Coffee Blog

You’ve made the move to specialty coffee. You’ve made a bold move to enter the world of the tastiest, freshest coffee that there is. Specialty coffee typically have gone from the roaster to your brewed cup as fast as humanly possible. After all, coffee is a perishable and delicate food. Its peak taste only has a short life span. It will lessen with time, air exposure, and moisture exposure. So speed in the entire coffee process, from when the beans were picked all the way to when your machine brews your pot, is essential.

Since specialty coffee is especially perishable items with a very limited shelf life, make to keep up your end of the bargain when you get it home. Store it in airtight containers or a tightly closed coffee bag like you get from the supermarket or gourmet store when you first buy the coffee. Heat, light, air and moisture all can make your coffee taste stale. That’s because all of these factors hasten the release of the coffee’s aromatic gases over time. Refrigerating or freezing the coffee may slow this process, but it won’t completely prevent it.

Also make certain to grind your specialty coffee just before brewing. Coffee beans are like little containers that hold in the coffee oils and aromatic compounds. The flavor is exposed once a bean is ground. If brewing doesn’t happen right away, however, the exquisite flavor and aroma can be lost. In other words, grinding coffee yourself is the second step to experiencing the most out of your coffee.

The third step is knowing exactly how long to let your specialty coffee brew. If you let water contact the grounds for too long, for instance, your coffee can end with an overly bitter coffee. On the other hand, if you let water contact the grounds for not long enough, your coffee may lack its full flavor.

The final step in good specialty coffee making comes after your coffee is brewed. Don’t let your coffee sit on a burner or hotplate too long afterwards. More than 20 minutes is too long because the coffee’s taste will start to become bitter. Your taste buds, and your stomach, will thank you.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2005 at 9:22 am and is filed under Coffee Related Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.