| Coffee Preperation |
|
Quick tips brewing the best cup of Sono Coffee at home.
1. Grind beans just before brewing.
2. Use fresh, cold water, drawn from a faucet that has been allowed to run a few seconds, or use bottled spring water. 3. Use about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of ground coffee per six-ounces of water. 4. Be sure your brewing equipment is clean and free of mineral deposits. Rinsing with vinegar breaks up build-up. 5. Avoid overboiling your water, which produces a flat-tasting cup of coffee. Instead, bring the coffee to a quick boil, then let cool a few seconds. 6. Sono Coffee is best brewed at 195 F to 200 F. 7. Remember to warm your cup or mug before you pour in your freshly brewed Sono Coffee. Why is coffee storage so important?
Coffee beans part of a living plant, and as such, have a limited shelf life. Like most organic products, you can increase coffee beans life by storing them properly. More importantly - at least to most coffee enthusiasts - proper coffee storage preserves the flavor of the coffee. Coffee beans contain volatile oils - chemicals that give coffee its characteristic flavor. Those oils are released by the roasting process, and decay quickly once the coffee beans have been roasted. Grinding the coffee beans speeds up the flavor loss expedentialy. Because of the difference in the way that those oils behave, there are different methods of coffee storage that are best for coffee at the different times in its life. To get the absolute best flavor from your coffee, it should be brewed within two weeks after roasting, and immediately after grinding. In fact, coffee beans are at there peak flavor about 48 hours after being roasted. This gives the oils time to come to the surface of the coffee beans. If you buy your coffee as fresh whole roasted coffee beans, you can make a point of looking for the date that the coffee was roasted - but you’ll seldom find it (at www.sonocoffeebeans.com we only roast your coffee the day we ship it to you so when you recieve it the coffee beans are at there peak freshness). How to store your freshly micro-roasted Sono coffee beans.
Here are some tips on coffee buying and coffee storage from sono coffee and other coffee experts that will help you get a great tasting, fresh cup of coffee every time. The first rules of proper coffee storage have nothing to do with containers or temperatures. They have to do with how you buy your coffee. 1. If you can, buy from a local roaster who will tell you when the coffee was roasted. Then you know that you’re starting with fresh coffee. 2. Buy coffee in vacuum sealed bags or cans. Those lovely self serve coffee bean displays with a dozen different varieties of coffee beans are pretty to look at - but the bins allow air to attack the coffee beans, and you have no idea how long the beans have stood there. 3. Buy only a two week supply of coffee beans at a time if possible. After two weeks, even freshly roasted coffee will begin to lose its flavor, but will still be pretty good for 30 days. Coffee Storage Tips
When considering coffee storage, keep in mind the two main enemies of fresh coffee flavor - air and moisture. Your coffee storage solutions should prevent either from getting at your coffee beans. 1. Don’t store ground coffee. Buy your whole coffee beans, and grind it when you’re ready to brew. If you do buy ground coffee for the convenience, store it at room temperature in an airtight container after it’s been opened. A ceramic canister with a vacuum seal is a good choice - but avoid clear glass. Sunlight and heat are not good for your coffee. If you store your coffee in a bag make sure it has a one way degassing valve because fresh coffee will degass and cause the bag to blow up and possible burst. 2. Store up to a one week supply of whole coffee beans in an airtight canister at room temperature. You can use those pretty ceramic canisters, but they’re really not necessary. Any canister that you can seal with an airtight seal is fine, including the can that you bought it in. 3. If you find yourself with more coffee than you’ll use in one week, you can store up to another week’s supply in the freezer - but you should take some precautions to keep the air and moisture away from it first. Here’s how to store coffee safely in your freezer: - Put the beans in an airtight canister. - Or - put the beans in a zippered plastic storage back. Whoosh out all the extra air, or use a straw to suck it out. Then wrap the bag in one or two layers of plastic wrap and finish up with a layer of aluminum foil. - Either way, once you take the canister or package out of the freezer, don’t put it back in. Refreezing your coffee will only dehydrate it and hasten the flavor decay. To your best coffee experience, Josh & Sarah Schrock and Jeremiah & Kassandra Reynolds www.sonocoffeeshop.com
v |