How to make better coffee

Coffee is life in the @TheRealCFOs kitchen, when you have kids, and you work full time you don’t just drink a cup of coffee, some days you hang on to it for dear life. That said a lot of people make really bad coffee. I was one of them but inspired by the “Morning School” series on life hacker I decided to up my game.  What follows is the Chief Food Officers’ guide to make better coffee.

More than you think goes into a decent cup of Joe.  Sure at the basic level it is ground beans and water, but a few simple steps can really improve the quality of what you are drinking.   You can do it without shelling out a ton of money on fancy beans or a new machine.

 Steps to improve your coffee making without spending money:

Clean your Coffee Machine: 

A coffee maker is not a cast iron skillet, you cannot, nor should you attempt to season it. You need to clean it out the coffee maker from time to time.  This includes not only the pot and the basket where stale coffee can build up but also the internals. To do this run a solution of 50/50 distilled  vinegar and water run through the machine once, then rinse thoroughly.  Next brew of a couple pots of plan water. This will remove hard water deposits, minerals, loosen old grounds, and make the machine easy to wipe out – which is the last step.

Warming the Coffee Maker:

If you own an older, cheaper, or  less powerful machine, it  is unlikely to reach to ideal brewing temperatures (205 degrees).  Unfortunately for us coffee lovers this is most machines on the market. You can however build heat in the machine by priming it. To do this “brew” a pot of cold water this will fire up the heating element and warm everything up. When you go to brew the actual pot of coffee (with fresh water) your coffee maker achieve higher water temperatures resulting in a smoother, less bitter cup.

Pre-rinse the Filter:

An issue with paper coffee filters is that quality control is suspect. They get beaten up in transit and releasing paper dust imparting a dusty and at times a woody smell to the coffee. A rinse of the filter prior to use will reduce this. Take the filter place it in the cone as normal and they run some water through it and boom you’ve removed the dust, and any smells or chemical notes that might be on the filter.

Storing your Coffee:

Have you ever had a bag of coffee where things went well for the first week or so but towards the end of the bag your morning cup of Joe started to taste more acidic, stale, or moldy?  Your coffee went bad. Light, heat, oxygen, & moisture are the main things that cause coffee to go stale or rotten. Keep this in mind when you store your beans, also don’t put it in the fridge or freezer. Store it in the bag it came in or in a specifically designed container.  Store away from heat sources and sunlight. This will slow the rate at which the coffee goes stale and make the bottom of the bag more drinkable.

• When you are purchasing coffee look for a “roasted on” date and get the freshest one.  If there is not a roasted on date provided then get the one with the farthest expiration date.

Use Clean, Cold, Filtered, Water:

Coffee is 96 or more percent water. If you want to make better coffee you absolutely have to use good clean fresh water.