Archive for the ‘Coffee Education’ Category

Coffee and Cigar Forums are so much alike it is kind of scary.

As the owner of an online coffee company, and the lover of fine cigars and Scotch, I love hanging around online forums for several reasons. The information you can learn about the specialized topics is bottomless from the generous members. Ask a question and within minutes you will get answers, and the kindness of strangers cannot be underestimated. As a resource for finding rare cigars, coffee or just about anything, if you show yourself to be a fair trader, you can obtain wonderful items at great prices.

onlinehumidor.com

There are many forums for both coffee and cigars, probably just about anything really. I am sure plumbing suppliers and taxidermists have their forums too and a simple Google search will get you in the door. Your first task is to give yourself a forum name. Mine is canadianbeaver. If you use the same across many forums, you will get to cross reference yourself and become better known. On coffee sites I am coffeeloverlisa, because I started on those forums first and I was less saucy then.

coffeeforums.com

My motive for joining these forums was quite simple. To sell Rocketfuelcoffee.com. Links, advice, promo deals for members, you name it. I am a moderator on coffeeforums.com and the folks there are terrific. My passion for cigars made me think that those forum members might like Rocketfuelcoffee too. Turns out on almost all cigar forums there is a coffee section. Wait though, turns out there on these cigar forums there are also sections for “Hotties”, guns and dirty jokes. Coffee forums? Not so much. And by the way, the dirty jokes section is hilarious.

puff.com

Some forums are definitely more geared towards some activities than others. For instance, I find onlinehumidor.com to be the go to place for sourcing cigars but they will not tolerate any BS, negotiating or poor behavior. Like all of these sites, they quickly will add you to their public “scumbag” list and freely share this information. Fighting seems like a common activity too. If you think that women cat fight, you should see these guys! Owners/moderators ban participants for 7-14 days quickly and ask for donations to participate. For the access to the information and trade privilege, I coughed up on day one. No problem.

cigarweekly.com

Other forums, like Cigarweekly.com, add other great features such as an online magazine. You do not need to be a forum member to access this feature. All forums include reviews of cigars, as do coffee forums for coffees. This is a great way to get advice on new products and how to enjoy your favorite cigar or bean!

There is one thing that we Canadians have to know about the above mentioned cigar forums. They are American based and do not tolerate talking about how to ship Cuban products to the USA, trading Cuban sticks to the USA or anything like that. Your posts will vanish and you will get a nasty e-mail from the moderators. Interestingly enough though, they buy and sell Cuban cigars to each other. The acronyms are CC (Cuban Cigar) among others and you take any such info to private message. Internet activity can be monitored by anyone and the rules are very strict. As well, if you buy cigars from a fellow forum member, do not ask for packages to be marked gift or other fraudulent requests on the forum. You will end up in the doghouse.

Coffee forums such as

http://www.home-barista.com/forums/

http://coffeegeek.com/forums

http://www.coffeecrew.com/ourforum

are also fantastic places to learn about coffees through members. Check them out and enjoy a cup while reading.

Cheers!

The coffee is black, the cigars may be strong and you can drink with the big boys, but how do you react if someone comments on your personal habits? Do you a) laugh it off; b) counter with an insult; c) run to the bathroom in tears; c) look at the offending body part and shrug or d) punch the critic in the face and wipe the blood on his/her shirt because that will teach them a lesson.

My observation at the cigar patio where I hang out, where females are in the minority (there are two), is that human behavior is more fascinating when the discussion is based on topics where the expertise and passions are heightened. Fortunately for us, the topics are usually cigars, religion, wine, coffee or old jokes. Imagine what must go on at the Pentagon or Captial Hill in Ottawa where testosterone is off the charts! Once in a while however, one of us slips in a  gesture of generosity to the other, meant to improve their experience, or perhaps the group as a whole.

“May I make a suggestion, Lisa, ” Marty, the patio owner shares with me. A fine cigar is not a cigarette. “You do not need to butt it out (and he makes a grinding motion with his hand). It will go out by itself if it you just leave it on the ashtray. It only has a leaf wrapper, not a paper one.” I am mortified but realize he is doing me two favors here. One he has taught me a great lesson and he has waited until the others have left.Others are not so kind. The higher the testosterone, the louder and more aggressive the lesson. And no e-mails please but Europeans, Israelis – the observation of a faux pas can come with a quick correction. “WTF ARE YOU DOING????”, then the look of doom. The point is, in pods of specialized activities, passions run high and the rituals that go with them have very high expectations.

