4 Ideas For Better Tasting Gourmet Coffee
Posted on October 20, 2007 in the Ranting category
Coffee connoisseurs often spend several dollars for a single cup of fresh gourmet coffee. Usually this involves going to some stuffy coffee house where you have to listen to Bjork, drive a Prius, and deal with the coffee house staff complaining about their jobs while you place your order. Oh, and unless you want to hear a heated “intellectual” debate on the better presidential candidate, you may as well just leave. The good news is that you don’t have to spend 25% of your pre-tax income or alter your political views to get a great cup of fresh gourmet coffee - the following ideas are offered for those that value taste over appearances.
1) You have never had a truly fresh cup of coffee.
But Mathew, I pay $20 per pound for whole coffee beans at a gourmet coffee store and grind them myself.
So you think that just because you grind them at home that you are drinking fresh coffee? Au contraire . . . freshness is much more than when you grind the beans - its about when the beans were roasted! Nearly any coffee you buy, whole bean or pre-ground, was roasted at least 3 months ago. You need to find coffee beans that have been roasted no more than a week ago - your best bet is to buy your coffee roasted to order. What this means is that your coffee beans are roasted the same day you place your order so you get to enjoy the freshest cup of coffee possible.
2) How is your water? Coffee is over 99% water. I don’t know about you, but my tap water is undrinkable. Even if you think your water tastes fine, there may be things in your water that alter the taste of your coffee without you realizing. No matter how fresh your beans are, your water may alter the taste of your coffee. For a truly perfect cup of great coffee, buy filtered, spring, or distilled water. Some people may already have a home water filtration unit that does the job nicely.
3) Clean your coffee maker! I have heard from several people that you should never clean your coffee maker or, if you do, use just water and vinegar. I say bollocks to that. Your coffee maker should be cleaned at least once a week - depending on how much you use it. And use plenty of soap and water! I have been told that you shouldn’t use soap as it will impart taste to the coffee. This is just the claim of laziness. It’s that oily brown residue that builds up on your appliance (and coffee cup) that imparts a bitter flavor to your coffee. To avoid any bitterness from soap residue, just follow this incredibly important 2 step formula : 1) wash with soap and water, 2) rinse thoroughly. Notice the word “thoroughly” . . . I did not pick that word by accident 
If you really want to make sure the soap is gone, rinse with a water and vinegar solution. Don’t forget the filter container.
4) Care for your beans! Lets assume that you have the freshest, roasted to order gourmet coffee that you can find, your coffee maker is absolutely sparkling, and you have a bottle of purified, filtered, distilled, super clean water. You are ready to go - but you only want to brew a half pot. So grind only what you intend to use immediately. Save the rest in an airtight container and store it in the freezer so air and moisture cannot rob your beans of the flavorful oils. If you have one of those vacuum sealers, use it!
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Are you over on the MomGadget forum? This is Angela.. can you let me know what your alias is over there? As a Gack Ink member I need to do something for you. My screen name is “angela” over there. Shoot me a PM, will ya?