How do you take your coffee? Black or with cream? With sugar or a shot of flavoring? How do you make your best cup of coffee? Hot or iced? With whipped cream and caramel or pure bean water?
Perhaps you are the type that values convenience over flavor. Perhaps you’re the type that doesn’t care how long it takes; you want the perfect cup. What is the best way to make a cup of coffee? I suppose that depends on what you value, and on how much of a “coffee snob” you are.
If you don’t care about the “Why” of how to make coffee, then just click here and I’ll give you a synopsis on how to make a cup of coffee. If you want to see me go full coffee snob, start right here.
It would be great if a great cup of coffee were as easy as buying great beans, but unfortunately even the best coffee can be ruined if brewed improperly. Also, please excuse my coffee snob personality that will likely appear throughout this article. So, how do you brew a great cup of coffee?
Choosing your Beans
In its original form, the coffee bean is a seed within a fruit that grows on trees. It looks a little bit like a grape or a cherry, and the coffee bean itself is comparable to a cherry pit. Except usually you throw out a cherry pit, and usually the coffee fruit gets discarded while the bean is harvested. The coffee tree itself is a tropical evergreen shrub, and it has several different varieties, but the two most commonly imported coffee types are the Arabica and the Robusta species. Both species grow in between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer.
If you are an olive oil connoisseur, then you know what I mean when I single origin is better. The properties of the soil that grew that coffee tree can tremendously impact the flavor that is found in the coffee bean. This leads to variation in the flavor, though at times quite subtle, of coffee harvested from around the world.
Generally, a House Blend will not use single origin coffee beans because they want to create a taste that is predictable, replicable, and familiar. You wouldn’t want to order the same cup of coffee 5 days a week and it taste different every time, would you? So generally, coffee houses with use a House Blend for their coffee, and an Espresso Blend (same idea as the House Blend) for their espresso drinks. However, you should be able to order specialty roasts and they’ll make you a pour-over cup of coffee so that you can sample a single origin cup of coffee. If you are interested in reading about the different coffee varieties, read about it here, otherwise just know where your beans come from will affect your overall flavor to a degree.
Robusta beans have a higher caffeine content but will also taste slightly more bitter than the arabica beans.
Choosing your Roast
Let’s talk about the roasting process. The green coffee bean has a white, fleshy texture and would make an awful cup of coffee, but when we roast the bean it releases the moisture and brings out the flavorful oil that gives coffee its taste. The question is: How dark of a roast do you want?
When they roast coffee beans, generally the darker the roast the more intense the aroma and flavor. However, the lighter the roast the more subtle flavors you can pick up on. For some, a dark roast is too bitter. Plus, the lighter the roast the higher the caffeine content. A medium roast, the most popular roast in the United States, has good balance of flavors as it is less acidic than a light roast, but much less bitter than a dark roast. So, just like your average US citizen, this is my preferred roast.
Once you’ve decided on your roast you can brew coffee, but first . . .
Flavored Coffee
Just don’t. It isn’t worth it. First and foremost, the workers who flavor the coffee beans to create Caramel Vanilla Cream flavored coffee wear hazmat suits when they do so to avoid ingesting the chemicals and getting lung cancer. Yes, really. Also, the beans that they are flavoring with that propylene glycol are usually beans that are burnt and would normally be thrown away because there is no good coffee flavor left in them. Besides, there are syrups and creamers you can add to your coffee that will taste way better and (presumably) aren’t as terrible for you or the producers.
If syrups or creamers aren’t your jam, try adding some pre-brew spices. They’ll add some flavor to your coffee without you wondering what was sprayed all over your beans, and you can control how much or how little flavor you use. Win, win.
Single Cup Brewers
The simplest way to make a cup of coffee (aside from ordering one from a coffee shop), is to use a single cup brewer, like a Keurig. The beauty of a single cup brewer is that you can brew a single cup, and you can use pre-packaged pods, or you can buy a reusable filter so you can use your favorite grounds. Personally, this is my least favorite way to make coffee. While the efficiency cannot be denied, it leaves something to be desired in the flavor department. I find it leaves my coffee tasting a touch bitter or burnt, likely due to suboptimal water temperatures. The optimal temperature for brewing coffee should be somewhere between 196F (91C) and 205F (96C). Boiling water will burn the coffee. While the Keurig aims for an internal temperature of 192F, but the FAQ page of Keurig states that the dispensed coffee temperature can vary quite a lot from that.
Disclaimer: When I show to work at 04:30a.m. I use my Keurig and I don’t complain – about the coffee.
Water Matters
Before we move on from the Keurig, we need to discuss your water. At the end of the brewing process, your cup of coffee is primarily made of water, so it obviously affects the outcome by a lot. Rule of thumb: Use water you like the flavor of. If your tap water has a strong, stringent taste, it is going to make your coffee taste stringent. If you can taste the chlorine in your water, you’ll taste the chlorine in your coffee. You can used filtered water if it removes the weird flavors in your water, but you don’t want to use distilled water. Distilled water has had its minerals removed, and those minerals help pull the flavors out of the coffee grounds and into your cup.
Some sites recommend using bottled spring water – but I can’t in good conscience tell you to buy bottled water for your coffee because bottled water is 2000x more expensive than tap water, and each plastic bottle you use then has the potential of finding its way to the ocean. I digress. Just remember, bad water makes bad coffee. Find good water so you can make good coffee. This applies to all brewing methods: Use good water.
Drip Brewing
The next simplest way to brew coffee is with your classic drip brewing. You can easily find programmable coffee pots that will have your coffee ready for you to take as you walk out the door, and the one I bought even has a grinder function. I load it up with my favorite beans, and in the morning, it grinds them and brews so that I have the freshest grounds for my favorite drink of the day. Before you ask, yes it makes a difference. Why? I’ll tell you.
