Five Signs of a Good Coffee

Here are five things that you should try to learn about that cup of coffee that you drink every morning.

It all starts with the water. It should be filtered or bottled water. Tap water usually contains minerals, where as these are harmless, actually they are good for you, they are not good for coffee. Water with a high mineral content can add to the bitterness of your coffee. 

Next, move to the bean. Bean quality is very important. Most commercially grown coffee is not grown under conditions that are ideal for coffee taste, instead they are grown for how fast they can be rushed to market, but like most aspects of life, good things come to those who wait. Coffee should be grown at high-altitudes and shade-grown. This usualy means that it takes a coffee plant two years to start producing quality beans. The best way to find out if these conditions are met is to simply ask the barrista who is making your coffee, if they don't know, it's not a good sign. Most coffees grown under these conditions are eager to advertise their superior quality.

The next two characteristcs to look for are time since roasting and time since grinding. Respectively, they should be less than three days and less than one day. Why would you cook a stake and then eat it three days later? Same thing with your coffee. It should be roasted at most for only a few days before it is consumed. The same time conditions apply for the grinding. Would you chop up a dozen onions and then stick them in the freezer only to pull them out when you need chopped onions? Why do that for coffee then. Coffee begins to breakdown once its been ground up and therefore will lose much of its taste. The beans should be ground just before they are used.

How clean is the coffemaker? A dirty coffeemaker will also add to the bitterness of the coffee that it makes. Mineral buildup in the internal workings can leach into the water as the water is being heated. This generally isn't a problem at your local coffee shop, but when was the last time you cleaned your coffeemaker? Probably never, right? For most of us, we've cleaned the pot, but never really gave the interal part of the coffeemaker much thought. If that is your check out the following articles so you can enjoy get that perfect cup of coffee.

http://freeinfobucket.com/how-to-buy-good-coffee/

http://freeinfobucket.com/how-to-make-good-coffee/