How to Make Perfect Fresh Brewed Coffee

Member

By MarlaineMarie
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating:

(26 Ratings)

Fresh brewed, just the way we love it!

I’ve traveled around the United States and have had The House Blend coffee in hundreds of restaurants. I’ve also worked in a few diners and a couple supper clubs. Some were incredibly good and some were downright awful. Let’s face it – perfect coffee is a matter of individual taste.

Try all kinds of coffee – even those low priced store brands – because you never know what might really get to you to become your favorite! We used to buy a grind-in-store brand because it was the cheapest. Now, it’s the second most expensive, just under that coffee to go chain brand that takes you to the stars for a whole lot of bucks! I have news for you... the coffee we make tastes a whole lot better and is a whole lot cheaper which makes it a whole lot sweeter to us!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A decent coffee brewer
Your choice of coffee brand and flavor
Fresh water
A thermal carafe or old fashioned thermos

Step 1

Know your own preferences. The flavors include Dark Roast, French Roast, Hazel Nut, Breakfast Blend, and so many others. Gives you a caffeine rush just trying to decide sometimes! Then there are different brands of coffee. The top of the coffee chain is buying cups to go and the many very high priced choices available in those pricey shops. The bottom is literally the bottom shelf in your grocery store.
Step 2

Know how strong you and your fellow drinkers like it! I know one person who uses two scoops of coffee per 10 cup pot. Another person likes their coffee half milk and half coffee, making it stronger to compensate. Still another enjoys their coffee so strong that the amount of scoops they put in always goes over the top of their filter and you have to either swallow those grounds or sip through your clenched teeth. My Aunt makes “Roosevelt” coffee, scooping out some grounds from the last pot to give her room to add a couple scoops of new ground coffee to the used grounds. Personally, I’d rather make one pot of coffee every other day than to reuse grounds if I wanted to save money.
Step 3

Know if there is something you want to add to the coffee grounds before brewing. A half teaspoon of sugar helps cut bitterness. A tiny pinch of salt helps remove bitterness and brings out flavor as well, or so some say. Crushed egg shells added to the grounds clears any sediment from the coffee. Although the sugar or salt is a small amount, be sure whoever drinks the coffee is not on a sugar or salt-free diet by doctor’s orders.
Step 4

Be sure the water is ice cold and fresh. Filling the pot the night before with water will be making your coffee with stale, room temperature water. (Fill a glass with water the night before and drink some in the morning. You will see what I mean - especially if you live in the city! Yuck!) Let’s face it – if you wouldn’t want to drink the water you are making your coffee with, how can it make good coffee? Fill the water chamber with the amount of water you want.
Step 5

Always use a filter if your pot requires one to keep the grounds from blocking the drip and making the coffee overflow the basket. Add the scoops of coffee for the strength that appeals to you – 2 for weak, 4 for medium, 6 for strong, or 8 for max strength. If you are making it strong, use the scooper to push the ground coffee out to the sides if you have a straight down basket when you have 3/4ths of the scoops in the basket. If you have a V shaped basket, force the coffee down into the bottom so it is nicely compact. Pack the grounds so the hot water has to spend more time steeping the coffee before passing through. Restaurants usually have pre-formed packets that fit perfectly into the basket of their coffee machine and the grounds are compacted into a “brick” to make the most of the ground coffee.
Step 6

If you don’t have a thermal pot that your coffee brews into, buy a good air pot or thermal carafe. Fill the thermal carafe with hot water, close it, and let the hot water sit in the carafe until you are ready to fill it with your freshly brewed coffee. If nothing else, pour your coffee into a regular thermos that’s been pre-heated with hot water.
Step 7

Once your coffee is done brewing, allow all the coffee to finish dripping through the ground coffee into the carafe and heat up for 5 minutes max. Empty the hot water from your thermal carafe and pour the fresh brewed coffee in.

Your coffee will taste great from the first cup to the last!

Comments

amysmarts said

Flag This Comment

on 10/27/2009 Great article on How to Make Perfect Fresh Brewed Coffee. I love my morning cup of coffee. You are so right, why spend so much money on those high priced coffee shops when you can just make it yourself. Thanks for the extra tips and advice. 5*

art2cee2 said

on 10/25/2009 Good tips for making a good cup of coffee. As you mentioned tastes vary where coffee is concerned. Seriously, have you ever tasted Greek coffee....thick and strong enough to keep you awake for a week..not my thing. 5* and rec