Brewing the Perfect Cup
There’s no one right way to make your coffee; it’s an art after all. But I have found a few tricks that make a big difference in brewing your best cup.
3 Big Hints
Use filtered water. Coffee is mostly water so the water you use makes a big difference. Our tap water here tastes like a swimming pool & makes for awful coffee. Just get a cheap filter; you won’t regret it!
Use a coffee grinder. Beans lose their flavor after a while, especially after they’ve been ground. Years ago, I bought $15 “Mr. Coffee” burr grinder from Target and it changed my life! I’ve moved on to a nicer one since, but that thing did the trick. I’ll also add that “burr” grinders are better than those whirly-blade grinders, but anything is better than pre-ground, IMHO.
Get the coffee/water ratio right. Ok, this is definitely more science than art & I’ll dive into this in detail below, but the only “real” way to get the ratio right is to weigh your coffee grounds. I know! Seems like overkill but it really makes a difference. You should get a cheap electronic scale for $15 and it will be awesome, I promise.
I’ve found the golden ratio for drip coffee (not espresso etc.) is 1 gram of coffee to 16 grams of water, or 8 grams per cup of water. I weigh out 64 grams every morning and that’s perfect for our 8-cup pot. I’ll cut it in half for the afternoon half-pot.
If you really, really hate the metric system & don’t have a scale you could just do 2 tablespoons for every cup, but in my experience, that yields coffee that’s way too dark and bitter.
If you follow those 3 simple rules, I promise your coffee will start tasting less like a bad combo of motor oil & despair and more like the mellow and flavorful, lovely brew it’s meant to be!
