Brewing Equipment
You have purchased your coffee beans, roasted them to perfection, and now you are ready to grind them up and brew them. There are a couple of rules to follow for a great cup of coffee: Never pour boiling water directly on coffee grounds--you want your water to be just off the boil (about 195 degrees), and never pour brewed coffee back over the grounds a second time. Percolators violate both of these rules which is why they are not for sale here, and I do not recommend them for any serious coffee drinker. A third consideration. Coffee is 98% water. Please use either filtered or bottled water to make great coffee. Bad tasting water will lead to bad tasting coffee.
Automatic Drip coffee makers
$29.99
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Perhaps the most common method of brewing coffee is the automatic drip coffee maker. With these, coffee is heated in a tank, drawn a little at a time and sprayed over coffee grounds and drips through them into a pot below. Most commonly, the pot is on a warming plate to keep the coffee hot. The downside to this is that while the coffee sits in the pot on the warmer, it continues to cook and burns quite quickly. A preferred method is to brew it directly into a thermal carafe. Failing that, one should transfer the coffee to a thermal carafe immediately after brewing to prevent the overcooking and burning of the coffee. If the coffee is placed in a thermal container immediately, the automatic drip method produces a good cup of coffee with a convenience that is unmatched by other methods. At Caldak Coffees, we sell particularly convenient automatic drip coffee makers--single serve units, perfect for people on the go. One other note: using paper filters--especially bleached filters--will affect the taste of the coffee. Paper filters will absorb the volatile oils that enhance the flavor of the coffee. I am pleased to note that all of our automatic drip coffee makers use permanent nylon filters so all the flavor of the coffee is delivered to your cup. Check them out here.
French Press
Another method of brewing coffee is with the French Press. Some would say that this is the ultimate way to produce an excellent cup of coffee. The French Press looks like a carafe with a handle on it. Coarsely ground coffee is placed in the bottom of the carafe. Water is brought to boiling in a separate container and allowed to cool so it is just off the boil (about 195 degrees or so.) A little of the water is poured onto the coffee grounds and stirred, then the rest of the water is added to fill the press. This is allowed to steep for 4-5 minutes and then the top is placed on the carafe. The top contains a plunger with a mesh screen. This is slowly pushed to the bottom of the carafe, separating the grounds from the coffee and the coffee is served. This method, while more work than other methods, produces a better tasting cup because the volatile oils which add flavor, remain in the coffee. They are filtered out with the drip coffee maker. The downside to the French Press is that it seems that a few grounds always seems to escape the plunger and wind up in your cup. We sell a variety of French Presses. Some have the classic glass carafe, others are insulated to keep the coffee hot. See them here.
Smart Brewer
$19.99
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Similar to the French Press, we also sell the Smart Brewer, by BonJour. It also uses a direct imersion process--the grounds are steeped directly in the water, but it has a permanent filter screen to keep all of the grounds out of your cup. Learn More.
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