Coffee Guide

8/12/2019 Coffee Guide

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Daily Shot Of Coffee

Guide To CoffeeBy Mike Crimmins


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Welcome

Welcome to the Daily Shot Of Coffee Guide To Coffee. This guide covers the basicsfor an average Joe (or Jo) that ants better tasting coffee.

This is the first of hat loo!s li!e it"s going to be many guides that # $ublish. #f youhave a to$ic that you ould li!e me to cover% $lease email me atmi!e&dailyshotofcoffee.com

About Me

'y name is 'i!e Crimmins and #"m the chief blogger behind Daily Shot Of Coffee.

#ve been a daily coffee drin!er since my freshman year of college. (Wo% # feel li!e #mat an alcoholics anonymous meeting already). # used coffee to a!e u$ for those *+,am classes. # chugged it to stay u$ until three or four in the morning for those late nightstudy sessions.

-fter college% hen # as or!ing retail% # as !non for hiding a cu$ of coffee ust offthe sales floor so that # could get a hit of coffee every time # left the sales floor. 'yfriends and family ould as! me if # as going to have some coffee ith my cream andsugar. 'y average cu$ as at least a /uarter cream and sugar% leaving my coffeeloo!ing cream colored% on the verge of being hite.

Then one year for Christmas% my brother bought me a $ound of hole beans fromSeattle Coffee Wor!s. #t o$ened u$ a hole ne orld for me. That as the first time #e0$erienced fresh coffee at home. 1ot only as it fresh% but it smelled so good that #$ut the sugar and cream on hold until # tried it blac! first. # as hoo!ed. # ish # couldremember e0actly ho it tasted% but # can say it as literally life altering. # haventloo!ed bac! at 2olgers or 'a0ell 3ouse since.

Things have changed in the $ast fe years since then. 'y ne addiction is breingmy on coffee% using one of the do4en or so coffee gadgets that in my !itchen. Gone

are the flavored creamers and sugars% no # li!e my coffee blac! so # can identify theflavors and aromas that come naturally from the beans.

#m not a coffee e0$ert% # ust love coffee.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Introduction

- lot of $eo$le have as!ed me /uestions along the lines of 5#f # as ust getting intocoffee no% ho ould # start out67

#t"s the ty$e of /uestion that # !no a lot about% because not too long ago # as the guyin the Dun!in" Donuts drive thru ordering coffee ith e0tra cream and sugar. When mydad ould see me ma!ing a cu$ of coffee% he ould as! 5Do you ant coffee ith yourcream and sugar67 # as buying sugar by the $ound% almost as often as # as buyingcoffee. # li!ed (needed) the caffeine effects that came ith coffee% but # didn"t really li!ethe taste.

Turns out that it asn"t that hard to go from drin!ing coffee buried in sugar and cream%to drin!ing coffee blac! and enoying the flavors. #n this short guide% #"ll go over hoyou can ma!e that transition (and ma!e it ithout s$ending an arm and a leg). 2ollo

the ste$s in this guide and by the end% # thin! you"ll truly be able to enoy your coffee.


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Section 1 What !ind Of Coffee To Get

Wal!ing into a $lace that sells coffee% hether it"s the grocery store or an inde$endentcoffee roaster can be overhelming hen you"re ne to coffee. There"s all these bags

of coffee% each ith different% often foreign and or technical sounding names.

# remember that feeling all too ell% #"d al! into my favorite coffee sho$ and go eeny%meeny% miny% moe to $ic! a coffee. 3oever% once # learned a fe of the terms% itstarted to get a hole lot easier. This section ill hel$ you get through thatoverhelming feeling and guide you to the right !ind of coffee for you.

Different kinds of coffee roasts

#n my $revious life% # alays drifted toards dar!er roasts because they ere strongerand # thought $ac!ed more of a caffeine $unch. Then # learned that the lighter roasts$ac! all of the caffeine and it roc!ed my orld. -nyone that !nos me% !nos that #need as much caffeine as # can $ossibly get in ever si$.

-s far as different !ind of roasts% # !ne that the bean color as determined by theay they ere roasted% but that as ust about it and # really didn"t !no hat it allmeant.

# started to do more research and tal!ed to several coffee 8e0$erts8 so that #% and noyou can get the best tasting cu$ of coffee.

