ahhh coffee. as a guy who is trying to open a coffee shop, and has spent years researching the science behind brewing the perfect cup, IM always happy to see people who are trying to make GREAT coffee. the old folgeres coffee crew people drive me insane i wont even drink the coffee at work! guess IM a coffee snob
Espresso is my true love, but it has to be done perfectly or its crap. Drip coffee on the other hand is a bit more forgiving. still there are some parameters that you need to know. Keep in mind I a very anal with this. I view it as an art!
Coffee is 98% water. Use good pure water. most tap water isn't good enough by my standard. At the minimum have a good water filter! not conditioned/soft water or distilled, you need the minerals for proper extraction. i used a good bottled spring water.
Water temp during brewing should be about 200 deg F . under that temp makes for weaker coffee, over 200 scalds the beans and leaves a bitter flavor. Most home brewers don't get that hot! but I have played with adding heated water to the brewer before with some success.....be careful, its dam hot!
turbulence, that's the agitation the water produces when it hits the coffee grounds. what makes good turbulence is the brew head, and the design of the brew basket. so in short make sure you use the basket that came with the brewer, and 2nd, make sure the brewer head isnt clogged. thats very common with the brewers at work. they use the crapy water, and it clogs the holes. Try and get a good commercial brewer. you can find them on ebay or in the paper for 100 bucks. bunn is a good brand.
Now to your question, the grind. Those cheap ass grinders you get from waly world suck. they can work (for drip coffee only) but they dull quickly then start to "burn" the coffee, because it crushes the beans. making a bitter taste.
the conical grinders are best, they shave the bean, and you can "dial" in the grind (more on that in a sec). if you are serious about getting the best coffee you can. get a good conical grinder. i use the "mini mazzer" they run around $400. if you are not that into it, at least get a conical grinder. to me though, its worth biting the bullet once and have a good grinder for almost ever!
the flavor from coffee comes from the oils that form on the bean during roasting. your goal in brewing its to mix just the oils with the right amount of water. sense the oils are the flavor part of coffee, you have to get good fresh beans.
the biggest enemy of coffee oils are, light, and air. this is why you want to store your coffee in air tight, solid (not clear) containers. from about 3 days after roasting your beans start to loose their oils. properly stored, your beans are good for about 10 days. from then on, they are no longer good enough for my use. with espresso, the difference is amazing. one week is the difference from a perfect cup, and one that tastes like crap.! lighter roasts do last a bit longer.
ever see those bean bins at the store? gasp* remember air, and light kill the oils. those bean couldn't be stored in a worse way!! also, only God knows when those things were roasted! stay away! find a good roaster, and order beans that are roasted weakly. then sold in an air tight bag with the one way breathing valve.
http://www.caffedarte.com/ this is my roaster. the best beans i have ever had.
time to brew! make sure you have a good brewer, good water, good beans.
grind your beans until it looks and feels like granulated sugar.
the standard for grommet coffee is 2 level tablespoons for each 6 ounce cup. ( 2 1/4 for an 8 ounce) holy crap huh! 1 1/2 or 2 is right for me (8 ounce) . just remember, most of the time when you have a bitter coffee, they didn't use enough coffee!
grab a stop watch. the brewing time should be between 4 to 6 minutes. if it brews to fast, make the grind of the coffee finer. if it goes longer than that. grind the coffee a bit less (more coarse)
think of it this way. you are trying to get only the oils out of the bean. if the water is in contact with the beans for too long, its takes the oil, and then some other elements from the beans that = BITTER!
if the water runs over to fast, you dont get enough oil. that = weak, and sour coffee.
now if you use to little of perfectly ground coffee, the water will go thru to fast = bitter coffee because more water is extracting from the same beans.. not good. this is the number one reason for bad coffee... so come one you cheap bastards use more coffee!!! hahahah
Sorry to ramble on, but I love the whole art of coffee. If you are ever in San Antonio, let me know. ill have you come over for some coffee and a good cigar!
