Question: Hello, I live in Nazareth, Pa and just stumbled on your site. I was looking for a way to cut the bitterness of coffee during the brewing cycle. I remember reading somewhere about adding, something, baking soda or whatever and came across your site. I also heard on the radio, Dr. Dean Adale (Not sure how he spells his name) that coffee is actually good for you. I know tea is better for you if you don’t use milk, would you know if that is also true of coffee? I hope not, because I like cream in mine. Anyway, any help with buying affordable beans would be great. Thank you. — Karen
Answer: Hi Karen, Glad you found the site. I’ll answer your questions as you’ve asked them.
Good whole beans are available at a local cafe or online. I recommend staying away from the grocery store which is more for products quickly packaged from the manufacturer to the grocer’s shelf to your kitchen. If a grocery store gave coffee the care of produce (provided some airtight storage), I would change my tune. If you don’t have a local cafe or if Starbucks is your only choice and not your preferred choice, I cannot overstate the benefit of buying coffee online. “Coffee clubs” are a great way to select good coffees to be delivered to you fresh and in a plan customized by you. Click to read about coffee clubs. Click to read about buying coffee online.
A lot has been written about cutting bitterness in coffee. Coffee is a bitter drink, after all, but to cut that down if you enjoy all other aspects of coffee, here are some ideas. Use a coarser grind of coffee or else a paper filter if you are using a mesh filter today. Bitterness in coffee can be attributed to how much coffee solids have been extracted during brewing, and either of these two steps will reduce extraction – albeit potentially at the expense of flavor. Another idea is to stick to medium-color roasts as opposed to the darker roasts, which can seem more bitter. Click to learn more about roast style and flavor. I wouldn’t suggest adding baking soda to the brewing process.
As far as the health benefits of coffee, it’s been debated on both sides. Personally, I believe everything in moderation and while I don’t believe you’ll live longer drinking coffee, I don’t believe there’s any correlation. Milk is probably better for you than cream, only because they have the same dairy benefits but there is more fat in cream than in milk.
I hope I’ve answered your questions, and was happy to hear from you.
