How Can I Ensure I'm Getting A Good Cup Of Coffee?

If you are a coffee drinker you may find it advantageous to buy unground toasted coffee instead of the ground, packaged variety. When possible, it is best to have the coffee beans ground in your presence. In this way you can be sure of fresher coffee and there is less chance that you will be cheated through mixing of other ingredients with the coffee—ingredients such as sand, corn, beans, peanuts or blood, to mention but a few.
A simple test of the purity of ground coffee is to throw a dash of the coffee grounds on top of a cup of water. If the coffee is pure, the grounds will float, since they absorb water very slowly. If the coffee contains foreign matter, the grounds will absorb water rapidly and sink to the bottom of the cup.
If properly protected, toasted coffee keeps from ten to twenty days without losing its flavor. But when exposed to the air, whether toasted or untoasted, it will lose its aroma, flavor and color. Humidity will give it a musty odor. For these reasons coffee should be kept in a dry place and in tightly closed containers. So, the coffee bean is being put to more and more uses. But its popularity, of course, is mainly as a beverage. Americans drink more than 500 million cups of coffee each day. The average American uses about fifteen pounds of coffee annually.