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, coffee bean flavor even after long months of storage for those beans that you don't use right away.
Bean Selection
The best way to get superior tasting coffee is to start with the freshest, highest quality 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.