The Specialty Coffee business is no stranger to this activity. The higher up the beanstalk you go, the specific standards become more scientific, sometimes to the degree temperature and hour of day. A lightweight in the coffee business should expect to get roasted about the way their coffee beans are sourced, packaged, brewed and even tasted. To be dismissed by this crowd in round one means you are just having coffee and talking about the weather or movies. They will not waste their time on you. And if you ask about a detail trying to gain entry, get ready to be straightened out and then shut down. This knowledge took months or years to possess, and the explanation would be too long to explain over one coffee.

The best thing about cracking a circle of experts in any discipline is the pain is so worth it. The secret is, (move in close so I can whisper in your ear), to deal in a subject that is so wonderful that the fruit of your labor makes the expert want to hang out with you. In my case, I have rare coffee. I trade fresh, expensive beans and a bit of ego boost for information. “Thanks for that, I never knew that, you are brilliant sir, here’s a bag of Kona.” Somehow I do not think this would work if I was in the plastic cutlery business. Oh and the occasional abusive slur about your greenhorn technique? Goes with the territory. Grin and bear it.

Just so we are all on the same page...

Although coffee isn’t often thought of as a fruit, the coffee that Canadians consume is a natural plant product that grows in a wide band around the tropical parts of the globe.

Many people who are exposed to coffee only as a packaged product on the grocery store shelf or as a beverage in a cup are not aware of the rich natural beginnings of their beverage choice. Like many plant products, the natural background of coffee is the source for the presence of phytochemicals.
These phytochemicals are linked to many of the effects of coffee on health.

The coffee tree or shrub is a flowering bush that naturally grows to a height of 20 feet. It is usually pruned to a height of about 6 feet to allow for handpicking of coffee, the usual practice in most parts of the world. What is normally referred to as coffee beans are actually seeds. These seeds are like a cherry pit and are the product of the fruit of these coffee trees.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today a leader in the Canadian coffee community, Poul Mark, owner of Transcend Coffee, asked his website and blog visitors what they thought of direct trade coffee practices. What does it mean to you, is it a useful distinction, does it have any meaning at all in your world as a coffee consumer or professional? These are important and fascinating questions, and could actually also apply to fair trade and other coffee terms. Then it hit me. First you would have to understand what these terms mean. Once I explain these terms to my own visitors, maybe they will make better choices too.

Fair Trade Logo

Fair Trade:
Fair Trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries obtain better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as social and environmental standards.
Fair trade certification purports to guarantee not only fair prices, but also the principles of ethical purchasing. These principles include adherence to ILO agreements such as those banning child and slave labour, guaranteeing a safe workplace and the right to unionise, adherence to the United Nations charter of human rights, a fair price that covers the cost of production and facilitates social development, and protection and conservation of the environment. The Fairtrade certification system also attempts to promote long-term business relationships between buyers and sellers, crop prefinancing, and greater transparency throughout the supply chain and more.

USDA Organic

Organic (including Shade Grown):
Organic coffee is coffee that has been grown according to organic farming standards and techniques, without the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. Many producers exclusively use the two main coffee certifications: shade-grown and organic. They do this in an effort to create a more environmentally and socially responsible product as well as to market it to more affluent socially responsible consumers. The term organic can also refer to farms, or products from them which incorporate socially responsible activities such as recycling, composting, soil health and environmental protections.
In order to be sold as organic coffee in the U.S. it must gain organic certification and meet the following requirements:

* Grown on land without synthetic pesticides or other prohibited substances for 3 years.
* A sufficient buffer exists between the organic coffee and the closest traditional crop.
* Sustainable crop rotation plan to prevent erosion, the depletion of soil nutrients, and control for pests.

Direct Trade:
Direct trade is a term used by coffee roasters who buy straight from the growers, cutting out both the traditional middleman buyers and sellers and also the organizations that control certifications such as Fair Trade and Bird Friendly, for example. Direct trade proponents say their model is the best because they build mutually beneficial and respectful relationships with individual producers or cooperatives in the coffee-producing countries. Some roasters do it because they are dissatisfied with the third-party certification programs, while others want to have more control over aspects ranging from the quality of the coffee, to social issues, or environmental concerns. This is a new concept and semi-controversial, as it means companies less involvement by organizations who look out for both consumer and farmer welfare. (Hey, no logo for this one yet!)

