What makes smooth coffee

Because tap water quality varies from city to city, invest in a top-shelf filter like a Brita. Not all grinds are the same; there is no one-size-fits-all grind size for making a quality cup of coffee. But you do need a grinder. The two basics to consider when grinding your coffee: Do you want a sweeter cup, and do you want a caffeinated cup? Mixing coffee grinds, too, can ruin your perfect-cup-chasing effort.

One last point of note for grinding: There is also no standard system for grind settings — as ideal as that might be, in a coffee utopia. Womp womp. The Impact of Brew Methods. By comparison, a French Press — which no one can definitively say was invented in France, by the way — will produce an oilier, more full-bodied cup of coffee.

Think: More velvet than silk. Percolators and batch brews, meanwhile, will offer a reasonably consistent result for your coffee, but also offer less control over the process. Top 5 Coffee Grinders. Top 5 Coffee Grinders One of the best ways to significantly better your brew at home is to use a good grinder—here are our picks Top 5 Coffee Grinders.

Coffee should be ground with a quality burr grinder to reduce fines pieces of coffee that are comparably much too small.

The more consistent and correct the grind, the less bitter the cup will be. You don't want to cook your coffee! The taste of burnt anything is bitter, especially that of the hypersensitive coffee bean. Keep coffee F for best results.

Anything greater than the recommended extraction time may yield a cup with beans that have been overused. Optimally, buy a five- to seven-day supply of fresh beans at a time and keep them at room temperature. Snobbism among coffee drinkers can rival that of wine drinkers, but the fact is that an astonishing world of coffee tastes awaits anyone willing to venture beyond mass-marketed commercial brands.

Specialty coffees that clearly state the country, region or estate of origin can provide a lifetime of tasting experiences. There are two major beans on the market— Arabica and Robusta. Arabica beans are more widely produced, have a wider range of flavors and are generally considered the "better bean.

The cheap alternatives may contain Robusta beans, noted for their higher caffeine content but harsh flavors. But these types of coffee can be expensive. If your barista budget has taken a hit, there are plenty of good grocery store brands that deliver your morning buzz at half the price of fancy beans.

Coffee starts losing quality almost immediately upon grinding. The best-tasting brews are made from beans ground just before brewing. Coffee connoisseurs prefer to grind in expensive burr mills, but affordable electric "whirly blade" grinders like Bodum will do a serviceable job, especially if the mill is rocked during grinding to get a fine, even particle size.

Scoop for scoop, finer grinds yield more flavor. Nothing can ruin a pot of coffee more surely than tap water with chlorine or off-flavors. Note: Softened or distilled water makes terrible coffee—the minerals in good water are essential.

Related: Healthy Coffee Dessert Recipes. Bargain-priced paper coffee filters yield inferior coffee, according to the experts. Look for "oxygen-bleached" or "dioxin-free" paper filters e. Alternatively, you may wish to invest in a long-lived gold-plated filter e. These are reputed to deliver maximum flavor, but may let sediment through if the coffee is ground too finely. Tricks like using less coffee and hotter water to extract more cups per pound tend to make for bitter brews.

Water that is too hot will extract compounds in the coffee that are bitter rather than pleasant. Most good coffee makers regulate this automatically. Once brewed, don't expect coffee to hold its best flavors for long. Reheating, boiling or prolonged holding on a warming platform will turn even the best coffee bitter and foul-tasting.

This being the case, it's best to grind on the spot, just before brewing a pot. Grind size and consistency matter quite a bit, as well. Grind too coarse and you will have a weak pot of coffee. Grind too fine and you will over-extract the coffee and it will taste bitter.

Most drip coffee makers call for a medium to medium-fine grind. Blade grinders also work, but will produce inconsistent particle size, which can lead to over-extraction. Making better coffee is all about eliminating variables, and one way to do that is to use the same amount of coffee per unit of water each time you brew. Using a digital scale to measure takes just a second and allows you to better compare how much coffee and water is used each time.

Ideally, a ratio of that's one part coffee to 20 parts water, or about 7. That said, some people go as high as or as low as It's up to you to decide what tastes best, which is much easier to do and replicate once you remove all the guesswork.

Most automatic coffee makers don't properly prepare the coffee grounds for full extraction. Manual pour over cones which are not unlike automatic drip machines call for a preinfusion or the so-called "bloom. Skipping this step will allow the carbon dioxide to repel water during part of the brewing process, effectively making the brew weaker.