Tips on drinking the best coffee
- Only buy premium quality coffees from cafe-direct.ca
Café-Direct offers you the best coffees from around the world, roasted and grinded just before shipping. You receive your coffees 24 to 48 hours after ordering for Quebec (3 to 5 days in the rest of Canada). - Preserving your Café-Direct coffees
Coffee preservation is a delicate matter as the loss of aroma starts right after roasting and speeds up when the coffee is grinded. That's why you receive your order quickly after roasting.
The best way to preserve coffee is to store it in an air tight and opaque glass or plastic container at room temparature and away from light. Ideally, freshly roasted and grinded coffee should be consummed within 7 to 10 days after purchase. It is strongly discouraged to store coffee in a freezer as humidity will crystalize within the beans and the coffee oils will be affected. If you absolutely have to preserve coffee for longer periods, place the container in the refrigerator instead. - Water quality makes a difference
You should use fresh purified, filtered or natural spring water and not tap water. The oils in coffee are adversely affected by chlorined water and the water's taste can affect your coffee's taste. Further, strongly mineralized or hard water can leave deposits in your coffee maker. If you notice an accumulation of hard water deposits, wash your coffee maker with a solution of water and vinegar and rince carefully. - Water temperature is also important
For French press coffee makers, do not pour in boiling water. Water should only be simmering at the moment of use. The temperature at which coffee starts to be affected by temperaturee is 96 °C. - Choose the correct grind setting for your coffee maker
If you choose too fine a grind, your coffee may be overly bitter. If you choose too coarse a grind, it may be too weak. Do select the correct grind setting for the coffee maker you are using. Consult your coffee maker's documentation or ask for our advice at info@cafe-direct.ca. If you choose to order your coffee as whole beans, when comes time to grind it, only use a stone coffee grinder (electric or manual) and not a blade grinder (which are usually used for pepper and other spices which are much harder than roasted coffee beans). - Permanent conical filters are preferred over paper filters
For home paper filter coffee makers, it is better to use a conical permanent filter over paper filters. Paper filters retain part of the coffee's oils which deprives you of some of the coffee's aroma. With a permanent filter you should use a grind setting of 6 instead of 4. - For a great coffee, use the right quantity
A quantity of 7 grams (1 heaping teaspoon) should be used for every 210 ml cup. For a weaker coffee, use the same recipe but dilute your infused coffee with a little simmering water instead. - Always wash your coffee maker right after use and rince it well
Coffee oils stick and build up on the metal surfaces of your coffee maker or thermos containers and affect the taste of freshly roasted and infused coffees. For Napolitan metal percolators that are not used very often, it is important to wash them before use. - Drink your coffee immediately after infusion
In order to appreciate the full flavor of your cofee, it is preferable to drink it within 15 minute of infusion. If waiting for a new guest or 2nd course, it is strongly recommended to use a thermos container to store the coffee instead of using a heating plate.
