BREWING GUIDE
Our brewing guide is a little misleading – it covers way more than just brewing!
Our goal is for you to enjoy a perfect cup of great tasting, healthy coffee each and every time! Here are some tips to get you started.
3 GENERAL TIPS
1. STORAGE
Improper storage can make your coffee taste stale and moldy. Our beans are best stored in clear, glass container in a cool, dry place.
We recommend glass to prevent chemical off-gassing common in plastic containers. Don’t store your coffee in your freezer as this can cause the beans to solidify and affect the flavor.
2. WATER
Since coffee is made mostly from water, the water quality can affect the taste of the coffee. Premium coffee shops filter their water, so fluoride, chlorine, and micro-sediment is not in the coffee.
Getting an in-home water purification system is a great investment for not only great tasting coffee but your overall health as well. Here is the water purification system our founder uses in his home.
3. TEMPERATURE
The National Coffee Association recommends brewing coffee at between 195- and 205-degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures below that range do a poor job extracting beneficial compounds from the grounds. Temperatures above this range breaks down some of the beneficial and flavorful compounds in coffee.
To get your water at the perfect temperature for brewing, bring it to a boil, then let it sit for 30 seconds to one minute. This should bring it from boiling into an acceptable temperature range.
ABOUT GRINDING COFFEE
There are two common type coffee grinders: blade and burr. We recommend a cone-shape burr grinder because they don’t generate heat that can start extracting oils from the beans before they even get close to water.
Grind your beans right before brewing. This preserves the best properties of the coffee bean. The grind you need will be based upon your brewing method. Longer brewing times using coarser grinds while shorter brewing times use a finer grind.
ABOUT BREWING FOR TASTE
Changing the size of the grind can impact taste. Experiment to find your ideal grind.
Use the correct amount of coffee to water mixture: the recommended ratio is 1:16 – adjusting the ratio will make the coffee either stronger or weaker, depending upon how you change it.
Use water at the recommended temperature of between 195- and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
ABOUT COFFEE MAKERS
The heat generated by coffee makers can cause the plastic in them to leach into your coffee. When you drink coffee made by a plastic coffee maker, the chemicals from the plastic enter your body and cause you harm. BPA is a chemical used to harden plastics and is used in most plastic coffee makers. Heat accelerates BPA leaching into your coffee.
Since coffee is a daily habit for most of us, we recommend you keep it as clean as possible. That means use a glass or metal coffee maker. Here’s a list of non-plastic coffee makers for you to consider.
We recommend a thorough cleaning of your coffee maker every two weeks. Impurities and oily residues may build up over time to make your brew taste bad. Bacteria and mold can develop in the water reservoir and piping system and this can make you sick. Use a non-toxic cleaner and water.
