When I owned Eli's, I consistently heard over and over again from customers that despite their best efforts, they could never re-create a cup of Eli's Coffee at home. Usually shocking to them, I agreed. In fact, I rarely even bothered trying on my inexpensive Bunn coffee maker from some big box store. The coffee would come out inconsistent; sometimes too weak, sometimes abrasively strong, and almost always bitter. It wasn't too much of a bother for me to just go to Eli's and get a cup myself; I was often headed there daily anyway, so I never bothered trying to perfect the home brew.
It has now been nearly a year since I made the transition from Eli's owner to Eli's investor and I've learned a few tricks about brewing at home. This transition coincided with learning we were expecting baby #2. As a gift to myself I purchased a Moccamaster Technivorm coffee maker because I knew it would be much more difficult to get out of the house daily once we had an infant. One of the key reasons why you can't reproduce the cup of coffee from your favorite coffee shop is temperature of the water that your machine produces. The Moccamaster will get the water to the right temperature in your own kitchen while you stand there bleary eyed, in your slippers, wondering what day it is. I digress...
Next, make sure you have the right kind of filter. My favorites are the Melitta Cone Filters #4. You'll want to fold them at their creases to ensure they fit properly in the basket. I then put a tiny bit of water in the basket and roll it around to dampen the filter thoroughly. This helps the filter brew properly and not absorb the coffee that you want in your belly!
Now, time to make the coffee! A second reason home coffee does not taste like your favorite café is water filtration. We live on a lake that uses a well so we decided when we first moved in to get a Reverse Osmosis tap at our sink. This gives us 100% pure water, rid of any chemicals or nasty pesticides from the neighboring farm fields. If you don't want to install an entire R.O. system, bottled R.O. water will certainly suffice.
I only get my coffee from Eli's! Everyone has their favorite roaster of course, but Eli's has a wholesale account with Grounds for Change. These fine folks roast coffee to order the same day Eli's places the order, expedites shipping and it arrives fresh and ready to be brewed. All of their coffees are certified Fair Trade, Shade Grown and Organic. My latest favorite is the Bolivia Taipiplaya, but I often choose Nicaragua Segovia.
I wait until I have everything prepped and ready to go before I grind my coffee. This ensures the freshest cup. The water is in the machine and the filter is in the basket.
Here's where top notch home equipment comes in handy, yet again. I splurged on the Bodum Bistro Burr Grinder from Grounds for Change. You can probably find this anywhere, but I do try to support family owned businesses whenever possible.
I keep my grinder set where you can see it below and for a full put I allow it to run for the maximum of 20 seconds. Of course you can adjust yours to your liking, but this gives me a cup of coffee as close to Eli's as I can get without actually leaving the house. Also, I realize I need to scrub my grinder!
Once I grind the coffee I dump it into the filter, level it out by shaking the basket gently, then I add a wee bit of sugar. Some folks swear by a couple of dashes of salt, others like to add a bit of vanilla or cinnamon.
I only get my coffee from Eli's! Everyone has their favorite roaster of course, but Eli's has a wholesale account with Grounds for Change. These fine folks roast coffee to order the same day Eli's places the order, expedites shipping and it arrives fresh and ready to be brewed. All of their coffees are certified Fair Trade, Shade Grown and Organic. My latest favorite is the Bolivia Taipiplaya, but I often choose Nicaragua Segovia.
I wait until I have everything prepped and ready to go before I grind my coffee. This ensures the freshest cup. The water is in the machine and the filter is in the basket.
Here's where top notch home equipment comes in handy, yet again. I splurged on the Bodum Bistro Burr Grinder from Grounds for Change. You can probably find this anywhere, but I do try to support family owned businesses whenever possible.
I keep my grinder set where you can see it below and for a full put I allow it to run for the maximum of 20 seconds. Of course you can adjust yours to your liking, but this gives me a cup of coffee as close to Eli's as I can get without actually leaving the house. Also, I realize I need to scrub my grinder!
Once I grind the coffee I dump it into the filter, level it out by shaking the basket gently, then I add a wee bit of sugar. Some folks swear by a couple of dashes of salt, others like to add a bit of vanilla or cinnamon.
At home, most people just hit the 'on' button and walk away. When you want to perfect your cup, you have to monitor the process. After setting the coffee maker to 'on' I make sure the filter basket stays closed for about a minute. Not all filter baskets have this option, but if yours does, use it! This allows the coffee to bloom. You can see how foamy it is below.
After a minute I flip the switch to halfway open, allowing for a slow brew. I also take a moment to stir the grounds to ensure they are all getting fully saturated. NOW is when I can walk away, pop some toast in the toaster, make Finley's lunch, etc. After about 5 minutes my pot of coffee is ready to go and I am ready to embrace a lovely day.
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