Ninety-five to 98 percent water, and the remainder an extraction from dried beans that have been roasted and ground - that is all that was needed for coffee to turn into the most consumed drink on earth, a cultural landmark whose significance goes way beyond the drink itself. Let there be no mistake: The small quantity of raw materials that comprise the beverages is not an indication of simplicity. On the contrary - coffee is one of the world's richest and most complex drinks: To date, more than 800 different components have been identified in its aroma alone.

It should be no surprise, then, that preparing a cup of coffee on a high level is a complex affair. The creation of a superior brew requires the proper combination of raw ingredients, equipment, technology, technique, know-how and skills - which are gathered from various parts of the world. This begins with the beans themselves and the manner in which they have been roasted and blended, moves on to the way in which they have been stored and ground, and culminates in the way they are brewed and served.

Anyone who has tasted real coffee that lives up to its name and who has tried to repeat the experience at home has probably found that this is no trivial and simple undertaking. Nonetheless, it is possible to prepare good coffee even in a family kitchen, on condition that one takes into account the possibilities and limitations, and that one's expectations are adapted to the effort invested and to reality.

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Here are some of the ways you can improve the taste of the coffee you drink at home.

Filtered water only

Since water constitutes most of the drink, it has a considerable influence on its taste. If the water has an aftertaste, it will find its way into the coffee. Unfortunately, tap water in Israel is too hard for perfect coffee, as it contains substances that delay the extraction of the taste, taint the coffee, weaken the crema that is formed on top of the espresso and collect on the heating apparatus, blocking the machine's pipes. Water can be treated to make it less hard, but this can affect the rich taste of the coffee. Mineral water, too, is usually not recommended for espresso machines. Since most of us don't live by a fresh-water spring that provides pure water with low acidity (around pH 5), the best solution is to use water that has been charcoal-filtered (from a filter jar or any other filter system).

Beans in the dark

Plumbing the mysteries of the coffee bean in depth is a mission we don't have room for here. There are a few things, however, worthwhile noting. Of the things you can control, foremost is the freshness of the coffee. It is possible to keep green coffee beans for up to a year, or even more, on condition that they are not exposed to humidity. Roasted beans will yield excellent coffee for about two weeks after being roasted, but they should be stored in a dark place that has as little oxygen as possible. (Generally, refrigeration is not advised, but more about that below.) Ground beans, whose extensive contact surface with the air exposes them to light and humidity, turn rancid very quickly and lose their wonderful characteristics in a few minutes or hours. Those who take the trouble to prepare the coffee within two weeks of roasting the beans, and within minutes of grinding them, will be able to improve the quality of their coffee immensely.

Roasting made easy

Though it may sound difficult, you don't have to be crazy about coffee to roast the beans at home - a century ago, all coffee consumers had to do it. Roasting in a pan, an oven or by various and sometimes strange, improvised methods (such as with an electric popcorn machine that operates on hot air) is perhaps a smoke-filled and dirty process but no worse than other operations carried out in the kitchen. Using a dedicated home coffee roaster makes the process simple, clean and easy to handle, and requires no more than a few minutes of work. You put a measured amount of green coffee beans into the roaster, choose the desired cycle for roasting, and press the button.

In return, you produce coffee that is always fresh and you control the blend and the degree to which it is roasted. The cost of the apparatus will be covered in relatively short time, because of the wide gap between the price of green coffee and the price of quality roasted coffee.

Grinding at the last moment

It can't be helped: Good coffee is prepared from beans that have been roasted just before serving, and ground in a dedicated burr grinder for coffee. A spice mill (the small instrument with two blades) is not up to the job, because it doesn't grind the beans into particles of equal size and does not provide sufficient control over the degree of grinding required for brewing.

When the particles are not uniform, some of them will not yield all of their flavor potential, and others will give off unwanted tastes and substances.

If you have no choice and must use pre-ground beans, limit your purchases to small quantities, and store the coffee in air-tight containers. Espresso machines that use sealed aluminum capsules are the least of the evils, but the coffee is costly.

Forget the fridge

Oxygen, humidity and light affect coffee's freshness and taste. The best way to ensure that the coffee will be at the peak of its taste is to consume it quickly and keep the storage time to a minimum once it's been roasted and ground. There is no need to keep coffee that is very fresh in a refrigerator or a freezer - it's enough to keep it in a closed container. If you're very particular, there are vacuum containers that make it possible to keep the coffee almost completely airtight and lengthen its life.

Refrigeration or freezing can lengthen the coffee's life a bit, but they can also spoil its taste, by exposing it to moisture that condenses on the coffee every time it is taken out of the fridge and the container is opened. In any event, it is worthwhile bringing the coffee to room temperature before preparation).

The desired extraction

In all the methods employed, roasted and ground coffee beans are brewed in hot water so as to extract from them between one fifth and one quarter of the substances they contain. (The remainder constitute sediment and waste.) Between 1 and 20 percent of the drink itself is made up of substances that originate in the coffee.

The ideal temperature for extracting coffee is around 90 degrees Celsius, and the perfect timing for extracting one cup of coffee is between 20 and 30 seconds. With most brewing methods, the temperature is either too high or too low, and the extraction time overly long. The result is over- or under-extraction, coffee that is either too weak or burned, too bitter or with too little taste.

The only equipment that can supply the ideal conditions for brewing is an espresso machine with a closed boiler and pump. It should be able to extricate the coffee by steam at a pressure of at least nine atmospheres and at a temperature of 93 degrees. (That is why it is important to keep on the portafilter while warming up the machine. A cold portafilter brings down the temperature when it comes into contact with the coffee, and adversely affects the brewing).

The more simple coffee machines that operate on steam and without a pump are unable to supply either the pressure or the temperature required for preparing real espresso.

The simple and cheap solution for those who wish to drink coffee at home without investing in a good espresso machine is to use an Italian macchinetta. The coffee it yields is far better than filter or instant coffee, but the pressure it reaches (about 1.5 atmospheres only), the high extraction temperature (around 110 degrees) and the long time it takes to brew (usually about one and a half to two minutes) make it difficult for it to compete with the espresso machine.

And now for the milk

We recently wrote a great deal about frothing milk for coffee. For those who missed it, the gist was this: The milk foam required for coffee consists of a concentrated network of micro-bubbles, which are too small to be seen by the human eye - which is why the milk's surface appears to be smooth and silky. People who do not have an espresso machine can make frothed milk of a very good standard using a manual milk frother, made of a closed container in which it is possible to pump with a dense mesh. (The appliance resembles the outside of a plunger but the mesh inside is adapted especially to frothing milk).

Here, too, it is important to warm the milk to a temperature of 50-60 degrees C (for example, on the stovetop or in the microwave), but no more, because the foam will begin to disintegrate at a higher temperature. After pumping vigorously for some 20 seconds, remove the handle with the mesh, and give the jar a few resounding knocks on your work surface so as to get rid of oversize bubbles, before twisting the jar around - without tilting it to the sides - to spread the foam uniformly.