How to Make the Perfect Dominican Coffee

En Español

There is art and science behind the making of the perfect Dominican coffee. Lucky for us, it starts with great quality, Dominican-grown beans.

Coffee is an important part of Dominican's social life and culinary culture. Like everything, obtaining the perfect Dominican Coffee is a matter of practice and a few secrets.

The basics

There are three basic elements to brewing great coffee:

1. Fresh roasted beans.
2. Good water and clean equipment.
3. Proper water temperature

Storage

Beans, once roasted, should be stored air tight or frozen, to deter oxidation, which is deadly. Beans should be ground just before brewing. Grinding exponentially increases surface area exposed to oxygen; ground beans will go stale in a matter of hours. It is hard to emphasize this strongly enough. Even beans kept airtight or frozen will stale in a matter of weeks.

The problem is that when coffee is ground, the surface area that is exposed to oxygen increases enormously (think a loaf of bread versus bread crumbs), so you are starting at a disadvantage if you have more ground coffee than you are going to brew at the time.

Nevertheless, if you prefer the convenience of pre-ground coffee, it is considerably better to store it frozen. Freezing substantially slows oxidation, just as it does for other foods. Coffee is, after all, a baked vegetable product.

Brewing

The best brew possible will be made from freshly-roasted beans which are ground just before brewing. Use enough coffee - at a minimum a ratio of 3+ oz (35 g) of beans to 64 oz (1.9 l) of water. Adjust to personal taste.

The water must be just off-boiling, in order to get proper extraction of flavor. That is why the ubiquitous greca ("long espresso" brewer) used in the DR is so good, as it uses steam pressure to push boiling water up the pipe and into the bed of ground beans.

Read more: All about Dominican coffee.

Mike

Mike, from Cafe Bueno introduce us to the secrets of the perfect Dominican Coffee, Dominican Republic's most delicious product. Learn how to prepare it with these easy instructions.