Coffee

If you love to stay at home and brew your own coffee, you should learn the ways to do it perfectly. You could brew coffee and produce a best-tasting blend, the one you usually buy at famous coffee shops. There is no need to buy the most expensive coffee at the market. All you have to do is to invest in good coffee brewing equipment and learn how to brew the best-tasting coffee.

There are three recommended coffee brewing types you could consider, namely, French presses, automatic drip coffeemakers, and cold-brew tools. The best and proven brewing methods require heating water until it reaches a temperature of about 195 degrees F to 200 degrees F. Do not worry because you do not have to dip in a thermometer to gauge water temperature. When using a French press pot, this ideal temperature is achieved when bubbles start to surface vigorously. When that happens, turn off the heat and simply wait for about 20 seconds to 30 seconds before you put coffee in for brewing.

As for automatic drip coffee makers, water would not boil to reach the same high temperature. But brewing is complemented by the use of the best filters available. You could choose from stainless steel, brown paper, white paper, and gold. Gold filters are the best, according to most experts because they last longer, they do not diminish flavor, and they do not produce chemical-tasting compounds that are often created when using white paper filters. Use about .46 ounces of coffee for every 8 ounces of hot water to please your taste.

When using the cold brew method, you do not have to follow the procedures in brewing coffee using French press pots and drip coffeemakers. Steep coffee grounds in cold water and leave overnight. Doing so could help create a very smooth-tasting coffee concentrate, which could last for many weeks.

In the end, whichever method or equipment you decide to use, remember to make sure the water you use does not contain any off flavor. Using bad tap water is not advisable as doing so could guarantee a badly brewed coffee since coffee brewing is comprised of about 95% to 98% water. Lastly, always clean your coffee brewing equipment after every use. Take note that coffee is leaving an oily residue, which could become rancid over time. Use soap and water or distilled vinegar in cleaning equipment to eliminate off flavors.

Tasting Coffee provides detailed information on Coffee, Coffee Makers, Gourmet Coffee, Coffee Shops, Coffee Beans, Coffee Cup and more.

For more information visit as on http://coffee.explore-me.com

Author: Miodrag Trajkovic
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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If you want to taste coffee in a whole new way, try making it with a French Press coffee pot. Most people are used to their coffee being brewed in an electric, drip coffee maker a la Mr. Coffee. This method has one flaw in the brewing process that takes away from the true essence of coffee: the paper filter. The paper retains some of the coffee essence, and deprives you of coffee’s true potential. Granted, we cannot simply dump ground coffee into a cup, pour in hot water and start drinking; the grounds must be separated from the liquid that is consumed. Coffee grounds are bitter, gritty, and stick to your teeth. The French Press method removes the grounds, but lets all of the flavor of the coffee come to life.

Although French Presses come in various shapes, sizes, materials and manufacturers, the Chambord model by Bodum is a good example of a ubiquitous style found throughout the industry . The handle attaches to the holder for the glass carafe. The carafe holds the coffee and hot water. The carafe looks like a beaker from a chemistry lab, with a spout for easy pouring. The “pressing” apparatus of the French Press sits atop the beaker. It consists of a dome which covers the coffee as it brews. The plunger is a skinny metal post with a plastic ball at the top that slides through a small hole in the middle of the dome. At the bottom of the post is the filter, a wire mesh disk.

A quick note about ingredients. A cup of coffee is made of coffee beans and water. Therefore, start with freshly roasted whole beans ground just before brewing. Whole beans maintain their freshness twice as long as ground coffee. The water is just as critical: make sure it is cold, fresh, and filtered.

Let’s assume a 12 oz. cup is being prepared. Using 1-1 ½ tablespoons of whole beans, set your grinder to coarse. This produces the largest grounds possible, and allows water to extract the maximum flavor from the coffee. It also reduces the amount of smaller grounds that will end up in the bottom of the cup.

Dump the ground coffee into the carafe. Before adding hot water, take a moment to inhale the aroma of the dry coffee. The aroma of freshly ground coffee will take you to a better place.

Next, heat your water (12 ounces). The optimal brewing temperature is 195-205 F. If you don’t have a thermometer, simply bring your water to a boil and wait thirty seconds.

Pour the water into the beaker and stir for a couple of seconds. This will agitate the mixture and allow the coffee to brew more completely. Place the plunger apparatus on the carafe, but do not depress. Set a timer for four minutes. This amount of time allows all of the flavor and oils to be extracted perfectly from the coffee.

