It's not a grind to brew a great cup of coffee

I love coffee, and I drink a lot of it. I didn't need much of an excuse to devote some time to learning more about my favorite brew.

Erica Hess, the coffee educator from Peet's Coffee and Tea -- a high-end coffee chain based in Northern California -- sat down with me to demonstrate proper French press technique and gave me a chance to taste a few of Peet's wonderful coffees. Later, I attended a class taught by a local shop owner.

Here are five steps I learned to a great cup of coffee:

1. Buy beans you love from a company you trust.

There are three ways in which a company influences the kind of coffee you wind up with: buying, roasting and shipping. Personally, I think it's in every coffee drinker's best interest to support buying practices that treat coffee growers fairly, such as Fair Trade or Direct Trade purchasing. This encourages the growth of high-quality coffee, and it's also just the right thing to do.

Once you've settled on a company, you still have to pick the beans that you like the best. The ideal way to do this is to try a lot of coffees, side by side. Many cafes are happy to pour a few tasting samples, especially if you approach the manager during a slow time of day. Other ways to try different beans include joining a "coffee of the month" club, or simply ordering a different kind of coffee each time you go to a good cafe.

When tasting coffee, let it get a bit cooler than you usually drink it, because cooler temperatures expose all of a coffee's flavors, good and bad.

2. Buy frequently, store properly.

Once the coffee is in your hands, it continues to age. Think of coffee as a perishable item similar to milk or bread. We all notice when milk gets sour or bread gets stale. The same thing happens to coffee. If you pay attention (and if you're buying fresh beans to begin with), you'll realize that your coffee tastes very different just after you buy it and three or four weeks later.

Light, air and moisture are coffee's enemies. The best place to store coffee is in an airtight container in a dark cabinet. While some believe that putting coffee in the fridge or a freezer slows the "staling" process, temperature shock also can damage the beans.

3. Grind the beans yourself.

Remember learning about surface area in grade school? The smaller an object gets, the more surface area it has per unit of volume. When you store ground coffee, more of the coffee is being exposed to the elements. Grind the beans right before you brew your coffee so it's the freshest.

4. Pick the brew method that matches your lifestyle.

There is an insane number of ways to make coffee. No matter what method you pick, brew time for coffee should be about three to four minutes, and the water temperature should be at about 200 degrees but not actually boiling. If you boil water to make your coffee, let it sit off the heat for about 15 to 20 seconds after it just comes to a boil.

If you have plenty of counter space and you like to have coffee ready first thing in the morning, a drip pot with a timer is probably the best choice. If you have a tiny kitchen and enjoy the ritual aspects of making coffee, a French press is a fantastic choice. For detailed advice about different methods, I recommend visiting www.coffeegeek.com/guides.

Cafes that sell French presses can also demonstrate how they work.

5. Sit, sip, repeat.

A good cup of coffee. A few minutes to relax. What else could a person possibly need?