![](\"https:\/\/chesmar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/How-to-Make-Bette-Coffee-in-Your-Drip-Coffee-Maker.jpg\")
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Your coffee maker seems to work fine, and you rarely give it a second thought, but \u2014 like pizza crusts and clothing \u2014 coffee just seems to come out better when you let the profesionals do it.<\/p>\n
Why is that?<\/p>\n
Well, there are a lot of reasons for it, and we\u2019re going to tell you about some of them here. However, unlike most guides on how to make better coffee, we\u2019re not going to ask you to buy any new hardware. No plungers, no weird beaker things, no special ionic water filtration devices. Just coffee, water, and the drip coffee maker you bought for $25 when the one you got as a wedding gift stopped working.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0most\u00a0<\/em>important aspect of making coffee is the coffee beans, but just barely a tiny bit below that is the water.\u00a0But coffee is so strong and bitter,\u00a0<\/em>you think,\u00a0won\u2019t the coffee overpower whatever water I use?\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n No. No it will not. This is true of any brewed or distilled product, and it\u2019s true of coffee: Good coffee starts with good water. Some places have great tap water, and if that\u2019s true for you, use that. If not, use a filtered water. It will make a big difference.<\/p>\n Coffee goes stale quickly, which is why the best cups of it are going to have been made from beans sourced as locally as possible. Find a local roaster if you can, and buy whole beans (grinding accelerates the degradation process). Since you\u2019ll lose a little flavor using a drip coffee maker, it\u2019s a good idea to avoid light roasts, since they\u2019ll come out too weak at the end of the day. And don\u2019t grind your coffee until you\u2019re ready to brew it.<\/p>\n The strength of your coffee is largely determined by the speed of the extraction process \u2014 the hot water extracting the flavors from the coffee grounds. You can regulate this by varying the coarseness of the grind. A fine grind will slow down this process, resulting in a more robust brew. But don\u2019t overdo it or you\u2019ll wind up with something too bitter. It works the other direction, too. Too coarse a grind and you wind up with weak coffee. Do some experimenting to find out how you like it and how your particular machine responds, but in most drip coffee makers, you should aim for something about the consistency of sand.<\/p>\n This is a matter of personal taste, but you\u2019d be surprised how many people are, like, not even in the ballpark when it comes to the proper ratio of water to coffee grounds. Somewhere between one and two tablespoons per six ounces of water is a good place to start. You can adjust from there, but go ahead and try the two tablespoons and see how you like it.<\/p>\n The biggest issue with drip coffee makers is getting the water temperature right. What you want is 200 degrees, give or take a few degrees on either side of that. A lot of drip coffee makers have a hard time getting that hot quickly enough, resulting in a bitter brew. One way around this is to run the water through your coffee maker once without any grounds in it, in order to heat up the machine. You still probably won\u2019t nail the temperature just right, but you\u2019ll be closer, and like in horseshoes and hand grenades, close does kind of count.<\/p>\n When the coffee is done brewing, remove it from the machine and put it in your cup. If there is leftover coffee, which seems likely, pour it into a carafe if you have one. The longer it stays on that little heating pad thing, the more burned and bitter tasting it\u2019s going to get.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s about it. It doesn\u2019t take a lot of extra effort, just a little know-how to make a better cup of coffee at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Your coffee maker seems to work fine, and you rarely give it a second thought, but \u2014 like pizza crusts and clothing \u2014 coffee just seems to come out better when you let the profesionals do it. Why is that? Well, there are a lot of reasons for it, and we\u2019re going to tell you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Buy Good Beans<\/h2>\n
Get Your Mind Right, Grind Right<\/h2>\n
Ratios Ratios Ratios<\/h2>\n
Heat Save<\/h2>\n
Remove After Brew<\/h2>\n