Coffee Explanations

QUESTION: Which coffee brand has the slogan, “Good to the last drop”? I remember TV commercials from when I was a kid, but I can’t remember which coffee company it was. — Ursula P

ANSWER: It’s Maxwell House that has the slogan Good to the Last Drop, and you can still buy Maxwell House coffee today and it’s still their registered trademark!

Maxwell House first came to the market in the United States way back in 1892, believe it or not. It was named after a local hotel in Nashville that existed at the time called the Maxwell House Hotel. The coffee was introduced by a wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, who sold the ground coffee to that hotel, where they served it to guests. Maxwell House coffee has been owned and produced by several companies. The first was Cheek’s coffee company then Nashville Coffee and Manufacturing Company followed by General Foods and Kraft Foods.

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QUESTION: How long will my coffee stay fresh after the beans have been ground? What if I store them in a plastic container or in the freezer?. — Michael W.

ANSWER: The short answer to your first question is that whole beans begin to lose their freshness immediately after they are ground. Coffee connoisseurs agree, for the freshest cup of coffee the best thing you can do is grind your coffee just before brewing. After just 15 minutes, your coffee will have lost 60 percent of its refreshing aroma (and scent is a large part of the taste experience). 

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QUESTION: Is Folgers coffee good quality? I buy coffee at various grocery stores and they always have it, and it has been around for years. So it must be pretty good if everyone drinks it, right? – Earnest F

ANSWER: In our opinion, the simple answer here is no. Despite the rich history and timeless tradition of Folgers, the coffee is mediocre, nothing more and nothing less. A reddit user on a r/coffee thread about Folgers classic roast said it best, “There is a time and a place for Folgers. It’s never and in the trash.”  Obviously not a huge fan. It really is not the best part of wakin up.

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QUESTION: Why is a cup of coffee 6 ounces instead of 8 ounces? I’m sitting here looking at my measuring cup and it clearly says 8 ounces, so I don’t get it. – Devin E.  

ANSWER: Though the standard liquid measuring cup is measured at eight ounces, the customary us cup of coffee, as well as tea, is always six fl oz instead of eight. This two ounce difference can cause a lot of confusion when it comes to accurate measurements for how much ground coffee to add when brewing. For the best results, the most common recommendation for coffee brewing is one to two tablespoons for every six ounces of coffee. The simple question is, how much coffee should you use for an eight ounce serving or for other different sizes to ensure you make the perfect cup of coffee?

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by Erin Marissa Russell

As coffee lovers we are always curious about how a particular brewing method will affect our cup of joe. My question was, how the pour-over method of brewing fits in with other preparation methods when it comes to the caffeine content of the resulting brew. Not only does pour over coffee have a higher caffeine content than your usual cup of coffee prepared with automatic coffee makers (an average of 95 milligrams of caffeine)—it even contains more than most shots of espresso (which range from 80 to 185 mg of caffeine). That means your pour-over coffee has up to twice as much caffeine as a single shot of espresso. Keep in mind that a regular cup of coffee has more caffeine than an espresso shot in general though.

However, that’s quite a range from the lowest to the highest end. It may help to keep in mind that the average cup of pour over coffee contains 145 mg of caffeine. Let’s see what else there is to know about the relationship between caffeine and your cup of pour over coffee.

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