Our coffee travels through many hands before it reaches us. Hands that mindfully plant, prune, tend, pick, de-pulp, ferment, dry, mill, and hand sort the coffee before it leaves its country of origin. But the care doesn't stop there. Once at our roasteries, we must store the green coffee carefully and roast it skillfully before we send it off to you. Now it's in your hands. To enjoy the best of what coffee has to offer, you must be attentive to some brewing basics. Great brewed coffee depends on the following conditions:

Fresh coffee, of course! Coffee is a perishable food product. From the time it comes out of the roaster, coffee goes through chemical changes that break down its flavor. As it ages, the staling process causes a once complex and flavorful coffee to become flat and lifeless. For optimum freshness:

Buy your coffee weekly, in small amounts from a roaster (like us) who can guarantee that the coffee you receive is just hours and days, not weeks and months, out of the roaster. In addition to roasting your coffee to order, we package your coffee in special gas barrier bags with one-way valves that preserve coffee's freshness.

Store your coffee correctly, in an airtight container, in a dry, dark, cool place between 50-70°F. Refrigerator or freezer storage is not recommended. Repeatedly moving your coffee from refrigerator or freezer temperature to room temperature will cause moisture to condense on the beans, leading to a stale cup.

Grind your coffee just before brewing. The structure of the coffee bean acts as a little package to protect coffee's flavor from deteriorating. Once grinding breaks down that package, more of the coffee's surface area is exposed to air and consequently the coffee will stale at a much faster rate. The best grinders utilize flat, opposing blades to grind the coffee evenly (known as Burr grinders).

The Proper Grind Use the correct grind for your brewing method. If your grind is too fine, it will create a bitter brew and if it's too coarse it will produce a weak, unflavorful coffee. The correct grind is determined by how long the water will be in contact with the coffee, so that espresso, with a brewing time of 20 seconds, requires a very fine grind and drip coffee, with a brewing time of around 5 minutes, requires a coarser grind.

Good Water For optimum flavor start with fresh, cold, pure water. If your tap water has off-flavors then so will your coffee. Try a water filter or bottled water. There are several inexpensive pitcher-style filters available.

A Reliable Brewer A malfunctioning brewer can sabotage your best efforts at a great cup. The best brewers:

• Brew between 195-205 degrees F. Some electric brewers do not have enough wattage to reach this temperature and the result is flat, under-extracted coffee. If the water is too hot, you will extract bitter elements and boil off delicate flavors.
• Take 4-6 minutes to complete the brew cycle. The water must spend the correct amount of time in contact with the grounds to extract optimal flavor. Some brewers have a "bypass" control that allows you to adjust how much water actually comes in contact with the ground coffee.
• Saturate the grounds evenly. If you look into the basket of your electric brewer and there are pockets of dry grounds or a pattern of holes where the water ran through, your extraction may be uneven.

A Fine Filter Many people have discovered that they can detect a chemical/papery flavor in coffee made with regular paper filters. Oxygen-bleached filters are now available that do not taint the brew. Or you may want to use a gold filter. Gold filters can be reused indefinitely. Because they allow some of the oils and particles through that paper tends to catch, the resulting brew has the thicker character of French-pressed coffee.

The Right Recipe The right recipe starts with the recommended amount of coffee: 2 tablespoons for every 6 ounces of water. This ratio may be adjusted to taste, but keep in mind that with a weaker extraction the distinctive flavors of the coffee will not be as evident.

Keep it Clean Coffee is oily, if allowed to accumulate, this oil will become rancid and ruin your fresh coffee. Keep your storage container, brewer, espresso machine and grinder clean.

Serve it Fresh Once you've brewed the coffee, serve it right away. If you must hold it, put it in a thermal carafe. NEVER allow the coffee to sit on the burner. This heats the coffee, breaks down the flavors and actually creates new, bad flavors.