Find Your Perfect Cup

Hi All!

We've condensed this information into a flowchart for you to follow and have fun with!

Please note that you should save the flow chart to your computer and view on a program in order for you to be able to use it... Otherwise magnifying glasses would be really cool to dust off and use.

Roasting Away Near the Bay!

Hello Maryland Coffee Drinkers!

Today we're going to feature two of Maryland's finest Roasting companies.

The best thing about supporting local roasting companies is the tendency for those companies to give back to the local community or (ecosystem).

Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company is a Rockville area Roasting company who pledge 2% of their sales to local organizations working to reverse the harmful effects that corporate recklessness has on the Bay. Click below to purchase coffee from this outstanding company or find them in organic and/or independent markets around the Maryland area

http://shop.cbrccoffee.com/

Zeke's Coffee is located in Baltimore, MD. This company is special because it roasts only in small batches. This means that there is a limited quantity of each different roasts, thus the company turns over fresh batches quite quickly. As a result, Zeke's offers a freshness that may only be matched by home roasting. Try the holiday blend if you enjoy a dark roast with chocolate undertones.

I wish all of you a very caffeinated holiday!

The Brew

And now, it's time to brew those grinds!

This post will explain the benefits of each popular method of brewing, and give you simple directions to follow to appropriately brew with each method. We'll be going over the French Press, Drip Pot, Auto Drip (Automatic Drip Coffee Makers), and Moka Pot Methods of Coffee Brewing.

French Press

The french press is a manual method of coffee brewing that allows the hot water to extract the comparably more oil from coffee grinds than other methods.

To brew with the French Press, you measure out the appropriate amount of grinds and pour them in the bottom of your clean and empty press, without the press in the container. You then add your hot water (about 200 degrees F). After the water is added, you put on the top of the press, which is attached to the press. Let the coffee sit for about 4 minutes before pressing down on the top to gather and compress the grinds to the bottom, separating them from the coffee. Now it's time to drink!

This method is best for those coffee drinkers who prefer a fuller bodied coffee. As a result, it works better with darker roasts that offer more of a sweet flavor than a bitter flavor.

Brewers Beware: You should use a coarser grind, because the coffee grinds may escape through the filter separating the grinds from the coffee.

Drip Pot

The Drip Pot is a manual drip coffee brewer. They may come as only the cone shaped filter container that you see as part of an automatic coffee brewer or may have an attached container to catch the brewed coffee.

This method has less of a brewing time, and due to the paper filter, leads to less coffee bean oil in the coffee. This leads less body in your cup of coffee, and as a result should be used in conjunction with a lighter roast.

To use a drip pot, place an appropriately shaped filter in the filter container. Place the appropriate amount of coffee grinds (approximately 1.5 tablespoons/cup) in the filter. Pour the water over the grinds and once it has all reached the coffee pot/mug, you've brewed your coffee!

This method is great because you can control the optimal temperature of your coffee water (200 degrees F) and the

Tips:

• If you use a paper filter, wet it before use to avoid a paper flavor in your coffee.
• Evenly distribute your water over the grounds to ensure maximum extraction
• Drink as soon as you brew, reheating burns the coffee and destroys the taste

Auto Drip

The Automatic Coffee Drip brewing method is the most commonly found, and easiest method to use to brew coffee. All you need to do is add the grinds, the filter, and the water, push a button, and boom! Within a few minutes, you have a cup of coffee. The same suggestions apply from the drip pot method (light roast and tips).

The problem with automatic drip coffee makers is, however, that you have a lot less control over water temperature and you can easily burn the coffee if you leave it on the warmer that most automatic coffee makers have after the coffee finishes brewing. Some brewers also dispense the water only over one spot in the filter area, making the brewing unevenly distributed over the grinds.

This method is the easiest, but it also offers the least control. When you're shopping for an automatic coffee maker, find one that offers control over water temperature and one that offers a more even distribution over the coffee grinds.

Moka Pot

The moka pot brewing method may be compared to the french press in terms of the brewing process, and the coffee resulting from this method is best described as espresso. This method extracts the oil and caffeine from the coffee grinds extremely efficiently, and thus produces a very strong, concentrated coffee. As a result, it is suggested to use darker roasts with more oil and sweeter tones.

