Brewing coffee to get the best taste
Enjoying life
Life is much like the search for the perfect cup of coffee. The adventure is in knowing what you want and what you enjoy and then starting the search. Life is a great adventure enjoy the moments.
How to Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee
by Lee Miller
Secrets 1, 2 and 3 of a great cup of coffee
- Here's my first secret - use distilled water. I like distilled water because it doesn't have any chlorine or minerals in it. Most city water has an awful taste to it. You can't make a great cup of coffee starting with a bad tasting water from the city supply. Trust me go with distilled water.
- Secret number two spend some money on a great coffee maker. I got the home model of the Bunn Coffee Maker for just over a hundred dollars. I also got the model that is made for using in a high altitude of over 5000 feet. I live in the Mountains so this makes a big difference in getting the water hot enough. People who live in higher altitudes know that water boils at a different temperature, but most don't consider that this requires a different coffee maker.
- Clean the coffee maker at least once a month. Follow the instruction provided by the maker of your coffee brewer. If your using distilled water you don't have to clean the coffee maker. There shouldn't be any mineral deposits in distilled water.
Water temperature
The best home coffee is made with an automatic drip coffee maker that heats the water to a temperature between 190-200 F when it comes into contact with the coffee grounds.
Most automatic drip coffee makers cannot heat the water to that temperature when the water is poured into it cold. My Bunn has a reservoir that keeps a constant supply of preheated water ready for your next pot of coffee. You pour the cold water in and it just pushes the hot water out in the same amount that you pour in.
You must have a coffee maker that heats the water to the 190-200 degree temperature to get a perfect brew.
Let's just spend a minute looking at the cost of the coffee maker, if you get one at just over a hundred dollars. That makes the cost average over a year to be only 30 cents per day. Since I make one pot of six cups each day, this is only a nickel per cup. When you look at having a great cup of coffee this is a great bargain. Don't be a cheap skate when selecting your coffee maker.
Serve your coffee hot - use a thermos
Do you leave your coffee in the pot until you are ready for your next cup? This is the way I did it for years. Continuing to heat and cook the coffee makes the coffee bitter. It's so much better if you pour the coffee into a thermos immediately after the coffee is brewed. This way the coffee does not continue to cook until you are ready for it, but it's hot all day long. I can enjoy a perfect cup of coffee all day long.
Hot coffee by the cup
I heat my cup with hot water as the coffee is brewing, but the real secret is don't fill your cup to the top with coffee. I pour in half a cup at a time from my thermos of hot coffee and wow what a pleasure a perfect hot 'one half' cup of coffee every time. Pouring only half a cup at a time allows me to always have warm coffee in my cup.
Choose the best beans
Finding the beans that you enjoy the most is an adventure in itself. Have fun with this search for the perfect bean. Be sure to include your mate or current sweetheart in this adventure. This is a team building exercise and a great adventure you can enjoy together. Go on the search for the perfect coffee bean.
Now if it comes to the point that you both find a different personal favorite coffee bean you can celebrate the difference, viva la difference. Get two thermos bottles and each day you can brew your own favorite coffee or you can switch and do one flavor one day and one flavor the next day and you are both getting what you want in life. Isn't life great... celebrate and enjoy each moment.
Some people enjoy roasting their own coffee beans. I know a small coffee shop near my home that was started by two people that started out roasting their own beans just for themselves and made it into a business. They are doing very well. I won't go into how to do the roasting of the beans. I will say that it is very easy to learn to do if it's something you want to do.
Me I like the Starbucks brand of coffee. To each their own and I love the taste of Starbucks the way I prepare it myself. Plus I save a bundle of money by brewing my own Starbucks coffee.
Grinding the beans
I say the coffee beans should be ground into a fine powder. This is not what most coffee guides will recommend. I have experimented with this and I have discovered that with a course grind you will use much more coffee and it won't taste any better. The coffee companies probably pay off the people who recommend a course grind so they can sell more coffee. Try it for yourself. The electric blade grinders tend to get the coffee bean ground very fine. A professional grinder allows you to select the grind, but they are expensive. You can find hand grinders and better grinders at a finer cooking ware store. Why pay more get a cheaper electric grinder and you will have a better coffee.
Filters
Use the brown unbleached filters. Actually you can use any filter that you want. I just enjoy the brown filters better. If you can taste any difference you have way better taste buds than I have. Some people are into non bleached filters to save the planet and so I'm joining this small but significant group to save the planet one pot of coffee at a time.
Enjoy your coffee
For my first cup of coffee each day I warm my favorite cup by pouring hot water into it and letting it set and heat until the coffee is brewed. I also preheat my thermos at the same time with the hot water. With my Bunn coffee maker the pot is brewed in less than five minutes and immediately goes into my waiting first cup and the remainder goes into the thermos for me to enjoy the rest of the day.
Enjoy your perfect cup of coffee. Love life...
Enjoy life
Enjoying life is much like finding the perfect cup of coffee. You have to go on a search for the best of everything. Making life an adventure.
If you have found the perfect person to share your life with it makes life such a pleasure. When you do find the perfect person make life an adventure together. Find someone that you feel in harmony with.
If there is control and discord in the relationship early on - be kind and let this one go their own way so that you can have an open door to your heart for the perfect mate to enter your heart. Do not stay in a relationship if it is not the perfect one, this does not allow an open door to your heart. It starts a chain of deception as you seek the right person for yourself. Be free and they will find you.
If you are living a fun life by yourself you will find others who will want to join you as you create an adventure in life for yourself.
Make life one where each day you can look back at the end of the day and say that you had another happy day. Tell the person you are with how much you are enjoying being with them. I hope you seek and find happiness and bliss in life.
You cannot find what you are not seeking.
Page Created: October 28, 2009
Page Updated: January 18, 2010
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