All About Coffeemakers, (well almost all)

Books have been written on this subject; (Kevin Sinnott wrote "Great Coffee"). If you want to buy a copy, $9.95 + shipping; email me at arnold@arnoldscoffee.com It may be the best coffee book around. Or Google Ken Davis who is one of the great coffee guys of the world. Consumers Reports, January 2009, had a report on coffeemakers.

Here is my take on the subject.

A coffeemaker must be able to brew consistently at 195 to 205 degrees,end period. That is the starting point. The Specialty Coffee Association of America has endorsed only two such coffeemakers. The Bunn pod brewer & the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT-741. Technivorm makes many other models and they are all good but this one is my preference. I have owned one for about 7 years and it works like a charm. It is not cheap, about $200+, search the web.

That said you'll have to decide what your needs are. There are a number of brewing methods; French Press, vacuum method, manual drip, automatic drip is the method most of us use, and of course espresso. Espresso is a subject for another Blog. Several coffeemakers will let you set them up the night before to brew in the am so that when you wake up you have hot coffee. If you don't mind drinking stale coffee made with stale water they are convenient. Several have built-in grinders, but the grinder must be kept clean. All your brewing equipment must be clean. All coffee has oil and all oil turns rancid.

So what is the so what of all of this? There are a number of elements to brewing a GREAT cup of coffee. Brew at 195 to 205 degrees, good water, fresh ground Specialty coffee, brew into or pour into a warm carafe so that coffee does not stand on the warming plate of your coffeemaker. Coffeemakers retail from $25 to $300. The $25 to $100 brewers are "disposable", you buy a new one every couple of years and for the most part they brew mediocre coffee. But you are reading the Blog of a real coffee snob. The routine I go through to brew a morning cup of coffee would drive most people crazy. I however brew GREAT coffee, just ask my family.

Arnold

http://www.arnoldscoffee.com

Water, Water Everywhere & Not a Drop Good Enough to Make Coffee.

The most important ingredient in brewing coffee is WATER.

Coffee is 98% to 99% water. Start out with crappy water and you will have crappy coffee no matter how much you paid for your beans. Most municipal water companies like to tell you how pure their drinking water is. What makes pure drinking water? Chlorine! We sure don’t want chlorine in our coffee water (I don’t want it in my drinking water). So if that is the case what do we do? Either filter your coffee & cooking water or buy Spring Water. Please note; if you have a water softener the calcium that is exchanged for sodium is good for doing laundry, bathing and dishwashing, not good for making coffee.

There are lots of faucet type filters on the market. I use a Pur I bought at Lowes. I have also owned a GE reverse osmoses system that I thought was the best filtering system. A disclaimer, I am a retired GE guy. Any system that removes impurities from the water is better than none. Good quality water will make a marked difference in the taste of your coffee.

You can compare costs at; http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/water_filter_comparison.php

The next Blog will be on coffee filters. Don’t miss it.

Arnold@arnoldscoffee.com

All About Coffee

I am about to start a new Blog that is all about coffee. Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of coffee. I would also guess that there are a least a 100 coffee blogs.

My blog will focus on the consuming coffee or espresso drinker. The Gal or Guy who stands in line at the local coffee shop waiting for their drink or who is trying to make a decent cup at home.

I promise only the facts. All of which can be verified. Here in one place you will learn "The Art of Coffee". Coffee is part art and part science and we'll talk about both.

I would would appreciate your feedback, positive or negative. We'll just start talking

For now here are a few things to think about; Grind, Water, Brewing Temperature filter type. We'll discuss all of those and more.

Arnold