irregular and therefore not ideal for making coffee.

Blade:

The blade grinder is a popular choice and slices the coffee beans just like a food mixer would do.  The main problem with the blade grinder is again, they produce an irregular ground, not to mention they can be extremely noisy.

Burr:

The burr grinder is considered one of the best ways to grind coffee.  Normally there are two steel plates that can be adjusted at differing heights to grind the coffee to a uniform texture, making them ideal for making coffee.  However, the standard flat base burr grinders do suffer from rotating very fast.  Without having control over this heat build-up can pass directly to the bean and potentially spoil the end product, making the coffee too bitter or even burnt to the taste.

Fortunately the answer is to invest in a conical burr mill.  These operate in the same way but are able to rotate at much slower speeds, thereby preserving the great taste and aroma of the coffee whilst producing a truly even grind every time.  Although a conical grinder is the most expensive, the investment for any real coffee lover is certainly worth every penny comes highly recommended.

For coffee lovers everywhere looking for a website that is dedicated to conical burr coffee grinders that includes our must read review of the popular Krups coffee grinder KM7000 make sure you visit us today.

Author: Robert Funge
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Are you the sort of person that enjoys coffee more than the regular Joe? (No pun intended) Are you passionate about tasting and enjoying different types of coffee?
Do you believe that the art of brewing great coffee is something that you would like to learn about?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you are clearly someone who loves coffee. In fact, coffee may be one of the greatest passions in your life. Oftentimes, individuals will keep their passion to themselves for lack of a suitable forum or outlet. This is exactly why Witham’s Coffee has established the Witham’s “Coffee Connoisseurs Club”. This club is an exciting new way for coffee lovers all over Australia to share their passion for coffee. The club sends all members regular selections of a wide range of coffees. As a member of Witham’s Connoisseurs Club, you will experience an exotic selection of many different types of coffees. Individuals who subscribe for 6 or 12 months memberships will receive an exciting new single origin coffee each fortnight, freshly roasted and delivered straight to your doorstep! Each delivery will consist of a different origin of 100% Arabica beans, together with tasting notes and information on its origin, processing methods and many interesting facts.

Witham’s Connoisseurs Club will introduce you to coffees that will excite your taste-buds and fill your palette with amazing new sensations. Witham’s Connoisseurs Club will help you to appreciate the variety of aromas and nuances of character from the world’s best coffee growing regions. 100% Arabica beans will be used in every single blend. With each new coffee you will also receive tasting notes and supplementary information on the region where coffee comes from.
Some of the coffees that are sent out to Witham’s Connoisseurs Club members are:

• Indian Elkhills Estate – Mysore Nuggets
• Nicaraguan Superior Maragogype
• Ethipian Djimmah 5
• Indian Monsoon Malabar AA
• Brazilian Cerrado
• Tanzanian AA Lima
• Guatemala SHB Antigua
• Ethiopian Limu
• Indonesian Sumatran Mandheling
• Colombian Medellin Excelso

The Coffee Connoisseurs Club is not the only exciting feature of Witham’s Coffee. It is recognised as one of Australia’s finest artisan coffee roasters. The coffees provided by Witham’s are always single origin, i.e. different types of coffee beans are not mixed together. Thus, while brewing a cup of the Ethiopian Limu, you know that it is pure Ethiopian coffee that you are getting. Also, they insist on hand-picking only the highest-quality green beans – the heart and soul of a great cup of coffee.

Some coffees are purchased from traders or brokers whilst other coffees are sought directly from the plantations at origin. Apart from regular coffee, Witham’s also offers decafs that are some of the finest available. This is due to the fact that these decafs are processed using the Swiss Water Process method, which is an entirely chemical-free decaffeinating process.

To find out more about how to join the Witham’s Coffee Connoisseurs Club and more information on Witham’s including the range of coffees on offer, visit http://withams.com.au

Most of us spend a fair portion of our time in office drinking coffee. Cameroon Taylor is one of those few lucky ones who gets to drink coffee for work. He has been a coffee enthusiast for as long as he can remember and after having a sip of most of the major types of coffee from around the world, he started to write about the first love of his life; coffee. The love affair continues…

Author: Cameroon Taylor
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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True coffee lovers always drink their coffee black, yes? Wrong. Today, there are more flavors and blends of coffee than there in any wine selection, so let loose and start enjoying the 101 different ways to taste the marvelous gift of coffee.

The creativity of blends is nearly endless. One Indonesian blend combines Sumatran and the coffee beans of Papua New Guinea to create a tasty, full-bodied brew. What a surprise to those who never knew that Papua New Guineans even grew coffee. But, Sumatra can be mixed with more than just other Indonesian beans. Another great mixture is Sumatran with Colombian Patron to produce a delicious, dark roasted blend that combines to coffee perfection.

In addition to blends, flavorings can also make for a delicious coffee treat. Adding almond, vanilla and even cherry to a Brazilian can soften the acid and sweeten the brew, while a banana hazelnut flavoring turns a regular robusta into a bit more than a decent cup of coffee. Yet, a huge coffee breakthrough is the Tahitian vanilla latte, a dangerously delicious treat.

As far as making a mocha, the variety of chocolates is equivocal to that of the wide array of different beans. A Yemeni mixed with a hint of dark chocolate can enhance an already wonderful blend. Or, perhaps try an American roast with a hint of Ghiradelli milk chocolate when something heavy is to be avoided.

Coffee variations are as plentiful as they are delicious and delightful, but they are not limited to just beans, flavorings and roasts. Several different liqueurs and liquors offer even another twist for coffee lovers.

For instance, a Jamaican forms a solid base to which you can add brown sugar, dessert pears, and a good amount of rum or brandy. Or, try using apricots instead of the pears for another twist. Another tasty treat is to try Amaretto’s sweetness with a Costa Rican blend, that is if you prefer to get intoxicated and sober all with the same beverage.

Coffee and cocoa is a favorite for those who enjoy their coffee cut. You can enjoy it cold or hot, as Mexican coffee and cocoa beans can combine for a delicious treat in any season.

The coffee innovations do not end with cocoa. Frozen cappuccinos are becoming increasingly popular. They can wake you up when drowsy and refresh you when you need that something special to awaken your taste buds. Try adding a bit of chocolate mint flavoring for an extra zing.

It really is not clear why a true coffee lover would want decaf, but for these coffee drinkers there is still a wide selection of coffees from which to choose, including Decaf Marrakesh, Italian Espresso and even a Dutchman. Regardless of your caffeine preferences, broaden your coffee horizons to enjoy the many blends, flavors and options available today for your coffee maker Coffee is not just “coffee” anymore!

Robert Carlton’s papers can be found on large numbers of web sites with reference to toddy cold brew coffee maker and toddy cold brew coffee maker. You can find his observations on toddy coffee maker at different sources for toddy coffee maker news.

Author: Robert J. Carlton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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