Your Coffee Pot

Good coffee starts with good Kenyan beans. But if you have
a dirty coffee maker, then it doesn't matter how
good your beans are, or how perfect your grind,
or how great the seal or valve on your coffee can or
bag. Coffee makers have a lot of things working
against them and the taste of your coffee. Minerals in the water (even bottled
water) build up on the inside of the maker and then are released into the
coffee. Mold tries to sneak in by building up in the piping and the filter
basket.

Cleaning your coffee pot:
If your pot is
glass, place a quarter cup of crushed ice in the dirty pot. Cut up one whole
lemon and place in the pot. Pour coarse salt in the pot and swish around. The
salt acts as sandpaper would as the ice grinds it against the dirt. The lemon
juice acts as the cleaner.
Ideally, you should
clean your coffee maker/coffee pot at least once a week with a mixture of water
and vinegar to remove the oils that build up over time. These oils change
the flavor of the coffee. You can buy cleaners that are made especially
for coffee pots but the water and vinegar method works just as good. You
must always run clear water back through your pot to rinse it out after you
have done the cleaning process.

Simple
rules:
a) For the best pot
of coffee always start with FRESH, Quality coffee beans. No matter how
good the coffee is, if it is STALE it will be very flat. This will not be
your best pot of coffee.

b) Do you want to
impress someone? Try making that pot of coffee using FRESH CLEAN
water. Remember 98% of a cup of coffee is water so, bad water means bad
coffee. Go for the fresh clean water that you buy and see for yourself
the difference in the taste.

c) Not all of us have
a coffee grinder. But if you are a coffee lover try thinking about buying
one. The experts say to grind your coffee, if possible, immediately
before brewing. Why? Because this will give the freshest taste.

d) The correct
amount of coffee. The biggest mistake that we usually make is often not using
enough coffee. This results in a cup that lacks depth of flavor, and it
does not have that distinctive quality that helps to make each cup
unique. Yep I did say unique. Coffee flavors are always unique
because believe it or not they do all taste different depending on which type
you choose to try.
The experts say a
good rule of thumb is to use 2 level tablespoons for each 6oz cup of
coffee. For a non-coffee drinker this is STRONG, but everyone should
start from here and then make your adjustments to how your tastes are.

e) Warm your coffee
mug before pouring the coffee in. Just run your mug under hot tap water
or let hot tap water sit inside your cup while your coffee is brewing. Pour
out the hot tap water just before you pour your coffee in. This keeps
your cup of coffee hot a lot longer.

f) If you are making
more coffee than you intend to drink it is best to pour it in a thermos to keep
it hot. If you leave your coffee in the pot sitting over your coffee
warmer it will slowly destroy its flavor.
g) Always drink your
coffee freshly brewed. It’s really best not to reheat. I know I
know we all do it but let’s face it........we all know that it dulls the flavor
and gives it a stale taste. It gives it that bitter and acidic
flavor which is not good to taste.