Monday, March 19, 2012

Good Coffee Part 1: Water.

Hey, Jon. Why do you call this blog Java Joint and never talk about coffee?


Actually, this question was never asked, but I've been wanting to write something about coffee. So, in honor of my customers who ask me how to make coffee taste as well as it does at the shop, I will be writing a few short posts over the next few days about how to make the very best coffee at home. 

This is of my life’s primary rules: there is no excuse for bad coffee!
There is no need to buy the most expensive coffee machine in the store.  You can make a great cup with something as simple as a press pot, or a pour over filter (actually, these simple methods are the ones recommended most by coffee professionals) if you take care of four factors: Water quality, coffee quality,  grind, and proportion.

So, here is the first entry. It's a few comments about quality water which is really very important to making good coffee. I do not exaggerate this point.

Coffee is 90% water, so, to put it simply, nasty tasting water is going to make nasty tasting coffee.  If you happen to live in a community with good tasting water, you are already lucky. If not (my local water has a distinct chlorine taste), filter your water. It works. Your favorite coffee shop or espresso bar has a commercial grade water filtration system and water softener tank in the back of the house (yeah, these babies cost thousands of bucks) for good, clean tasting consistent water. A decent, inexpensive home water filter will give you pleasing tasting drinking water, as well as great coffee.  I tried bottled water for a few years and stopped because of the long term cost. I was wasting money every week.

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