Hellomy Foodie Friends!
I have always loved a great cup of coffee. Growing up, our home was always filled with the aroma of coffee percolating. Over the years, I have fallen more in love with coffee. Having a great tasting cup of coffee in the morning is an important start to my day. How many of us have conversations based around “meeting for coffee?” Coffee can become a hub for connection. Many of our personal bonds began with a cup of coffee. I know that I savored every moment I had with my mother in our coffee-cup conversations, getting advice and swallowing in her words of wisdom. A cup of coffee shared with a friend or family member is time well spent. When you sit with a person around a cup of coffee you are not distracted by what is around you. You are just with a person sitting around a cup of coffee and talking. It is probably among the most valuable moment and conversation you can really have, because it really stimulates your mind by offering that opportunity to connect with a person.
We all like our coffee a certain way. When it comes to coffee, many coffee drinkers attest to the benefits of fresh ground coffee. Flavor is a vital factor in whether we genuinely enjoy a cup of coffee or not. Grinding coffee beans may seem like an extra step, but it helps to create a café’-quality cup.
Why Grind Beans at Home?
Grinding fresh whole coffee beans just before brewing will protect the aroma of your coffee and ensures the rich full-bodied taste stand outs. Ground coffee interacts with the air around it and within hours loses a great deal of flavor. The longer the ground coffee is exposed to air, the more aroma will be lost from your brewed cup of coffee or espresso
Only grind what you need now. Don’t grind for the whole week!
Once the beans are out of airtight packaging, keep them in a dry, dark container with a tight closing lid.
There are three different coffee grinding methods: conical burr grinders, disk burr grinders and blade grinders.
Conical Burr Grinders preserve the most flavor and can grind very fine with the highest consistency. The intricate design of the conical steel burrs allows for a high gear reduction to slow down the grinding speed below 500 rpm. The slower the speed the less heat is imparted to the ground coffee thus preserving the maximum amount of aroma. Due to the wide range of grind settings, conical burr grinders are ideal for all types of coffee equipment such as espresso machines, drip coffee makers, percolators, French press and can even grind extra fine for the preparation of Turkish coffee.
Burr Grinders rotate at a considerable faster speed of 10,000 to 20,000 rpm and create a bit more warmth in the coffee than conical burr grinders. They are the most economical way of getting a consistent grind in a wide range of applications. They are ideal for drip coffee makers, percolators, French press and well suited for most pump espresso machines. However, they do not grind as fine as conical burr grinders and are not as quiet.
Blade Grinders are suitable for drip coffee makers and percolators. They also perform well for grinding spices and herbs. The blade rotates at very high speeds of 20,000 to 30,000 rpm thus heating up the ground coffee more than burr grinders and also creating a bit of coffee dust. That coffee dust can clog up the fine mesh of the metal baskets used in pump espresso machines. The advantage of blade grinders is they are inexpensive and easy to clean with little maintenance.
If you love coffee, then try grinding your own beans and make that special cup that you can share with someone over a conversation. Stop by Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery Store, located at 33 Railroad Place to check out various options for grinding your coffee beans. Remember my Foodie Friends: “Life Happens in the Kitchen.”
Take Care, John & Paula
