Coffee is something that people from all walks of life have long considered to be a dietary staple. A strong foundation of knowledge when it comes to coffee can help those who love it get even greater enjoyment from drinking their daily cups. The tips that follow below are a great to place to get started building that base.
Try adding spices to your coffee grounds to create your own “artisan” flavors. Think about things you would add to chocolate if you are having trouble deciding what to try. Start with simple things like cinnamon and nutmeg. You can also do things like adding a little vanilla abstract to your cup to enrich the flavor of your coffee.
If you want to get the most coffee for the least amount of price, clip coupons. Coffee is nothing special when it comes to this. Clipping the right coupons and saving them for double coupon days can really add up the savings, for both coffee and related commodities like creamer.
Keep your automatic coffee maker clean with white vinegar. Run a brewing cycle with one part water to one part white vinegar. After allowing the carafe to soak in the vinegar for a while, run a cycle with plain water to rinse the machine. Clean your coffee maker once every week or two to remove rancid coffee oils, mold and other contaminants.
Do not freeze all of your coffee in one large container. This is a good way for your coffee to become spoiled easily. Every time you thaw out coffee, it will have some moisture in it. Refreezing it constantly will kill the quality. Use small storage bags to freeze it in batches.
Use a French press for the best tasting coffee. Unlike traditional drip-style coffee makers, a French press preserves the oil when brewing, which means better tasting coffee. Traditional coffee makers tend to prevent such wonderfully-flavored oils from reaching the cup.
If you are making iced coffee with instant coffee grounds, you should add twice as much as you would normally add to a hot cup. This is because adding ice will dilute the coffee and make it weak if you do not make sure that you make it strong enough.
If you really want the freshest coffee with a gourmet taste, avoid pre-packaged coffee that sits on the grocer’s shelves. Purchase your coffee beans directly from the roaster through their website. Most roaster’s will have the coffee on your doorstep in just a couple days. This enables you to enjoy the beans when they are at their most flavorful.
Make sure you use the right amount of water. Adding enough water is essential to keep your coffee from being too strong. Conversely, too much water and you’ll have weak tasting coffee. Know how much water your coffee supplier recommends for your preferred brew.
Make sure that you always refrain from putting coffee beans in the freezer or refrigerator. When these beans are placed in areas that contain food, it will absorb the smells of the food and take away from the coffee taste. This will ruin the quality of your coffee, as you should always separate beans from other nourishments.
Avoid purchasing beans that come in cans or in vacuum-sealed bags. Coffee beans need to be protected by valve-sealed bags to remain fresh. Besides, valve-sealed bags allow the carbon dioxide that emanates from the beans to escape, which means the beans will retain all their flavor and stay fresh longer.
Invest in a good-quality coffee grinder. A good grinder grinds coffee beans efficiently and consistently to ensure even extraction. The reason for efficiency is to ensure that not much heat is generated during grinding. Too much heat being generated during the grinding process can negatively affect the taste of the coffee. .
Instead of drinking fruit drinks or sodas when you are preparing for your finals at school, try drinking a few cups of coffee. This will give you the amount of energy that you need to function well without the sugar, and is a great option to have for fall or winter nights when you are studying.
Coffee starts to lose flavor about six hours after it is initially roasted. This is why you should do everything you can to keep your coffee from getting a lot of air. When you store your coffee, use an airtight container so you can keep the quality of each cup at a high level.
If you do go to a coffeehouse for a cup of joe and work away from home, be careful how you place your laptop. You do not want to spill your drink on it, nor do you want anyone reading your screen over your shoulder. Also be mindful of what you say on the phone. Your competition could be in there too.
Make sure your coffee pot is clean. In order to get the freshest tasting coffee you must be sure you are using a clean coffee pot. You can clean it by using a teaspoon of vinegar with a full coffee pot of water. Run your coffee pot as though you are making coffee.
To prevent your iced coffee from becoming watery, try making coffee ice cubes. When regular ice cubes melt in iced coffee, they can water it down. To avoid that, pour some room-temperature coffee into ice cube trays and place them in the freezer. A little later, you’ll have coffee ice cubes that will add more coffee flavor to your iced coffee as they melt.
Try adding coffee to your meat recipes. While coffee is usually used for its “coffee flavor” in dessert dishes, it can make meat dishes taste better. The flavor of the coffee will not overpower meat like it does with sweet items, but it will boost the natural flavors of the meat.
It is difficult to find people who do not relish even the occasional cup of coffee. However, the key to getting the most out of drinking coffee is to acquire a thorough knowledge of brewing, selecting and enhancing it. The piece above is a perfect starting point for beginning the process.
