True Brew (Good Eats)

True Brew is the 7th episode of the second season of Good Eats. It is the first of several episodes that focus on brewing.

Plot

After hearing people say the coffee they've been brewing is bad, Alton gives many tips to ensure that you can have a great cup of coffee at home.

Why It Rocks

1. Rather than a recipe, Alton gives several easy guidelines to make a great cup of coffee at home.
2. Visits a roaster to see the process of how coffee is prepared.
3. Shows the different roast levels of coffee, from light, medium, dark, and Italian.
4. Explains that the less coffee you use the more bitter the coffee due to the coffee being over extracted.
5. Explains how caffeine works.

Bad Qualities

1. Reason number 1 in WIR can also count as a bad quality since there is no real recipe to learn.

Coffee Tips

1. Buy your coffee locally if possible.
2. If it comes in a sealed bag, opening it will make the bag cease being a suitable vessel. Immediately store the beans in an airtight container, opening once a day to let CO2 out unless you have a canister that has a one way valve (Grust owns one). This should allow you three months of shelf life.
3. If possible, grind your coffee before you brew.
4. Water is the most important ingredient. If your water tastes like crap, so too will your coffee. If needed, use filtered water, but not distilled.
5. When using a manual coffee maker like a french press, the best temperature is 190 to 205 degree, just off the boil. The best way to achieve this temperature is to bring your water to a boil and wait 30 seconds before pouring.
6. 2 TBSP ground coffee plus 6 oz. water = 1 perfect cup of coffee.
7. When using a french press, add a pinch of salt to counter some bitterness (This tip wasn't used in this episode but used in Another Man Food Show: Breakfast (Good Eats).
8. Bur Grinders are infinitely superior to normal coffee grinders as it uses teeth grinders for uniform pieces (Again not in this episode but used in AMFS:BF).