There is really nothing quite like a good cup of coffee. Whether you enjoy making your own coffee at home, or you prefer to patronize a local coffee shop, the more you know about coffee, the more you will enjoy it. This article will share a few interesting tidbits about this most popular of drinks.
When consumed properly, coffee is healthy. The coffee is not unhealthy in itself, but it is the sugar and cream that get added to it. Use almond milk instead of cream and stevia or honey in place of sugar to make your drinks healthier.
Make sure that you make your coffee in water that you would have no problem drinking alone. This is important because the taste of the water will affect the way that it makes your coffee taste. If you live in an area where the water quality is not that great, use spring water to brew your coffee.
Don’t grind whole coffee beans until you’re ready to use them. This is due to coffee losing its flavor after being ground. Don’t grind your beans before you brew if you want to drink good coffee.
Have you ever tried drinking ice cold coffee or cappuccino? This is a good way to get the caffeine you need while drinking a refreshing beverage. You can either use instant coffee, mix it in cold water and add some ice or put some coffee grounds in a fine filter and place it in a glass of cold water.
You should never keep your coffee in the freezer for longer than three months. If you do, it will begin to get stale.
If you want the best iced coffee that you have ever had, you need to brew the coffee cold. If you do try to make hot coffee cold, you can end up with a pretty awful brew. If you start your brewing right before bedtime, you will have delicious iced coffee for your morning commute.
Do you enjoy strong coffee? You should try using a French press instead of a drip machine. Pressing the coffee means more oil will end up in your beverage instead of being retained by the filter of your coffee machine. You will find that pressed coffee has more flavor and contains more caffeine.
For better coffee, try using a French press. Coffee made in a French press is often more aromatic and flavorful. This kind of press helps more of the coffee’s oils go into the coffee itself instead of getting trapped in a coffee pot filter. The more oil you have, the better your coffee will taste.
If you want to utilize less sugar in your coffee, you will be glad to hear that many alternatives are available. One thing to try is the nectar of agave, which does have sugar but does not affect you in the same way. Also, you can use sweeteners that are sugar free to put in your coffee.
For people who really enjoy a great cup of coffee, never take your beans or grind out of the freezer and into the hot water. Keep your beans at room temperature prior to brewing. If you have a lot, freeze some and keep enough at room temperature for the week.
A great tip to remember if you’re after the best-tasting cup of coffee is not to let your coffee sit for an extended period of time. Coffee will only stay fresh for about ten minutes so you should be prepared to drink your coffee right after it’s been brewed.
To brew the best cup of coffee, your water temperature needs to be just under the boiling point. At this temperature, the water will extract the maximum amount of flavor from your beans. If your coffee does not taste good in the morning, run a thermometer in the water to ensure that it is heating to the right temperature.
Avoid using pre-flavored and packaged coffee beans. These beans are sprayed with extra oils that are very difficult to clean out of grinders and coffee machines. That oil stays in the machines and mixes with later batches causing strange-tasting coffee. They also tend to make the coffee smell better than it tastes.
Avoid buying coffee beans from bins where several of the beans are visibly broken. Chances are these beans are either old and dry or have been exposed to heat or light. All of these conditions allow the rich flavor of fresh beans to seap out. A bin full of fresh beans should also have a very strong aroma.
Not all coffee should be stored in the freezer because doing so could result in less tasty coffee. Instead, you should divide your weekly stash of beans into equal amounts and keep them in an airtight container at room temperature. The future week amounts can be stored in the freezer.
If you do not mind spending a few bucks more, you can join a coffee club which will deliver coffee to you at set intervals. There are multiple choices of the types of coffee you can order, either whole bean or your choice of ground coffee. Some of these companies also provide you with a free coffee maker.
Coffee beans are actually a fruit of the coffea plant, a small evergreen bush. The berries are picked by hand, sorted and the outer cover is removed. Then the beans are washed and dried, either on drying tables or by pumping heated air through a container they are placed in.
To allow for proper water penetration in your coffee grounds, be sure to indent them. Take your index finger and add a small dimple to the middle of your grounds. It should be about an inch and a half deep. That indent will allow the water to evenly penetrate the grounds that reside at the bottom of your cone.
Now that you have finished reading this article, you should have gained a new respect for your favorite beverage. If you need to know how to brew a better cup of coffee, or you just want to understand how coffee is grown, the information in this article should have helped you out.