One of the first things that # learned% is that the dar!er a bean% the longer it as in theroaster. - dar!er roast tastes smoother because it has less fiber and has a moresugary flavor.

- lighter roast% that s$ends less time in a roaster has more caffeine and a strongerflavor because the aromatic oils don"t get destroyed during the short roast.

3ere"s hat you need to !no so far*

Dark "oasts # Stron$ And Smooth% &i$ht "oasts # More 'la(orful And Chock'ull Of Caffeine%

- more in de$th loo!*

The creation of coffee starts ith ra or unroasted beans that are green. #f you have acoffee roaster% you can roast your on beans and you"re $robably ay too
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_roastinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_roasting


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over/ualified to be reading this guide. 2or the rest of us% green beans are $retty muchuseless.

&i$ht "oast The shortest amount of time a bean ill s$end in the roasting machine.9ight roasts are full of flavors and caffeine.

- fe e0am$les*

1e :ngland ;oast 3alf City ;oast Cinnamon ;oast < The cinnamon roast has a dry surface ith no oils and the

flavor is light bodied.

Medium "oast* When they !ee$ it in the roaster a little longer% you get a mediumroast. #t"s traditionally a brea!fast coffee ith good level of acidity and clean finish. #thas a balanced body of flavor% beteen the light roasts and dar! roasts. =ou can find it

in grocery stores and is good for dri$ coffee ma!ers% or other ords% it"s an every dayty$e of coffee.

>rea!fast ;oast < Slightly seeter than a light roast -merican ;oast < 1ot as dar! as :uro$ean roasts and generally considered to

have a good aroma. City ;oast < Slightly dar!er than the -merican ;oast

Medium Dark "oast>eans that are roasted for a longer time are considered a'edium Dar! ;oast. They"re roasted long enough to bring out the natural oil of the

coffee to the surface of the bean. They have lo levels of caffeine and acidity. Theyhave a bitterseet flavor ith a full body. #t"s commonly used in cafes and coffeesho$s.

2rench ;oast < -lso goes under the name dar! roast. #t"s used to ma!ees$resso.

Continental ;oast < #t"s slightly lighter and has a s$icy body. ?iennese ;oast < #t s$ends slightly longer in the roast than -merican roast and

has a rich% chocolaty body.

Dark "oast#talian ;oast < This bean s$ends the longest time in the roaster. #t"sroasted until the bean is almost et blac! so it has a smo!y% ell roasted taste that canmas! the natural coffee bean flavor.

One last note% ust because they"re called 2rench or #talian roasts% doesn"t mean thatit"s actually from there% it"s ust referring to the ty$e of roast.


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Arabica )ersus "obusta(The World Series Of Coffee >eans)

-cross the orld% more than +, teams (ty$es) of coffee com$ete to ma!e it to theorld series% also !non as the big cu$ of coffee that a!es us u$ in the mornings.To teams% the -rabica beans and the ;obusta beans area alays on to$ of the list%accounting for almost all of the coffee consumed across the orld. Today% #"m $uttingthem head to head% com$eting for the cham$ionshi$ title.

2irst u$ to bat is ;obusta% it"s chea$er and by far the most common ty$e of coffee soldin grocery stores across -merica. The reason that it"s chea$er is that the cherries stayon the tree after they ri$en% re/uiring less attention from the farmers. -rabica beansre/uire constant su$ervision because hen they ri$en% they fall to the ground ands$oil. The e0tra attention comes ith an increased $rice. Count that as one run for;obusta.

;obusta then scores another easy run because they have to times more caffeine.

;obusta also has a greater resistance to climate% eather conditions% disease andheat. #t can be gron in loer climates and in larger amounts. Count that as anotherrun for ;obusta. They ta!e an early lead of three to nothing.

>ut this ball game is nohere near over yet. The bases are loaded and -rabica beanshave their star $layer coming u$ ne0t.

-rabica beans are found in most coffee sho$s% because it"s better tasting. Coffeemade ith this ty$e of beans are milder and more aromatic. There"s little bitternessand none of the shar$ taste that comes ith ;obusta beans% resulting in coffee thatdoesn"t need to be hidden ith hea$ing s$oonfuls of sugar and a flood of creamer.That counts as a four runs% grand slam% it"s a al! off victory.

