For many people brewing and drinking coffee is a daily ritual shared with each new sunrise. When poured over the course of a lifetime, a person who started drinking coffee in college at a rate of two cups per day, will have consumed more than 50,000 cups of coffee by their life’s final sunset. At an average cost of fifty cents per cup, that’s a lifetime coffee expense of $25,000.00. If you’re going to invest that much cash into one of life’s simple pleasures, you’d might as well take the time to learn about the process so that you can get the most out of it.
I think it was Socrates that said, “The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know.” Although this sounds like a smart and deep philosophical thing to say, it simply doesn’t apply to brewing coffee. With coffee brewing, the results are in the cup; the more you know the better it tastes!
You don’t need to be a great philosopher or a math genius to make a great cup of coffee. However, an understanding of some fundamental science behind the brewing process is the beginning to a great coffee experience at home. Over the next few blog posts I’ll explain in more depth the steps to better coffee and some of the tools of the trade. For now, and for the self starters with initiative to improve your daily ritual, here are Airship’s seven simple steps to better coffee at home.
- Purchase locally roasted coffee
- Store your coffee in airtight container
- Use a scale not scoop
- Grind your coffee at home
- Use clean, filtered water
- Clean your coffee brewing equipment
- Brew at, or near 200 °F