Coffee Guides

Making a perfect cup of fresh coffee is easy when you know how!

Arm yourself with a cafetiere or filter coffee machine, some fresh ground coffee, a cup and  don’t forget some milk, cream or sugar to taste.

Follow our easy guide to making the perfect brew and you will be a coffee master in no time!

Coffee Beans

Start with fresh, whole bean Kirkland Signature (or San Francisco Bay) Gourmet Whole Bean coffees, available in 1000g bags.

Water

Brewed coffee is over 98% water. Thus your cup of coffee depends heavily on your water quality. It is important to use fresh, cold water. If tap water in your area is not very good, use bottled water. Never use distilled or soft water. Never use hot water which has gone through your hot water heater.

The world-famous Buena Vista, on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, pioneered Irish Coffee in 1952. It took them many months to perfect this recipe, which is still being used today. Be sure to visit the Buena Vista (www.buenavista.com) whenever you are in San Francisco!

Ingredients (per serving):

• 3-5 oz. Kirkland Signature or San Francisco Bay Gourmet Coffee Beans, made to your taste.
• 1 oz. Irish Whisky
• 1-2 tsp. Sugar
• 1 oz. Heavy cream
• 6-8 ounce Coffee mug or glass mug with handle
• Hot water to warm mug.

Caffeine is a mild natural stimulant that is found in many plant species. Its function in the plant is to serve as a natural pesticide for certain insects that are enemies of the plant. As far as human consumption is concerned, caffeine has many sources, including chocolate, tea, and, of course, coffee. In the US, almost 90% of Americans consume caffeine daily.

All coffees naturally contain caffeine. However, gourmet Arabica coffee beans, such as we use exclusively, contain 40% to 50% less caffeine than the harsher, more common Robusta beans, which are used in commercial canned coffees. Most Arabica coffees contain between 70 and 150 mg of caffeine per cup.

When “coffee cupping”, one of the first thing to look for is flaws - off flavours caused by spoiled beans, poor storage or poor roasting. When coffee is “flawed” you should notice the sour flavour or papery/burlap, etc. flavour at once. If the coffee is not flawed, then there are two basic positive elements to how a coffee cups (tastes): acidity and body.

Acidity is the descriptor of how bright and lively the coffee tastes to you — basically your first impression. It is a good quality, not a reference to sourness or bitterness, both of which are bad qualities.

The following general rules apply to all coffee brewing methods.

To get the best tasting drink, you should start with a ratio of two tablespoons of ground coffee per 6 ounces of water and adjust to your taste. Use the best possible water available. Tap water should be free of any strange flavors, odors or textures. If it is not, then use filtered or bottled water. Avoid distilled or softened water since some minerals are essential to coffee flavour. Tap water should be cold and allowed to run for a few seconds to aerate it before it goes into a maker or water kettle.

Water should be heated to just below boiling (200 degrees F.). For drip brewers, the brew cycle should be completed in 4-6 minutes. Other good methods are the “French Press” and “Vacuum pot” which brew in about 4 minutes. Avoid percolators and electric pots with brew cycles that take longer than 6 minutes. These will over-extract the coffee and cause bitterness.

There are two basic types of coffee trees: Arabicas and Robustas. Robustas are hardy, high-yielding trees that grow at lower elevations in the tropics. They yield low-quality coffee with a harsh astringent taste, so Robustas are generally blended with other coffees to mask their poor flavor. Most gourmet coffee roasters will not buy Robustas.

Arabica coffee trees, however, are delicate trees that yield top-quality coffee. They are grown in high elevations, usually above 3,000 feet, in partly cloudy or shady climates, where the coffee cherry develops slowly. The ripe, red cherry of Arabica coffee trees are harvested by hand, so only the ripest, highest quality beans are processed. Indeed, since coffee trees have cherries that are in various stages of development, this is the only way to insure consistency and quality.

All coffee beans are highly perishable. The lifespan of a newly opened bag of coffee is about the same as a newly opened, fresh loaf of bread. If left exposed to air, it will go stale within a few days. This is particularly true of ground coffee since so much more of a ground-up bean’s surface area is exposed to flavour-robbing air.

Ideally, coffee should be removed from an oxygen environment as soon as its roast is complete. But there is a hitch: fresh-roasted coffee lets off a delicious smelling gas for several days after roasting, but this “gassing off” is powerful enough to burst any package containing the coffee. Historically, roasters would let the coffee “gas off” for several days, or would poke holes in their packages to avoid exploding bags. Both packing practices allowed fresh ground coffee to start going stale.