Coffee Our Way

Following up from yesterday...

Our favorite blend is Starbucks' Christmas Blend (seasonal availability, dang it!), with my wife liking Breakfast Blend as a second choice, while I tend to steer towards the "bold" blends. This morning, I opened a fresh bag of Beach Blend from Joe Muggs/Books-A-Million - not bad, and as I posted earlier, very smooth. Here's the brew-a-pot routine:

• Grind beans fresh - if you're getting your coffee out of a can or a brick bag, you've already lost most of the flavor and all of the smell.
  
• Two scoops - whatever your scoop-size, whatever the pot size, experiment with two scoops. Heaping if you think that's too weak, level or a scoop and a half if it's too strong. For me, two heaping scoops, or two level scoops and a tad extra.
  
• Don't over fill the pot - enough water to brew with enough coffee.
  
• Brew - our normal drip coffeepot is fine. If we've got time, I'll pull out the french press, which makes a smoother and less-bitter pot of coffee. But drip is fine for every day.
  
• Flavor - I take a little flavored-creamer with mine, preferring the vanilla or nutty tastes, but not so much that I can't taste the coffee. No other sweetener for me, but my wife takes two pink packets and the creamer, preferring "southern pecan" to the vanilla varieties.
  
• Mug - whether it's a travel mug or a nice ceramic mug, you can't properly drink coffee in anything too girly or too small. That's just me.
  
• Routine - when you've experimented and have a pattern to make the "perfect pot", remember that and do it every time. Don't slouch - grind the beans, do the pot, etc, all the same way, and you'll get better at detecting blends and such in your home coffee adventures.

Need any pointers or help with the brew during the day? Don't hesitate to IM - "rickramble" on AIM. If I don't know, I can make something up. And I'll take mine with a little cream, thanks.