Drip Coffee 101 - Prepare the best possible "Cup of Joe" !

With such an endless and continually expanding variety of coffee brewing methods to choose from, it’s hardly surprising that many people find the whole thing confusing. As such, mention the idea of drip coffee and it’s normal to wonder exactly which brewing process we’re referring to.

One of the simplest and most popular approaches to brewing the world has ever known, drip coffee essentially refers to the use of an auto-drip coffee maker.  The kind of standard go-to you’ll find in millions of homes, offices and restaurants worldwide, where a glass jug sits below a filter suspended by a machine, which automatically delivers the right amount of water to ‘drip’ through into the jug.

But here’s the thing – the auto drip coffee maker is routinely ridiculed by coffee connoisseurs worldwide, entirely without reason. The truth is, drip coffee has the potential to be every bit as good as just about any coffee brewed using any other method.

So if looking to get the very most out of your own drip coffee, here’s how to make it happen:

Choose the highest quality beans

You cannot and will not brew a decent cup of coffee by any means if you don’t start out with the very best quality beans you can lay your hands on. Far too many people assume that when using relatively simple and traditional brewing techniques, it really doesn’t matter if you cut corners on bean quality.  Unfortunately, this immediately guarantees substandard results.

Grind your beans properly

For the vast majority of drip coffee makers, it’s best to grind your beans to a medium-fine consistency. Not too course, not to fine – somewhere along the lines of a consistency that’s just a little finer than granulated sugar. Of course, there’s plenty of room for experimentation, so feel free to try a variety of consistencies to see which works best.

Use filtered water with the right ratio

Filtered water always has and always will make a big difference when it comes to coffee quality. When you think about it, every cup of coffee is made up almost entirely of water – hence the importance of using the highest quality water. As a general rule of thumb, drip coffee comes out best with a ratio of 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground coffee for every 170ml of water – depending on how strong you like it. Again, experimentation is key.

Brew on the second run

As many drip coffee machines don’t reach the ideal temperature quite as quickly as they indicate, it can be useful to brew your coffee on the second run.  Roughly translated, power your machine up and go through the brewing process as normal, though without any coffee in the filter. After this, pour the hot water back into the machine and brew the coffee as normal for a better result.

Remove the pot from the heating element

Last up, always be sure to take the pot itself off the heating element just as soon as the brewing process is complete. The reason being that with many drip coffee makers, the temperature of the element is far too hot and has a tendency to burn the coffee – hence the bitter taste often associated with low-quality drip coffee.

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