Bird Friendly

Bird Friendly:
Scientists at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center have discovered that the connection between birds and coffee helps coffee farmers and the environment.
In 2000, the center launched the shade-grown coffee certification program to promote the growth of sustainable coffee, meaning coffee that is viable economically, environmentally and socio-culturally.
Coffee grown in the shade of tree canopies, rather than on land cleared of other vegetation, provides a habitat for a number of species, including migratory birds such as various species of warblers, vireos, orioles, grosbeaks, hummingbirds, tanagers, and many more. In addition to birds, shade coffee plantations provide habitat for orchids, insects, mammals (such as bats), reptiles, and amphibians.
Despite the benefits involved in the program, the Bird Friendly label has a very small niche in the American coffee market, which is dominated by mass market brands sold in grocery stores. Bird Friendly coffee makes up a small percentage of organic coffees, which account for only about 5 percent of the specialty coffee market.
Bird Friendly, like other specialty coffees, costs a few dollars more per pound than regular coffee, and roasters give 25 cents per pound to the Smithsonian program.

A word about Rare Coffees.
Rocketfuelcoffee.com brings you Specialty Coffees that are often only available once, or for a short time, from a particular place. Whether the coffee is Fair Trade, Organic, Direct Trade or Bird Friendly may not be as relevant as if the coffee is genuine, fresh or available at all. So make your choices wisely and watch for symbols. Most of all, enjoy the coffee that you like best!

Fresh Cup to Go

A recent article/discussion about bold coffees on the very informative forum coffeed.com had me fascinated. I could not contribute as I am not accepted as a professional member, so I decided to take keyboard in hand. The issues are many and diverse, from just what is a bold coffee, do you like it and is boldness borne in the bean or does it come later in the roast or perhaps the brew? These issues are right up there with Bethlehem or Nazareth as the true birthplace of Jesus, or which came first, the chicken or the egg?

When it comes to coffee boldness, the marketing litmus paper is Starbucks. As the market leader, why not. They have the beans, the labeling and the human research to decide this stuff. A few years back they re-aligned their coffees by boldness, taking a favorite of mine at the time, Verona, from medium to bold. The extra bolds then became French Roast, Italian Roast and Sumatra etc. Does this mean that on the Starbucks scale, bold is determined by roast?

Here is my conundrum. Have you tasted Starbucks coffee? They basically dump so much product in the pot of water that the coffee is mighty no matter which coffee you ask for. My mom says her heart rate doubles. Therefore, if it is the roast, but the coffee made is stronger than Hercules, what does it matter what “bold” means?

Back to the discussion on coffeed.com, which is for those of us in the specialty coffee business, or who believe the true passion behind coffee is in fresh, quality coffee beans, each chosen for for their origin, taste and variety. Bold may mean the flavors that pop or the kick at the start or finish, or maybe a blend that gets your heart pounding out of your chest.

But it sure means a lot of different things to passionate coffee lovers!

When strolling the aisles of a grocery store, shopping for coffee, sometimes it can be hard to know what you are actually buying.  Big companies like throw around coffee buzz words in order to ensnare the uneducated customer.  It’s hard enough to catch the difference between a “Kona Coffee” and a “Kona Style Coffee”, but discerning between roasts is worse.  What the heck do the terms like “French Roast” or “Italian Roast” mean?  Even if you are able to figure out that a french roast is relatively dark, where does that fall on the Light –> Medium –> Dark scale?  Or how about the City –> Full City –> Full City+ scale?

Unfortunately there is no easy way to explain this.  When coffee went from being a regional ceremonial drink in Ethiopia to an everyday wake-me-up addiction in the West much became muddled.  To make matters worse, companies like Starbucks refrained from using any of these confusing terms and created their own scale which tries to describe each coffee’s level of “boldness”.  This has now multiplied the number of terms to recognize and understand.

In order to understand what’s really going on here, let’s start with two practical examples.  Look at this close-up shot of Rocketfuel Konakaze Blend:

Rocketfuel Konakaze Blend Close-Up. See the oils?

