How To Make a Good Pot of Coffee

These are basic tips for how to make coffee using a standard drip coffee maker (aka coffee pot, coffee machine, Mr. Coffee etc.). Read the tips for ideas of how to make your coffee experience more enjoyable!

Step 1  

Buy the beans of your choice at a coffee shop or grocery store. If possible, buy freshly roasted coffee from a local roaster. The longer that coffee sits around after roasting, the more the flavor deteriorates, so try to find the freshest coffee available. Most larger towns and even many small towns will have a source for freshly roasted coffee. Unfortunately, higher quality coffee often comes with a higher price tag. Only buy enough coffee for 1-2 weeks.

Step 2  

Grind the beans in the nearby grinder unless you have a grinder at home. It is best to grind immediately before you brew. If you grind beans when you purchase them, make sure to use them as soon as possible. Be sure to grind your beans fine for the best taste in an automatic drip coffee maker: the ground coffee should not look like coffee colored baby powder, but rather like poppy seeds. High-speed electric burr grinders heat up the beans, cooking them while grinding. Using a blade grinder can make a lot of very fine powder in even a coarse grind that can clog the filter and cause grounds to overflow into the pot.

Step 3  

Put a coffee filter in the filter basket. It does not matter if the filter is bleached or natural. Try to go with a better filter as cheap generic filters are more likely to clog.

Step 4  

Measure out the coffee grounds. The standard is 2 Tbsp. for every six ounce cup of coffee or 1 1/4 cup of ground coffee for each 10 cup pot, but you should adjust it to your own personal tastes. Experiment until you are satisfied. Do not use too little coffee as overextraction of the grounds can lead to bitter coffee.

Step 5  

Add a very small amount of salt to the grounds - a few grains per cup. This will help avoid bitterness in the coffee. Too much will make the coffee taste salty.

Step 6  

Measure water, according to the amount of coffee grounds you used, using the lines on the coffee pot. The best coffee is achieved when the water is between 190-200 F when it hits the coffee grounds. Many automatic drip coffeemakers cannot heat the water to that temperature when it starts out cold. If your coffeemaker produces coffee with bitter or weak flavour, try adding room temperature or hot water. It is best to use filtered or bottled water. If water has a disagreeable odor or is particularly hard, remember that whatever you put in the coffee machine will end up in the pot.

Step 7  

Pour cold water into the water basin in the coffee pot.

Step 8  

Put the coffee pot back on the warming plate. Make sure the coffee pot is plugged in. (This is very important!)

Step 9  

Wait for the coffee to be fully brewed. If you "sneak a cup" early it will not only be fairly strong, but it will increase the bitterness of the rest of the pot due to bitter flavors released later during the brewing process.

Step 10  

Pour yourself a cup of coffee, add sweetener and creamer if you prefer, and enjoy!