The Importance of the Grounds
The coffee oils that give coffee its flavor are protected inside the “protective shell” of the coffee bean. The exterior of the been keeps the oils and flavors on the inside fresh and delicious. As soon as these beans are ground, these oils are vulnerable to contamination from odors in the air (like onions, or sewage, or air fresheners – you get the idea) and the grounds can “soak up” these odors. While this is happening, the fresh ground coffee is also losing its own aroma. The aromas in the coffee bean start reacting to oxygen in the air as soon as they are ground, and after about 15 minutes you’ve lost about 60% of the aroma. Which means you’ve lost flavor. Plus, if there is moisture in the air, the water-soluble flavorful coffee oils will start to dilute due to the humidity in the air sucking up the coffee oils, and therefore the flavors.
So yes, when you grind the beans in relation to when you brew your coffee absolutely matters. Assuming, of course, that your goal is to taste the coffee flavor found in the coffee bean and not simply use coffee as a base for your other, more preferred flavors like caramel and whipped cream. Neither way is wrong.
The French Press
Boil some water. Add your grounds (you’ll want them ground to a coarse level) to the French Press. When your water reaches 205F (but not hotter), add it to the French press, stir the grounds around and around. Allow to seep for about 4 minutes, plunge the press down (slowly). Pour and enjoy. Easy right? Mostly, but a few more things you need to know: Do not leave coffee in the press if you plan on drinking it later. It’ll turn bitter. How come? Read on, friend, read on.
Coarse v. Fine Grounds and Timing
Let’s circle back to the coffee grounds. How finely you grind those flavorful beans also matters. In short, the finer the grind, the more surface area you have, the more surface area you have, the less time it takes for the water to pull out the coffee oils and coffee flavors. Be advised: If you let your grounds steep for too long, the “bitters” will also get pulled out of your grounds. The bitters take longer to seep out than some of the other flavors. If you want a more bitter flavor, let your grounds seep longer. If you don’t want the bitter flavors, use a shorter dwell time. While there is an “exact brewing time” that you can use based on how finely you grind your beans, it can be difficult to master. A work around for that is to use slightly finer grounds and shorten your dwell time (extraction time, or amount of time your grounds seep). That works for a French Press, but if you use a classic drip brewer, you can increase the amount of coffee grounds you use with a shorter extraction time and still get full flavor, without the bitter flavor. Which brings me to my next point.
The Water to Coffee Ratio
This one is a little bit of dealer’s choice. You can go simple and approximate ¾ cup for four cups of coffee. Or you can put your coffee snob pants on and measure by weight instead of volume (I will neither confirm nor deny that I own a food scale nor will I confirm nor deny what I use it for – except to say it’s not for drugs, you’re welcome mom). A good rule to start with is 15-grams of grounds per 8oz cup of coffee. Try this. Then adjust it as necessary. Maybe you want stronger coffee, maybe you want weaker coffee. Just remember that you can always cut strong coffee with water, and you can’t fix weak coffee after you brew it.
The Pour Over
I think this method is one of the most “intensive” because it takes your focus for the longest amount of time (for a hot cup of coffee). However, the beauty of the pour over, is that you need minimal specialty equipment. Seriously, you could use an oil funnel, a coffee filter, and your mug. Except please don’t use an oil funnel. Buy a pour over or use a kitchen funnel. Please.
For the pour over, you’ll want grounds that are about as fine as table salt. You want them finer than the French press because they’ll have less dwell time and therefore, you’ll want the extra surface area to be able to pull out all those flavors. Rinse your filter before you use it, by rinsing it you can remove some of the papery/dusty flavor from it, so it doesn’t affect your coffee. Measure out your grounds, add them to the filter, check your water temperature. Once you have that ideal temperature, pour the water (slowly) from the center of the grounds to the outside until the grounds are saturated, but stop pouring when it starts to drip. Give it a second or two to “de-gas” then keep pouring (slowly) to keep the dripper between ½ and ¾ full until you are out of water (note that this could take about 5 minutes, be patient or use another method). As the dripping subsides, carefully remove the filter and enjoy.
Cold Brew
Coffee tastes different at different temperatures. This way when you find your coffee cup, after having misplaced it for 20 minutes, it doesn’t taste as good as when you first poured it. I personally am a fan of cold coffee, and hot coffee, but lukewarm coffee just isn’t good. So, you can brew coffee and pour it over ice, then add milk or what have you, or you could just brew it cold. By brewing cold, you end up with a smoother cup of cold coffee than by pouring hot coffee over ice. It will take longer though.
Have you heard of overnight oats? Cold Brew is a little like that. You add your grounds (coarse, of course) to a jar of cool water and let it seep in the fridge overnight. In the morning, strain out the used grounds and you have cold coffee. Just be aware that you’ll likely need to “cut” your coffee with water as it can be exceptionally strong depending on how long you let it seep and how many grounds you used. Remember to use coarse grounds to let it seep overnight, because the coarser the grounds the longer it takes to pull out the good flavors and the longer you can let it seep before the bitter flavors start coming out. Also, strain the grounds out slowly and don’t squeeze the grounds when you strain them as this will likely cause your coffee to be bitter. Your cold brew should last in the fridge for about 2 weeks, so you can brew a lot and have two weeks’ worth ready to go.
Well that was fun. If you’d like an easier to read step-by-step guide on how to make coffee (without any background information) tap here.
Please note that I will drink coffee quite happily and (usually) not complain about it regardless of who or how they make it. Unless, of course, it’s really bad coffee.
I opted not to talk about espresso in this particular article, but I do plan on addressing that in a later article.
If you think I’ve missed something, let me know by leaving it in the comments or shooting me an email.
As always, I am but a work in progress.
Cheers.
