Make Good Hotel Room Coffee

Picture this scenario: you're on the road, and you breathe a sigh of relief when you see that your hotel room has a coffee maker waiting for you. But when you go to brew a cup to enjoy in the privacy of your room, you find that the end result is quite...disappointing. Indeed, brewing your own cup of coffee in your hotel room might be more economical and cost-efficient, but may not always be up to the coffee quality standards that you expected. Before you speed down to the local coffee shop however, and squander another fraction of what could be your retirement fund on a latte, try these tips and tricks for better hotel coffee.

Steps

  1. Understand where many coffee makers fall short.
    • Some coffee makers do not allocate enough wattage to the heating element, and fail to reach the ideal coffee brewing temperature range of 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit, or 90.5-96 degrees Celsius.
    • Another problem is that when coffee makers take too long to brew the coffee, it can result in bitter and harsh flavors. Ideally, the process should only take 6 minutes.
  2. Run water first through the coffee maker before brewing with actual coffee. This will allow the coffee maker to heat up, which will help the water get closer to that ideal brewing temperature. Once it's done, pour that hot water right back into the coffee maker and immediately run it through again, this time with coffee.
  3. Add a pinch of salt. Actually, only a few grains are needed. Throwing in a little bit of salt with the coffee grounds will tone down the bitterness and may bring out more of the coffee's better flavors. Some people add it after the cup has been brewed.[1][2] If you're skeptical, or worried about ending up with a salty cup of coffee, follow all of the other steps, and only add salt if the coffee leaves something to be missed; sprinkle a little bit, taste, and add more salt as needed. It may take a little experimentation to find out how much salt is needed to "fix" a cup of coffee, and it may vary by brand and coffee maker.
  4. Jump the gun. Set a timer. When around 6 minutes have passed, pull the pot (or glass carafe) off the burner and serve whatever coffee is already made. Put a mug in the pot's place so that the remainder of the coffee being made (which will probably be pretty harsh, and worthy of being dumped) doesn't drip everywhere. This cuts off the brewing process before the coffee gets bitter. Even though you won't have as much coffee, at least it'll be good coffee, and you can always start a new batch.
    • Another option is to use only half of the amount of water to brew (which shortens brewing time), then add hot water to the coffee afterwards to dilute it. Depending on how you obtain the hot water, this might result in lukewarm coffee.
  5. Drink immediately. Don't leave brewed coffee in the pot or glass carafe on the burner. Pour it out into a mug or cup as soon as it's finished, and start sipping before the coffee starts to taste like hot ashes!

Tips

  • These instructions can also be useful if you have a bad coffee maker at home, or if you have a stash of bad coffee to work through.
  • If the coffee isn't strong enough, try putting both the regular bag and the decaf bag in the basket, or ask the front desk for an extra packet or two of regular.
  • The quality of free hotel coffee often leaves much to be desired. If you bring a small package of your favourite coffee from home, you'll be one step closer to a more enjoyable brew.
    • Better yet, bring your own freshly ground beans and a one-cup drip apparatus and filters that fit over a mug, then heat bottled water in the coffee maker and pour over your own coffee.
    • Putting a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg in the coffee before it's brewed can put a spark of life in even stale motel coffee packets.
  • Don't use those Styrofoam cups provided to you in the hotel room. Those can often be the breaking point when it comes to a decent cup of coffee. Instead, ask the front desk for a ceramic mug or, if you're the only one being served, use the carafe from the coffee maker itself. It's typically a "4 cup" -- which is actually 2 good sized mugs.
  • Use bottled water to eliminate the chlorine taste.
    • If you don't have bottled water, then put water in the carafe the night before and leave the lid off and the light on in the bathroom. Overnight, the air and light will reduce the chlorine smell and/or taste.

Warnings

  • Make sure that the coffee maker is clean before using. If you are in doubt, clean and wash the the coffee maker yourself in a thorough manner. The truth is, hotel coffeepots are rarely cleaned, and people have been known to do foul things in them.
  • If the coffee pot has a dark, reddish-orange stain, it might've been used to brew methamphetamine, and the resulting coffee could be hazardous to your health. If there's a chemical smell in the room, that's another red flag.[3][4]

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/370705
  2. ↑ http://www.saltinstitute.org/29.html
  3. ↑ http://www.waff.com/global/story.asp?s=5980064
  4. ↑ http://www.ineedcoffee.com/08/coffee-meth/
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