How to Make Better Tasting Coffee

Here are six suggestions that can improve the taste of your coffee

1. Coffee/Water Ratio. Regardless of the brewer you are using start with 10.7 grams of ground coffee (about 2 heaping tablespoons) for every 6 fluid ounces of water. Adjust up or down to taste.
2. Water Use high quality filtered or bottled drinking water. Low quality filters leave chlorine and bitter chemicals in the water. Do not use chlorinated, distilled, reverse osmosis or water softener water.
3. Temperature Hot coffee is best brewed at 200 ± 5 F°. Check the temperature of the water in your brewer with a meat or other thermometer. Automatic coffee brewers have thermocouples that wear out quickly and produce thin, sour, tasting coffee. Cold brew coffee is brewed at room temperature or below.
4. Grinder Great coffee is brewed from evenly ground beans. Uneven beans over and under extract providing sour and acidic flavors. Use a conical burr grinder. Replace the burrs if the grounds are not even.
5. Storage Fresh roasted coffee can keep its flavor if kept in air tight bags in the freezer. Grind and brew the coffee frozen. Coffee beans stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator go stale quickly.
6. Clean Coffee grounds have oil that stays in the brewer and creates sour, fishy, tasting coffee. Clean your coffee equipment with hot soap and water. Automatic brewers build up mold and fungus in the water pipes. You should periodically clean an automatic brew by pouring white vinegar into the water reservoir and running a brew cycle.