I’ll admit that I’m a little bit of a coffee nerd now, but not too long ago, I was the guy pulling into the Dukin Donuts drive-thru and asking for extra cream and sugar for my coffee. Even at home, I would make my coffee then drown it cream and bury it in sugar. I loved coffee, just not the taste. The problem was that I was drinking really low quality coffee so of course I had to hide the actual taste. There were no flavors like chocolate with hints of honey or a sweet wine like flavor in those coffees that come out of a plastic tub bought at the grocery store.
So, how does one get into good coffee? (Some might call it specialty coffee, but that’s more of an industry term that you don’t have to worry about for now.)
It’s probably easier than you think and you can do it without spending your entire paycheck. Although, I have to warn you once you get into the world of good coffee, you’re going to start spending more and more on awesome coffee gadgets. Trust me, it just kind of happens. One day you just have a drip coffee maker on your kitchen counter, the next day you have 17 ways of making coffee in your kitchen.
First, start by buying bags of whole bean coffee instead of the giant tubs of pre-ground coffee. There’s two problems with those giant tubs of pre-ground coffee. The first is that once coffee is ground, it starts to lose it’s flavor within fifteen minutes. Who knows how long they were wasting away on those shelves at the grocery store. The second is that those coffee corporations that make those giant plastic tubs are using the lowest quality coffee possible so that they can make the most profit possible.
If your grocery store is like mine, they probably have some good whole bean coffee offerings. There’s 8 O’Clock, Jim’s Organic Coffee, etc. They’re a huge step up from those giant plastic tubs. Of course, for extra credit you can check out what your local coffee roaster/shop is selling or buy coffee from a place online like Go Coffee Go (Side note, that’s an affiliate link to my friends at Go Coffee Go. If you buy coffee via that link I’ll get a small commission that helps keep DSOC running.) From your local coffee roaster or from a high quality online coffee shop, you’re much more likely to get high quality coffee.
Now that you’re buying whole bean, you’re going to need a coffee grinder if you don’t already have one. The coffee snobs will tell you that you’ll need a burr grinder (my affiliate link to the cool people over at Amazon), which is true for best results. However, if you’re just looking to improve your coffee without spending an arm or a leg, you can start with a simple blade grinder for less than twenty dollars. Check out my review of my blade grinder that I used before I moved up to a burr grinder. Buy the blade grinder now and you can always move up to a better grinder later.
The coffee snobs will also tell you that you’ll need to ditch your drip coffee maker for a French Press. I love my French Press, but you can keep using the coffee maker on your kitchen counter until you decide you want to upgrade. However, I am going to make you do one thing before you use it again. Clean your coffee maker! When was the last time that you did that? Never? Yeah, that was me for a long time too. For best results, you should clean it at least once a month. It isn’t that hard, doesn’t take too long and is totally worth it. Check out this article I wrote about how to clean your coffee maker.
Now that you’re buying whole bean coffee, using a coffee grinder and your coffee maker is clean, it’s time to try your coffee without the cream and sugar. I have a feeling it’ll be a lot more drinkable than it used to be. Give it a shot, you can always add the cream or sugar later on if you still want to (although a little less cream and sugar I hope). As you’re drinking your cream free and sugar-less coffee, try to identify what you smell and taste. There’s no right or wrong answer, just try to id those scents and flavors.
There you did it! You upgraded your coffee! If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask them in the comment section below and I’ll be glad to help out where I can.
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Photo by Josh Liba.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
i agree! simply using whole beans bumps the game
up a ton. that’s major.
i’ve had (with plenty of rinsing) good luck
using the dishwasher packets in the coffee
thermos or carafe where a lot of residues and
oils are pretty tough to remove.
they work well.. with a lot of rinsing.
It’s the first thing I usually say when people ask me how to improve their coffee.
Which dishwasher packets are you using?
Cascade Complete All in 1 Pacs, Phosphate Free
just because we had them here.
with some reflection – i’d say any detergent
without ‘scents’. i DO rinse the parts
a lot Mike… maybe over rinse but don’t
need the added challenge of ‘scents’
to worry about. like i said, these seem
to get even the stubborn coffee stains
out and since the washer is the method,
i’ts not work for me.
and btw if it doesn’t come clean, i’m
all over running another cycle.
and as to people who think detergents
don’t or wouldn’t work, how do they clean
their food serving things? most dish washing machines
get glass sparkling clean from what
i’ve seen of them.
I’m the same way. If I end up having to use soap, I over wash and rinse anything coffee related.
Another tip would be to use the gold wire baskets instead of paper filters in the drip machines. I think the wire baskets let a lot more of the flavorful oils through and into your cup.
That’s a good tip Tom. For a while I had a coffee maker with a gold wire basket and it made a difference.
hmmm i’ve never thought about it Tom.
got to brew and compare side by side.
ty
I’m glad you included 8 o’clock. Out of desperation (I thought) I purchased a bag of their whole bean over the weekend. I’m still trying to choke down some pre-ground we had purchased before Christmas (you can imagine how much cream and sugar that needs, but I have a frugal streak), and haven’t opened it yet. However, I did have to open a closeout bag of whole bean Full Circle organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe I found. I’ve yet to make a decision about whether I like it, though. It’s a medium roast, and I tend to prefer darker roasts.
I like 8 o’clock, it’s not great, but most grocery stores carry it in a whole bean.
I understand about the pre-ground. I try to never throw out any coffee, but some does require a lot of cream and sugar.
I’ve never heard of Full Circle, but it sounds like my kind of coffee. I love Yirgacheffes.
this is the only Full Circle i’ve seen or read about Mike.
http://fullcircleexchange.com/
they have beans from Ethiopia …
‘…closeout bag …’
what’s up Christina – was it dated?
We could have gotten better coffee for you if we didn’t have to spend so much money for sugar and cream!
Love Da Dad