Brewing a great cup of coffee depends on a number of things such as the
quality of the coffee bean, the quality of the water being used, the
type of brewing being done, and the grind of the coffee. Now quality of
bean and water is something you can easily take care. Just use good
quality beans and pure water.
However the relationship between the grind of the coffee and the type
of brewing being done is more detailed and could use a little
explanation. Now we all know that we make coffee by passing hot water
over crushed coffee beans. However for it to really work well we need
to understand just how long the water should be passing over the beans.
The purpose of this article is to help you understand how to match your
coffee's grind to the type of brewing you are doing in order to make
the best coffee possible.
Generally speaking, the 'soaking' time relates directly to how coarse
the coffee is ground. This means that smaller coffee grinds need less
contact with the water, and coarser grinds need longer contact.
Espresso coffee is only exposed to water for 20-40 seconds and as a
result is made using extremely fine grind coffee. A French press coffee
maker can take as much as 4 minutes and uses an extremely coarse grind.
If coffee is left contacting water for too long for its grind size,
unwanted extracts emerge and make the coffee taste bitter. Of course if
the grind is too large and the water passes very quickly (like using
frech press grind in an espresso maker), very little of the caffeine
and flavours extracted and will have poor flavour.
Of course filters play an important role in managing the balance
between over and under brewing your coffee. Not only do they keep the
grind out of your cup, but they also control how fast the water passes
over the grinds. Paper filters are the most common, but many people are
also using metal varieties. Paper filters are quite good. However they
can absorb some of the coffee flavour, and some people claim they can
taste the paper in the final coffee. Metal filters are normally made
from stainless steel or gold plated mesh. They have very fine weave and
filter out the coffee grinds very well. They also do not alter the
taste of the coffee at all. Metal filters are also more environmentally
friendly than the paper alternative.
Whichever you choose, be sure to buy decent quality. Cheap filters
often clog or not allow the coffee to brew properly. A decent quality
metal filter will last years and save money in the end.
Brewing a cup of coffee is not that hard. Brewing a great cup takes a
little more understanding, but isn't any harder. Start with fresh beans
and good clean water and then match your brewing style to the proper
grind and then mess around with the exact proportions and pretty soon
your be brewing killer coffee every time.
