Coffee and Conservation

USA Weekend ran a coffee making tip in this weekend’s edition which spoke to the problem of coffee grounds in the bottom of the brewed pot. To prevent this, they suggest saturating the filter after you put it in the pot. Fill it with water and after it is saturated, remove the water and put in your coffee grounds. Wetting the filter this way causes it to stick to the sides of the catch basket, thus preventing wayward grounds from escaping and sinking to the bottom of your pot. To conserve water, they add that you should save the water you used to wet the filter and add it to water you put in the pot for brewing. Now that is conservation - this is a small amount of water, after all. Another website suggests many ways to save water and electricity when making your pot of coffee. If you boil water and pour it over the grounds, as in the pour-over method, heat only enough water to fill your pot or cup. Also, if you prepare the filter, fill it with grounds and set it in place on the decanter before you boil the water, it won’t have to sit on the stove and start cooling off before you use it. You can also save time and water by having different sizes of kettles, and using the smallest one for the job at hand. For example, if you’re only heating enough water for one cup of coffee, than use a very small kettle that will heat as little as one cup of water at a time. An auto shut-off on electric models is also critical. If you’re pouring your brewed coffee into a thermos or a decanter and you pre-warm it with hot water, re-use that hot water for brewing your coffee. Just pour it back into the kettle and bring it back to the correct temperature. Just planning ahead is the main effort in aiding conservation of energy and water. Though the amounts saved may seem small, they of course add up. If you start habitually re-using all water before just pouring it down the drain, you’ll probably be amazed at the cumulative savings.