Take a close look.  See how the beans are shiny?  Those are the precious oils from the coffee bean.  The oils are what provide the coffee flavor itself.  The darker a coffee is roasted, the more the oils begin to leave the bean and appear on the outside.  Fundamentally, any coffee with a lot of oil showing on the beans can be considered a darker roast.  Next, take a look at a close-up of Rocketfuel 100% Hawaiian Kona:

Rocketfuel 100% Hawaiian Kona Close-Up. Where are the oils?

In this shot the amount of oil we see is basically zero.  The beans have an almost pastel look to them.  Most would classify the color as medium brown.  This is traditionally referred to as a medium roast (although this particular case in on the lighter side of a medium roast).

These two examples provide a very good frame of reference for most coffees you will run into.  When thinking about roasting this way, what becomes apparent is that the only universal truth in coffee roasting is the look of the bean; it doesn’t lie no matter what label is applied to it.

Taking this concept a bit further, we can learn to apply commonly used terms to a specific shade of brown.  This way when we see a term like “Viennese” or “Full City” we can have an estimate of how dark the beans are roasted.  See the table below:

Chart based on information from Ken David's book, "Coffee: A Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Enjoying".

While learning these terms are important for a coffee lover to understand, even more important is to purchase coffee from a roaster that provides clear and consistent information about their product.  So, next time a lot of coffee roast terms are thrown at you, be on your guard.  Watch out for non-specific terms and you’ll be that much closer to the perfect cup!

Hosting a coffee tasting in your own home.

One of the most wonderful, interesting and glamorous things about the rare coffee business is the variety of coffee beans that we find from around the globe. It is also the most expensive and with incredible risk, since these are sold in minimum pounds and not samples, and green (unroasted). Our roaster, George, will only roast a minimum of twenty pounds so a new coffee is a commitment in capital, time and labeling. Research and reviews from others, faith and vision goes into every bean.

The green beans arrive and they must be roasted by someone who knows exactly what they are doing. George is my man and he tells me whether I have made a mistake or not. We have and we have also done beautifully. I am not Juan Valdez. I must rely on my partners to make sure I am doing things right. HOWEVER. Like my customers, when it comes right down to it, nothing will make or break the bean like what comes out of the cup.

Here is where the most entertaining and fun part of the coffee business comes in and the hard work pays off. You can enjoy this too. Go to www.rocketfuelcoffee.com, and hey, also include some of your other favorites if you must. Invite some friends over for dinner or dessert. Ask one or two of them to bring their coffee makers. If they have different kinds of coffee makers, such as a French Press, even better.

Have lots of cups. No big deal if it is a bag of styrofoam ones. The point is variety, not fine china. Have some milk and sugar if your guests want it. We are not snobs either. If that is how they like it, fine. But maybe they will get to take a swig black to compare? Have some paper and some pencils if they want to make notes. Cookies are good. Always good. And water to cleanse between varieties.

Bring out two coffees at a time and compare the two with half cup tastes, with a huge loud SLLLLUUUUUURRRRRP at the beginning of each. This is how the pros do it (And Jason Coffee is a grand slurper)!

Note that coffee tastes different from the slurp, to the tongue, to the throat to the aftertaste. Sound familiar? Yes! This is just like a wine tasting. And coffee tasters give their coffees a score just like wine too. So why not give your coffees a score out of 95 and pick your evening winner!

Note that not once did I mention price, variety, geography or bean. This is specifically based on your taste, your idea of flavor and delicious. That is why a coffee tasting evening is so much fun.

Enjoy and please let us at www.rocketfuelcoffee.com know how it went!

This past weekend in Toronto at the Coffee & Tea Show at the International Centre, coffee geeks and baristas of all walks of life gathered to strut their stuff. A leaf or heart on top of your latte? Don’t make them laugh. Kopi Luwak at $220 a pound? Kitch, cliche and faddy. The language these guys speak is practically Vulcan and I am convinced you need espresso to just to stay awake to get through it.

Later in the afternoon on each day, in a corner of the showroom floor the bravest of the brave did step up to flex their mouth muscles though, yours truly included. To prepare for this contest, we were advised by those who went before us to sacrifice and practice the craft, by forgoing smoking, drinking alcohol and spicy foods for three days. As a cigar smoker, wine and scotch drinker, this was no fun at all. As the newbie of the group who needed to do anything to survive, abstinence it was, fine.