Guide to buyin$ coffee at the $rocery store

'ore than a fe $eo$le have as!ed me hat are my favorite brands of coffee. # list offa fe of my favorite s$ecialty roasters from all over the country. Then they stareblan!ly at me and almost alays follo u$ ith% 5>ut% hat can # buy don the street atthe grocery store67

# arn them that buying coffee at the grocery store can end in disaster. Grocery storesoften treat their coffee li!e a commodity% focusing on /uantity rather than /uality. # tellthem that # ould much rather buy my coffee at a local roaster or online% but theres


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not alays a nearby roaster and those shi$$ing charges can add u$. Thats hy #msharing some of my ti$s for buying non


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Section + -o. To Im/ro(e 0our Coffee2/erience

-o. To Clean 0our Coffee Maker

When as the last time you cleaned your coffee ma!er6 9ast month6 9ast year6 Ornever li!e the old me6

9imescale% mineral de$osits and leftover coffee oils build u$ in coffee ma!ers%corru$ting the ay our morning bre tastes. Cleaning a coffee ma!er is easy to doand youll notice an im$roved taste in the very ne0t cu$ of coffee you bre ith yourclean coffee ma!er.

Theres many ays to clean a coffee ma!er% # used hite vinegar because it aschea$% effective% earth friendly and # had a bottle of it sitting in my cu$board.

Start by filling your coffee $ot ith one third vinegar and to thirds cold ater.

Eut a filter in your coffee ma!er.

Eour the ater and vinegar into your coffee ma!er. Turn it on and let it go threyour normal breing cycle. =ou may ant to o$en u$ your indos. 'y hole

house filled ith a vinegar aroma.

-fter its done% thro out the filter. # couldnt believe ho many tiny $ieces ofsediments and minerals ere caught in the filter.

;inse the coffee $ot.

#f it as li!e my coffee ma!er and still needs more cleaning% re$eat the ste$sagain.

Once your done ith the vinegar% re$eat the $rocess tice more ith ust coldater to get rid any remaining odor. #f it still smells li!e vinegar% you can run coolater through it as many time as you need.

De$ending on the /uality of your ater% you should clean your coffee ma!er anyherefrom once a ee! to once a month for the best tasting coffee.

#f you dont ant to use vinegar% there are several other alternatives.


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=ou can use to denture cleaning tablets% ust ma!e sure they dissolve before you $utthem into the coffee ma!er. =ou can try citric acid mi0ed ith four cu$s of hot aterand four cu$s of cold ater. -lso% theres coffee ma!er cleaning solutions that you canbuy.

One thing that you shouldnt use% is soa$ to clean your coffee $ot. =ou also shouldnt

$ut it in the dishasher. The soa$ attaches to the oils de$osited by the coffee and canleave the soa$y taste behind.

To clean your coffee $ot% use ice cubes ith a little bit of ater. Sirl the ice and ateraround your coffee $ot. #f you have some really tough stains% try adding table salt. Justusing ice and ater asnt good enough to get all of the stains out of my coffee $ot%but the salt or!ed.

-nother thing to try% is $utting a glass marble in the ater chamber. #t attracts mineralde$osits in harder ater and then you only have to ash the marble once a ee!%

instead of the hole coffee ma!er.

One arning* This isnt a /uic! $rocess. #t too! me over an hour to clean my coffeema!er the first time% so if youre in need of caffeine ma!e the coffee no and clean thecoffee ma!er later.

Guide To Coffee $rinders

#ve been drin!ing coffee for a big chun! of my life% but using a coffee grinder changedit from a morning ritual to an enoyable e0$erience. #f you ant great tasting coffee%sooner or later youre going to have to buy a coffee grinder too.

Ground coffee is $o$ular because it ma!es breing coffee very easy% but the $roblemis that it starts to go stale in minutes. Who !nos ho long it as sitting on the shelfbefore you bought it% so the taste results can be hit and miss% ith more em$hasis onmiss.

Theres to basic ty$es of grinders F blade and burr. #"ve oned both. # started ith a

blade grinder because it as affordable and it got the ob done. 3oever% no that #have a burr grinder% # barely use my blade one.


