All those who have been making gourmet coffee recipes for a while have their favourite method of brewing coffee. If you’re new, you might want to try all methods out and pick one that best fits your personal preference. There are many ways of making coffee out there, but we will only discuss the best ones.
The most popular way of making coffee today is the drip method—either using a manual device by heating the water separately, or by using an electric machine. In this method, hot water is poured over the coffee grounds, which are kept in a filter over the carafe. This method is easy to follow and delivers a high-quality cup of coffee.
In te French press (or plunger pot) method, you start by placing the coffee grounds at the bottom of a glass cylinder, pouring hot water over the grounds, allowing them to steep for 2 to 4 minutes, and then dipping a steel-mesh filter down to the bottom of the cylinder. This traps the grounds on the bottom and leaves the brewed coffee on top. Then you simply pour the coffee out of the carafe. This method is popular as it requires no paper filters and all of the coffee beans’ essential oils stay in your cup of coffee, resulting in a rich flavour.
For the vacuum method of making coffee you will need two glass pots that are placed over the other and are connected using a glass tube with a filter. Water is poured into the bottom pot and coffee grounds in the top, and when the water is heated, it rises through the tube and spills over the grounds. The heat is then turned off and the brewed coffee falls back through the tube into the lower pot. This technique makes an Ultra rich cup of coffee, just like the French press method. However, due to the complexity, it is not used too commonly.
For the Neapolitan flip-drip method, you will need two metal cylinders that are connected to each other, one on top of the other, with a filter in between. Water is poured in the bottom container and brought to a boil; then the entire device is turned upside down and the hot water drips down into the empty container through ground coffee in the filter. The coffee collected in this empty container is rich and tastes somewhat in between that produced by the gold filter and that produced by a stove-top espresso maker.
And finally, for the cold-water method, cold water is poured over very coarsely ground coffee in a large container and is allowed to steep for 10 to 24 hours, depending on how strong you want your coffee to be. Then the coffee is filtered into a carafe. You can store this coffee in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. This type of coffee can be drunk hot by using approximately 1/3 cup of concentrate in every cup of hot water, or you can use it in iced coffee as you would extra-strength, chilled coffee made with any hot-water process (see the following on making iced coffee). The result is a smooth, mild cup of coffee which is very low in acidity, as the cold-water process does not extract the oils of the coffee bean as thoroughly as does the hot-water process.
In order to make iced coffee using a standard hot-water brewing method, simply use 1.5 to 2 times the normal amount of coffee, brew it as you normally would, and pour it over ice—either instantly or after the coffee has cooled down to room temperature. It is best to use coffee made with this technique within 1 or 2 hours—no more than 3.
You can store this type of coffee in the fridge using an airtight container, but after approximately 1 day, the freshness and flavour of the coffee deteriorate drastically. Hence, it is always a good idea to brew your iced coffee as soon as you can before drinking it. You may also make coffee ice cubes using this mixture—or with cold-brewed coffee—that will not dilute your cup of iced coffee as regular ice cubes will.
Santa Maria Ground Coffee – Sizes
Credits:
The Big Book of Beverages
Master Making Coffee, Iced Tea, Juices, Infused Water, Alcoholic Cocktails, Smoothies, and Much More with Over 870 Recipes!
Stephanie Bennett,
Marissa Marie,
& John Carter
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