The Recipe for Crowd-Pleasing Coffee

 Instructions:

Urn coffee equipment cleaner packet

1.    Start clean:  Check the water spray head on your brewer, the surface around the spray head, the filter basket holder, and the air pots or thermal servers.  All should be spotless with no coffee residue or oils.  If soiled, clean with a coffee machine cleaning agent like Urnex or Cafiza according to package directions.  Clean your brewers and thermal servers regularly as part of your preventative maintenance.  

Bunn CWT 15 Airpot Brewer (shown with gourmet basket)

2.    Start hot: Before brewing, pre-warm your air pots or thermal coffee servers with hot water from a nearby sink, your brewer’s hot water tap, or perhaps brew a pot of water into them.  The idea is to make sure that you don’t brew delicious hot coffee into room temperature or cold servers.

Taylor Digital Food Scale

3.    Measure right: If you have a portion controlled coffee grinder, you don’t need to do anything for this step (other than ensure your portion grinder is calibrated using the coffee-to-water table below). If you don’t have a portion controlled grinder, use a scale (similar to the Taylor cooking scale pictured on this page below) to weigh out your whole bean coffee (be sure to tare for the weight of the paper filter).

4.  Grind fresh: Use fresh roasted specialty coffee from Mission Coffee Roasters (tastes most delicious in the first few weeks after roasting – order smaller quantities more often when possible).  Grind to a nice medium drip grind setting immediately before brewing for the best tasting coffee.  Use the largest and best grinder your budget allows.  The bigger and sharper the grinding discs or burrs, the less heat is transferred to the coffee during grinding and the better the coffee will taste.  Don’t worry if you don’t have a grinder yet.  We can grind for you until you get one.  Get a good grinder as soon as you can.      

Bunn G1 HD bulk coffee grinder

Bunn G9 2T portion control grinder

5. Enjoy:  Taste and share your delicious coffee.  Repeat.  Drink more.  If you have any coffee left around the 45 minute mark after brewing, taste again.  Brewed coffee ages even if kept off of a warmer or hot plate (it really ages quickly if you apply heat after brewing).  You will likely taste and discover that somewhere around 45 minutes to an hour is a good time to empty the pots and brew fresh coffee.  This is not a hard and fast rule.  Some coffee will still taste excellent past that mark.  Taste often and enjoy.  Repeat.

Suggested Coffee Brewing Ratios
Water	Coffee (lbs)
64 oz (0.5 Gallon)	0.25
96 oz (0.75 Gallon)	0.37
128 oz (1 Gallon)	0.50
192 oz (1.5 Gallon)	0.74

Suggested coffee-to-water ratios for automatic drip brewed coffee when used with properly sized brewing equipment (Gourmet Brew Basket or similar).  Adjust brew strength slightly based on your taste preferences.  Note: if you try to make your coffee much less stronger than these suggested ratios your coffee will start to become bitter and “woody” like cheap restaurant, food service, or office coffee.  You can also affect the taste by adjusting your grind setting – coarser makes the water run through the grounds faster making the coffee weaker – finer makes the coffee stronger since the water runs more slowly through the grounds.

Brew It Right

Trying to brew delicious coffee for a crowd?  Frustrated that your coffee doesn't taste as good as it should?

Mission Coffee Roasters can help! 

Once you know our coffeehouse brewing secrets, you can do it right!   

Say goodbye to bitter burned coffee and hello to smooth delicious coffee goodness.

Read on to learn the 5 G’s to brewing good coffee, cup after perfect cup, at your church, office, coffeehouse, restaurant, or home. 

1.    Good coffee – It starts here.  Ordering fresh roasted specialty grade coffee from an experienced coffee roaster such as Mission Coffee Roasters is mission critical!

2.    Good water – Coffee is about 98% water.  If the water tastes bad, so will the coffee.  You might need a filter to remove any bad tastes or odors.

3.    Good equipment – water filter, coffee grinder (if budget and space allow), and coffee brewer should be commercial grade (not at home necessarily), of good quality, and be well maintained.

4.    Good brewing technique – the right ratio of coffee to water, using pre-warmed air pots or coffee decanters, grinding right before brewing (if possible).

5.    Good handling – How you treat your delicious brewed coffee before your guests drink it is just as important as all the other steps above.  Make sure not to warm or reheat brewed coffee (this means no hot plates or warmers and NO PERCOLATORS, EVER – did we mention that PERCOLATORS are EVIL – PURE EVIL?!?!?).  Also, don’t hold brewed coffee past about 45 minutes without dumping it and brewing a fresh pot. 

The Gourmet Basket

Don't panic. I can explain. 

You see, so many people keep doing things the same way just because no one has taken the time to explain. That's why I'm here. Basically what my sketch explains is that there are TWO basket options with the BUNN maker we recommend for smaller congregations. Many coffee shops, offices, and churches around the country are using this coffee maker and even buying >>good beans<<, but their coffee still comes out bitter because they are using the "default basket" that comes with the maker.

When you buy the BRAND NAME w/LINK you have the option to add on $15 to your grand total and trust me - it's SO worth it. Here's why. 

1. Less isn't always more
When you use less coffee and more water, you end up over-extracting your beans. Over-extracted beans = bitter coffee. Coffee, when properly ground, has a very thin layer of oils on the exterior layer of the grind. When the hot water first washes over it you get that MM-MM good coffee flavor. However, if the water keeps washing over the beans it will use up all the good oils and begin to cause the beans to further disintegrate. When this happens, you are still getting "coffee" runoff, but the runoff is getting to the acidic base of the grind and therefore it will taste like... yucky. 

2. We all need room to breath
The standard drip coffee method works best when the water and beans have room to dance around a bit before the good stuff comes out the dripper. When you use a shorter basket it's just cutting this relationship short. 

3. Because I said so
Ok, not really. But seriously. If I had a dime for every phone call I have spent explaining these theories to frustrated secretaries around the US, I would be able to buy them all a gourmet basket to prove my point. I may not be omnipotent, but I do know coffee. Trust me - the bigger basket (and good beans) will be the answer to your bitter coffee woes.