It should be noted that while moka pots does produce coffee similar to espresso, it does not produce true espresso.

To use a moka pot, screw apart the top and bottom. Fill the bottom of the moka pot with water and the filter basket with grinds until it is topped off but level. Use a fine coffee grind, but make sure it is coarse enough as to not slip through the filter holes. Put all parts in place and screw the pot back together. Heat the moka pot on the stove until it gurgles, then remove it from the stove immediately. The coffee is now ready. Pour into a cup (espresso or larger based on your own preferences) and enjoy!

Tip:

• Use hot water to fill the bottom chamber of the moka pot. This reduces the amount of time the grinds are exposed to heat, thus reducing any additional bitterness that may result from overexposure to heat.

There are of course other methods of brewing coffee. These methods may sometimes be compared to science experiments or may closely resemble the process and result of the methods we've described in this post.

So, we've gone through the evolution of a cup of coffee from root to cup! If I had a diploma to give readers, I would. In future posts, we'll be exploring the roasters of Maryland to find you the perfect Chesapeake-roasted bean to fuel your morning!

Thanks for reading!

Sources Used:

http://prima-coffee.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-immersion-coffee-brewing

http://www.thecoffeefaq.com/3brewingtechniques.html#onecup

http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee-brewers/filtercones/porcelain-1-filter-drip-pot-set.html

http://fantes.com/coffee-manualdrip.html

http://www.tigerchef.com/saeco-104359--easy-fill-12-cup-auto.html

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beverage/MokaEspressoPot.htm

The Burr or the Blade?

Hello my highly alert coffee followers!

We've reached the really fun steps in brewing that perfect cup of cffee!

Everyone knows you can go to any corner store or coffee shop and pick up a ready made cup of coffee, but I'm here to save you that trip and prepare you to prepare that satisfying cup at home, and probably in your slippers.

Before you brew, you need to grind your coffee first. If you listened to my advice in the last post, you bought coffee beans from your local roaster, not coffee grinds! Coffee is freshest right after it is ground, leaving with with potentially flat and stale coffee to "enjoy" later on.

You can grind your coffee to coarse, medium, and fine. Coarse has been described by the National Coffee Association as to feel "like potting soil." Medium can be described as having a sea salt consistency. The fine consistency can be described as having a sugar consistency, and can get even finer depending on the needs of the coffee drinker. The different consistencies are appropriate for different brewing methods.

Coarse Grinds should be used in the following methods:

French Press

Vacuum Coffee Maker

Percolator

Medium Grinds should be used with Drip Coffee Makers with flat bottomed filters.

Fine Grinds should be used in the following methods:

Stovetop espresso pots

Drip coffee makers with cone shaped filters (may be medium/fine depending on personal taste)

Super Fine Grinds should be used in espresso makers and to prepare Turkish style coffee

Burr Grinders (left) are the best way to grind your coffee beans, they

are precise and allow you to preset the amount of coffee you need to grind. Blade grinders (right) are cheaper, but they don't grind the bean, they pulverize. They aren't the best at reaching a very fine consistency, if you need a fine consistency, and can get very messy.

1.5 tablespoons of ground coffee per cup of water is a good rule of thumb to make an average strength cup of coffee. You may go up to two tablespoons, or down to one tablespoon depending on how strong you would like (or need) your coffee to be.

Sources Used:

http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=71

http://www.specialty-coffee-advisor.com/how-to-grind-coffee.html

http://www.thebeanstock.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=37_38

Take Our Survey!

Hey guys!!

To get a general consensus of how to make the generalized "perfect cup of coffee" we've constructed a survey to be taken by any and all coffee drinkers, especially those in the Chesapeake area!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SV3N67F

Click the link and help us out!

Happy Sipping!

The Different Shades of Brown.

Hello all and welcome to today's coffee post!

We've finally gotten through how to harvest and prepare coffee for your travel mug, now we get to the good stuff! I'm going to let you choose the right bean for your own tastes!

We know you want an arabica bean, preferably hand washed and harvested. We also know that you want as high of a grade as possible to really get to the good stuff!! Now we'll take a gander at the strength of the roast that helps you to perk up your morning (and afternoon if you're like me at all...)

