Brew It Yourself

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Brew It Yourself
By. Patricia Brown -

A "coffee of the month club" membership is one the best gifts you can give to your favorite coffee lover. You can give and receive some of the best roasts that the world has to offer. First, you have beans that are produced in Africa, which are renowned for their wine-like undertones and their citrus tastes. Central America will ship you beans with a mild to medium taste and an even, well-balanced flavor. The beans from Brazil, which most Americans drink routinely without knowing, will be a top-notch quality not found often in a can, with the same familiar and reassuring flavor but more pronounced. Coffees produced in Asia have a more earthy flavor, with notes of mocha and citrus. However, whether it's you receiving the coffee of the month club or your dearest friends, you can't completely enjoy your 12 monthly gifts without the proper knowledge of how to make the coffee.

The key to getting the most out of your "coffee of the month club" membership is outfitting your drip coffee machines with a gold, nylon, or other type of permanent filter. Such permanent filters guarantee that the essential flavor and oils of the coffee grinds make their way through the filter and into the water. In addition, these permanent filters accomplish this without adding unwanted, unappetizing tastes.

Paper filters will do just that to your tasty blends from the coffee of the month club. Paper filters leave an aftertaste in your daily morning brew. Paper filters also soak up some of the aromatic oils and special flavor molecules from your coffee grinds. If you lose these sources of the coffee's flavor and you will lose the coffee's enticing taste. If you must use paper filters, first rinse them with hot water. If possible, use permanent filters. You may need to clean the permanent filters after each use, but such effort is worth it.

Another important factor for brewing a proper cup of coffee is minding the proportion of grinds to water. As a quick rule of thumb, a properly brewed pot of coffee will use 2 tablespoons of coffee grinds per six ounces of water. If the resulting flavor is too strong, you can add more water to the brewed coffee to dillute the coffee. It is important that you do not aim for a weaker flavor by brewing more water or using less grinds, because doing so will prohibit the brew from achieving the right amount of oils and flavor molecules.

The freshness of the coffee grinds can also affect the flavor of the coffee. Ideally, use grinds within 24 hours of grinding the whole beans. Whole beans can be stored for up to six months. To avoid weakening the flavor due to condesation, do not refrigerate or freeze coffee beans or grinds after the coffee has been exposed to air.

Also, when brewing your "coffee of the month club" varieties in a drip coffee machine, grind them to a medium to fine grinds of coffee. Always begin brewing with cold water, and make sure that your coffee machine is fine tuned to bringing the water to the proper "brewing" temperature. The proper temperature for water is between 195 degrees and 205 degrees, which guarantees the best coffee ground extraction. After brewing, follow one last rule before you actually taste your delicious new coffees: dump the grounds from the filter before the last few drops of water drip through.

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About The Author, Patricia Brown -

Patricia Brown writes for several web sites, on shopping and product advice topics.

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