Enter your Email to receive our promotion		T h e   P e r f e c t   c u p The Roasting House of Coffee From Around The World, 100% Arabica First and foremost, in order to brew the perfect cup, you will need to buy freshly roasted coffee from Café Plantation. Brewing coffee is simply the process of flavoring water with roasted and ground coffee beans. I’ll attempt to sell you on the French press if you’re not already, shed some light on gourmet coffees, and discuss the importance of freshness. The Importance of Freshness Before I get into brewing coffee, I would like to discuss freshness. Freshness is determined by the roast date, not when the beans were harvested. When coffee has been roasted, its flavor and aroma will begin to deteriorate very rapidly. Ground coffee deteriorates much faster than whole bean, so it’s recommended to buy whole bean and ground only as much coffee as you plan on using each week. Now when you see gourmet coffees sitting on the shelves of stores, ask yourself how long you think it’s been since it was roasted. No matter how good the coffee may have been at one point, spoiled coffee can taste really, really nasty. Café Plantation guarantees it's freshness, our coffees are roasted on a daily basis to ensure maximum satisfaction. Brewing Methods Drip Brewing: Drip brewing is the most common method in the Canada. It can produce a satisfying cup if properly brewed. First of all, a given amount of coffee only contains so much of the precious oils that give it the flavor and aroma we love. After all of the oils are extracted, the only things you’re getting from the grounds are bitter tasting elements. This is called over-extraction. One of the most misunderstood facts about coffee is that bitterness is caused by using more coffee when in fact, the opposite is true. Bitterness is a result from over-extraction. So, if you want a weaker coffee that is not bitter a great tip is to simply brew the coffee full strength and add hot water to the brew before drinking. This is just like making a concentrate. Diluting with water after the brew will not change any taste characteristics except to make it a little weaker. Brewing coffee begins with using the correct amount of coffee. Start with 7g of medium ground coffee per 8 ounce cup. A medium grind is similar to the consistency of granulated sugar. The grind will determine how long water is in contact with the coffee. The finer the grind, the more time it takes the water to flow through the grounds. Think of water flowing through a layer of sand as opposed to rocks. The goal is to adjust the grind so that the entire brew cycle takes between 4 to 6 minutes. If it’s too fast, the coffee will be under-extracted, making it weak and having little aroma. If too slow, it will be over-extracted and bitter. One of the problems with drip brewing occurs when you only need to brew 4 cups or less at a time. Most coffee machines do not get up to the proper temperature fast enough to only brew a couple of cups. If you are only making a few cups, I suggest using a French press. The French Press: A French press or coffee press is the preferred way by many to brew a cup of coffee. It is also great when you only need to brew a few cups instead of a whole pot of coffee. The way they work is really simple. Just put the recommended amount of ground coffee in the glass pot. This time though, use a course to very course grind (similar to very coarse sand or raw sugar). Then pour in water that is not quite boiling (about 200 degrees) and place the lid with the push-down filter on top but do not press down. This will hold in the heat. Now let the coffee steep for about 3 to 4 minutes. After the brewing time is complete, slowly press down on the filter rod pushing the grounds to the bottom of the pot. Using a coarse grind makes this easier. Once the coffee is pushed to the bottom, it is ready to serve. The main reason why the French press is considered superior to drip brewing is that the water is in contact with all of the beans an equal amount of time. It also filters less of the fines (fine coffee grounds similar to powder) which make for a more full flavored drink. If you do not like so much of these fines in your coffee, you might try using a coarser grind. If it's still too murky for your tastes, try finding a grinder that does the grind a little more consistent. Blade grinders are the worst for this, cone and burr grinders are best. If you are afraid that you’ll rarely use the French press because of the extra hassle (the filter needs to be cleaned), you can also use the French press to make fantastic tea from loose leaves. Come check out all our coffee accessories including the French Press in our gift item section.