At four minutes press down the plunger completely, then pour the freshly brewed coffee into your mug.
Look at the coffee before adding any condiments. The coffee will appear more complex (richer) than if it were brewed in a drip coffee maker. There will even be a thin layer of crema (light brown froth) resting on top of the liquid. Put your nose close to the cup and breathe in the aroma. The smell is stronger, more pure than if the coffee passed through a paper filter. Taste the coffee before adding sugar etc. When you reach the end of the cup you will notice some residue. These are simply micro-grounds that made it through the mesh filter.

You can purchase French Presses that double as travel mugs. There are also double-walled glass, and stainless steel thermal units as well. Some are beautifully crafted and look like museum pieces. The reason for this is that coffee made in this manner is the height of the coffee brewing experience. So, if you love coffee, you owe it to yourself to purchase a French Press and make the best-tasting coffee in the easiest possible way. Prices start at around 13 dollars for a two cup (12 oz.) unit.

Brent Kloster is co-owner of Falls River Coffee, which sells fresh roasted coffee, loose leaf tea, and brewing equipment online at http://www.FallsRiverCoffee.com.

Author: Brent Kloster
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Pour-over, automatic and satellite brewers are designed to produce traditional “American-style” coffee. These brewers drip heated water over gronded coffee in a filter. Pour-over models require manual filling of water reservoirs, while automatic urns and satellite brewers connect to a water line. One type of urn holds heated water in a separate chamber until the brew button is pushed, while another uses a heat exchanger. Some coffeemakers have heated plates below glass or metal decanters, while others dispense brewed coffee into insulated thermal or air-pots to keep the beverage warm. Freestanding, insulated urns hold up to 5 gallons of coffee and free up coffeemakers to make additional product while allowing service elsewhere.

Some coffee urns have heating systems that measure the temperature of the coffee and increase heat as needed. Manual brewers, such as French presses, are intended for tableside use. There are different designs and capacities of coffee urns available. Ranging from metallic coffee urns to highly polished coffee urns, all are available in the market. You can expect the coffee urn to have the following features:

Automatic temperature control which keeps the coffee hot for hours. Quick brewing – one cup per minute. Twist-to-secure cover. Two-way drip less faucet for easy serving. Interior water level markings for easy filling. Cool-tip filter basket for easy removal of grounds and stem.

Heat-resistant base and trim. Serving light indicates end of brewing cycle. Detachable cord. Durable aluminum construction. These (medium capacity) coffee urns can hold up to 30 to 45 cups of coffee and the price ranges from $35 to $50 (the price depends on the finishing too). There are larger for-office coffee urns also available. These have a capacity of holding around 55 to 60 cups of coffee and ranges from $90 to $150; the price depends on the type of material used like aluminium or stainless steel.

There are commercial coffee urns as well as electric coffee urns which have a capacity ranging from 5 gallons to 10 gallons. In electric coffee urns, there would be a thermometer on the front panel; it would have adjustable by-pass system, which gives the operator the ability to adjust the strength of the coffee. It would also automatically replenish the urn with fresh water as soon as it starts running low. It may also have automatic coffee agitation – where in you just push the brew button and walk away.

The electric coffee urns may also have cycle stop switch which gives the operator the ability to stop the brew cycle midstream. These electric urns come in attractive casing- all stainless steel construction. The price for such urns may range from $2000 to $4500 depending on the capacity of the coffee urn. Such urns are recommended for big offices wherein the employees have easy access to coffee and coffee consumption is quite high.

I personally do not like any of the urns and coffee making ways, where the coffee is not brewed fresh. I partically don’t like the urns that brew the coffee and then control the temperature for sometimes many hours at a time. I would go for the impress your guests, friends, staff and/or colleagues and get in a more professional barista with the correct equipment.

Do You LOVE good coffee? Heather is a qualified barista and shares many of her great coffee making tips. Register for Your FREE copy of the Health and Happiness Mag, that includes tips on coffee making like the professionals at http://www.womensinfoproducts.com/food/coffee

Author: Heather Richards
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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There are a variety of ways to make a cup of coffee. It can be as simple as spooning instant powder into hot water or as complicated as the processes that use sophisticated and expensive coffee makers. Several kinds of coffee making systems are available, some of them upgraded versions of age-old methods.