So here is the deal. Read about it here: http://cuptasters.ca/ The competition is fierce and to understand what this is all about, imagine three opaque cups of cola, 2 with Coke, 1 with Pepsi. Mark the Pepsi with a dot or a piece of tape on the bottom. Mix them all around. Pick the Pepsi. There are several issues here. Comparing one against the other is one thing, but in a triad, suddenly your brain cannot tell which is the odd one. Also, you have the added elements of speed. Can the guy to your right do it faster?

Now line up 16 experts and see who does it fastest, only with a bunch of coffees, 8 triangle sets in a row, one after the other. Coffee, unlike soda, has so many different notes to it. In this competition, the hot geeks went through sniffing first, then went back with bizarre long sips. Some were violent slurpers to get as much air into the coffee as possible, spraying the liquid all over their tongues a palettes. The spitting in your cup is also key. Yes spitting. Too fast and the stuff is gone, too slow and you might swallow? I found the big taste after the coffee is spit out. The residual taste told me more.

Before venturing out I contacted some of the judges from the European arm of this competition… these comps are actually held all over the world and ours was the first on Canadian soil. Burnaby BC coffee company 49th Parallel‘s owner Barrett Jones is the USA champion. Some tips I received included trusting your first instinct. Also use a sterling silver or silver plate spoon. A cupping spoon. Cream soup spoons make great cupping spoons or coffee companies often sell cupping spoons. I like sterling so I chose the one pictured above.

Turns out my fussy taste buds and obsessive sense of smell did me well. I was in the first heat of 4 tasters and was beat by Patrick Russell. What a heck of a nice guy from Second Cup. Russell was recently promoted to the role of Coffee Expert, a newly created position imperative to the organizational commitment to coffee integrity and providing superior product to guests.  He is the official taster for the company, working alongside the Second Cup Roaster to taste coffees 112 times before they are released to guests. He went on to win the whole competition, so I guess I can handle losing to him. Congratulations, Patrick!

Lots of things there that you can drink, but stay away from the kitchen sink.
The breakfast garbage that you throw in to the bay, they drink at lunch in san jose.  -Tom Lehrer, 1965.

Recently at a Coffee and Tea trade show in Toronto I witnessed a passionate discussion by a group of coffee geeks much more experienced and knowledgeable than me about the importance of filtration of water. These people served coffee in cafés to the public and to each other in competition, as well as tasting coffee for a living.

The primary issues about water quality were whether the clear liquid touching the sacred harvested grounds of joy altered the taste before it hit the cup. End of story. If the H Two Oh could be improved on in any way, at any cost, it should be done. They did not grow the Lord’s beans to have them wasted by some municipal bureaucracy who did not know about a portafilter or when one sneezes. For someone who is either not tuned into the lingo or is a home brewer like me, these guys might as well be talking Vulcan:

“The system is intriguing–it has an adjustable bypass, and uses a bed of hydrogenated resin (rather than salted resin) to soften the water by reducing the alkalinity as well as the minerals, solving (at least on paper) most of the problems with more traditional softening setups. Of course, there are weaknesses to this system as well, in particular that it’s a proprietary system with potentially expensive replacement filters.” – homebarista.com

The wonderful owners of Mavis Bank Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Factory (Senator Norman W. Grant, CEO pictured here) explained to me that they were unhappy with the very expensive coffee filtration system at their retail outlet at the Jamaican Airport in Kingston. They then changed to a system where every day before the store opened truck loads of bottled water arrive at the store. Poul Mark of Transcend Coffee offered similar water expertise to the text above. My own roaster and coffee supplier added that your coffee prep equipment can turn on you, adding oils to the water from previous brews and tap water is disgusting, what with fluoride, hard/soft water and who know’s what else is in there!

You probably by now know that the plastics that go into bottled water are bad for the environment, and perhaps even not so good for you if it’s just nicely labeled tap water. Add to that the possibility the bottle contains BPA and they’re not such a healthy choice after all. – Paul Smith | January 15th, 2010, www.triplepundit.com

Here is where I sat on my hands as I did not have the verbal ammo to state my case. I sell my wonderful, fresh coffee online and I do not get to see what water my customers put in their coffee machines. The address labels on my packages are to all over the world, from major urban centers to one horse towns. For all I know, they may go down to the local river with a bucket to to get the water. I tell them to use one scoop of coffee for each cup of water and when they run out of beans I want them to buy more. They spend seconds on my website to see the coffee, hopefully minutes to read information about how wonderful the beans are and how to order them. At this level and price point, they have some depth of coffee machine or preparation knowledge or they would go to their local shop and not wait 7 days for $50/lb coffee. Adding expense, science or negative information because of water will not sell my coffee.

