With close to 30 years of experience in the coffee and tea business, Bewley’s master coffee roaster Paul O’Toole has created some preparation tips and techniques to help you enjoy real fresh coffee. You can find roast and ground coffee in packs in nearly every supermarket across the country, so why not give it a try and enjoy a real coffee experience. Choose coffee that is 100 per cent Arabica, which is the highest grade of coffee available.
Once you have your coffee the next thing to do is to get yourself a good quality coffee plunger pot (cafetiere ). These are available in good department stores.
For coffee served in a cafetiere:
Like tea, always pre-heat the pot with hot water. You should heat the cups too.
Most people use a typical eight cup cafetiere (three mugs ). The actual recommended weight for that size of pot is 42 grammes which equates to six dessert spoonfuls. So, if you are brewing a half pot use three dessert spoonfuls.
Never pour boiling water onto ground coffee as it scalds the coffee and spoils the taste. Wait a minute after your kettle boils before pouring water into the pot.
Give the coffee a good stir and place the plunger on top of the cafetiere, but do not press down the plunger yet.
Allow the coffee to rest a little while (three to four minutes ) then press down the plunger gently. Pour the coffee into warmed cups and enjoy.
Experiment—find the taste you like best using varying amounts of coffee and water.
Always use fresh ground coffee that you opened no longer than two weeks ago.
Once you open your pack of coffee, store it in a sealed airtight container. Coffee should never be stored in a fridge as it adds moisture to the coffee and steals its flavour. Always drink coffee fresh. Microwaving your old coffee does not work well. Neither does reusing the spent grounds.
