Good point! I've never had to think about that!
I grew up and learned to cook at over 7000 ft above sea level, water takes forever to boil here at 3000.
Good point! I've never had to think about that!
The last time I posted this tip I got shouted down but I was given it years ago by a senior coffee blender who worked for a major independent ground coffee company in the north of England (you'll have heard of it if you know England and tea shops at all).
Ground coffee starts to go over as soon as the package is opened so keeping it next to the kettle or in a cupboard at room temperature will see it tasting vile in a matter of one or two days.
I keep my opened packs of ground coffee in an airtight container in the freezer and use it straight from the freezer. If you put it in the jug or maker before putting on the kettle the coffee will have defrosted by the time the water is at the right temperature to use. Incidentally, the same person told me that the water should be off the boil when pouring it onto the coffee because boiling water burns coffee (this apparently applies to instant coffee too but I don't drink instant so I've never noticed). The flavour of coffee beans also stays good longer if they are stored in the freezer.
Thanks for posting about this. I was told the same thing and have always done it that way (except I kept a small container in the fridge for daily use).
I also have always met strong opposition to this practice.
There is a difference in the end result - IMHO.
Failing that, have you changed blends or makes? Or possibly the manufacturer of your favourite coffee has changed the composition of their blend. I'm sorry to say that I have not come across a fair trade ground coffee available in the UK that doesn't taste horrid and some supermarkets' own brand ground coffee is awful. However, chaq'un a son gout
Or have you changed your dish washing product? I couldn't work out why my tea was tasting horrible all of a sudden until I realised I had bought a new washing up liquid with "lemon" fragrance in it that was lurking on the clean and dry cups. - bleuch!!
I recently went to coffee roasting school to learn...Coffee beans can lose their flavor immediately after roasting if not stored properly. To store it use an airtight container and put it in a cool dark cupboard. You can also buy special containers where you can pump the air out to create a vacuum seal.
I know that the mark-up on coffee is almost a standard anymore.Safeway grocery got noticed when it was discovered that their suppliers were putting superior products into Safeway store brand containers and store brand quality into brand name containers. I am sure all grocery stores do it.
What I said is you buy a package of your coffee but it is full of coffee crap from unknown source.I know that the mark-up on coffee is almost a standard anymore.
If the green coffee costs them $4/lb then they sell the roasted coffee for $14/lb.
It's an automatic easy formula they use....but the bags cost...so does the printing on them. (At times the bags get difficult to obtain) Then there's the labor for roasting as well as building to roast it in. Even EPA regulations to harass the roasters because they vent the fumes (lovely smelling to me) outside. The C0² isn't so good....but gotta crack some eggs to make an omelet.
Then there's delivery costs too.
The big guys (folgers, maxwell, Starbucks and etc) all roast their coffee to just shy of second Crack and then grind and filter the particle size to be perfectly uniform. Not even close to what a specialty coffee roaster will do.
At one time Starbucks had good coffee....today it's crap. They just went to fully automatic machines too making it even worse....Kaldi's and Bongo Java is better at the moment....but not by much. *sigh*