How to make Great coffee.
I have had a few inquiries via PM about coffee. I could respond to them individually, but I happen to be aware there are some here who know something about coffee. I, myself, have a passion for great coffee and enjoy sharing what I know. I have the good fortune of enjoying great coffee almost every day.
I thought I would start off with what I feel is bare bones equipment for getting a great cup. I will leave out roasting your own coffee, because I feel you can get great coffee without roasting your own. It is, however, one of the ways to improve your coffee experience over the basic set up. Hopefully you have a roaster near you. If not (and I didn't) you may want to consider roasting your own.
French press - this is the least expensive way to brew great coffee. At first, I was concerned about the grounds in my cup, but that really didn't turn out to be much of a problem. You just decant with some care and don't try to wring out every drop you can get. The french press has the advantages of being inexpensive and retaining all the oils that contribute to body, texture and flavor. It is a quiet way of making coffee in the AM. to tell the truth a cup of coffee made with an $18,000 Clover is better, but not by a wide margin.
Hot water - the optimum brewing temperature is between 195 and 205 degrees F. You can heat the water in a stove top teakettle. I like the convenience of an electric hot water pot. You need cold fresh water. You can't make good coffee from bad tasting water.
Grinder - it makes a big difference when you grind the coffee immediately before brewing. Ground coffee has noticeable loss of flavor within minutes of grinding and you are well on your way to stale coffee within 1-2 hours. You can get by with a cheap blade grinder, but if you have extra money in your coffee budget, this is where to put it. Don't let anyone tell you that a more expensive blade grinder is any better than a cheap one. Good burr grinders seem to start in the $80-$100 range. There are less expensive burr grinders, but people tend to get upgraditis more quickly with them, than with better models (Yes there is GRAD - Grinder AD).
There you have it, you are ready to make some awesome coffee.
The process:
Obtain specialty grade, fresh roasted, unground, Arabica coffee. Robusta is what the big coffee companies use most often. It has the advantage of being able to grow at lower altitudes than arabica, it has twice the caffeine of arabica. It has the disadvantage of being less healthy for you than Arabica (Did you know that coffee has the highest content of antioxidants than any other beverage by a wide margin - even green tea).
Begin heating your water.
While that is going on, grind your beans. I weigh my beans. The SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) recommends 7 grams per cup. This will make strong coffee by most American standards. My wife likes it at about 2/3's of this strength. The best way to get a weaker cup that tastes good is to make it at SCAA strength, then dilute it to the volume you want adding more hot water just prior to pressing. You are shooting for a grind size slightly smaller than most commercially ground coffees and put the grounds into the FP. ( the instructions that come with a FP say slightly larger than for drip, but that is for fear of being sued for bursting glass and burns from hot water).
When the water is boiling remove it from the heat and, when the boiling stops, add it to the FP. I do a stir part way through filling the FP to make sure than all the grounds get well mixed before steeping begins. I usually steep for 3 minutes, but I use an expensive grinder (remember GRAD) and grind pretty small (so I can used a shorter time and avoid over extraction). With a blade grinder you will probably do well to steep for 4 mins.
Now press the plunger. You press hard enough to get a nice even push. you should not have to press hard. If you get too much resistance just give a quick pull back and then resume the press. If you have ground too fine, you may have to do this a couple of times.
Now the best part. Pour it into your waiting mug. sit back and enjoy the simplicity of the process and the great coffee you just made.
Tips:
the advantages of grinding smaller is shorter brewing times and ALL grinders become more consistent at the smaller end of the range. This is more important as you get to less expensive grinders. Grind it as fine as you can without creating too much back pressure in the plunge.
There will need to be some adjustment at higher altitudes to get the right brewing temperature.
Brew as much coffee as you will drink in a short period of time. My 32 ounce pot is enough for myself and my wife to get 2 big mugs each.
Going by weight is more consisten than by volume. At home, I use 45 grams for about 1 liter. When I am away from my scale I use 4 standard coffee measure for 32 ounces.
There are other great ways to make coffee like Vac pot, drip, pourover, and many others. It's hard to beat French press for great coffee on the cheap.
RazorPete's primer on turkish coffee
I'm with Joesixpack, while drip coffee is ok, turkish coffee is great, and its so easy to make.
You can do it camping or anywhere.
If you buy your coffee at the local roasting company, just ask for a quarter pound to be ground extra fine or turkish style, that should give you plenty to practice with.
You can use just about any container to make it, I have not tried a percolator such as Joe uses, but my trusty Steel Army canteen cup works great for large batches. These stainless steel canteen cups are great for so many different purposes. You dont have to pay for it with three years of active duty in an infantry division, like me (lol, ouch that hurts), but instead you can get them from an army surplus store for nine bucks.
http://www.1starmy.com/uploadimages/...t_2608_enl.jpg
but if you really want to do it the right way, you should get an ibrik. The copper is the traditional type, but stainless steel is also popular, according to my turkish friends. You can get them for around 10 or 15 bucks.
http://www.freshcoffeeshop.com/images/copper_mh_2.jpg
Anyway, you just use about one tablespoon of coffee and one teaspoon of sugar for every cup of coffee you make. And I mean cups the size of espresso cups.
http://www.tulumba.com/mmTULUMBA/Ima...1HH987_250.jpg
You add the water cold to the coffee and sugar into the pot then slowly heat it, gas electric, camp stove, any will do. You have to keep your eyes on the pot while it cooks. After a couple minutes you will notice the pot start to foam.
Take the pot away slightly let the foam die down and then put it back in after a couple seconds, repeat a couple times, not letting the foam get close to the top of the lid.
Then take the pot off the heat, and then pour into your cup, or cups if you are making a large batch. Try to get even amounts of foam into each cup. I have found that mocha java, especially yemen or other mideast varieties are especially good made this way.
mmmmmm (and to think I am trying to cut down on coffee right now, arrrgghhhh!)
Notes
-Its pretty hard to get a uniform turkish grind yourself in a home blade grinder, and if you have some large particles that escape fine grinding, they tend to float up into the cup and ruin the coffee drinking experience.
-if you really want to grind turkish coffee at home, then invest in a large mortar and pestle, that grinds it real fine, and thats the traditional way its ground anyways.
-you have to avoid sloshing the coffee around while you are drinking it but instead just keep it stable. Its good to let the sediment settle well on the bottom. That way you can drink more of the liquid before you get to the solid part.
-If you order turkish coffee in the U.S. even if it is in a turkish restaurant, sometimes they just make it american style and its not as good as the kind you would get in the mid east. Much better to make it yourself with fresh coffee.
-outside of turkey, other mid east countries just call it arabic coffee
-the sugar is best added to the coffee pot at the beginning rather than how we normally add it after you pour it in the cup. Thats because the sugar helps you to get the foam.
