Five Steps to Better Coffee - Ian Goodman

Simple Beginnings - Buying good coffee

You simply cannot make good coffee out of bad coffee beans. So what are the criteria for good coffee beans?

What type of bean?
There are two broad categories of coffee sold; Robusta and Arabica. Robusta is a type of coffee plant grown at lower altitudes, it has a different chemical makeup from the Arabica variety (including 40% more caffeine), and is mainly used in canned grocery store coffee. The Arabica plant, by contrast, is generally grown at higher altitudes and has more complex flavors with greater acidity and body. It is considered a far superior bean and the specialty coffee markets use Arabica beans almost exclusively.

Who roasted the bean?
Roasting coffee is like making wine; it is part art and part science. If two Vintners take grapes from the same lot and estate and make wine, they will inevitably end up with two different tasting wines. The same is also true of coffee. The philosophy of the roaster will determine how they manipulate the coffee during the roasting process. Very simply, do you prefer to taste the roast (very dark roasting) or the natural flavors in the bean (medium roasting)?

How fresh is the coffee?
This is the most important factor to enjoy your coffee. Contrary to popular belief, once roasted, coffee is extremely perishable, starting a steady decline within a few days after roasting. Confirm that the coffee you purchase was roasted no more than 7- 10 days ago, and then try to buy only the amount you will use in a week. This means that you should not plan on buying your coffee from a supermarket; it is almost 100% certain that the coffee is completely stale. In addition, it is critically important to avoid pre- ground coffee, which becomes stale within hours of being ground, regardless of what methods are used to maintain freshness. A fresh roasted, fresh ground coffee will open the door to a new world of coffee enjoyment as you actually taste coffee, not water over stale beans!

Where do I put it? - Storage
Once you have purchased the coffee that you want, put it in a clean, air-tight container and store it in a cool and dry place. Do not, under any circumstances, store your coffee in the refrigerator. Two formidable enemies of coffee are moisture and “off” aromas, both of which are found in a refrigerator. Coffees flavor oils are very volatile and delicate and moisture will start to dilute and break them down as well as taint them with the aroma of your left-overs. In reality, coffee will become stale in any environment in a relatively short time period, so the best method of keeping coffee fresh is to use it and buy more fresh roasted coffee.

Grinding - An Art Form
Grinding is very important to the quality of the finished brew. The first and most important point to grinding is to grind your coffee right before you brew it. Once the bean is broken the oils and gases dissipate off of the coffee very quickly. The next important factor is how to grind it. The two most common coffee grinders for home use are the blade grinder and the burr grinder. Either one of these will work well, but it is more difficult to have a consistent grind with a blade grinder. If you are using a blade grinder (a grinder with a little blade that spins around) it may take several grinding batches to grind the right amount of coffee. To start, put in enough coffee to cover the blades - any more than that will create a very uneven grind with powder at the bottom and chunks at the top. Start grinding by pulsing the grinder 5 or 6 times, then hold the button down for 5 or 6 seconds. Stop to see how the coffee looks. The proper grind for a drip machine should be about like sand. Burr grinders are more consistent than the blade grinders because you determine the grind by how close the two burrs are to each other. Either grinder will work but the goal for a home brewer is to have coffee about the consistency of sand. If you happen to use a French Press, you will want to use a slightly coarser grind.

Aroma and Perk - Brewing
There are three relatively common ways that coffee is brewed in America; espresso, drip brewed, and plunger or French Press. Since espresso is a whole different process, we are going to focus on the other two methods of preparation. The most common mistake in brewing coffee at home is not using enough coffee. In order to properly extract the solubles that are in the ground coffee you need a fairly specific ratio of coffee to water, 10-14 grams of coffee (1.5-2 level tablespoons) to 6 oz of water. If you normally use only 4 or 5 Tbs. per pot then you are going to be in for a surprise. It may seem to be very strong, but in order to really taste and enjoy the coffee it is necessary. None of us buys an excellent bottle of Cabernet or Burgundy, fills our glass half way, and then tops it off with ice or water! As absurd as that sounds, that is exactly what happens when we use three, four, or five tablespoons of coffee to brew an entire pot. If you are accustomed to using less coffee, I do not recommend that you immediately triple or quadruple the amount of coffee you use to brew a pot. Every week add a couple of extra tablespoons when you brew your morning coffee. Gradually increase your coffee strength until you are closer to the ratio of one and a half to two tablespoons per cup. It will be worth the experience.

A plunger pot or French Press is one of my-favorite ways to brew coffee. Since a paper filter is not used, more of the oils and sediment from the coffee stay in the finished brew, which make a fuller, richer cup. In a French press, start with using two tablespoons of coffee for every six ounces of water. When grinding the coffee for the French press it needs to be ground coarser then you would use for a drip brewer. To brew the coffee properly you will need to bring the water to just shy of a boil (about 200-205 degrees). Boiling water will burn the beans and lend to off flavors. Steep the coffee for three to five minutes, push down the plunger, and enjoy.

The Water Factor
The last thing that can make a pivotal difference to your coffee is good filtered water. Since coffee is 97% water, any off flavors in the water (example: chlorine) will have a negative effect on the coffee. Not many cities are known for good water, so it is important to either filter it yourself or buy filtered water. It is best to not use distilled water, it will make terribly flat coffee. If you are buying water, spring water is ideal because it has roughly a 100-200ppm mineral count.


To summarize:
1 - Always use fresh, high quality coffee.
2 - Store your coffee properly.
3 - Grind right before you brew.
4 - Use the proper coffee to water ratio
5 - Use good water.

Follow these steps and you will have a wonderful cup every time!