Tips

• Consult the manual that came with your coffee pot. Also, always keep your coffee maker clean. Wash the carafe after each use and use commercially available coffee maker cleaners or a solution of water and vinegar on a regular basis.
• If you like the taste of strong coffee but can't handle the caffeine, mix it up with some decaf (must be the same bean type as the regular stuff, otherwise it'll taste different).
• If you have a coffee maker that's known to make burnt-tasting coffee because the water is too hot for infusion, wet the coffee grounds first with 1/4 cup of the cold water. This temporarily prevents the grounds from exposure to too hot temperatures.
• Learn how to use the timer on your coffee pot and have fresh coffee waiting for you when you wake up in the morning, however, be aware that the coffee may lose its flavor as it sits overnight.
• Make sure to close the bag of coffee grounds tightly after you measure out your grounds otherwise your coffee will go stale.
• When pouring water into the coffee maker, consider using filtered water. The majority of coffee is water so try to use the best water you can get. Chlorinated water or hard water can and will affect the taste of your coffee and shorten the life of your coffee maker. Buildup of hard water deposits in a coffee maker reduces the temperature of the machine, detracting from the flavor. Some people prefer using distilled or deionized water, which contains no minerals at all.
• Cheaper coffee brands often mix types of beans which usually does not yield consistent taste. True coffee lovers often prefer Arabica beans so try to purchase a brand that only uses those. The label will tell you if it's "all Arabica beans" or a "blend". Keep in mind that not all Arabicas are high quality either.
• How the beans were roasted is very important. French roast is pretty strong, Italian roast even stronger. As a rule of thumb, the darker the bean the stronger the coffee.
• Equally important as the quality of the coffee is the quality of the water. Install an undersink water filter in your kitchen. You can get one for about $50 and it takes only 30-45 minutes to install.
• Experiment! Try your coffee with some half-and-half, flavored creamer, fat-free creamer, and different sweeteners. Many coffee drinkers enjoy adding sweetened condensed milk. Coffee should be your personal thing and it's a good idea to learn how YOU like yours.
• Splurge a little and buy yourself a bag or can of Illy or Segafredo coffee. These are two very popular Italian brands and most serious coffee lovers will adore the taste. You may also choose other high quality gourmet brands like Gevalia or even Starbucks.
• Too much caffeine can actually make you tired and mess with your metabolism. Try to stay below three regular sized cups, less if you are sensitive to caffeine. (Consult your doctor if you have questions or concerns about this. This suggestion was not researched using scientific methods and is only a personal suggestion of one of the authors.)
• Try organic coffee. Some coffee brands use a lot of chemicals during the growing and roasting process which affects the taste and could possibly affect how your body reacts to the beans. Organic coffee steers clear of the bad stuff. Not all chemicals are toxic or bad, though, and the lack of standards in organic farming can prevent you from making an educated, informed decision. Be sure to do your own careful and thorough research.
• Starbucks coffee is a tad more bitter than many other coffees due to their roasting method and the type of beans they use. So, if you or somebody you know only tried Starbucks coffee so far and didn't like it consider trying another brand. One bad coffee experience should not spoil your opinion about coffee forever.
• If your coffee often ends up being more bitter than desired, sprinkle 2-3 pinches of salt on top of the grounds. This practice helps remove the bitterness created during the brewing process (especially if the coffee you use is of a lower quality). A few broken egg shells also smooths the flavor. This is actually a practice used in the US Navy (trivia tip).
• Finely ground cinnamon sprinkled on the grounds prior to brewing can also reduce bitterness of strongly brewed coffee. Be careful though: in drip coffee makers, more than one tablespoon of the finely ground spice could cause the machine to back-up and overflow the coffee maker's hopper.
• Do not be afraid to buy espresso roast or espresso grinds for brewed coffee. Lavazza and Medaglio D'Oro, or El Pico, are all good espressos that you can brew as a full pot of coffee. Just use a little less and tamp it down after filling the filter basket.
• Try to avoid buying coffee from grocery stores as even higher end coffee may sit on the shelf for months at a time and even air sealing will not prevent the flavor of the coffee from deteriorating. Buy from coffee shops and local roasters where there is a little more certainty about the age of the coffee.
• Many electric coffee pots do not heat coffee to an adequate and consistent temperature. Make sure to do some research before buying a coffee maker. Do not assume that the most expensive coffee maker at the store is the best. Additionally, you can use a Chemex manual drip pot and heat the water yourself.
• Buying Fair Trade coffee helps to ensure a living wage for the farmers who toil to produce it.
• Local roasters keep your spending closer to home and offer an incomparable fresh taste!
• Try using shade grown coffee. If a coffee is shade grown, it means they didn't have to clear-cut land in order to maximize the number of coffee plants they could grow. Instead, they choose a more environmentally sound way to grow the plants. Often shade grown coffee is also organic.
• The three most important factors in a cup of coffee are: Grind (how fine or course you grind the beans) Proportion (The proper proportion of coffee to water is 1 tablespoon to every 6 oz. of water) Water(coffee is made up of mostly water so you can't make good coffee from bad water).

Warnings

• If you have a full pot that will take a little while to drink, remove the used filter and discard. This will help the coffee to continue to taste fresh until the pot has been drunk.
• Do not use hot water in the coffee maker as cold water is fresher than hot water. Hot water is hotter than cold water, so more minerals and ionized metals will mix with the water in the pipes, which could lead to health problems in the long run.
• Be careful not to grind the beans too fine or it will clog the filter and back up the coffee machine.
• Do not let the brewed coffee sit for too long. Coffee becomes increasingly bitter the longer you let it sit. Half an hour is pretty much the longest you should let it go without drinking it. Additionally, coffee maintains freshness better in an insulated carafe than a glass carafe on a warming plate
• You can reheat your cold coffee in the microwave without it becoming bitter. If you've sweetened your coffee with sugar, the sugar may caramelize a bit, but then again, you might prefer that flavor!
• Coffee stains can be hard to remove from clothing, car seats and many other surfaces. Immediately apply soda water to a fresh stain to keep it from setting.
• Always remember to turn off the coffee pot when you are done drinking. While rare, electrical fires can happen, particularly if your coffee maker doesn't have an automatic shut-off feature.
• Contrary to popular belief, you should not store beans in the freezer. It damages the flavor of the coffee and causes condensation on the beans when they are removed from the freezer, exposing them to moisture. Store coffee in an airtight glass container at room temperature away from direct sunlight. Storage in the freezer should only be done for extended storage if no readily available source of good coffee exists nearby. Divide coffee into one week portions and remove from the freezer the day before you plan to use.
• Using permanent mesh filters and French presses, while they can produce a better tasting product, can cause an increase in LDL cholesterol and have been linked to higher rates of heart disease as there is no paper to absorb the chemicals in the beans.