Ten Tips for Making Tomorrow's Coffee the Best Ever

10.Proper brewing technique
With the exception of a few brewing techniques, there really isn't a wrong way to brew coffee. It's just a matter of finding what you like in your cup, pairing it with the proper brewing method, and making a proper cup of coffee. Follow the rest of the tips below to get the most out of your coffee.
9.Do not burn
Heat is one of the many factors that kills coffee. If you want to instantly kill a good cup of coffee, burn it. Use boiling water and you'll find yourself drinking a rather bad cup. Use around 200 degree F water.
8.Do not let sit or reheat
Just like coffee beans, a cup of coffee can go stale. Coffee only lasts about twenty minutes. If your cup is luke-warm or cold, dump it and make more coffee. Don't reheat it. Reheating destroys the flavors and imparts acidic, bitter notes to the cup.
7.Proper grind
Different brewing methods require different grind settings because the brewing processes vary. A press pot coffee should be coarse, while an automatic drip should be finer. Get that backwards and you'll have an odd tasting cup of coffee. Understand which grind setting is the proper one for you and grind accordingly.
6. Grind fresh
To artificially age your coffee, grind it and let it sit. You'll have a pile of lackluster coffee grinds in minutes. It's that simple. This is because once ground, you've increased the surface area of the coffee by multiples, and it's all touching the air, oxidizing and deteriorating. It's dying. Even if it is immediately packaged and sealed, you'll eventually open that bag, and chances are, you won't use it all that morning.
5.Clean equipment
Coffee mugs do not need to be seasoned. Wash it. And everything else that your coffee touches. Word of warning: don't use strong cleaning liquids unless you like a lemony scent.
4.Fresh beans
Like most food items, coffee has a shelf life. It stales and loses its character, body, aromatics, and flavor. When possible, purchase smaller amounts of coffee that can be used within x days. If you prefer to buy in bulk to save on shipping or to avoid an extra trip to the store, keep the coffee in a dry, cool place and avoid exposing it to the air. Portion a large bag of coffee into smaller bags to avoid exposing the entire lot every morning.
3. 8-10 g per 6 ounces of water
Too little coffee and you'll brew a cup that is overextracted (bitter). Too much coffee and you'll brew a cup that is underextracted (weak or flat).
2. Good water
Coffee is 99% water, so it stands to reason that if you use poor quality water, your coffee will be bad. A simple rule of thumb is that if you don't like how your water tastes, don't use it to brew your coffee. A more complex rule of thumb is to use good water that contains minerals. Bottled (drinking or spring) water usually has the proper mineral content. Distilled or reverse osmosis water does not.
1. Buy from trusted source
Whether you buy online or from a local retailer, know you coffee by knowing your seller. Do they make transparency a priority, or do they hide behind generic coffee terms (i.e. this is our Colombian and that's our dark roast)? By getting as much information about the coffee, you can locate the knowledgeable sellers who are more likely to invest time and energy into sourcing good coffee and roasting it to perfection, and thus, allowing you to make a better decision on your next coffee purchase.