Monday, 01 November 2010

• 5 Ways You Probably Ruin Your Daily Coffee

  
  
  
  I’m not going to start off by using the cliché, trite “We all live in a fast paced society with busy schedules” opener.
  
  We’ve heard that one a million times.
  
  However, I will have you start with remembering the basic image of adults waking up in the morning before their daily 9 to 5 job, getting breakfast ready, and brewing a cup of coffee to sit down and sip away at while watching the morning news, or getting ready to drop their kids off at school before driving to work.

  Others I know are not coffee drinkers, and prefer a nice cup of tea before work.
  
  That’s respectable too, but as somewhat of a coffee connoisseur myself, I’ve researched and learned how you should be preparing your pot of java in the mornings, and noticed that most people I know are missing out on improving the quality of their morning cup ‘o joe.
  
  Then they complain about how disgusting it tastes, and have conversations over how to improve the taste by pouring on the cream and sugar. I shake my head and wonder if they’re still making these novice mistakes:

  1.      Neglecting to clean your coffeemaker –  Most of the time that I’m over at a friend or relative’s house, and they offer me a cup of java, the first thing I do is check their coffeemaker and open up the reservoir to see if there’s still a basket of used coffee just sitting there.
  
  It turns out that most of the time, there usually is.  Do people not remember the basic of principle of mold and mildew growing in dark, damp places? Chances are, that’s probably what’s happening in your coffee’s reservoir and basket everytime you leave it alone after brewing a pot, until the next morning.
  
  Additionally, some people don’t even rinse their carafe’s and just leave it to form films of residue before the next morning, which goes back into your next cup. Disgusting.

  Something you can do to improve the cleanliness is to empty the basket of used grinds right after you’re done brewing. After that, rinse it and let it dry on the dish rack.
  
  Additionally, be sure to rinse out your carafe, then take a napkin or paper towel and wipe down the edges on the inside to remove any leftover residue. You don’t want that stuff going back into your fresh brewed coffee the next morning.

  
  

  2.      Letting the coffee sit there for more than 20 minutes –  Back when I used to work at Dunkin Donuts, one of the routine procedures was to take any pots of coffee on the burners and completely dump them after 20-30 minutes of sitting there.
  
  By the 30 minute mark, a lot of the flavor compounds have dissipated, and the antioxidants have also started disappearing due to contact with the air.
  
  However, while people set their coffee to brew every morning while multitasking and doing other things such as making their breakfast, grooming themselves, getting ready and other things of the sort, that coffee has now already turned halfway stale by the 45 minutes you just spent doing other things. 

  3.      Choosing pre-ground coffee –  This is not always a problem if you use up the pre-ground coffee within a week, but if you’re like me and you’re not a total junkie drinking down 4-6 cups a day, you tend to be more conservative with your supply of grinds.
  
  So for that reason, I don’t choose coffee which has been ground up and now has more surface area which can be exposed to the air, and oxidize faster – especially in bags large enough to last me a month.

  Buying whole beans and grinding them yourself is the better way to ensure that you’ll always have a fresh supply of grinds.
  
  It’s generally wisest to only grind what you need for the next few days, or even just for that day, because if you have a lot more than you need, then by the time you start using the aged supply, you’ll find yourself making disgruntled faces when those expired portions have been brewed into the pot for that day.

  4.      Using the wrong amount of scoops for each cup of water –  Some bags of coffee are  different than others, and your individual taste is going to vary.
  
  But I know some who use 4 scoops/spoons of grinds when they’re pouring one and a half cups of coffee into the reservoir.
  
  You may as well just grab the can, spoon the grinds into your mouth and chew them like tobacco. Try sticking with the general guideline of 1-2 scoops per 6 oz of water.

  5.      Choosing tap water –  Even despite all the aforementioned bits about using the best grinds and making sure your machine stays clean, the fact remains that coffee is still 90% water.
  
  If you’re like me, and you’re used to drinking filtered or bottled water, you can probably taste all the chemicals in tap water when you pour a glass. And when I’m at other people’s houses, if I see them pour tap water into the carafe, I’m already flinching. Disgusting.
  
  The rule here is that if it’s not water you would drink, it’s not water that goes into your coffee! You may think that the coffee grinds will act as a filter of sorts, but you couldn’t be farther from the truth – the lead, chlorine, and other materials, ruin the rich flavors in the beans.

  Follow these small tips and you should be on your way to a more refreshing cup of java each day. Drink up!

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