There, now I have done it. My picture now has a big red “X” on it at the Specialty Coffee Association of America and I am off the list at the next coffee cupping swap meet. Rats. But if the lowest water common denominator in Armpit, Ontario uses tap water with traces of moose poop in it can’t enjoy my wonderful coffee stress free, who can? The taste can only get better. Telling the public on the www to buy subtronic anti microfibrial neutron filters (ok I made that up) to clean their water for coffee brewing is not going to work. Especially when coffee prices are going up daily and you are trying to get $20 a half pound for it.

First, limescale is a trivial problem in brewed coffee makers, so there’s no reason to use soft water when brewing coffee. Second, in good espresso, crema, mouthfeel, and balance play a much larger role than in brewed coffee, so results from a brewed test may not apply to espresso. -Water for coffee FAQ, by Jim Schulman with numerous contributions by others.

My last point I would like to make about the water issue is about what happens after the horse leaves the post, so to speak. You choose your coffee, you send the water through the machine (perfect or otherwise) and you have your paper filter. Fine. The water, coffee and paper have worked their magic, as well as the heat. What about the microns of stuff on your cup from your dishwasher? Or what is in your mouth from smoking, eating, kissing your sweetie or dog? And God forbid, adding milk, sugar or sweetener?

Bite your tongue!

French Presses and Chemexs are awesome and make amazing coffee, but if you’re an average joe like me, you also have a drip coffee maker that gets a lot of use too. I use my French Press a lot on the weekend and the Chemex when I have a new coffee to try, but my drip coffee maker is my go to machine in the morning before I run off to work. However, if you don’t treat that drip coffee maker properly, it can make some pretty bad coffee. To prevent that, here’s my down and dirty guide to making better coffee with a drip coffee maker.

Buy Whole Beans

The first and one of the most important steps is to buy whole bean coffee. Ground coffee gets points for being convenient, but if you want great tasting coffee, you need to buy whole beans. Ground coffee starts losing flavor as soon as it’s ground and can go stale within fifteen minutes. Who knows how long it was sitting on that shelf before you bought it.

The Daily Grind

Now that you have whole beans, you’re going to need to grind them. A twenty dollar blade grinder is a good start, but if you’re serious about getting a the perfect cup of coffee, you’re going to need a burr grinder. Using a burr grinder you can fine tune the size of the grinds to get the optimal amount of flavor out of them. By the way, for most drip coffee makers a medium grind works perfectly.

Clean Your Coffee Maker

When was the last time you cleaned your coffee maker? Depending how often you use it, you should be cleaning it as often as once a week. The minerals from you water and the oils from your coffee can start to build up and it isn’t long before they start affecting the taste of your coffee. And you don’t need one of those special coffee maker cleaning solutions. All you need is some vinegar.

Staying Hydrated

How is the water from your faucet? Do you drink it directly from the faucet? Is it labeled hard or loaded with chlorine? Another easy way to improve the quality of your coffee is to filter your water before pouring it into the water chamber. A water filter that attaches to your faucet or a pitcher with the filter built in will make a huge difference immediately.

Don’t Let Your Coffee Sit Around

I get nervous if my coffee is sitting on the warming plate or in the coffee pot for fifteen minutes. You’re probably safe letting your coffee sit for half an hour or an hour (not on the heater). You’ll get the best results making smaller pots of coffee multiple times, then one huge coffee pot of coffee that sits around all morning long.

And Definitely Don’t Reheat Your Coffee

Microwaving your coffee kills the flavor. Need I say more?

Store Your Coffee Safely

Once you brew up that perfect pot of coffee, you’re going to need to store the beans properly. The best place to store your coffee is someplace cool, dry, out of direct sunlight and in an air tight container. Do not put an open bag of coffee in the refrigerator or the freezer!

Bonus Tip: Invest in a coffee maker. You’re going to be using it every morning, so don’t just buy the ten dollar one that’s on sale. Buy a good one, it’ll last longer and probably produce better coffee. I could do a whole guide about buying the perfect coffee maker, but I’ll save that for a future post.

What tips would you share to make better coffee with a drip coffee maker?

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Photo by PJMixer.