How To Make Good Coffee Recipe

When the National Coffee Roasters' Association tells how to make good

coffee the housewife is naturally interested, no matter how fervently

the family may praise her own brew. Coffee is the business of these

gentlemen. They know it from the scientific standpoint as well as

practically. Their opinion as to the best method of preparing it for the

table is, therefore, worth consideration.

They tell us, first of all, that the virtues of the infusion depend

primarily upon the fineness with which the roasted bean is ground.

Careful experiments have shown, indeed, that when pulverized it gives a

larger yield of full strength beverage than in any other shape, so that

such grinding is urged in the interest of economy, as well as from a

gastronomic standpoint.

The grinding, however, must be done immediately before the coffee is

made. Otherwise no little of the delicate and much prized flavor of the

bean will escape.

The method of making the infusion is governed by the solubility of the

various elements composing the coffee. The caffeine and caffetannic acid

readily dissolve in cold water, but the delicate flavoring oils require

a considerable degree of heat. It so happens that water at the boiling

point, 212 deg. F., is twice as effective in extracting these flavors as

when at a temperature of 150 deg. F.

Nevertheless, the usual method of boiling the coffee is unsparingly

condemned by the association. The infusion thus made is very high in

caffeine and tannic acid. It is muddy, too, and overrich in dissolved

fibrous and bitter matters. As most of the deleterious effects of coffee

are due to dissolved tannin, owing to excessive boiling or the use of

grounds a second time, this method of making the beverage is

unqualifiedly condemned.

Steeping--that is, placing the coffee in cold water and permitting it to

come to a boil--is also deprecated. An infusion so made contains less

caffeine, to be sure, but it lacks the desired aromatic flavor and the

characteristic coffee taste.

In fine, the association leans to a method of coffee making known as

filtration. This consists in pouring boiling water once through finely

pulverized coffee confined in a close-meshed muslin bag. The resultant

infusion is one in which the percentage of tannin is extremely low.

There is a medium amount of caffeine, but the full flavor and

characteristic taste are present.