tips

Creating a great tasting cup of coffee is simple if you follow a few basic rules.

The importance of a good cup of coffee cannot be underestimated. It can signify the relaxing and fulfilling end to a satisfying meal or the awakening of tastebuds first thing in the morning.

Either way preparing a good cup of coffee should be easy — you're simply combining ground beans with water until the brew is drinkable. But the variations in technique are almost infinite — and the quality depends on your knowledge. Different styles of coffee require different techniques, selection of the best water, the optimum use of milk and the best way to store your favourite coffee. Here are a few tips to help you achieve the superb coffee taste you deserve.

The fresher the coffee, the better the taste! Air, light and heat all contribute to making coffee go stale. It is therefore important to keep coffee in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Coffee should not be refrigerated or frozen as it can get damp and may develop harmful frost. Only refrigerate coffee if there is no suitable alternative storage place and remove as much air and moisture from the coffee bag as possible.

Most of your cup of coffee is made up of water, so it makes sense to ensure that your water is pure. Tap water contains impurities so ideally you should either filter your tap water with a carbon filter or use bottled water.

Do not boil the water. Coffee is best made with water that has not boiled and is slightly below boiling point.

Use coffee that is ground specifically for the brewing method you use. Different brewing methods require different grinds of different coarseness. If you use coffee grounds too fine for your brewing method, you will experience over-extracted, bitter sludge. Too coarse and the coffee will be weak and watery.

Generally speaking, the longer the water is in contact with the coffee during the brewing process, the coarser the coffee should be. Espresso uses the finest grind while plungers use a medium to coarsest.

If you use a variety of brewing methods, for example a stove-top at home and plunger in the office, grind your coffee in separate batches to suit.

Use the correct proportion of coffee and water for the number of cups you are serving. Use 7g (¼oz) of coffee, which is one coffee scoop or one heaped tablespoon per cup — and note that this is ‘per cup’, not ‘per mug’. Use a kitchen measure to determine how many real cups you are making in order to know how much coffee to use.

It is important to experiment with your equipment to know the perfect grind and quantities of coffee and water to use. Each piece of equipment varies slightly, so you should experiment to find the perfect grind and quantities for your particular equipment.

• Fresh Purely Blue Coffee
• Pure water
• Correct grind
• Correct quantity