Once upon a time, my husband and I used to buy a cup (at least) of coffee shop coffee every day. Eventually, we decided we should just make coffee ourselves at home: buy the packaged coffee shop coffee, make it on our home coffee maker, done and done, right? Well, not so much. The coffee we made at home just didn't taste the same as it did in the coffee shop, and we couldn't figure out why. So we researched. What we found was that there are about a billion variables to making a good cup of coffee. And after all our research regarding methods and equipment along with a bit of trial and error, we now have our home coffee making perfected to our liking. I'd like to caveat this by saying that I am by no means an expert on this stuff--just a regular person who did a lot of research and figured out what PERSONALLY works for me, and if anything I say here happens to help someone out who was in the same shoes I was, then that's great.
First off, the coffee maker. We brew our coffee in a Technivorm Moccamaster (apparently one of the few consumer coffee makers that actually heats the water up to be hot enough to reach the ideal temp for making coffee--probably the biggest reason why our initial attemps at home coffee making failed. It's pretty pricey, but you can replicate the same results for much cheaper using a $15 pourover contraption, though it'll involve a more manual effort on your behalf. Another alternative at $150--still somewhat pricey, but about half the cost of the Technivorm--is the Bonavita; if the Bonavita was around back when we were researching coffee makers 3 years ago, we probably would've opted to get that one instead, primarily for the cost savings. The Technivorm was our best option at the time, though, so that's what we got, and we're still extremely happy with it, even after 3 years of daily use.).
Just as importantly, we make sure to use high-quality whole bean coffee [stored well if you're not using the whole bag within a week (we use the Friis coffee vault) since CO2 and light are not friends to coffee beans. We also freshly grind just enough whole beans for that particular brew cycle just prior to brewing, and we use a good quality BURR grinder--in our case, the Capresso Infinity burr grinder. Refer to Alton Brown's coffee episode if you're curious why it's so important to use a burr grinder as opposed to a blade grinder.]. We eventually realized we weren't huge fans of a lot of the whole bean coffees easily obtained in supermarkets or large chain coffee shops (I'm looking at you, Starbucks), yet didn't like paying shipping for the coffees from independent, small-batch roasters (as good as those coffees were, I really, REALLY hate paying for shipping). As such, I turned to my trusty Amazon Prime to save the day. I found Kicking Horse Coffee Kick Ass Dark Whole Bean Coffee via the stellar reviews, placed an order, and hoped for the best (2.2 lbs. is a lot of coffee to have if it turns out I didn't like it). Thankfully, I'm happy to say that I've found THE ONE! This coffee is complex, deep, and smoky, yet without any burnt taste at all. And the fact that it's fair-trade and organic is icing on the cake. And (AND!) if that weren't enough, it's quickly and easily available on Amazon Prime AND part of their subscribe-and-save program. WIN!
Extra tips:
- Preheat your carafe and coffee mugs by filling with hot water and discarding before using so that the cold carafe and coffee mugs don't steal all the heat from your freshly brewed coffee.
- Only use good quality, filtered water for brewing.
- Make sure you grind your coffee according to how coarse/fine is recommended for the particular coffee you are using, and make sure you use the correct proportions of coffee to water (for those who have European coffee makers such as the Technivorm, keep in mind that a cup of coffee made in these coffee makers is typically less ounces than in American coffee makers).
- Clean your burr grinder on a regular basis by using the white rice method. This is especially important if you grind oily coffee beans such as Kicking Horse Kick Ass Dark.
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