The most flavorful cup of coffee is easy and inexpensive. You don’t need some high tech gismo that takes a programming manual to use. Simply buy a French Press and a burr grinder. Total cost should be around $70
Next find a place that sells fresh roasted coffee beans. NO, that is not at the local grocery store or coffee chain. If it doesn’t have the roast date on the bag, don’t buy it. Ignore companies that put expiration dates on the bag. Many times those expiration dates are 3 months to a year after the coffee was roasted.
Coffee should be less then 3 weeks old from the day it is roasted. If you find a good supplier, then buy about a weeks worth of coffee at a time. Coffee will expel CO2 for the first 13 1/2 days after roasting. This CO2 protects the coffee. Once oxygen gets to the bean, it starts to react and stale the coffee. Whole bean coffee will noticeably stale after 21 days. Ground coffee will stale in about 2 days. Why? Exposed surface area. And please don’t store the coffee in the refrigerator, it will absorb orders. So unless you like onion flavored coffee, just store it in a cool dark place away from sunlight and heat.
OK, last bit is water. Water has minerals and that helps pull the flavor from the coffee. Too much minerals and it will overextract, too little or distilled will pull nothing from the coffee. If you have a well that is treated or live at the beach, you might what to use bottled water.
Let’s make a cup of coffee. I have a 1/2 liter French press (17oz) and I have the water heating up. I weigh 1 ounce of whole bean coffee. Place that into the burr grinder (don’t use the whirlybird grinder, it is not consistent on the grind) and grind it as course as possible. Place the grinds in the bottom of the French Press.
When the water reaches boiling, I remove the heat and wait for the bubbles to stop rising. That is the perfect temperature to brew coffee. Between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pour the water over the grinds and try to get all the grinds wet. The coffee should release a lot of CO2 and form a head like a foam on beer. Take a spoon and give it 3 or 4 stirs and start the timer for 4 minutes.
When 4 minutes have passed, slowly push the plunger down. If it sticks, do not push harder or you will crack the French Press. Simply lift the plunger about a 1/2 inch and the push back down.
Serve in a preheated much and you now have the perfect cup of coffee!
