Fill Those Coffee Cups and Mugs!

Here’s some tips on how to fill your coffee cups and mugs with great tasting coffee!

Good coffee isn’t as easy as percolating water through coffee grounds. Bad coffee, of course, is a cinch to make. But if you want the tastiest and freshest java for your morning wake up call, you need to take certain precautions before it even hits your coffee mugs.

Using vintage coffee cups can be fun, but the flavor is really in the making so you want to start with fresh cold water in your coffee maker. Steer clear of using water from the hot tap or water that has already boiled. For the best results in your coffee cups, fill your carafe with bottled or filtered water, especially if your home has old plumbing. Old pipes can leave an unpleasant flavor in your coffee mugs. This will also be the case if you live in an area that heavily chlorinates its tap water or has very hard water.

Make sure you use the perfect temperature water or you won’t enjoy sipping from your favorite coffee mug. The best temperature for brewing tasty coffee mugs is between 195 degrees and 205 degrees. If the water is too hot, it could leave a bitter taste in your mouth when you have these coffee cups. Water that is too cool, on the other hand, won't suck out all of the flavor from your grounds, leaving no flavor in your mouth after a few coffee mugs.

Get the optimal water temperature by letting your water wait for a moment after it comes to a boil. For your typical drip coffee machines, you can get a similar effect by pre-heating the pot. Do this by pouring hot water into the empty carafe, which will warm it, and then dump this water out to start brewing. Eventually you’ll have a perfect cup of coffee to fill up coffee cups for the whole family.

Each coffee machine is particular so you need to use the right grind for your machine in order to get great coffee. There is no one all-purpose grind. You need to choose your coffee grinds from the two main groups, depending if you are using a press pot or an electric machine to fill your coffee cups. For press pots, you’ll want to grind your own beans for about 10 second in your typical, inexpensive blade grinder. This will leave your grinds at a medium to coarse consistency and make for delicious coffee mugs. For electric brewers and other drip machines, you’ll need to grind your own beans for about 15-20 seconds. This will result in a medium to fine grind, not to mention perfectly steamy mugs of coffee.