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Blade Grinders

'r. Coffee :lectric Coffee Grinder ith Chamber 'aid Cleaning SystemH.H from -ma4on

>lade grinders use a cho$$ing method to grind the beans into grounds. Theyreine0$ensive% but their can have lo /uality results. The level of consistency can varyand for the best tasting results% you ant consistent grinds. Theres also the $ossibilityof getting a burnt taste because of friction beteen the blades and beans.

>lade grinders are easy to clean and maintain% so theyre good for basic use and stillan im$rovement over buying regular ground coffee at the grocery store.

Burr Grinders

Theres to different !inds of burr grinders.

'lat Wheel

2lat heel burr grinders one of the best methods of grinding coffee. The beans arecrushed beteen one semi


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Of course% there are some drabac!s. They can be a $ain to clean and can get verymessy. They can also be very noisy. Some models also have $roblems ith beansgetting ammed beteen the ho$$er and the grinding area belo% re/uiring e0tra effortto unam them.

Conical

>arat4a G+ 'aestro Elus Coffee Grinder With Eulse >uttonAH from -ma4on

Conical grinders are the best of the best% hoever they are (usually) the moste0$ensive. #f you have the budget for one and love great tasting coffee% theyre aorthy investment.

They use a conical (cone) sha$ed grinding device hich results in a more consistentgrind. They also s$in sloer than either of the to methods. The result is that theresless $roblems ith friction and static electricity% hich causes grinds to get stuc!.Therefore% theyre a lot easier to clean. -lso% they dont usually have $roblems ithclogging. 'aybe the best benefit is that theyre usually the /uietest of all of the

methods.

-o. To Store 0our Coffee

-lmost as im$ortant as buying the right coffee is storing it the right ay. 2inding thebest ay to store coffee isnt as easy as # thought it as going to be. -s # did research%
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002N6SJB6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=dailycoffee-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002N6SJB6http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002N6SJB6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=dailycoffee-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002N6SJB6


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# found the ansers to be confusing% unreliable and in some cases contradicting ofeach other. 3oever% the more # studied it% the more it became clear that there aresome definite right ansers.

The sim$le and easy anser is that you should store your coffee in an air tight canisterat room tem$erature and out of direct light. >eing e0$osed to air% being too hot or too

cold and light all cause coffee to go stale /uic!er% but that anser is ust a little toosim$le. Theres a lot more to it.

The absolute best ay to get fresh coffee is to buy green (unroasted) beans becausethey can last u$ to a year. 3oever buying green beans means that you have to dothe roasting yourself. #ts definitely not a sim$le solution for most $eo$le. # ant to getinto coffee roasting% but #m nohere near ready to start doing thatIyet.

The second best solution is to buy hole beans. This is something that most $eo$lecan do at home once you have a grinder li!e the ones e discussed in the last

section. Whole beans last longer than ground coffee% generally


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-o. *ot To Store 0our Coffee

Too many $eo$le thin! that the best ay to store your coffee is in the free4er. #ll admitthat # used to be one of those $eo$le.

Storing your coffee in the free4er made sense because # $ut stea!s and fish that # antto last longer in the free4er% so it seemed that it ould also or! for coffee. 3oever% itturns out that storing your coffee in the free4er is one of the orse things that you cando.

The reason that it doesnt or! is because coffee is $orous. Thats a good thingbecause it allos the coffee bean to absorb the syru$s and flavors that create thetaste. 3oever% hen it comes to storing coffee in your free4er% its a bad thing.

The $orous nature of coffee allos it to absorb the flavors and smells from other things

li!e the fro4en stea!s% fish anything else you store in there. There"s a handful of goodflavored coffees out there% but none are fish flavored coffee.

1ot only does it change the flavor% but free4ing also causes it to disa$$ear. 2ree4ingbrea!s don the oils that give coffee its flavors.

#f you needed another reason to not store it in the free4er% the moisture in there causesthe actual coffee bean to deteriorate.

#t ma!es sense because you dont buy your coffee in the free4er section at the grocery

store and Starbuc!s don the street doesnt loo! at all li!e an ice cream sho$ (even ifthere is Starbuc!s ice cream no).

