There isn’t an adult in the world who couldn’t use a nice cup of coffee every now and then to serve as a pick-me-up. Some people can’t go a single morning without their cup of joe. The following article will teach you how to make the best tasting cup of coffee for your drinking pleasure.
Do not throw away your old coffee grounds. If you have a garden, you can use your coffee grounds as fertilizer for your plants and flowers while keeping the pest away. You can also use old coffee grounds to scrub dirty dishes or clean your kitchen counter instead of using chemicals.
Here is a great trick to try if you use softened or distilled water to brew your coffee. Just add a small pinch of salt to the pot after brewing. This may sound crazy, but the salt will add a lot of extra flavor to the coffee! Believe it or not!
The human body needs at least four hours to eliminate caffeine. You should keep this in mind if you want to drink a cup of coffee before going to bed. It is best to drink a decaffeinated beverage if you need to go to sleep within the next few hours.
If you really want good coffee, throw away your cheap machine. It isn’t going to make you a great beverage and there are other alternatives that are very inexpensive. Just go to the store and locate a pour-over brewer. You will also need some paper filters. Go online and find a tutorial on how to use these products. They will cost you under ten dollars and the coffee will taste much better!
If you are living alone, or are the only one in your family who drinks coffee, consider purchasing a single-serve coffee maker. Companies such as Keurig have created coffee makers that use a coffee pod, a single serving of coffee grounds in a small container that fits inside the machine. This type of coffee maker is also useful if you like to drink a different flavor of coffee each day.
Take advantage of any repeat customer program that your local coffee house runs. Even a single-unit independent place might have a punchcard system where you get a free cup of coffee for every five that you buy. Never throw these away, even for places you do not frequent much. They can still add up to free cups of joe over time.
If you are used to an independent coffee house, then be careful when ordering in Starbucks. They have a very different language for their products, as part of their distinct branding. The Caramel Macchiato you love back home is not going to taste at all the same in a Starbucks while on the road.
To keep your coffee beans fresh, put them in the freezer. While many people refrigerate their coffee, doing so allows the beans to absorb odors from foods inside your fridge. A better solution is to freeze the beans. One easy approach is to divide the beans into several smaller packages so you can simply remove a package as needed.
Avoid using pre-flavored and packaged coffee beans. These beans are sprayed with extra oils that are very difficult to clean out of grinders and coffee machines. That oil stays in the machines and mixes with later batches causing strange-tasting coffee. They also tend to make the coffee smell better than it tastes.
The only thing better than enjoying your favorite coffee beverage is doing so while helping others, and that’s where fair trade coffee comes in. Fair trade coffee is usually slightly more expensive than other brands but you will find it tastes much better. In addition, you will have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you are helping a small farm in a developing country compete with the big corporations.
A big mistake that many people make when brewing coffee is not using the proper amount of coffee. The proper ratio of ground coffee to water is six ounces of water for every two tablespoons of coffee. Any less coffee and you will have a weak and unsatisfying brew that tastes more like water than coffee.
Now matter how badly you need a caffeine fix, don’t pour your coffee until it is fully brewed. Even though you can do this in some machines, you will not get a good cup of coffee by doing this. Try getting one with a timer instead. Then, you can set it up so that coffee is ready for you to drink when you get up in the morning.
Before you decide on a drive-thru establishment that you want to purchase from each morning, try them all to get an idea of the one you like the most. The last thing that you will want to do is settle for a mediocre coffee, if there is a place that you would enjoy better.
For the best tasting coffee, use fresh beans that are between three days old and ten days old. Younger beans have not had sufficient time to mature and the taste can reflect this. Older beans are already going stale and losing the maximum flavor they had during their peak time.
Be sure to clean your coffee machine. Many people just keep making coffee over and over again, but you have got to make sure you clean it regularly. Run a mixture of vinegar and water through your machine to naturally clean the machine instead of using chemicals. When you do this, you can be assured you have the most delicious coffee you can have.
As was mentioned earlier, everyone enjoys a nice tasting cup of coffee, at least once in awhile. When you use the tips given in the article above, you are well on your way to making great tasting coffee that will surely brighten up your day. Just remember not to overdo it!
