If you've been paying attention, you have great water and fresh coffee. Now the question is how to put the two together for a great cup of coffee. This is where I've seen things go off the rails, and it has frequently happened to me too. This is where you should have something to write on and write with. You'll want to keep notes on how much water to how much coffee you put together and make adjustments until you get the taste you're looking for. But where do you begin?
We're going to focus on simple drip coffee for now. It's the most common, easiest way (other than that single-serve stuff - we'll come around to discussing the infamous "k-cup" revolution in a later post) to make coffee at home.
If you're grinding your coffee just before brewing (as I recommend), then you've secured a grinder and figured out it's settings. It probably has a setting for the number of cups. But I've never found them to be accurate. Your best friend here is going to be a scale. Yes, a scale. I've made a couple of recommendations here including one that looks nice on the counter and one that folds to take on the road. You'll need this because now matter what one tells you about "x number of rounded spoonfuls" you'll never get it either accurate or consistent from one brewing to another. So get yourself a scale.
A simple way to think about this is to multiply the number of cups desired by 10 to get the number of grams. It's not exact, but a good place to start. For example, for 8 cups, use 80 grams of coffee. If it's too strong, reduce the amount of coffee by 5-10 grams at a time. Remember, coffee is personal, so this is just a guide. Create your own proportions to match your own taste buds and you'll be well on your way to enjoying a consistently great cup of coffee.
