Putting much thought and discussion into the current coffee situation, I have come up with a list of potential variables on how my coffee can taste better:

Have better coffee.
Clean the coffee maker with water.
Clean the coffee maker with water and vinegar mix.
Have freshly ground coffee.
Use filtered water.
Use COLD water.
Rethink amount of coffee grounds.
Use a metal coffee filter.
Use a different coffee maker.

Last night my sister-in-law was nice enough to give me some of their good coffee (brother had a harder time parting with it). It was measured to be exactly 3 tablespoons to go along with my 3 cups. I ran a cycle thru the coffee maker with water and cleaned up the area that the coffee comes out of (I don’t know proper coffee maker terminology, obviously). Then this morning I made sure I was using COLD water, rather than cool water.

So, I took 4 of the 9 steps. Results? It does taste better, but it seems there’s still a slight after-taste. Is that normal?

So many things to do to make it actually taste good. Is it worth it? Should I invest in a Brita water filter next? A metal filter? A coffee grinder? Or just spend the $1.27 at McDonalds?