The espresso pressurized infusion machine is one of the more popular commercial coffee makers. Smaller and more affordable models for the home are becoming more common. The espresso process creates a cup of coffee by forcing water that is under boiling temperature through coffee grounds in order to create a cup of coffee. A precise blend of Arabica beans, usually with a dash of Robusta, will yield espresso coffee with a distinct crema or fine foam on its surface.

Astute coffee enthusiasts know by just looking at the crema — which should have a dark, even honey color — if your blend is of high quality. In Europe, espresso is traditionally a strong blend served in a diminutive demitasse cup. Such a serving is called a short black, and may be made into a long black by adding water, or used as a “shot” to make various other coffee mixes.

Bodum plungers, also known as French Presses, are popular in both homes and dining establishments. They are a refinement of the unwieldy process of shaking water and coffee in a jug and then emptying out the mix over a filter that sifts away the grounds. In the French Press, coffee grounds that are coarser are placed in hot water, steeped for several minutes and then segregated by pressing down with a gauze filter fitted to the end of a plunger. Depressing the plunger slowly will yield clearer and better-tasting coffee.

A vacuum coffee maker moves coffee and water between chambers using steam and a vacuum to make excellent-tasting coffee. This system has declined in popularity in recent years, probably because the process used is more intricate and more taxing on one’s patience. But for some people, the resulting quality of the brew is more than enough to make up for the trouble. Vacuum coffee makers are now produced under various brand names, but were originally manufactured by Cona.

Available for both commercial and home use, drip or filter coffee makers operate more simply. Water mixed with ground coffee is filtered to a pot that is usually on top of a hotplate. The filter may be metal, plastic or throwaway paper. One drawback is that the water mixed with coffee may not be hot enough to produce excellent coffee. There are some who swear that they can taste the plastic or paper material used as filter.

Other popular systems for making coffee include the Turkish ibrik and the Italian mocha pot.

The coffee percolators of old, no longer preferred because the water they boil are said to depreciate the taste of coffee, can still be seen in some houses.

For more information on making a great cup of coffee and Tips to Make Espresso visit Coffee Resource Guide, a popular site for coffee lovers. Discover where coffee comes from, how to roast and grind coffee beans and how coffee and caffeine affect our health.

Author: Alan Kenyon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The first step in creating incomparable coffee in your home of office is to grind the coffee beans yourself. Freshly ground coffee has had less of a chance to oxidize, and thus the flavor is preserved. If you’ve walked past a busy coffee shop, you’ll notice the strong aroma of freshly ground and prepared coffee. Nothing beats it, and this freshness contributes to the flavor of the final cup.

Finding a coffee grinder that will prepare the quality beverage you’re after is another matter though. It helps to understand the different types of grinders available, as they produce quite varying qualities of brewed coffee.

There are three ways to grind coffee. Blade grinders, which chop up the coffee beans, are the most common in home coffee grinders. They have advantages in that they are longer lasting, and quite cheap to buy compared with other grinder methods. But this trade-off is apparent in the type of ground coffee they produce.

One of the key principles in producing quality coffee grinds is that the size of the grind is even. Unfortunately, blade grinders don’t perform well here. They produce both large and small particles of coffee, as well as a type of ‘coffee dust’ that can clog up sieves in French presses and espresso machines. The coffee they produce is generally poorer in quality because the lack of uniform particle size means that the brewing method selected is unable to work optimally. Some of the coffee beans will be perfect for it, and thus the full flavor will be extracted, but a lot of it won’t, as the beans are too large or small.

Whilst the effect of coffee grind particles that are too large may seem obvious, in that flavor is left in the ground, a grind that is too fine will also contribute to poor coffee. Bitter coffee results when the surface area has been exposed to hot water for too long.

By far the best method for most types of coffee is the burr grinder. These grinders are used in coffee shops, and they produce a very even grind. There is a range of settings that can be used, so that espresso, French press, drip coffee, and percolators can be used to make the final cup. Burr grinders have another advantage in that there is less heat to change the taste of the coffee bean. Blade grinders tend to produce more heat.

The third way of grinding coffee is particular to making Turkish coffee. A very finely ground coffee is needed, and only very good quality burr grinders are able to do this. The alternative is the old fashioned mortar and pestle!

The best type of coffee grinder is the conical burr grinder, but these are also the most expensive. What is best for an individual’s needs will depend on how much they love their coffee, and their budget.

For an unusual addition to your kitchen, try an antique coffee grinder. For more coffee help, click here.

Author: Rebecca Prescott
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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