by C. M. Erickson

Created on: May 15, 2008   Last Updated: August 03, 2010

The key to great coffee any way you make it lies in the water and the beans. The higher quality your beans and water are, the better your coffee will taste.

Drip coffee makers are the most common way to make coffee in America because of their ease of use and low price. While they produce coffee with a slightly different taste than a French press or espresso maker, with proper care, they can produce an outstanding cup of coffee that will start your day out well.

While getting an expensive drip coffee maker may make your coffee taste slightly better than a cheap travel coffee maker, if you don't use quality water and beans, you might as well fill up on day-old cafeteria coffee. With good water and beans, you can make even a cheap, no-feature drip coffee maker produce outstanding java.

Most cities have great tap water that has no particular flavoring and can be used to make excellent coffee. However towns near the coast, for example, can have bad-tasting water. If you find the taste of your tap water unpleasant, purchase bottled water to use with your coffee maker, or else you'll never like what's in your cup.

The next key ingredient to excellent coffee is your beans. If you buy cheap, pre-ground mass-produced coffee, do not expect much out of your cup. Buy as high a quality of bean as your wallet can afford, and your mouth will thank you for it.

For those seeking the best-tasting coffee on the planet, get into home roasting. Roasting at home ensures you purchase single-source, high-altitude Arabica beans, which are the best beans you can find.

Purchasing beans from Starbucks and other sources opens you up to having mixes of coffee with lower-quality beans thrown in to save the company money.

You can purchase green beans from several suppliers on the internet, and buy a roaster off of eBay for a very low price. With a minimal initial investment, you can roast fresh coffee beans whenever you need them, and adjust the roast to the degree of "doneness" that you personally prefer (Starbucks over roasts their beans and you can't taste the flavor of origin).

To have the absolute best-tasting coffee, buy whole beans and grind them right before brewing. Doing so produces a superb cup of coffee with a clean crispness that is sure to get you going. Make sure you run through your coffee before the printed "due date" on the outside of the bag for best taste.

Never store your coffee in the fridge or freezer, as the cold will dry out your coffee and make it taste stale. Always reseal your coffee container tightly, as oxygen breaks down the bean's flavor and affects the taste of your coffee. Store it in an air-tight container out of direct sunlight in a dry place for best results.

If you follow these two simple rules of good water and good coffee, you will produce a cup of coffee that will get you out of bed in the morning and have you singing its praises all day long.

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