Coffee #2: The Initial Research

Before I start trying different techniques on how to brew the best cup of coffee at home, I thought it would be useful to do a little bit of internet research on the topic. While there are many different blogs and websites out there claiming to be experts on this delicious drink, the National Coffee Association (NCA) seems to be one of the most objective and reputable sources out there.

Founded in 1911, the NCA is focused on representing the United States coffee industry from growing the beans to brewing the cup of coffee. Their website has a ridiculous amount of information and if you want to know more I absolutely recommend visiting their website, I'll include a link at the bottom of this post for their main page. For the purpose of my research however, I am going to focus on their suggestions about brewing coffee.

The first thing that the NCA emphasizes is that all of your equipment needs to be clean. According to the website, if there is a buildup of used coffee grounds or coffee oils they can leave an undesirable bitter or rancid taste in your next cup of coffee. They also point out that for the freshest tasting cup of coffee, the beans should be use as close to the roasting time as possible which is why they suggest purchasing coffee in smaller quantities.

On the topic of purchasing ground coffee versus whole bean coffee, it doesn't seem like the NCA has a preference. They do however advocate the use of a burr grinder versus a blade grinder because the grounds will be more uniform. The size of the grind is extremely important to the flavor of the coffee; too fine of a grind can mean that your coffee will taste more bitter and too coarse of a grind can mean that your coffee will taste flat.

While the NCA says that water can effect the flavor of your coffee, as long as the tap water is not overly chlorinated it should be good to use. They do point out that the water used to brew the coffee should be cold. As for the ratio of coffee grounds to water, the NCA points to what they call the "Golden Ratio" which is about 1-2 tablespoons of ground coffee for every six ounces of water.

While most of this information seems pretty ordinary, I think that its a good starting point for my purposes. To start, I am going to make sure that the coffee maker that I have is thoroughly cleaned so that I am not getting any of those bitter or rancid tastes that the NCA talks about from the build up of coffee oils. I'll make sure that the next post discusses the cleaning techniques that I've found work best.

Make sure to check out more about the www.ncausa.org to learn more about the NCA and coffee in general. Also come back to the Broken Speaker blog to see what else I have been up to on this expedition to find the greatest cup of homemade coffee.

Cheers!

-Brian