I had a customer at the City of Groton farmers market who said the coffee was bitter when she brewed. When this happens I want to find out what was the problem as there are many factors affecting cups of coffee. Narrowed this down to a water to coffee ratio. Now I use a 16 milliliters to 1 gram as the Golden Cup ratio, but how to convert this to a cup of coffee. Meaning an 8 ounce cup of coffee with a regular coffee machine.
Researched measuring coffee for using the coffee scoop most people have in their house or a tablespoon. The coffee industry has made this complicated but I will never know why. A regular coffee machine liquid output per cup is 5 ounces NOT 8 ounces. Hmmmm, so how to use the ratio above? Well, you don't. You use the coffee machine ratio below:
12 cups | 15 TBSPS of ground coffee | 60 ounces of water |
10 cups | 12.5 TBSPS of ground coffee | 50 ounces of water |
8 cups | 10 TBSPS of ground coffee | 40 ounces of water |
1 cup | 2 TBSPS of ground coffee | 8 ounces of water |
If you have a coffee scoop like the one below, 1 level scoop is 2 TBSPS. Very simple to work with or maybe you have a scoop that came with a can of coffee from forever ago. That scoop is 2 TBSPS as well.
Many of the coffee machines today have so many different options, water bypass, pulsation of the water, etc. Whatever type you have, let the brewing cycle finish before tasting the coffee. I know some of the machines allow the coffee to brew in the machine even though you have taken the carafe off. Just walk away from the machine and let it finish.
A couple of other tips:
If it is a new machine, clean it prior to use. Wash and rinse the water reservoir since it was manufactured.
Freshly ground coffee is always better, especially if you grind it yourself.
Freshly roasted coffee is always better.
Use filtered coffee to remove the chlorine taste out bottled water. Less off taste.
If you are still having bitter coffee troubles, try grinding the coffee more coarse as a finer ground coffee allows the water to sit in the ground longer and over extraction can occur.
I included the link to the article below for you to read more about the coffee to water ratio.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Absolute Bearing Coffee. Peace.
