So you
have aspirations to become a coffee gourmet. But there are yet a few things you need to learn about gourmet coffee
beans before you become one. Here are some of them:
Proper
Storage
First
thing’s first: Coffee? It’s more like wine than you think, especially when it comes to proper storage. That’s
because gourmet coffee beans are very sensitive to moisture, light, and above all, air. So if you want to preserve
their flavor, make sure you keep the beans where moisture, light, and air can’t get to
them.
The best
choice you have is an air-tight, opaque container stored in a cool, dark place between 50 and 70 degrees. For even
better results, store your gourmet coffee beans in small quantities in valve bags. That way, you can ensure
fresh, Gourmet Coffee Bean flavor even after long months of
storage for those beans that you don’t use right away.
Best Gourmet Coffee Beans
The best
way to get superior tasting coffee is to start with the freshest, best gourmet coffee beans you can find. It’s
always advisable to start small, sampling a bit of everything here and there until you find one that you
like.
Water
You must
know by now that the quality of your gourmet coffee beans can affect the taste of your coffee. So inferior beans
will naturally result in inferior coffee just as superior beans will yield superior coffee. But the taste of your
coffee is not affected by the mere quality of your beans. The water that you use can also make or break your
coffee.
Always
use fresh water with your
gourmet coffee beans. If you decide to use tap water, make
sure that it tastes fine to drink before using it for making fresh coffee. However, if you notice anything
funny about the taste of your tap water, then don’t use it. Instead, use a quality bottled water or a water
filter.
The
Right Grind
Even
with the best gourmet coffee beans and the finest bottled water around, your coffee may still taste less than
perfect with the wrong grind. In fact, the wrong grind is the one thing that can completely destroy the flavor of
your coffee.
When
grinding gourmet coffee beans, just remember two things:
* Grind
that is too fine will produce bitter and over-extracted coffee. * Grind that is too coarse will produce weak
tasting and sour coffee.
So when
grinding
gourmet coffee beans, make sure that the beans are ground
specifically for the chosen brewing method.
Proportion
And
lastly, the most important thing you need to learn about gourmet coffee beans is that it’s all about proportions.
Making great coffee is really a balancing act – the right amount of water for the right amount of coffee beans, the
right grind for the right method of brewing, the quality of gourmet coffee beans for the right taste of coffee.
Once you learn the importance of proportion, then you are on your way to become a coffee
gourmet.