Roasts vary from light to dark. As previously stated, the lighter the coffee, the more flavor retained by the bean and the less flavor added by the roaster (less smokey).

Light roasts are roasted until the beans crack and expand. Light roasts are then immediately removed from the roaster. Different light roasts include...

Light/Half City: Removed from the roaster and cooled immediately after the first crack. Dry, very light brown bean. Very acidic and sour.

Cinnamon/New England: Highly acidic with a sour taste. Dry, light brown bean. Tastes like toasted grain.

Medium Roasts include:

City: Medium-brown bean. Allowed to roast slightly longer than light and half city roasts. The grain taste is less noticeable.

American: Medium-light brown bean. Common in America, used for tasting.

Medium-Dark Roasts include:

High/Viennese/Full City: Darker brown bean, surface is slightly oily. Less acidic and may have a spicy taste. Typically has chocolate/caramel undertones.

Breakfast: Darker brown bean. Still acidic but with a smooth taste. The roast is slightly sweet with body.

Dark Roasts include:

Continental/European: Dark brown and oily bean. Low acid with a bittersweet undertone. Known to constitute the "average" roast of coffee.

French: Dark brown and shiny with oil. Less acidity, but burned undertones. Often used to make espresso.

Italian: Much like a darker French roast. Very dark brown with a very oily surface. Strong burned flavor.

Spanish: Darkest roast of all! Black color and has been described to taste like charcoal.

The names of roasts may vary from roaster to roaster, but if you know what your favorite roast is, you'll find your way to your perfect type by finding a description of that roast.

Happy Tasting!

Sources Used:

http://ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=74

http://www.gourmetcoffeelovers.com/coffee-roast-types/

http://coffeetea.about.com/od/roasting/a/roasts.htm

http://www.coffeereview.com/glossary.cfm?alpha=C

http://www.merryoakscoffee.com/roasts.php

Coffee Beans Roasting On an Open Fire. Jack Frost Nipping....

Please excuse the title of today's post, I'm very much in the holiday spirit!

We're ready to move from the coffee growers to the coffee roasters! In this post, I'll teach you how coffee is roasted after it is shipped from the bean producers. In the next post, we'll go over the different roasts, and you'll be able to decide which one sounds like the best one for you!

Roasting allows the coffee bean to become the dark brown that we're all used to grinding and enjoying. It also allows the bean to gain that glorious flavor we've grown to love (and depend on). Roasting may be done at home, but this blog is dedicated to the professional preparation of coffee beans. Later, however, we will be analyzing at-home methods of preparing coffee.

Professional roasting involves cleaning the shipment of beans, roasting them, cooling them, and packaging them. Occasionally, grinding before packaging could be included in this process, but I'm choosing to disregard this step in favor of at-home grinding for quality purposes.

Cleaning the beans is comparable to searching for gold in a river. The beans are dumped onto a screen and heartily shaken to remove any additional debris left over after they were harvested. They are then weighed and transferred to the roasting area. Roasters are usually heated up to as high as 540 degrees, or as low as 370 degrees. The roasting process takes up to 30 minutes, depending on the temperature and how dark the roasters would like the bean to be.

Here is a picture of a roaster:

Roasters are made to continuously move the coffee beans around in the heated vat so that they may all be evenly heated. The longer the coffee is roasted, the less the beans retain their original flavor. The darkest beans lose almost all flavor, and are left with the smoky, harsh flavor left by the roasting process.

Roasting may be accomplished through direct and indirect firing. This means that the beans either come into contact with flame, or they only come into contact with extreme heat from a flame on the other side of the closed surface they are roasting on. It may be concluded from the styles of these roasting methods, that the direct firing method uses much more heat, and thus a much darker roast in a shorter time, than the indirect firing method.

After the beans are roasted, they are cooled in a chamber infused with cool air. This is the final step before they are packaged and sent off to be sold.

The different types of roasts come with each of their own unique set of attributes. This means that there is one type of roast that leads to the perfect cup of coffee, but there is that one type of roast that will lead you to your own perfect cup of coffee. Stay tuned for the next post, because we'll go over what flavors each roast produces and where you can find them at your favorite Maryland coffee roaster!

Sources Used:

http://www.coffeefair.com/coffee-facts-roasting.htm

http://www.coffee-machine.org/coffee-roasting/