Welcome to Coffee

Brewing Great Coffee

Want some tips on how to brew a great cup of coffee? Follow these easy tips and your coffee will be the best in town:

1. Make sure you have a good coffee maker. Most people in the United States today have automatic coffee makers. You put the ground beans into the top in a filter and then put water into the machine. Turn it on, the water heats up and then drips through the filter into the carafe. Getting a good coffee maker that works properly is one of the best ways to brew good coffee.

2. Use cold water. The component that heats up the water in the automatic coffee drip runs on temperature. Use cold water so that it will heat up properly and make a better cup of coffee.

3. Keep the coffee maker clean. Wash the carafe and top part in the dishwasher. Every month or so, run it with some white vinegar that will clean it out and allow it to brew better coffee.

4. Use fresh coffee. If you do not have a coffee grinder, no worries. You can grind the coffee yourself in the store. Or, you can just purchase already ground coffee that is vacuum packed. Coffee has a long shelf life, but in order to get the best taste for your coffee, use it within a month. This may entail buying smaller cans if you do not brew a lot of coffee.

5. Use filtration water. If you have hard water, make sure that you use filtered water to make your coffee. Using hard water to make coffee will not only clog up the machine, but will also make a poor cup of coffee.

By using good coffee beans that are freshly roasted with a good coffee maker and fresh, cold water, you can brew a good cup of coffee. You do not have to buy the most expensive coffee in the store as long as you brew it properly.

Serve coffee hot and do not leave it sit for more than two hours. If you allow coffee to sit and then serve or, or attempt to re-heat it, it will taste bitter. In order to serve a good cup of coffee to guests or to yourself, you should serve it right away and never let it sit for hours.

Although coffee makers that allow you to time the coffee for the morning or make it in a matter of a minute are convenient, you will get a better brewed cup of coffee if you use fresh water and wait ten minutes for the coffee maker to work.

Percolators can still be purchased. They take about 20 minutes or so to work. Because they take longer than automatic drip coffee makers, they are not used that often, but they do have the ability to make the best cup of brewed coffee.

Direct trade coffee gains ground; Fair Trade exec calls it 'doomed to be small'

About half of the green coffee that spins and pops in Mark Barany's roaster in Bellevue comes from farms he knows. Barany (in photo by Seattle Times photographer Steve Ringman) has not visited them yet. His roastery and Seattle cafe, Kuma Coffee, are just a few years old and do not throw off lots of cash and free time for trips abroad.

SOFTS-Arabica coffee ends at 13-yr top, sugar mixed

SOFTS-Arabica coffee ends at 13-yr top, sugar mixed

Seattle's Best Coffee Hits 30,000 Venues

Seattle’s Best Coffee reached its distribution goal this week. The Starbucks-owned premium brand is now available at 30,000 venues nationwide, including Subway Restaurants, AMC Theatres, Alaska Airlines and Royal Caribbean cruises.

Direct trade growing among coffee bean buyers

A growing group of coffee roasters have become disenchanted with the Fair Trade model and think they can do better. Known as direct trade, their movement is small and does not have uniform definitions or guidelines. Customers often have to take the roaster's word for it that growers were paid fairly.

Coffee staple in cowboy life

I don’t speak until I’ve had some coffee in the morning. And I don’t want any of that fancy schmancy latte or whatever you call it. I want regular store-bought Folgers, thank you very much. They say coffee won the West. According to my cowboy...