If you spend some time browsing our website, you'll find that we are very serious about coffee that is good, that tastes good, and that does good.
We're proud to offer what we believe are the finest shade-grown coffees available, and we hope you enjoy brewing them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.
To get you on your way, we thought we'd share with you our tips for brewing up the best cup around!
Grinding:
We recommend starting with fresh whole-bean coffee. Grind immediately before brewing—your coffee grounds begin to age quickly upon exposure to the air.
Over-grinding and under-grinding both can result in a less-than-perfect cup. In general, grinding too fine can produce bitter coffee and unwanted sediment, while too coarse a grind will result in a weak brew.
For drip coffee (brew pots, single-cup cones) we recommend a grind a bit more coarse than sugar or salt. Be careful not overgrind the beans into powder. For French press (press pots) a grittier grind—like very coarse sand—will work better.
Even serious coffee drinkers usually rely on the convenience of an electric blade grinder. However, a more even, more consistent grind can be gotten with a quality burr grinder.
Brewing:
Remember that the best coffee beans in the world still depend upon fresh, clean water to make a good brew! For the best results, try bottled spring water or regular tap water that's been carbon filtered by a home filtering device (Brita, Pur, etc.) The chlorine aftertaste of unfiltered tap water can ruin great beans!
Resist the temptation to use freshly-boiled water to brew your coffee. The ideal temperature is a few degrees off the boil, which usually requires waiting about 2 minutes or so. Try this: Wait until your water has boiled before grinding your beans and setting up your filter or press. That'll give the water time to cool off those few degrees to make the best coffee! If you're using an automatic drip machine, the water (hopefully) should be heated to this temperature.
Everybody likes their coffee just the way they like it—but nobody likes coffee that's overly strong or weak. As a starting point, a good rule of thumb is 4 level tablespoons of freshly-ground coffee to make a standard 12-ounce cup. Once you've settled into a consistent grind and technique, you can adjust the amount to your taste.
You can achieve good results with both gold mesh filters (so long as you keep them very clean) and less-expensive paper filters. If you use paper filters, we suggest oxygen-cleansed paper filters as an environmentally-sound alternative to chlorine-bleached papers. Paper filters will do a better job of keeping sediment out of your cup, but you might find that you need to use a little more ground coffee than with gold mesh filters. And, if you don't mind a little sediment in the bottom of your cup, you can get wonderful results with a good French press or press pot.
Time is of the essence! For the best flavor, drink your freshly-brewed coffee right away. And what about reheating coffee? That's a judgement call you're going to have to make. On the one hand, you don't want to waste good beans. But on the other hand, reheating will do nasty, bitter things to even a smooth cup of coffee.
We're proud to offer what we believe are the finest shade-grown coffees available, and we hope you enjoy brewing them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.