How to Brew Coffee

4 Ways how to brew coffee using the best coffee makers including single serve coffee maker, green mountain k cups, and even how to make Turkish coffee and cleaning coffee maker for the best taste.

In times when the even Bunn coffee maker recall happens we know that even the best rated coffee maker can fall down on the job.

How do we know that a Zojirushi coffee maker is going to be better than a Flavia coffee maker or a Krupps coffee maker. Sometimes it's best just to go low tech with a bodum french press.

Coffee making is not rocket science - it just seems like it sometimes. There are a few simple and essential principles involved that you should be aware of to make a great cup of coffee.

If you are new to making coffee try my Beginners Guide

If you want the short and sweet overview on how to create the perfect cup by yourself, choosing the right beans, the right grinder and brewing it right just click here. If you want all the details just keep reading. Enjoy!

Why Water Matters

If you are interested in how to brew coffee the first thing to remember is that water matters! Why? Well your morning cup consists of less than 2% coffee and 98% water. And let's face it many of us do not have the best tasting water coming out of our taps. A lot of it is heavily chlorinated and that's going to affect taste.

We use a Brita brand water filter pitcher which has a simple charcoal filter to filter out the chlorine in our tap water and that does the trick. If you have really bad water with nasty smells and flavors you may want to resort to bottled water.

But don't use distilled water as some mineral content is necessary to bring out the full flavor of the bean and distillation removes all the minerals from water.

After all, if you are going to hunt down great beans and grind and brew them properly - well why waste all that effort and money with second rate water? Filtered or bottled water is the first step and is usually the best way to improve your brew fast.

How to Brew Coffee Great - The Bean!

The next step to a gourmet cup of coffee is to get fresh fine quality coffee beans. And that's not as easy as it sounds or at least a lot of people get fooled into buying stale beans and less than gourmet beans.

Fortunately it's a lot easier nowadays to find excellent coffee beans. What we do is find a local coffee shop like the Alternative Grounds in Toronto who not only retail beans but also roast them.

They used to roast on site but now have a small off site roaster and the beans are super fresh. They are also fair trade organic. If you are in Toronto pay them a visit and try out the Organic Dark May Vinic from a small coop in Chiapa Mexico...it's superb...

If beans are really fresh you'll see the foam coming off them when you brew them. That's the carbon dioxide being released from freshly roasted beans. If you don't see any foam your beans are stale.

And just like poor quality water affects your cup so does stale beans. When you get a freshly roasted high quality bean your cup of coffee will taste smooth and not bitter at all. It makes an unbelievable difference and you likely won't need to add any cream or sugar to make it taste good.

If you can't get fresh beans in your town then make sure you buy high quality beans that are properly packaged. The best ones have one way valves to let the carbon dioxide escape after fresh beans have been put into the bag and keep out air,light and moisture. The bags will also be flushed with nitrogen and will stay fresh in the package for about three months. This includes both whole and ground beans.

Don't buy canned ground beans because they are packed stale after being exposed to air so the carbon dioxide release doesn't cause the cans to bend. This is known in the industry as degassing.

How To Brew Coffee - Storing Your Beans

Transfer the beans from the bag into an airtight container. If it's a glass jar keep it away from the light!

How to brew coffee - Grinding Your Beans

I like to use a burr coffee grinder as opposed to a blade grinder. as it makes the coffee taste so much better.

How to Brew Coffee Our Cuisinart