How to Make a Perfect Cup of Coffee

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Enjoyment from Brewing Coffee

Lot of people derives as much enjoyment from brewing coffee as from drinking it. And for some, making coffee is a time-honored traditional practice, and the happiness is even greater with the knowledge that one is using the same apparatus that yielded cups of the much-loved beverage 'Coffee' to the past generations. Other people appreciate in acquiring and using the latest appliances which are more popular, and certainly coffee brewing and serving offer scope for constant design advance, are they practical or artistic, or even both. Skill to know and talented to select, grind and brew coffee with a range of different coffee machines is all part of the quest for the perfect cup.

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About Coffee Beans

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The unexplained and conflict-ridden voyage of the 'coffee bean' from its Ethiopian birthplace, through Arabia and the Middle East, and on to Europe and the New World. The critical role of the drink in shaping the spiritual and social life of medieval Arabia and Turkey is discovered and how it became permanently entrenched in the Western cultures. The Arabs' affection for the drink spread swiftly along trade routes, and Venetians had been introduced to coffee by 1600. In Europe as in Arabia, church and state officials regularly proscribed the new drink, identifying it with the often-liberal deliberations conducted by coffee house habitués, but the institutions nonetheless reproduce nowhere more so than in seventeenth-century London. The first coffee house opened there in 1652, and a large number of such enterprises opened soon after on both the Europe and in North America, where they emerged in such eastern cities as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia of the seventeenth century. in the last decade of the seventeenth century.

Coffee comes from the fruit of an evergreen plant, or tree, which accompaniments in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The trees make delicate bunch of jasmine-scented blossoms, and fruit known as "cherries". Insulated in each cherry, protect by pulp and parchment, are two coffee beans. Since just about four thousand beans are needed to produce one pound of roasted coffee, few commodities need so much in terms of human effort.

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processing

The coffee beans are roasted in giant commercial roasters according to measures and specifications which differ among manufacturers (specialty shops usually purchase beans directly from the growers and rost them on-site). The most general process entails placing the beans in a large metal cylinder and blowing hot air into it. An older process, called singeing, calls for placing the coffee beans in a metal cylinder that is then revolved over an electric, gas, or charcoal heater. Regardless of the exacting method used, roasting steadily raises the temperature of the beans to between 431 and 449 degrees Fahrenheit (220-230 degrees Celsius). This triggers the release of steam, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other volatiles, dropping the weight of the beans by 14 to 23 percent. The pressure of these escaping internal gases causes the beans to swell, and they raise their volume by 30 to 100 percent. Roasting also darkens the color of the beans, gives them a powdery texture, and triggers the chemical reactions that permeate the coffee with its familiar aroma.

After leaving the roaster, the beans are located in a cooling vat, wherein they are stimulated while cold air is blown over them. If the coffee being prepared is high-quality, the cooled beans will now be sent through an electronic sorter equipped to spot and remove beans that emerged from the roasting process too light or too dark. If the coffee is to be pre ground, the producer mills it directly after roasting. Special types of grinding have been developed for each of the different types of coffee makers, as each functions best with coffee ground to a precise fineness.

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Drip Coffee Makers

This is likely the system you are most familiar with, as nearly every home in your country has a basic coffee maker like this. Coffee grounds are positioned in a filter basket inside the machine, and the internal tank is filled with water. The machine heats the water and the hot water drips through the coffee grounds into a glass carafe to make brewed coffee. It's fairly easy, quick and the machines are inexpensive. It's the favorite method for most people because the entire process is automatic and wants no skill on our part.

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Coffee Machine:

Capresso 121.01 Ultima Semi-Automatic Coffee and Espresso/Cappuccino Machine

Amazon Price: $299.00 (as of 11/26/2009)
List Price: $440.00

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The French Press

The French press, is also identified as a plunger pot, and is another very popular way to make coffee. Your coffee grounds are added directly to a pot of hot water, and after they "steep", you press down a plunger inside the pot to twist the grounds to the bottom of the pot. It's another pretty easy way to make coffee, and is a preferred method for those who don't really make enough coffee to warrant another piece of kitchen apparatus.

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Percolator

Even if the percolator has fallen out of favor over the years, it's still used (mainly by older coffee drinkers who have always used one). Admittedly, the coffee is not going to be of the highest superiority when brewed with a percolator, but we felt it should still be integrated since people do use them. A basket of coffee grounds is positioned in a kettle, and the water is boiled. The boiling water bubbles up through the coffee grounds, where you can see it in a glass bubble at the top of the percolator. When it gets to the correct darkness to your taste, it's ready.

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Coffee Gift Basket

Rich Diesslins Funny KNOTS Scouting Cartoons - Making Scout History - Woodworking - Coffee Gift Baskets - Coffee Gift Basket

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Turkish Ibrik

Like the balancing siphon stated here, you're not that likely going to find an 'Ibrik' in your average North American kitchen. An ibrik is a small metal cup on the end of a reasonably long handle, and is a Turkish utensil for making coffee. The pot is narrower at the crown than at the bottom, which is an important feature. The cup is filled with water, and a spoon of finely grounded coffee is added on top. The powdered coffee "caps" the water, and as the boiling water bubbles it sheers through the grounds. After the water foams up 3 times, then you identify the coffee is done.

