Category: The Fun World Of Coffee

Getting the best coffee grind for your morning brew is easy when you know your options. Here is a really fast breakdown of how to get the best coffee grind for your coffee maker.

The Ugly — Using a Blade Grinder

This may be the worst grinding option, but it sure beats the way cowboys used to do it — with the butt of their gun!

Why it’s the worst.

The reason a blade grinder is just about the worst option is because of how it works. The blade grinder has one or two blades that spin very fast — essentially chopping the beans. This “chopping” of the beans creates an uneven grind. Then during brewing your ground will not extract properly. It’s kind of like trying to brew espresso with french press coarse grinds and at the same time mixing that brew with a french press using espresso grind. It’s going to be messy and it won’t taste right.

If you’re a glutton for punishment.

If you’re going to use the blade grinder anyway here’s some tips.
To get the best coffee grind from a Blade grinder make sure to keep the grinder upright on the counter.
A common mistake is made in twisting and turn the grinder to “assist” in the grinding process. This actually makes the chopping of the beans by the grinder worse. Just make sure the grinder is level.

Follow our handy time-limit for grinding by brew method

• 20 seconds (finest) – Turkish
• 16 seconds – Fine Espresso
• 14 seconds – Standard Espresso
• 12 seconds – Cone Filter Drip
• 11 seconds (middle grind) – Universal Drip
• 10 seconds – Flat/Basket Filter Drip
• 9 seconds – Percolator
• 8 seconds – Stovetop Percolator
• 6 seconds (coarsest) – French Press

The OK — Letting the pros do it for you.

A better option is to let the pros grind your coffee for you. Here at Camano Island Coffee Roasters we give all of our Club members the option to have their coffee ground by the experts. Just let us know how you plan to brew your coffee and we will give you the best coffee grind possible.

Why it’s only ok.

As soon as we grind your beans, they start to lose some of the amazing fresh taste. The beans in whole form hold in the oils and flavors better enabling your coffee to last longer. Receiving the beans in whole bean and grinding them correctly yourself will give you the best flavor possible! But if convenience is more important to you, then leaving the mess of grinding to us!

The Best Coffee Grind Option: Grinding with a Burr Grinder.

The very best coffee grind option is to grind your beans yourself with a burr grinder. A burr grinder contains two discs that essentially grind against each other. It’s this motion of crushing and grinding that enables you to receive the most uniform grind possible.

Why it’s the absolute best coffee grind.

Your beans will be fresher, better tasting, and more versatile. Your beans will hold in their flavor for the longest possible time if they are stored whole. You will also get the best flavor extraction with a consistent and accurate coarseness for your grounds. Remember it’s the uneven grinding of a burr grinder that will mess up your flavor. Lastly, when you receive your beans as whole and grind them yourself with a burr grinder then you can choose different brewing methods with the same bag of beans. Want the strong, thick flavor of a french press in the morning? Want a more nuanced, smoother mouthfeel of a pourover in the afternoon? You can do both if you use a Burr grinder.
Below is a list of the standard grind settings by brew method — from finest to coarsest.

1. Turkish
2. Fine Espresso
3. Standard Espresso
4. Cone Filter Drip
5. Universal Drip
6. Flat/Basket Filter Drip
7. Percolator
8. Stovetop Percolator
9. (coarsest) – French Press

You’ll notice that Turkish and then espresso is the most fine grind and the french press is the most coarse. Each brewing method requires a specific coarseness.

Here’s an example of Turkish grind.

And here’s an example of French Press

Now that you’ve seen The Good, The OK, and The Ugly of Coffee Grinding why don’t you tell us what *ahem* how you grind your beans. Comment below!

**BONUS**

See more photos of a coffee grinder rifle from the Civil War

Do you knock your neighbor’s socks off with your drip coffee? Well, now you can, if you follow How to make the best coffee with these 7 Easy Steps To The Best Drip Coffee.

1.  How to Make The Best Coffee — The Coffee Must Be Fresh.

Coffee has a shelf life of around 6 weeks. The coffee in the grocery store is on average 3 to 12 months old. What that means for you is, if you are drinking store-bought coffee you are enjoying the coffee equivalent of moldy stale bread. To avoid this and to enjoy the vast array of coffee’s flavors — only purchase coffee from a local independent roaster. Your coffee will be hours young not months old. That’s the first step in how to make the best coffee.

2. How to Make The Best Coffee — Your Water Has To Be Filtered.

The water you use is the second most crucial step to having great tasting coffee (just after the coffee itself).  Use filtered water or even bottled water. DO NOT USE — distilled or softened water. That’s the second step in how to make the best coffee.

3. How to Make The Best Coffee — Be Specific About Your Grind.

USE ONLY A BURR GRINDER. If you have a blade grinder, then I’m sorry. You are better off getting the custom treatment you can only get from a local roaster. A good, local roaster can grind your coffee according to your filter needs. If you have a burr grinder then here’s what you do. For “cone” shaped filters (paper or gold cone), grind your coffee at #4 on your grinder. For flat-bottomed filters grind a little coarser with a #6 grind. The grind is imperative to the extraction process and the subsequent flavor. That’s the third step in how to make the best coffee.

