How to make coffee, starting with gourmet coffee beans.

If you want to learn how to make coffee, it's not complicated. But there are a number of factors you should be aware of.First, let's look at how to make coffee with the most popular of all coffee makers - the drip brewer.
Drip brewers are the most commonly used coffee makers and can be found in most households. They make a decent cup of coffee, although you might want to stay away from the lowest price range. The problem with cheaper drip brewers is that they don’t heat the water to the correct temperature, nor do they do a very consistent job of spraying the hot water over the coffee grinds.

More tips on making gourmet coffee - First, buy good coffee beans

“Good” can be a subjective term as everyone’s tastes and preferences differ.
But if, for instance, you like a medium roasted Colombian blend, buy quality beans from a reputable supplier.
In one regard, making gourmet coffee is the same as making a fine dinner. You'll never achieve a quality result unless you start with quality ingredients. With coffee, that means starting with first class coffee beans.

Buy beans that have been kept in airtight packaging

From the moment they come out of the roaster, coffee beans start to lose the subtleties of their flavors. The problem is exposure to air. So don’t buy from self-serve bins. Buy your coffee beans in an airtight bag. And look for bags which have a small, one-way valve.
Why do they have a valve? Because when beans come out of the roaster they “gas off”. If you put fresh roasted beans into a bag and seal it, the gases would build up in the bag and it would tear or explode. So quality coffee suppliers put the beans in bags with these one-way valves. The valve allows the gases from inside to get out of the bag, but it doesn’t allow any air into the bag.
These valves allow roasters to put beans into sealed bags as soon as possible after they have cooled down from the roasting process.

Keep the beans away from air until just before you grind them

When you open the bag, transfer the beans into an airtight container of some kind, and then grind only as many beans as you need for each brew. It’s tempting to grind enough for a few days. But if you do, the ground coffee will lose some of its flavor.As soon as coffee comes into contact with air, some of its volatile oils begin to evaporate. And those oils contain much of the flavor of the coffee bean.
And if you do buy beans in a bag from a bin at the supermarket, do the same - immediately pour them into an air-tight container.

Grind your beans to the correct coarseness for the kind of coffee maker you are using

Buy a coffee grinder that allows you to vary the coarseness of the coffee grinds. The grind should suit the coffee brewer you are using. Using the correct grind is a key element in how to make coffee you’ll really enjoy.

A Coarse Grind: This coffee grind is fairly large, suitable for French Presses and percolators.
Medium Grind: An all-purpose grind, suitable for most drip type brewers.
Fine Grind: This is the grind you would want for espresso.