nathan and audrey

I am an avid coffee drinker (see description about college student somewhere else on site) and thought it would be cool to write about how I make my perfect cup of coffee. I would have to say that I am becoming (or already am) a coffee snob. In terms of my coffee knowledge and the fineness of my palette I would place myself in the novice to intermediate category. I love coffee! It is the only thing at 2 am that will do the job right so I can finish studying, then get up at 6 am and drink another cup in the morning to go to school for that test or project. It is also the ultimate relaxing drink for me. I just love to have a nice cup of coffee.

There is one thing about drinking coffee that is extremely important to note. The quality of how good the coffee tastes is completely dependent upon a person’s preferences. For a long time I wanted to be the best at identifying good coffee, which made me focus on other people’s perceptions of what made coffee great. I started to realize that it didn’t really matter what anyone else said about the perfect cup of coffee; the only thing that mattered was how my taste buds liked the coffee. So, I may cringe at the thought of drinking a cup of instant Folgers, but someone else has a paradise in it. This is extremely important to remember when developing a coffee palette. Now, of course one can train their taste buds to upgrade from instant Folgers and taste the real liquid goodness, but I understand.

With that said, on to how I make my perfect cup of coffee.

Important things you must have to create my perfect cup of coffee:

1. Beans: must be whole bean and ground shortly before you brew your coffee. I usually go with a straight version, of which my favorite types are Guatemala, Sumatra, and Tanzanian Pea Berry. Also, I like my beans a little bit more darkly roasted, but I have still yet to test out the full palette. I go to a roaster that does a great job. Here is a plug for her: Moon’s Coffee and Tea http://www.thuntek.net/coffeemoons/moonsite.html. She roasts her beans on the Vienna to Full French Roast style. If you don’t know what that means, maybe I should create a post about the roasting levels. I do believe at a certain point beans can be roasted too far and lose the flavor of the regional components of the coffee. So, I like the darker roasts, but also enjoy the lighter ones for different reasons. Audrey likes the darkly roasted ones! (Audrey to chime in here: she particularly likes Tanzanian Peaberry, but any coffee that can “put hair on your chest” is good.)
2. Beans should also be of the pure variety, meaning freshly roasted. The beans should be no older than 2-3 weeks. (I do drink coffee from older beans, but these beans will create a lesser coffee.) If you buy beans at a grocery store, they might not be as fresh.
3. A good burr grinder: I have a Capresso medium quality grinder. You must have a burr grinder to produce evenly ground beans!
4. French press: I use an 8 cup Bodum.
5. Purified Water.

To make the perfect cup (standard 16oz-ish mug of coffee):

1. Boil the water: I have an electric water kettle dealio that does a great job.
2. As the water is boiling put about 3 scoops (from a 6oz scooper) of whole beans into the coffee grinder.
   1. Note: I use less than the standard “Starbucks” amount because I like to taste the flavors in my coffee when its done. Now, some people like the hard Starbucks style, go ahead, but I like to drink my coffee black allowing me to sample the full flavor palette of the coffee. If the coffee is too bitter to drink black, it becomes freakin’ gross, and I don’t know if I have ever enjoyed a cup of black Starbucks coffee. I always end up needing cream and sugar to make it taste okay.
      
3. Grind the beans at the coarsest grind possible. You do this because the coarser the beans are the less particles you get in your beverage at the end, and because the beans are soaking in the water getting more flavor out of the beans than a standard drip coffee maker.
4. Once the water is boiling: pour the ground beans into the french press.
5. Pour the water into the french press. There is an art to this as well, and some people pour better than others. I don’t know what causes the goodness or the badness so I won’t comment on the perfect way to pour. Fill it up half way if you are using the 8 cup Bodum. This makes about 4 standard cups.
6. Start a timer for 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
7. When timer is done SLOWLY press down the plunger on the french press.
8. Pour into your favorite mug (the coolness of the mug can make a difference if it is your comfort drink) and enjoy!

There you have my way of creating the best cup of coffee. I’m sure there are over a billion ways to achieve this, but hopefully this will help you on your coffee journey.

Let me know how you make your perfect cup in the comments.

–nathan