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 | 5 Steps To Better Coffee |
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1. START WITH GOOD WATER.
Since water makes up 98% of any coffee beverage, using good water is a critical part of brewing delicious coffee. Regular tap water contains dissolved minerals and organic compounds, tastes and odors that
contribute to your coffee's taste. Too much inorganic material can degrade the taste of your coffee, no matter how flavorful the beans are or how great your brewing equipment works. While slightly hard water makes the best coffee, water treatment greatly improves your coffee's flavor by removing unwanted chemicals, such as chlorine. Tap water (hard or soft) run through an activated carbon or charcoal filter that simply attaches to your brewing equipment's water delivery system can eliminate these unwanted taints. BUNN offers a full line of EasyClear™ water treatment filters calibrated for optimum water conditioning. These filters simply attach to the water delivery system entering your coffee brewing equipment.
2. CORRECT GRIND OF COFFEE.
No matter what coffee beans you use, the right grind for brewing great coffee depends on the brewing cycle of your coffee equipment. If you don't know your equipment's brewing cycle, take a watch and time how long it takes for the water to pass through the grounds and fill the decanter. Once you know your brewing cycle, match this with the correct grind of coffee bean. If your beans come ground fresh from a grinder, you can check your grind by squeezing a pinch of the ground coffee between your thumb and forefinger and rubbing it around. If the grind packs tightly and sticks to your fingers, it's a fine grind. If the grind packs slightly into clumps, it's a drip grind. If the grind won't pack at all, and feels sandy, it's a coarse grind. Let's say you use a coarse grind of coffee in a filter-drip brewer with a short (2-4 minute) brewing cycle. With a coarse grind's larger particle size, the resulting brew will be weak and tasteless as very little of the coffee's true flavor has been extracted by the brew water. On the other hand, using a fine grind in a coffee brewer with a longer (4-6 minute) brewing cycle can result in bitter tasting coffee. We recommend a brewing time of 1-4 minutes for a fine grind, 4-6 minutes for a drip grind, and 6-8 minutes for a coarse grind. To serve a great cup of coffee every time, know your brewing cycle time then match it with the right grind.
WHAT'S THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF COFFEE TO USE?
What coffee beans you use is a matter of personal taste depending on the beans used in the blend decided upon by you and your roaster. But the real secret to great coffee comes in the correct "Coffee-to-Water" ratio -- how much water is used over how much coffee is in the filter.
2 to 4 ounces of coffee for every 1/2 gallon of water.
As a rule of thumb, remember too little ground coffee brewed with too much water results in an under-developed, weak-tasting coffee flavor. Whether you're using a 10 gallon server or a 1/2 gallon coffee pot, your optimum brewing formula will fall in this recommended coffee to water ratio, using traditional ground roast coffee brewed to your personal taste.
3. CONTROLLED BREW PROCESS WITH TIME AND TEMPERATURE.
Brewing great coffee is a simple process where flavor is extracted from ground coffee beans using hot water as the catalyst. But there is a craft to brewing good coffee; capturing all the color, aroma, body and great taste your customers deserve and expect. So, if brewing coffee is so simple,what's the big secret? To get the peak of flavor, it's all in the brewing process -- the right combination of ground coffee beans, good water, quality brewing equipment and the right brewing cycle.
* During the extraction process, up to 70% of the flavoring compounds of coffee (both sweet & bitter) enter the brew water.
* Coffee stored in a heated, open vessel will increase in strength as water evaporates from the brew. Applied heat of a warmer causes chemical compounds to change coffee flavor.
* If kept on a warmer, fresh brewed coffee will only keep its optimum flavor a maximum of 30 minutes.
* Wetting process begins with good water at approximately (200°F) sprayed over
coffee grounds.
* Bed of 1" to 2" of ground coffee leveled in coffee filter allow hot water to pass through grounds evenly.
4. THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT FOR QUALITY FILTRATION AND EXTRACTION.
WATER TEMPERATURE
A coffee brewer must deliver a steady supply of hot water and maintain a brewing temperature from 195° - 205° F. During the brewing cycle, you may use a thermometer to check the water temperature as it leaves the spray head.
WATER DELIVERY
The brewing equipment must be capable of wetting the entire bed of coffee grounds thoroughly and evenly in the first stages of the brewing process. Carefully check to see that spray head hasn't clogged and is spraying evenly.
BREWING TIME
The coffee brewer must provide a consistent brewing time for the type of grind used. Use a stopwatch to time the brewing cycle from the first entry of water into the basket until the decanter is full.
BREW BASKET AND FILTER
Both the brew basket size and shape, and the paper coffee filter, must work together to achieve the required balance between strength and extraction in your coffee. Available for all models, BUNN coffee filters, the original cup-fluted filters, are factory tested for quality, porosity, flow rate and
structure.
5. HOLDING TIME.
The amount of time your coffee will stay fresh after brewing is called the Holding Time. Holding the coffee between 185° - 190° F will maintain its fresh brewed flavor over a specified period of time. When a coffee decanter is placed on a warmer, the brew begins to break down with the application of direct heat. After 20-30 minutes your coffee begins to lose its fresh brewed flavor and may no longer be considered acceptable.
Beyond 30 minutes, the flavor can deteriorate to the point of being objectionable. If you keep fresh brewed coffee in an airpot or other closed and insulated container (such as our Thermal and Soft Heat Satellite Servers) without application of intense heat, the coffee will stay fresh longer.
Airpot/Thermal Carafe Coffee Makers | Automatic Coffee Makers | Coffee Grinders | Coffee Urns | Hot Water Machines(Precision Water)| Liquid Coffee Machines | Portable (Satellite) Systems | Pourover Coffee Makers | Related Products | Tea/Coffee Combo Brewers | Water Filtration |
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