Use good coffee – Start with your favorite (Wake the F Up Brand) freshly roasted coffee.

Use filtered or bottled water for the best flavor because water makes up 99% of a cup of coffee. Don’t use distilled water because distilled water has much less oxygen in it. Oxygen in the water helps give your coffee life (just like carbonation does with club soda).

Use enough coffee! We recommend using two (2) level measuring tablespoons of ground coffee for every five (5) ounces of water.

Check your grind – Drip coffee makes should take between four and five minutes to drip through. Freshly brewed coffee tastes best, so only make as much as you can drink in twenty minutes. After that, the flavor deteriorates rapidly.

The Equipment – The cleaner the equipment, the better the taste. Always clean your dispenser, coffee maker, filter devices, brewing containers and servers thoroughly after each use. Coffee oils, when left to accumulate will develop into coffee tars which will partially dissolve when contacted with either water or coffee, and impart a bitter or astringent flavor into the finished coffee beverage.

Don’t reheat, as old coffee never tastes good. Brew a fresh pot.

Storage and Freshness - The three elements that most affect the staling process are air, moisture, and heat. To best protect against these elements store your coffee in a cool dry place, avoiding the refrigerator and the freezer. The flavor of coffee deteriorates after roasting when exposed to air. For maximum freshness, buy coffee in nitrogen-flushed valve-pack bags.