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I’m not an expert on coffee. I can’t tell you all the differences between the varieties and the countries of origin. Nobody would call me a connoisseur. Why am I writing this article?

My friends come to my house, drink my coffee and tell me it’s the best they’ve ever tasted. So I decided to write down what I know about coffee and how I make it. I hope you find it useful.

A good cup of coffee must have three things: a quality coffee bean, good water, and a good brewing process. Mess with any of these three factors and you have a cup of hot, vile, bitter brew. No wonder so many people tell me they don’t like coffee.

coffee beans

Most of the coffee I drink in the US (I live in Colombia most of the year) is weak and bitter. This is a direct result of accountants running our lives.

Remember when you stayed in a hotel a few years ago and made coffee in your room? They had a small filter packet that you opened up and put in the coffee maker. One accountant thought that if manufacturing could pull out just one teaspoon of coffee, no one would tell the difference, saving his company thousands over the course of the year. Another accountant did the same two years later. Then it happened again. Now I have to put two packets in the coffee maker to get a good brew.

The same process has happened in restaurants, airlines and offices. Many companies use this type of packaging for their industrial filter coffee machines. Most coffee mugs I get in the US are so thin I can almost see the bottom of the mug.

This now leads to a vicious circle. This hot, bitter water, which most establishments sell as coffee, prompts many to proclaim, “I don’t like strong coffee. It’s too bitter.” So they’re reducing the amount of coffee grounds they put in their coffee makers. And the result is even worse.

So the first rule for a good cup of coffee is to use enough coffee. This requires some experimentation. Add enough coffee to get a rich dark brew.

Which brings me to my second point about coffee. Brands are different. Some are bitter, some soft. My favorite is Colombian coffee. The local Colombian brands are the best. They’re not as bitter and seem to have less caffeine than the American brands, even if they say 100% Colombian. There is one exception, Community Coffee. They don’t have a nationwide distribution, but if you live within a thousand miles of New Orleans you should be able to find it.

These native Colombian coffees, namely “Oma” and “Sello Rojo”, can be brewed dark and rich without becoming bitter.

water

I’m amazed that people would pay fourteen dollars for a small packet of ground coffee from an exotic location and then fill their coffee maker with tap water. What do you think?

Spring water or reverse osmosis water is best. But tap water filtered through a GOOD filter is fine. Be sure to check your filter to see if it removes chlorine as well as solid and bacterial pollutants. A Berkey filter that removes all of the above plus fluoride is best.

Some of you up north might have good tap water, but here in Texas a filtration system is mandatory to get a good cup of coffee. I have a water softener and filter here north of Austin.

brewing method

A drip coffee maker can make a drinkable cup of coffee, but the coffee maker, French press, and espresso maker are so much better. The acquisition and cup costs of the individual cup coffee machines take them out of the running.

For me, a percolator is too slow and has too little volume. You wait a few minutes to get two cups of coffee. The espresso machine would take up all the space on my counter and cost too much. And again, as with the percolator, there is not enough quantity.

The French Press gives me a liter of good coffee in a third of the time of the coffee machine and is cheap to buy. Most stores will charge around $40 for a French Press, but IKEA has them for $16. A coffee company gives them out for free so you can sign up for their coffee subscription service.

For those of you unfamiliar with a French press, here’s how it works. You pour coffee into a beaker. Add hot water. After stirring the coffee grounds to get a good brewing effect, insert a plunger into the top of the mug and slowly push down.

The sieve at the bottom of the plunger allows the brew to pass through and pushes the coffee grounds to the bottom of the cup. Now your coffee is ready to drink.

I like to add a small amount of natural sugar. That bit of sweetness is like an activator of the intense coffee flavor.

If you must use a filter coffee maker, replace the paper filter with a fine mesh strainer. You can find them in multiple places, but Target seems to have the best at the cheapest price. And remember. Use enough coffee.

I would like to hear how your experiments are going.

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