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This is first of a series of pages I plan on putting together about brewing coffee. This first article will focus on the getting a great cup of coffee without breaking the bank.

Making a good cup of coffee doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s crucial to start with good quality, fresh roasted beans. Without getting into home roasting, this means either finding a local roaster, or a reputable on-line roaster that can deliver the goods quickly.

Here in Edmonton, we are fortunate in that we have access to at least a couple very good roasters. I’ve been buying beans from St. City Roasters for a couple years, and I’ve been very happy with the coffee’s that they’ve been bringing in. Recently, another roaster opened up, Transcend, and I’ve enjoyed their roasts as well (I really like their organic espresso blend!).

I’ve yet to purchase beans online, so I can’t speak from experience in that regard, but both of the local roasters that I deal with also sell online. One thing to remember is to ask when the beans were roasted, or look for a date on the bag. As the roasted beans get old, they become stale, and lose some of their flavor. I find that the flavor change is really noticeable with espresso, and as beans get older, I either try to use the older beans up using other methods, or just discard them.

Get brewing for around $50

We’re not going to be making a nice shot of espresso here, but we can certainly get a great mug of coffee using a press. Ethiopian Harrar, Ethioian Yirgacheffe, or Ugandan are some of my favorites to start with – either on their own, or various blends of them. Experimenting is half the fun!

The Grind

Now we need to get those beans ground! The grinder is important here, as having your fresh roasted beans ground before bringing them home really defeats the benefits of getting the freshly roasted beans in the first place.

To start – I would remove blade grinders from our options – as it is impossible to achieve any sort of consistency in grind, and it is very easy to actually burn your beans in the process of grinding them.

If you want an electric grinder, there are inexpensive electric burr grinders out there. I bought one from SuperStore, for only $30, bearing SuperStores “President’s Choice” brand. I think that it’s actually a Black & Decker grinder.

Another option is a manual grinder – one that you don’t need to plug in. Prices for these can vary significantly as well, but I found a ceramic burr, hand crank grinder at Mountain Equipment Co-op for only $18.00. It doesn’t grind the coffee particularily fast, or uniformly, but it does the trick – especially on those camping and fishing trips where there may not be a plugin for a 100km!

Let’s brew!

I think that the best choices for brewing a great mug of coffee inexpensively are either with a French press, or with an Aeropress.

My first choice would be the Aeropress, followed closely by a French press – The Aeropress is quick and easy to use, easy to clean up afterwards, and results in a cleaner mug of coffee. The Aeropress retails around Edmonton in the $30 to $40 dollar range. If you need to be able to brew a few mugs at a time, then a french press will likely be a more convenient solution. Another great French press option is getting a Planetary Design thermal mug/press – I have 3 of their insulated mugs, and they are fantastic. They run between $15 and $25.

Let’s make some coffee already!

Making coffee with the Aeropress is pretty straightforward – the package includes a funnel, base, plunger, scoop, stir stick/paddle, filters (a years worth apparently), filter stand, and instructions. I use the funnel to hold the scoop and stir stick. If you don’t have a steady hand while pouring very hot water, use the funnel.

Step 1: Measuring a couple scoops of beans into our grinder. The grind isn’t too critical, but I would avoid making it too fine – this will only make it more difficult to push the plunger down. On the President’s Choice grinder, I set the grind to a click or two finer than the medium setting. And turn on the kettle to boil some water.

Step 2: Place a filter into the holder and screw it firmly onto the Aeropress. I use a bit of caution here, to be sure that the Aeropress is firmly against all edges of the filter, and pour in the fresh ground coffee.

Step 3: Now place the Aeropress onto your favorite coffee mug, and then carefully add the hot water (not boiling!) – if the kettle boils, let it sit unplugged for a minute or two. I start of adding just enough to get the grounds wet… you have to be careful of bloom… which is an indicator of a fresh roast. If you add the hot water too quickly, the coffee will aggressively bloom, and you’ll have hot water and coffee grounds all over. Just go easy, and then stir the grounds up a bit with the paddle. Proceed carefully, adding water up to to an inch or so from the top, and then stir again for a few more seconds. Sometimes if there’s a lot of bloom, I’ll wait for it to settle down, and slowly top up the Aeropress.

Step 4: Carefully insert the plunger and slowly push it down – don’t push too fast, or hard… just slowly but firmly till you get to the bottom.

Step 5: Next you’ll be looking into your coffee mug, and a temptation to pull the plunger out, add more water, and plunge again will come over you. Trust me on this, and DON’T DO IT! I’ve already done this for you – and what typically happens is that the suction created when pulling the plunger back out pulls the paper filter out of place a bit. You don’t notice this as it is completely obscured by wet coffee grounds, and as more water is added to the Aeropress, it all quickly rushes through, overflowing the coffee mug with more hot water and coffee grounds, making a huge mess. At 6:30 AM, this isn’t fun!

Step 6: The coffee that you pressed through the first time is actually pretty concentrated – so just top off the coffee mug with more hot water – and the coffee is ready! If you find it a bit weak, just use a bit more coffee next time.

Step 7: To clean up, just pull out the garbage can, or compost bin, and holding the Aeropress with the filter facing up, unscrew and remove the filter holder (hang onto the holder!), and then flip the Aeropress over, and push the plunger the rest of the way through, dumping the grounds along with the used paper filter.

Step 8: Now just rinse everything under some warm running water, and it’s ready for you when you brew your next mug.

Step 9: Sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of your labour – a mug of fresh brewed coffee that puts any mug of coffee from Tim Horton’s or Starbucks to shame!

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