Tryst is a great coffee house in our neighborhood, Adams Morgan. It is setup like someone’s living room with sofas and arm chairs and they also brew a nice cup of coffee. They use good coffee beans, as you should. However, good beans will only get you so far–you also need to know what you are doing. Luckily they were kind enough to write up a brochure and luckily for all of you in the Internets, I am going to type up some of their tips and methods.

How to Brew Drip Coffee

The drip method is the most popular because it’s convenient and easy. It also produces a cleaner, if not quite as round a cup, as immersion methods because it filters more fine particles out and paper filters absorb oils.

Use one rounded tablespoon of ground coffee for every 3 to 4 ounces of water. The grinds should be pretty fine in order to control the rate of the drip. The finer the grind , the slower the brew cycle. Make sure that the cone doesn’t fold over itself when it gets wet.

How to Brew a Press Pot (aka French Press)

What you’ll need: coffee, water, measuring pitcher, kettle, press pot, long spoon, timer, cups, thermal pot (if any is left over)

1. Bring pot of bottled spring water (or well filtered water - NEVER distilled) to a boil, then let sit for about 30-40 seconds.
2. Grind your coffee coarse while the water cools to about 204 F.
3. Add 1 oz of ground coffee for every 16 oz of water (or 1 rounded Tbls for every 4 oz of water).
4. Slowly pour water into pot ensuring that all grounds are evenly saturated - START 4 MINUTE TIMER.
5. Top off at least 1/2″ below the pot’s spout to allow for the grounds to expand - as coffee is extracted the grounds appear to swell-up or “bloom”.
6. At 2 minutes, gently break the “bloom” with a spoon and stir the coffee for about 10 seconds to evenly saturate.
7. At 4 minutes, place the lid on the pot and slowly plunge it until you feel a slight resistance. Avoid pressing or squeezing the settled grind as you might extract unwanted flavors.
8. Immediately transfer the coffee to your pre-heated cup(s) or a pre-heated thermal pot. (To preheat, use some of the leftover hot water that you boiled for the coffee.)

The BASICS of Home Brewing

1. Good Coffee
   Buy no more than 3 or 4 days worth of coffee at a time. Only grind what you need for each use. Do not store coffee in the refrigerator or freezer. Condensation will collect on the beans and moisture is their enemy. Keep in an airtight container, stored in a cool, dark and dry place.
2. Good Water
   Use bottled, filtered water, often labeled “spring water”. Do not use distilled or mineral water. You need the right balance of dissolved solubles to brew coffee. Distilled water has too few and mineral water has too many. If you must use tap water; be sure to run it for a while first.
3. Coffee to Water Ratio
   Use about 1 oz of ground coffee by weight for every 16 fl oz of water. This works out to roughly one rounded tablespoon per 4 oz of water.
4. Proper Grind
   Particle size is often overlooked. Grinding coffee exponentially increases the contact area with the water. The coarseness of the grind that you select will depend on the brewing method. A relatively find grind is usually needed for traditional drop pots and electric drop brewers. A coarse grind is always preferred for press pot and other immersion methods.
5. Contact
   Immersion methods make controlling contact time easy. You simply mix the coffee and water, time how long it sits, then strain out the coffee. In drop brewing methods, the bed depth and coarseness of the grounds determine how long it takes the water to drip through. Besides time, another variable of contact is turbulence (movement). Agitation (creating turbulence) speeds up extraction and helps the grounds extract evenly.
6. Clean Equipment
   Coffee oils form a residue on the surfaces of brewing components. These oils will influence each batch of coffee they come in contact with. Clean brewing equipment well and separately from other items with odorless detergents.
7. Correct Water Temperature
   Water should be within 195 to 205. This is usually about 45 seconds off the boil for a small to moderate amount of water. Boiling water over-extracts and scalds coffee, making it bitter. Cold water under-extracts the coffee and leaves it weak and bland.

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Tags: Beverage - Breakfast - Coffee

2 Responses to “How to Make a Good Cup of Coffee”

1. grace Says:
   May 26th, 2008 at 3:06 am

   i’m absolutely flummoxed by the number of people who don’t know how to brew a proper cup of coffee. flummoxed, i say. :)

2. steamy kitchen Says:
   June 1st, 2008 at 7:54 am

   have you tried the aeropress?

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