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FEATURES AND OPERATION
25
Continued…
The Right Grind
Freshly ground coffee loses flavor and aroma quickly – within
minutes. The best cup of coffee will always come from coffee
beans that are ground just before brewing.
A proper grind is critical for good coffee, and that means using a
quality burr grinder like the PRO LINE
®
Series Burr Coffee Mill or the
KitchenAid
®
Model A-9™ Coffee Mill. A good burr grinder will
produce an extremely consistent grind with little frictional heating,
and preserve the full flavor of your coffee.
Be sure to grind your coffee to the correct size – use a medium
grind level appropriate for automatic drip coffee makers. Feel free
to experiment with slightly finer or coarser grinds, but don’t
overdo it: too fine a grind will result in very bitter coffee, and too
coarse a grind will produce weak flavor. If the correct grind is
used, adding more coffee simply makes a brew stronger without
making it excessively bitter.
The Proper Amount of Ground Coffee
For standard drip-process coffee, a good starting point is to use
1 ounce of coffee for every 4 cups of brew water as measured
with the carafe (a carafe “cup” is about 4
1
⁄4 ounces). Finer grinds
usually require less coffee, but using too fine a grind will produce
bitterness and may cause water to overflow the brew basket.
If you prefer substantially weaker-than-average coffee, it’s best to
brew using a normal amount of ground coffee and then dilute
the result with hot water. Doing this will maximize flavor and
minimize bitterness.
Brew Water Purity
The PRO LINE
®
Series water filter that comes with your coffee
maker is one of the most effective in the industry at removing
off-tastes and contaminants from your brew water. It also
softens the water and extends the time between coffee maker
descalings. For great tasting coffee, be sure to use the filter –
and replace it promptly when the water filter icon appears on
the brew timer display.
Where local water quality is extremely poor, you may wish to use
bottled, purified water with your coffee maker. Do not use distilled
water or mineral water – they can damage the coffee maker.
If the coffee maker hasn’t been used in awhile, run it through a
complete brewing cycle without coffee. Use a full carafe of
clean, cool water. This rinses the water reservoir, heat pump,
and showerhead, and eliminates any stale water within the unit.