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Vacuum Pot and Moka Pot

A vacuum pot has 2 chambers, a lower one and an upper one, attached jointly with a filter. Water goes in the base, and coffee grounds in the top. It's positioned on a heat source, and as the water heats up, it is forced upwards to mix with the coffee grounds. When the pot is removed from the heat, the cooling lower chamber than sucks all the brewed coffee back down through the filter.(which keeps the coffee grounds in the top). Leaving us with fresh brewed coffee, in the lower part of the vacuum pot.

Moka Pot isn't actually for making coffee, but rather espresso. These small metal pots have a bottom and top section, with a cup among them to hold the coffee grounds. Water is filled in the bottom, then the filter cup and top chamber are screwed on. When placed on a heat source, the water boils and is forced up through the coffee grounds under pressure and the completed espresso accumulates in the top section. A nice option if you don't want to waste the bucks on an automatic espresso machine.

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Espresso Coffee Machine

The Machine's operation

More or less all coffee shops now have commercial espresso machines and serve both espresso and espresso drinks to a growing number of users. In addition to the coffee shops, curbside espresso carts and drive-through espresso windows have bounced up throughout the greater metropolitan area. Now, it seems that each and every shopping mall and supermarket has its espresso coffee shop.

espresso coffee machine

Touch-screen energy espresso coffee machine interface built with S171D kit. Baristas and technicians have two different interfaces to the machine according to very different needs. Technicians can change every working parameter by the slide of a finger. The hardware runs on a monochrome LCD driven by an Atmel AT90CAN128 (AVR) microcontroller. The board runs Eurek's Touch8 GUI (graphical user interface), which provides also a PC backend for easy development. Board is S171D from Eurek. More ...

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About Coffee: Wikipedia

Coffee is a brewed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. They are seeds of "coffee cherries" that grow on trees in over 70 countries. It has been said that green coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world behind crude oil.https://www.dunkindonuts.com/aboutus/credentials/TreeCup.aspx Due to its caffeine content, coffee can have a stimulating effect in humans. Today, coffee is one of the most popular beverages worldwide.

It is thought that the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant was first recognized in the south west of Ethiopia, and the cultivation of coffee expanded in the Arab world.

The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries of the Yemen in southern Arabia. From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas.

Fair-trade coffee was first introduced in 1988 and has generated significant support since. Though fair-trade coffee owns a small percent of the market share, consumers are reporting increased concern regarding the ethics of the products they consume. Futhermore, many reports have found that fair-trade movements not only benefit the coffee worker by offering higher prices, but also benefit the worker's community since many fair-trade organizations are also concerned with social justice and community development.

Coffee berries, which contain the coffee bean, are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea. The two most commonly grown species are Coffea canephora (also known as Coffea robusta) and Coffea arabica; less popular species are liberica, excelsa, stenophylla, mauritiana, racemosa. These are cultivated primarily in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The seeds are then roasted, undergoing several physical and chemical changes. They are roasted to varying...

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

Art of Making Coffee: Video

Making the Coffee

Useful Tips

To prepare a perfect coffee, begin with the best, freshest ingredients and follow the directions for your particular Coffee Maker.

No matter what kind of coffee maker you may use, the ratio of ground coffee to water should always be 2 table spoons to 200 ml (1/3 pint) water. For weaker (mild) coffee, dilute to coffee with hot water after you prepare it. Always use to proper grind; always begin with a spotless clean Coffee Maker and fresh cold water. Serve the coffee without delay. If you must reheat the coffee, do so over mild heat and never let it boil.

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Cappuccino

A Cappuccino is Espresso mixed with Steamed Milk topped with a Layer of Milk Foam.

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In Italy, cappuccinos are regularly consumed with breakfast items while in other countries they are consumed at any time of day or as an after dinner beverage.

Make a 1 1/2 oz. espresso, leaving enough water in the espresso machine to steam some milk.

Put espresso in a 5-oz. or larger cup so that you have room for the milk.

Set espresso machine to steam.

Fill a stainless-steel carafe with 3 oz. cold milk and insert the steam nozzle.

Place nozzle halfway down in milk and leave it in milk for 45 to 60 seconds, or until the milk is hot and there's enough foam for your preference.

Add 1 1/2 oz. steamed milk to the cup of espresso.

Spoon some foamed milk onto the top.

If you like, sprinkle with ground chocolate, cinnamon or nutmeg.

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How to Make a Perfect Cup of Coffee

Enjoyment from Brewing Coffee

Contents of This Page

About Coffee Beans

processing

Drip Coffee Makers

Coffee Machine:

The French Press

Percolator

Coffee Gift Basket

Turkish Ibrik

Vacuum Pot and Moka Pot

Espresso Coffee Machine

The Machine's operation

espresso coffee machine

Del.icio.us bookmarks About offee

About Coffee: Wikipedia

Art of Making Coffee: Video

Making the Coffee

Useful Tips

Cappuccino

A Cappuccino is Espresso mixed with Steamed Milk topped with a Layer of Milk Foam.

Voting (Plexo) For Coffee Making

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African Coffee

Cold Brewed Coffee

Cold brewed coffee is strong and delicious, devoid of the acid and bitterness of hot coffee. So what is cold brewing? It was developed in New Orleans in the 1960s. Here's how to make cold coffee:

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