Americans drink more coffee than the people of practically any other nation on earth. We love our coffee so much, we won’t go to a diner that doesn’t give us free refills every time we buy a cup. People from other countries can’t often believe this is done here. Basically, every diner had better learn how to make good coffee or prepare to go out of business.

Did you ever wonder about what their secret to how to make good coffee is? Actually, the secrets are quite simple. You just need to do a few simple things and follow instructions. Disregard the formula and try something on your own, and often, the results will be quite unacceptable. So let’s look at the rule.

Basically, the kind of water you use, how it tastes on its own and how hot it gets in the process – all of these are important. You always need to start with real cold water. Start with tepid water and somehow, the flavor of the coffee is not absorbed adequately. Basically, when you’re done with the coffee and it’s freshly brewed, it needs to be 94°C.

The problem with starting with tepid water is that it’s going to warm up to that temperature too quickly. The coffee grounds aren’t going to have enough time to let go of all that flavor. So basically, starting off with cold water is great and anything else is not.

Of course, it’s hard to overestimate the importance of the coffee you use itself. Coffee gets sold over a really wide price range. You can pay anything from three dollars a pound to hundreds. For the most part, the way these prices are set, depends a lot on supply and demand.

Arabica coffee beans for instance are really special and expensive. This kind of bean needs high altitude and special conditions to grow, and even then, it takes its time. Robusta coffee on the other hand grows much more quickly and is much easily found environments. And it’s much cheaper.

Of course, you don’t really save as much as you would think with the cheaper coffee beans. It’s not just a matter of taste – it’s a matter of how much coffee you have to use, because cheaper coffee is often far weaker. And anyway, why even bother to drink coffee that’s not really good? It’s not something you put in your diet for its nutritional value, is it?

A clean coffee maker and fresh coffee are terribly important to the taste, too. It really isn’t about learning how to make good coffee – it’s just about learning how coffee works. The brew doesn’t taste as good 5 min. after it is brewed. Make sure that you use the smallest coffee maker you can get.