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Current Trending Topics | Brewing Coffee Questions (25), Buying Coffee Questions (22)

January
26,2009

How do you make froth for coffee?

Author | Marc Wortman

Question: How to make coffee with foam on the surface? — Barbara

Answer: The only bad news is that you won’t be able to make froth to serve on top of your coffee without an espresso machine. This froth is typically from heated skim milk. The heat makes sure that this milk won’t cool the coffee when it’s added, and it creates the froth from the surface of the milk. To do this requires steamed water, and drip brewers are not designed to do this. Espresso machines which are often used to make cappuccinos are equipped with a setting to take the water you pour into the machine and push it out of a milk frother as steam. So, the short answer is that you will need to buy an espresso machine. If it’s your first one, I recommend the Mr. Coffee Espresso Machine…by no means top of the line but a great starter with surprising value for what you pay.

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January
26,2009

Can I brew espresso coffee in a regular brewer?

Author | Marc Wortman

Every now and then, a couple questions come in from different folks with the same concern.

Question: Hi Marc: I mistakenly purchased espresso ground coffee for drip coffee makers, instead of regular coffee. Can I use the espresso coffee in a drip coffee maker, to brew regular coffee?? Please advise. Thank you. — Anne

Question: Can you help me… I messed up! My last order from Amazon was accidentally for 5lbs of Jet City Expresso beans. I didn’t even notice it was expresso and read the good reviews and ordered it… a good price. But all I have is a two-cup drip machine, which works quite well when given good coffee. Can I just grind the Jet City Expresso coffee as I would any drip coffee? I can’t afford an expresso machine. — Ed Scott

Answer: Not to worry Anne and Ed, you can go ahead and prepare this coffee just as you would regular coffee. It will have a unique taste that is more bold or pungent, but even at this time, the coffee I have in house is Starbucks Espresso Roast that I prepare in my Cuisinart drip brewer. So good news, you don’t need an espresso machine. In fact, espresso coffee is making reference to how dark the bean has been roasted so in that respect, any coffee can be roasted to be espresso coffee. Learn more about how roast affects flavor.

Let me know how it turns out.

Categorized In | Brewing Coffee Questions
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January
17,2009

How long does pod coffee stay fresh?

Author | Marc Wortman

Question: How long do the 2 oz. vacuum sealed packages of ghirardelli coffee stay fresh? — Maxine

Answer: For those who aren’t familiar with the single-serve coffee makers and pods that are now available, these are sealed pods of ground coffee available in great variety. You pop a pod in the single-serve coffee maker -typically Keurig for K-Cups, or Bunn- and it makes a cup of coffee hassle-free. To answer your question, Maxine, there should be an expiration date on the pod that is based on when the container is sealed after filled with fresh roasted and ground coffee. I’ve heard that it stays fresh up to a year after being sealed, or an additional six months after the expiration date on the pod, which is meant more as a ‘best made by’ date.

Categorized In | Brewing Coffee Questions
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January
17,2009

Does cream make weaker coffee lighter?

Author | Marc Wortman

Question: Hi Marc, I had a debate with my brother over whether strong or weak coffee looks creamier/milkier when cream or milk is added. I said it gets creamier looking when strong, he said weak. Could you resolve this issue? I haven’t had a chance to test it, as I don’t like to waste my grounds on making weak coffee. Thanks. — Kevin M. Lee

Answer: Good question, Kevin. The strength of coffee is a measure of how many ‘coffee solids’ the hot water extracted from the ground coffee. A strong coffee extracted more coffee solids leading to a darker coffee in the cup and so I am inclined to agree with your brother than the same amount of cream added to two cups of coffee will make the weaker coffee lighter in appearance. Once stirred, the coffee is a product of what’s in the cup and by appearance only, the cream is contrasting with the amount of coffee solids dissolved in the water.

Categorized In | Brewing Coffee Questions, Serving Coffee Questions
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January
17,2009

Bad air permeating the coffee

Author | Marc Wortman

Question: Hi Marc, I work in an office and we are all coffee drinkers, but no matter which drip coffee maker we use, the coffee tasts terribel. I make coffee at home and It tastes great. The building we work in is old and we have had heating oil leaks where the smell just permeated everything. Is it possible that the air in our office is bad and it is being absorbed into our coffee makers (plastic housing)and do you have any suggestions on a particular type of coffee maker that would be a better choice? We are at our witts end….Thank you. — Sharon D.

Answer: Sharon, thank you for this rather unique question. What you’re proposing as the problem isn’t out of the question. As I understand it, when a liquid is in contact with air, there is a constant diffusion of the air in and out of the liquid. Coffee is almost entirely water and so the oxygen in the water is going to interact with the oxygen in the air of your office. If you leave an uncovered glass of water on the counter and drink it hours later, you will taste a difference. While the settling of dust accounts for part of it, interaction with the air accounts for the rest. But what to do?

