Great Coffee Doesn’t Happen By Chance

When it comes to making great coffee, unless you are using an automatic coffee machine like the Jura Capresso F8 there is more to it than just setting up your coffee maker and turning it on. The unfortunate fact is that making terrible coffee is much easier than making good coffee! If you want to get the best cup of coffee possible, there are several things you need to do before you pour your first drop.

The first thing to do is make sure you are using cold water in your machine. Water that has already been boiled or that is warmer than room temperature won’t give you good results. The best water is ideally water that has been either filtered or bottled.. This is especially true if your town uses a lot of chlorine in the water, your water is “hard”, or your home has old pipes in it. Nothing can ruin the taste of your coffee faster than bad water!

The temperature of the water is also an essential part in the coffee brewing process. Ideally you want your water to be between 195 and 205 degrees to brew your coffee properly. Changing the water temperature isn’t something a lot of the cheaper coffee makers offer, but if your coffee tastes bitter (water is too hot) or doesn’t seem to have a strong flavor (the water is too cold) you will know why.

However water isn’t the other part of the brewing process that is temperature sensitive. For example, if using a drip filter machine always ensure you pre-heat the pot with hot water before brewing so the coffee isn’t falling into a cold container (which will alter it’s taste).

When it comes to the coffee, it goes without saying that the fresher the better. If your coffee is pre-ground, make sure that you store the coffee in a dark, air tight container (not in the fridge or freezer), and only add the coffee at the last possible moment to the machine. The less time the coffee spends in the open air, the better the result will be.

Regardless of whether you use pre-ground coffee, or grind your own with your own grinder, ensure that you are using the right grind for your machine. Different machines require different levels of fineness – espresso machines require a lot finer grind of coffee than drop filters for example. Refer to the instructions that came with your coffee maker to find out what you should use.

All of this may sound like a lot of work just to product a coffee – and it can be. But if you don’t want to do all the work yourself, you can always use a fully automatic coffee machine like the Jura Capresso Impressa F8. A good quality automatic coffee maker will take care of all the details in this article – filtering the water, grinding the coffee as needed to the perfect fineness, and heating the water to just the right temperature.

Getting the perfect cup of coffee can take some work, but the results are definitely worth it!