The same goes for your refrigerator% dont store your coffee in their either. Themoisture ruins the coffee and thin! about all of the smells that you have going on inyour fridge F cheeses% vegetables and the leftovers from last nights dinner F note0actly% hat # ant my coffee tasting li!e.

Better Coffee With Better Water

One of the easiest ays to get better coffee% is to use better ater. #ts an easy thing todo% but its a ste$ that a lot of $eo$le s!i$.

Coffee has this bad habit of absorbing any odors or flavors that its near% includingminerals in the ater and chlorine many munici$alities use to treat their ater. Thoseminerals are hat can give your coffee a bad taste.


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stee$ing $rocess. Sloly add in the rest of the ater% leaving enough room to $ut thelid and filter bac! on.

#f you ant% stir ith a ooden or $lastic s$oon to ma!e the coffee stronger.

Ste/ Three 4ut the lid and filter back on%

>ut dont $ush don on the filter yet. 9et it stee$ for three to five minutes. # thin! fourminutes is the o$timal time% three minutes if you li!e your coffee on the lighter side%five if you ant it stronger.

Ste/ 'our 4ush the filter do.n%

Gently $ush the coffee grounds don to the bottom to se$arate them from the li/uid.Give it a short amount of time for the grounds to settle.

Ste/ 'our 4our it into your coffee mu$%

9et it sit for a minute or to% alloing any remaining sediments to filter to the bottom ofyour mug. Eour any e0tra coffee into a thermos or carafe. #f you !ee$ it in the french$ress% itll become over saturated ith the grounds% creating a bitter tasting bre.

Ste/ 'i(e n6oy you fresh tastin$ cu/ of coffee%

'rench /ress Ti/s

1o matter ho coffee is made% great tasting coffee starts ith great tasting ater.sing a ater filter that attaches to a faucet% is a /uic! and easy ay to im$rove yourcoffee.

9eave an inch of s$ace above the aterline for the filter and the $ress. #f you $ut toomuch ater in and $ress don too fast% hot ater can come s/uirting out.

The e0act time the coffee needs to stee$ before the $ress is $ushed don varies

de$ending on the !ind of coffee beans. Eaying attention to aroma is more im$ortant.#nitially% theres the small of a burst of acidity hen the oils are shoc!ed by the heat.The smell is re$laced by a building of the body before the acidic smell returns. Thatshen it should be $ressed don or if youre really good% right before it returns.

Clean you french $ress after your done. >a!ing soda or denture cleaner tablets areto of the most $o$ular ays. se the ba!ing sods to scrub the $arts or soa! the $artsin the denture cleaner tablets.


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;inse hen youre done% ma!ing sure that theres no left over residues from the$revious coffee or the cleaning. Ta!e it a ste$ further and use an ultrasonic cleanseronce a ee!. #tll remove sediment% dirt and oil off hat loo!s li!e a clean french $ress.

#f you li!e iced coffee% try !ee$ing your french $ress over night in your fridge. se coldater and the coffee comes out seet and clean tasting.

Coffee 'or *on7Coffee Drinkers

Since # started DailyShotOfCoffee.com% #ve had many nonra4ilian coffees have some of the same/ualities.

#f they li!e green tea li!e Jasmine >lossom% Sumatra is the region that theyll ant tochec! out.
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/99/tea/http://www.ineedcoffee.com/99/tea/http://www.ineedcoffee.com/99/tea/http://www.ineedcoffee.com/99/tea/


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sing cream and sugar is $erfectly acce$table% but it does hide a lot of the rich flavorsthat contain the true coffee e0$erience% but its still a good ay to start.


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Closin$

Than! you for ta!ing to the time to read this guide. #f you follo these ste$s% you caneasily ma!e better tasting coffee.

#f you run into any $roblems% have any /uestions or ant me to go into more de$thabout a $articular to$ic% feel free to email me via mi!e&dailyshotofcoffee.com.

-lso% you can connect ith Daily Shot Of Coffee via 2aceboo!% Google Elusor Titter.Wherever you"re hanging out% #"m $robably there% tal!ing coffee.
mailto:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/DailyShotOfCoffeehttps://plus.google.com/118288897950037448171/postshttps://twitter.com/shotofcoffeemailto:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/DailyShotOfCoffeehttps://plus.google.com/118288897950037448171/postshttps://twitter.com/shotofcoffee

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