As American’s taste pallets change and become more demanding for better quality tastes, a surge of gourmet products have gained the spotlight. Iced coffee is one of these specialty treats in which the demand keeps rising, especially during the summer time. According to the National Coffee Association, the percentage of Americans who drink iced coffee increased 9% from the year 2003 to 2004. But how does one make iced coffee like the coffee shops? If you have not tried to make it yourself without proper direction, consider yourself lucky, as most people give up because the quality of home made iced coffee is no where near comparable to that of a coffee shop’s. In this article, we will write about three easy methods to use to produce great, coffee shop tasting iced coffee at home.
Important For All Methods It is important that for all the methods listed below that you use dark roasted coffee beans to make your iced coffee.
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When one makes a cup of drip coffee, it is easy to figure out how this machine brews the coffee. Water is pumped from a reservoir into the coffee grounds. This water is then filtered by a paper (or gold) filter and drips in to the carafe. The carafe is sat on a heated plate, which in turn heats up the coffee within the carafe and we have coffee!
Espresso on the other hand is a different beast. Being able to compact the equivalent of one cup of coffee into one shot of espresso requires a different brewing mechanism.
The Basics of Espresso
Espresso machines need the coffee to be ground much finer than the grind of drip coffee. The ground coffee should look and feel like sugar. But be careful: coffee which is grinded too fine will cause the espresso to come out slowly. This results in a bitter cup of espresso.
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Brewing the perfect cup of coffee can be done by anyone. Knowing how to do brew coffee properly will allow you to enjoy your cup and allow for the natural tastes and flavors to come out.
Preparation
A clean machine
You will want to make sure that your coffee maker and pot are clean.
Brewing
Cold, fresh water
Using cold and fresh water from the start will insure that your coffee tastes good. Coffee is made up of mostly water, therefore this is a key step. Use a clean glass to pour the water into the reservoir. Do not taint the water by using the carafe to pour the water.
Premium coffee beans
Using premium coffee beans will give you the freshest and more flavorful tasting pot of coffee as well. Your beans should be stored in an air tight container. They should only touch air when they are being grinded and then promptly placed into your coffee machine.
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