Brewing a great cup of regular coffee at home is simple and affordable when you follow a few guidelines.
There is nothing fouler than waking up at six in the morning and having to drink mediocre (or downright wretched) coffee. But you don’t have to buy a fancy $300 coffeemaker to get quality coffee at home. With a bit of tweaking, you can brew your own fabulous cup of joe. Just follow a couple of helpful tips and your coffeepot won’t know what hit him.
Brewing the Perfect Cup of Coffee at Home
- Keep your current coffeemaker clean. That burnt coffee at the bottom of the carafe is not like the “extra flavor” cooked onto an iron skillet. If you buy inexpensive coffeemakers, replace at least every year. When flushing out your coffeemaker, follow the appliance manual's directions.
- Use filtered water. Get a water filtration system for your kitchen tap and you will immediately notice a difference. Your morning cup of coffee is not the place for calcium deposits.
- Use fresh ground coffee whenever possible. Having a home grinder is great; but if that is too much work, try buying whole bean and having it ground on-site from a coffeeshop, or local market. Be wary of grinders in chain supermarkets. Ever notice how they are always running when nobody is around?
- Do not keep your coffee in the refrigerator. Moisture kills flavor. So keep those life-giving grounds in an air-tight container away from heat sources, i.e. the oven or direct sunlight.
- Use one rounded teaspoon of coffee for each five to six ounce serving. Adjust to taste if necessary.
- Once the coffee has finished brewing, do not allow it to remain on the burner for longer than fifteen to thirty minutes. Transfer the brew into a preheated carafe to preserve heat and flavor. Allowing the pot to remain on an active burner will begin to turn the coffee bitter.
- Allow your coffee to finish brewing before pouring the first cup. Yes, this may in fact be the hardest tip to follow, but it is necessary. When a coffeepot goes through its brew cycle, the coffee does not brew at the same strength for the entire course. In order to get a balanced cup of coffee, the brew cycle must be completed. So, exercise a little self-restraint and you will be rewarded with a better-tasting cup of coffee.
Getting your daily fix from home does not mean sacrificing quality. Just track down your favorite roast, follow a few helpful hints, and get brewing. And here's to a better cup of coffee!
The copyright of the article Brewing the Perfect Cup of Coffee at Home in Coffee is owned by Rebecca Taylor May. Permission to republish Brewing the Perfect Cup of Coffee at Home in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
