Rachel's CafeAll things coffee…

Consider my advice and give up your coffee pot

The best brewing method is one handy enough for you to use all the time. The goal in choosing, I think, should be to eliminate the filters that screen out both coffee oils and the colloids they form. Oils? Colloids? Have we turned to a discussion of toxic waste?
Coffee oil is where the mouth-feel is. Don’t be preoccupied about the idea of oil in your cup: the amount is tiny, so calories are minimal. And colloids – the suspended particles of coffee solids that are too large to fade out fully but small enough to pass through a metal filter – give coffee its texture.
Steeping ground coffee in hot water, like tea, will render the most colloids and thus the most body – the way open-pot coffee is made, and the way a professional “cup” coffees. The commonest home infusion method is the plunger pot, also named the French press or, after a popular French manufacturer, the Melior. In this method, after ground coffee steeps in hot water for a a couple of minutes, you plunge a finely perforated screen down through the liquid to spate grounds from brewed coffee. Many coffee connoisseurs swear by the plunger pot, which, however simple in concept, is not the simplest in practice.
Then there is the vacuum pot, a mad-scientist contraption with double glass globes in which water comes to a boil in the bottom globe, is forced up into the second where it mixes with ground coffee,, and is pulled back to the bottom, passing through a filter on the path down. A vacuum pot produces the compact disc of coffees: nothing interferes with your experience of the flavor. Vacuum pots require no power other than heat for the water, but they do necessitate both time and cleanup.
The two extremes of filtered coffee, then, are thick coffee from a plunger pot and sediment-free liquid from a vacuum pot. My preferred brewing method is between the two and the commonest – drip. Drip is pretty introductory: pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter. The beans must be fresh, of course, and ground to the correct fineness. And you need to use enough.
The proper amount trips up nearly everyone. Big commercial roasters have for years made misleading promises that with their coffee you can get by using less than you actually need. Many brewing-machine manufacturers have the nasty habit of supplying a scoop half the correct size, to make you think you’ll waste less coffee using their machines. The accurate size scoop holds 2 tablespoons, or 1/8 cup of ground or whole-bean coffee. So more scoops today are half-size that it’s a good idea to pour a tablespoon of water into the scoop to measure its capacity: you’ll likely find that it holds only 1 tablespoon.
Using enough coffee to water will make an enormous difference, especially to those who have been mistaking a half-size for a full-size scoop. Happily the measurements of whole beans and ground coffee are, for practical purposes, equal. The Golden Rule of brewing has traditionally been to use 1 standard coffee scoop (holding 2 tablespoons) or 2 half-size scoops to 6 ounces of water. My own preferred ratios are more generous with coffee, especially when using small amounts. If you like weaker coffee, it will taste better if you make it full strength and then dilute it with hot water or milk.
The four pieces of equipment I find indispensable for superb drip coffee are a grinder, a measuring cup, a gold-washed metal filter and a thermal carafe. I’m not bothering to mention the kettle, and I’m deliberately leaving out an electric drip machine, which hogs the counter space and brews coffee no better, and oftentimes worse, than a simple manual method.

About the Author

Find out more about single coffee brewers

Dads French Press coffee maker

Krups 203 Electric Coffee and Spice Grinder with Stainless-Steel Blades …

Aerobie 80R08 AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker …

Bodum Brazil 8 cup French Press Coffee Maker, 34 oz, Black The Brazil French Press coffee maker, designed in the early 80′s, was our first coffee maker and quickly became a symbol of what Bodum stands for. Attractive and functional design at an affordable price The Brazil has an ultra-light, heat-resistant borosilicate glass beaker and a polypropylene handle and base, which make the Brazil easy to use and easy to clean. The 3-part stainless steel plunger …

CHAMBORD Coffee maker, 3 cup, 0.35 l, 12 oz Bodum 1923-16USC Bodum Chambord 3 Cup Coffee Press 12 Oz.. When Bodum took over a small clarinet factory in Normandy in 1982. It was not because of the fine orchestra clarinets they were producing but because of a relatively unknown coffee maker called the Chambord which they, by coincidence, produced as well. They combined the skills of these Normandy craftsmen with modern production,…

(72×100) Myrjam Schneiter Cafeteria Huge Wall Mural Art Print Poster $46.81 (72×100) Myrjam Schneiter Cafeteria Huge Wall Mural Art Print Poster…