The fact is that if the air is contaminating your coffee that badly, it’s hard to believe you breathe the same air all day every day. A slight tinge would be one thing, but you describe a terrible tasting coffee. If you can smell the oil leak, you’re breathing the oil leak. I don’t suspect the ground coffee is being contaminated so much as the brewed coffee sitting in the pot or in somebody’s uncovered mug. Also, it might have less to do with the air and more with a bad coffee maker. Here are some things to try:

- Your coffee maker makes good coffee. Bring it into the office for one day as the constant of an experiment. If it doesn’t taste the same in your office as in your home, you know the problem is in your office. If it does taste the same, then the office coffee maker is your problem, and you’ll want to read about how to fix bad coffee taste.

- If the problem is in your office, it might still be the coffee maker. Follow the same link as above to make sure the coffee maker itself isn’t the problem. The vinegar cycle should clean out contaminants.

- If it’s a good machine making terrible coffee where your own home machine made good coffee in the same environment, I’d likely buy the story that it’s the air in your office. Aside from wearing a respirator to work for starters, there are only so many solutions. A thermal carafe has less contact area with air than the standard glass carafe. Otherwise, you would need a completely airtight unit and unfortunately, such a device that feeds directly into your airtight mug doesn’t exist yet.

I hope this information helps. Learn more about Coffee Makers and our unbiased review.

Categorized In | Brewing Coffee Questions
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January
10,2009

How much coffee do I need for how many cups?

Author | Marc Wortman

Not the most imaginitive title, but I get a lot of questions about how much coffee to use -either ground or whole bean- depending on how many cups of coffee you want to make. There’s an excellent rule of thumb that is all too unknown, so I’ll tackle a few questions at once by giving you the ratio I like to use and the one I think is most universally accepted.

To me, a mug of coffee is the equivalent to two metric cups. You want a heaping tablespoon of whole coffee beans or a regular tablespoon of ground coffee for each metric cup you’re making. I make the distinction in tablespoon amounts since there is more air in between whole beans than in between the parts of ground coffee.

Or, you want two heaping tablespoons of whole beans or two regular tablespoons of ground coffee for each mug that you’re making. There is approximately five grams of coffee in one tablespoon, and 454 grams in a pound -most coffee is sold by the pound. That means 91 tablespoons per pound. Let’s see how it applies…

Question: To brew 24 cups in a farberware big pot, how much coffee do I use?

Answer: 24 cups means 48 tablespoons, or a little more than half a pound. The only thing I’d add is that many perculator users complain the coffee is weaker than if drip-brewed, so you might want to be extra generous in your tablespoons of coffee and use something closer to one and three-quarter pounds in total.

Question: How much ground coffee to the quantity of water for a 12-cup coffee maker?

Answer: For a full 12-cup pot, that means six mugs. Six mugs means 12 tablespoons of coffee. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup, so instead of counting out 12 tablespoons, why not spare your shoulder the work and simply go with 3/4 cup of coffee. How much water? 12 cups.

Question: How much coffee do I use for 25 cups?

Answer: Not far from the 24-cup question above. 50 tablespoons of coffee -three full metric cups of coffee- or well over a half pound of coffee in total.

Categorized In | Brewing Coffee Questions
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January
7,2009

My Starbucks Espresso Truffle

Author | Marc Wortman

My wife loves the Espresso Truffle from Starbucks. It’s a combination of the trademark Starbucks rich hot chocolate and a shot of espresso coffee, topped off with whipped cream and sprinkled with mocha powder.

I knew we had enough information needed to recreate this drink after having a few $5 samples from the local Starbucks. Want to make it at home? All you need is:

- An espresso machine with milk frother.
- Mocha powder or hot chocolate mix. Starbucks offers a mocha powder, otherwise any mocha powder or a premium hot chocolate mix.
- Espresso coffee beans. Of course, Starbucks offers an Espresso Roast coffee that you can grind fine for your espresso machine or grind regular and drip-brew for a bold coffee. Otherwise, any quality dark-roasted beans. You will be making one shot of espresso per Espresso Truffle.
- Skim milk.
- Whipped cream.

Start boiling some water. Grind your espresso beans to a fine grind. Begin to brew the ground coffee in your espresso machine, including enough water in the cycle to blow steam from the milk frother. Put 2/3 cup of mocha powder in a oversized mug. When your water is boiling, pour 2/3 cup in the mug with the mocha powder. Stir until the powder is completely dissolved into a mocha syrup in the mug. If you’re making two Espresso Truffles, prepare the same in a second mug.

Per your espresso machine instructions, begin to heat 1-2 cups of milk using the frother. You will be heating the milk rather than frothing it so if your espresso machine frother comes with a rubber spout that frothes the milk, remove that rubber spout. Once the milk is very hot, let the espresso brewing cycle complete.

Pour one shot of espresso into each mug with mocha syrup. Top up the mug with the heated milk, leaving enough room for whipped cream. Stir together. Top off with whipped cream and lightly sprinkle with mocha powder.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Espresso Truffle that costs $5 at Starbucks. I’m not suggesting it isn’t worth $5, I love this drink too. But, now you and I can make it at home for much less – and best of all in the case of Starbucks Mocha Powder and Starbucks Espresso Roast, use the same ingredients that they’re using.

Categorized In | Make a Good Cafe Mocha
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