Like many people, you probably love to start off each morning with a hot cup of coffee. But how much do you really know about what you are drinking? If you are curious about coffee, this article will teach you more about the different kinds of coffee and how to make the best cup possible.
If you tend to drink a lot of coffee, you should invest in a quality coffee machine and make your own coffee at home. Go to a coffee shop only occasionally, for instance on weekends or when you go out with some friends. This should help you save a lot.
Do not leave your coffee open any longer than necessary. While preparing your coffee, don’t open the can or bag until you are ready to scoop. Immediately after scooping, close the coffee container. This will keep your coffee fresher longer. It also keeps the flavor and aroma from evaporating in the air.
Keep your automatic coffee maker clean with white vinegar. Run a brewing cycle with one part water to one part white vinegar. After allowing the carafe to soak in the vinegar for a while, run a cycle with plain water to rinse the machine. Clean your coffee maker once every week or two to remove rancid coffee oils, mold and other contaminants.
If you like a delicate flavor in your coffee, try adding some right to the pot while it’s brewing. A pinch of cinnamon or a few drops of vanilla will add flavor to the brew. Flavoring your coffee this way will keep the flavor from being too overwhelming, and you won’t need cream or milk.
Brew a plain pot of water before brewing your coffee to get the ideal performance out of an old coffee machine. Once the hot water is ready, put the coffee grounds in and return the water to the coffee machine. This ensures that you get the hottest and thus most flavorful brew possible.
Remember that coffee is a very absorbent food. So, proper storage is essential. Keep your unused coffee in a place that is dry and cool where it is protected from both sunlight and heat. However, do not store it in your fridge or freezer. Also make sure the container is opaque and air-tight, to prevent coffee from absorbing flavor and aromas from other foods.
When you brew your coffee at home, do not throw out the used grounds. These coffee grounds might not be good for another cup of coffee, but they are excellent for many other purposes. They are great for composting, exfoliating, cleaning, and quite a few other uses. Don’t throw them away!
Make sure you are patient whenever you are creating lattes. The best lattes are those that are created with due care. Be careful when pouring the milk, and use extreme caution when creating the design. Don’t just rush into it, and if you need some ideas on designs, check out Flickr.
Use your used coffee grounds in your compost pile! Coffee grounds offer many beneficial ingredients to a compost pile including pest control. Coffee grounds contain caffeine which helps prohibit the growth of fungus that can quickly destroy your vegetable garden. The next time you brew a fresh pot of joe don’t throw away those grounds; add them to your compost pile!
The best coffee is made with freshly roasted beans. Look at the expiration date when buying whole beans. Specialty stores are superior to grocery stores when buying coffee beans.
A good tip to keep in mind when brewing coffee is to rinse off your paper filters before actually brewing your coffee. Rinsing off the paper filter will get rid of any loose paper particles, which will prevent your coffee from tasting funky. All it takes is a few extra seconds.
When you measure coffee grounds to make coffee, think about the number of cups you plan to make. A normal coffee cup contains six ounces; a normal measuring cup contains eight. Six ounces of water should be mixed with two tablespoons of your favorite ground coffee for an optimal taste. Your brew will be watered down if you use a measuring cup.
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.
Do you enjoy creamy coffees and rich cappuccinos? These beverages contain huge amounts of calories. Actually, drinking a cappuccino from your favorite coffee shop can be compared to eating an ice cream. Ask about calories the next time you order a creamy beverage and try drinking black coffee if you need to watch your weight.
Make it a habit to only grind enough coffee for your immediate use. When you grind a whole bag of coffee, you are speeding up the flavor shelf life. Those grounds will lose flavor within a couple of days, where the fresh beans would have held out a little longer.
The longer your coffee sits in a pot on the warmer, the worse it will taste. Fresh brewed coffee always tastes best. The longer it sits, the more bitter it becomes. This is one of the key reasons why many of the larger coffee makers will throw out coffee if it sits longer than 20 minutes.
If you have a bit of leftover coffee, you can always freeze it in cube trays. Using iced coffee cubes will stop your drink from becoming too watered down and losing flavor. Additionally, they can be used to cool down coffee which is much too hot to immediately consume.
After reading this article, you should have a better understanding of what goes into making the perfect cup of coffee. Before long, you will be enjoying the most delicious cup of coffee that you have ever had. Just remember the tips from this article the next time you start brewing a fresh pot.
