Sep

Can you believe it — it’s Second Cup’s 35 anniversary. In honour of the milestone, Alex and I went to a tasting session called a “cupping” held by Second Cup’s coffee expert Patrick Russell. To say we learned a lot would be an understatement…. turns out we’ve don’t know beans about the bean! Here are some of our mistakes….

We kept coffee in the fridge

Wrong, wrong wrong. Ground coffee is very porous so keeping it in the fridge infuses it with leftover chicken curry or whatever else it sits beside. Keeping coffee in the freezer is even worse – all the moisture is drawn out, which dries the coffee out. (I now store my coffee in an airtight, lightproof canister.

We bought in bulk.

Once ground coffee only stays at its fresh for about a week. Russell recommends only buying as much ground coffee as you need for the week, or ideally, grinding as you go.

We used tap water, left overnight in a pre-programmed machine, to brew our coffee.

Eeek. Not good. Russell advises using fresh, filtered water to do your beans justice. Fresh, filtered water contains more oxygen, which means more flavour.

(Don’t judge) We’d never cleaned our coffee machines.

Drops of oil on the surface of brewed coffee can be caused by residue build-up inside the coffee machine. We had washed the different components separately but it’s important to run the machine once a week with one part vinegar and four parts water and then again with plain water.

Expand your coffee repertoire and stop by a Second Cup location tomorrow, September 30, where they will be offering their new coffee, Blend 35, for a very special price in celebration of their 35^th anniversary. Visit secondcup.com for more info.

And enter to win an amazing Second Cup gift pack: a French bodum coffee press, a $20 gift card and a pound of Second Cup’s limited edition Blend 35 coffee. Leave a comment below letting us know how much a cup of Blend 35 costs at all Second Cup locations on Thursday September 30. Winner will be announced on Monday October 4.

In the Kitchen