It's Time to Set Your New Year's Coffee Resolutions

The advent of a new year often brings new resolutions. Many popular resolutions seek to improve health, fitness, or involve learning something new. My new year's resolution combines those three—my resolution is to drink better coffee.

New Year's Resolution #1 : Begin with better coffee beans.

Coffee may be the primary sources of antioxidants in your diet. Coffee actually contains more antioxidants than fruits and veggies combined. On top of that, caffeine from coffee can improve physical performance by up to 12 percent. Start your day with a cup of coffee and you can put a check mark next to improving health and fitness. Health benefits reach their peak with freshly roasted, high quality coffee beans. Flavor and nutrient loss occurs as time passes after the beans have been roasted and/or ground. Coffee by Gillespie uses high quality beans which are roasted on demand. This means your coffee will always be fresh and full of flavor and all those good antioxidants and nutrients. Try a coffee subscription to always receive the best of the best in coffee beans.

New Year's Resolution #2: Freshly and consistently grind coffee beans.

One of the major differences I have noticed in regards to freshness has been grinding the beans right before brewing. I began grinding my own coffee beans this year and started using a blade grinder. The grind was often uneven and the grinder itself was very noisy. I received a Firlar manual burr grinder for Christmas. There was already a major difference in constancy of the grind and improved taste with the first use of the Firlar. Using a burr grinder will not only give you a consistent grind, but it will allow you more control over grinding. You may have courser grinds for everyday coffee brewing (I use a medium course grind for a pour-over) while using a fine grind for espresso and Turkish coffee.

New Year's Resolution #3: Perfect water temperatures.

Water should be at 195-206 degrees Fahrenheit for brewing. I typically use a Bodum Pour-Over maker with Chemex paper filters, so I heat my water on a stovetop. The water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, so simply pulling the kettle off the stove for a minute or two will allow the water to cool at the perfect temperature.

New Year's Resolution #4: Brew coffee better. 

Brew coffee better this year. Start with high quality and freshly roasted beans from Coffee by Gillespie. Try different methods of brewing this year. Learn something new and experiment. Read up on coffee; I've recently started a book called Coffee Nerd by Ruth Brown. Try new coffee with the Fearless Flight.  The Fearless Flight was the first coffee I ordered from Coffee by Gillespie. You will receive 4, 4oz bags of different coffees—perfect for experimenting with tastes, grinds, and brew methods this new year!