4. How to Make The Best Coffee — Use The Right Amount.

Use 2 level tablespoons of ground coffee per 6oz. of water. And that folks is the fourth step in How to make the best cup of coffee

5. How to Make The Best Coffee — Pre-Wet The Grounds.

This is a fun trick many don’t know.  If you have an Insta-hot or can quickly heat up a very small amount of water, sprinkle no more than an ounce of water on your grounds before you start brewing. This begins the extraction process and starts pulling the flavor to the surface of the grounds.  When the brewing starts, it will have a head-start on the extraction. That’s the fifth step in how to make the best coffee

6. How to Make The Best Coffee — If It Ain’t Hot It’s Time To Shop.

Your coffee maker should maintain a constant temperature of around 200?F to ensure optimal extraction.  If your coffee is cool or colder than you remember, it maybe time for a new machine.  BONUS TIP: A drip maker should also take only 5 – 7 minutes to brew. That’s the sixth step in how to make the best coffee.

7. How to Make The Best Coffee — Don’t Wait, Enjoy it Right Away.

Nothing ruins your coffee experience like cold coffee. So, don’t wait, drink it right away. A thermal carafe will keep your coffee warm longer than a glass pot. No matter how warm you keep your coffee make sure to finish it off within 30 to 60 minutes of brewing. BONUS TIP: Re-heating coffee can never revive the optimal just-after-brewing flavor. That’s the seventh step in how to make the best coffee.

Conclusion.

Many coffee “experts” will downplay the flavor of a drip brewer for many reasons.  In reality though, a drip coffee maker can make a the best coffee in the world with the right beans, water and grind. Whether you like a light roast coffee, a medium roast coffee, or a dark roasted coffee, you just have to pay attention to the details. Oh, and when you’re done, don’t forget to help your neighbor find their socks.

Source | NCA Brewing Guide (combined with some of our own expertise)

Mmmmm . . . . ! Mocha, caramel, and hazelnut flavored coffees fly off the shelf daily. Unfortunately, many coffee drinkers remain in the dark about artificially flavored coffee. Learn the 3 Shocking Facts About Artificially Flavored Coffee and keep reading to the end to learn the 4 Keys to Mind-Blowing Natural Coffee Flavor.

A Smorgasbord of Chemicals: Cream, Sugar, or Antifreeze?

That’s right, you read that correctly, a smorgasbord. The popular coffee flavoring chemical compound propylene glycol, also exists in antifreeze! Do you love Irish Cream? That’s made with ethyl alcohol, dimethylamine-D1, and formamidine acetate. Does that sound delicious? If you’re a fan of peanut flavor, you’re drinking 2,4-dimethyl-5-acetylthiazole. Yum! There’s got to be a better way to enjoy coffee.

HAZMAT Is The New Black!

Naturally, using strong solvents and chemicals to flavor coffee can have an adverse effect on employees. Hazmat suits — this is the dark side of flavored coffee. Without these suits, workers risk terrible long term health effects such as bronchiolitis obliterans, a type of incurable lung cancer. Now just think you drink these flavored beans. Do you really know what’s going into those beans? When you think of employees working at a coffee company, do you picture them wearing HAZMAT suits? Neither do we. That’s why we never flavor our beans. We don’t have to. Read to the end to find out why.

Bitter Beans, Better Taste?

Speaking of brewing flavored coffee beans, what kind of coffee needs to be flavored anyway? The cheap stuff. The stuff that’s left over. The stuff that you couldn’t drink without strong chemicals tricking your taste buds. Most flavored coffee is cheap robusta beans: the highly acidic, bitter coffee beans most big coffee companies use as filler. These beans are simply the carriers of the chemical flavors. You’re not really drinking coffee.

4 Keys to Mind-Blowing Natural Coffee Flavor

 Coffee Has More Flavor Potential Than Wine

If your coffee is fresh, organic, and free of imperfections it will blow your taste buds away. How? Because if coffee is taken care of, it will release the power of 800 naturally occurring chemical compounds. To give you some perspective, wine has only 200 flavor compounds. Coffee is packed with flavor — you just have to treat it right.

Freshness Is Key

Protect your coffee experience with fresh coffee. Coffee loses its flavor within the first few weeks after roasting. To give you some perspective, grocery store coffee is on average 3 months old due to the logistics of transportation and distribution. Protect your coffee flavor by only buying coffee that’s been roasted fresh within the past few days.

The Soil Must Be Nutrient Rich

A little known fact about coffee is how it gets its flavor. Coffee draws its flavor from the minerals and nutrients stored in the soil. The soil replenishes its nutrients and minerals naturally when a variety of plant life is grown together. That’s one reason why we only roast coffee that is shade-grown. It simply improves the soil quality and therefore the flavor.

Country of Origin Also Plays a Role

The coffee tree is affected by the climate and elevation of the coffee’s country of origin. The higher the elevation the better. The more tropical the climate the better. The combination of soil type, climate, and elevation all combine to give you 800 chemical compounds that make up coffee’s complex flavor.

Adding it all together . . .

When you add together the soil type, the high elevation, and the tropical climate you find there are only a handful of places in the world that can grow truly phenomenal coffee.

It’s Your Lucky Day!

If you love artificially flavored mocha, then you’ll love our organically grown Papua New Guinea with its naturally strong cocoa tones. If hazelnut is your flavor of choice, then our Brazil Dark roast with its strong nutty flavors will knock your socks off.  And right now, when you join Buzzbox you can have either of these coffees for free. Give them a shot and let us know what you think.