Brewing coffee at home can be just as delicious as the caffes if you use the right techniques.
To make a great cup of coffee at home, follow these eleven tips:
1. Use fresh, whole bean coffee
A lot of the flavor in coffee comes from aromatic compounds in roasted coffee beans. These compounds escape from the bean immediately after roasting in a process called degassing.
After 8 days, most of the flavoring compounds in coffee beans will have evaporated. Grinding the beans exposes more of the bean’s surface area to air, hastening this process. To prevent your coffee from becoming flavorless, use only fresh beans and grind them immediately before brewing. You can also subscribe to a coffee service which will deliver freshly roasted beans to your door.
Use arabica whole beans that have been roasted recently. Coffee beans lose their flavor about two weeks after being roasted.
Robusta coffee beans are not as pleasant tasting as arabica, but they can still be a part of a good espresso mix because they add crema. If you like espresso, then a mix of arabica and robusta beans would be good.
The freshness of pre-ground coffee is preserved until you open the package. However, it is best to consume it within a week of opening, when it is stored properly.
2. Get a burr grinder and a scale
If you want to make the best tasting coffee, it’s recommended that you have a burr grinder. Burr grinders give you more control over the grind size, which results in a more even grind size. This helps with extraction, which in turn creates better flavor.
Different coffees and blends have widely differing sizes and densities, so a tablespoon of one coffee might actually weigh less than a tablespoon of another coffee. Using a scale means you can measure by weight instead of volume, which helps to ensure that, no matter what coffee you’re using, you know exactly how much is going into your cup.
One of the most important tools for brewing coffee is a great grinder that can produce coffee grounds of a uniform particle size. If the particle size of the ground coffee is too large, the coffee will take too long to brew and the coffee will be weak. If the particle size of the ground coffee is too small, the coffee will brew too quickly and the coffee will be bitter. Controlling the particle size of the ground coffee gives you more control over the brewing process.
3. Use filtered water and a gooseneck kettle
It’s best to use filtered water with no strange flavors from chemicals and minerals for the best flavor results. We use a Berkey water filter system.
A gooseneck kettle is recommended for methods that require you to heat and pour hot water over your coffee grounds because it gives you control over the rate and direction at which you are pouring, which impacts the taste of your coffee.
Around 98.5% of brewed coffee is water, which means the quality of the water has a big impact on the taste of the coffee. If the water you’re using is of poor quality or has strange odors, your coffee will taste bad as well. Using purified water is one of the best things you can do to improve the taste of your coffee.
. In most places it is not advisable to use tap water for brewing, rather water that has been filtered or bottled.
4. Use the right amount of coffee
The amount of coffee you use determines the strength of your coffee. More coffee = stronger coffee. Less coffee = weaker coffee.
To make coffee, a person needs to use a specific ratio of coffee grounds to water. For example, the House Blend coffee at Starbucks uses a ratio of 1:12, which is 35 grams of coffee to 400 grams of water. This ratio helps accentuate the chocolate sweetness and silky body of the coffee. For Single Origins coffee, Starbucks recommends a ratio of 1:14 to help highlight the more delicate flavors and acidity.
Some coffee lovers like to weigh their beans to get as close as possible to the same results each time they brew. While that is more precise, I don’t weigh mine.
I usually make coffee with 2 tablespoons of ground coffee for each serving (around 8-12 ounces of water) so that I can have a strong, consistent cup of coffee.
If you want a strong, flavorful cup of coffee, a good rule to follow is to use 2 tablespoons of coffee per cup of water. This ratio works well with most brewing methods, with a few exceptions like espresso and Turkish coffee.
5. Grind at the correct coarseness (or fineness) setting
If it brews too slowly, the grind was too fine. Different brewing methods require different grind sizes to make great coffee. You can tell if you’re using the right size by the time it takes to brew and the taste.
The grind size of your coffee beans can have a big impact on the taste of your coffee. If the grind is too fine, the coffee can taste bitter. If the grind is too coarse, the coffee can taste sour. In general, espresso requires a fine grind, pour-overs and AeroPress require a medium grind, and French Presses require a coarse grind. By adjusting your grind setting to match the brewing method and your taste preferences, you can make great coffee at home.
Depending on which coffee making method you use:
If you use coarsely ground coffee beans, the extraction process will take longer and the taste will be less intense and more mellow.
The coffee grounds that are finer are extracted more quickly, which produces a stronger and sometimes bitter flavor.
When buying pre-ground coffee, simply request the amount you need for your brewing method.
It’s easy to use a burr grinder with brew method instructions and grind size indicators.
6. Use the right temperature water
Use water that is 195°F (91°C ) to 205 °F (96 °C).
The water needs to be hot enough to extract the flavor from the grounds, but not so hot that it makes the coffee taste bitter.
One way to ensure your water is the correct temperature is to boil it and then remove it from the heat for approximately 30 seconds before you begin to brew your coffee.
To get the best flavors out of your coffee, the water you use to brew should be between 195 – 205 degrees F. The temperature affects not only the speed of the extraction (cooler water brews coffee more slowly than hotter water), but also what gets extracted.
Many of the pleasing acidity and unique flavors we enjoy in our coffees would not be present if the coffee was brewed with water below 195 degrees Fahrenheit. However, water above 205 degrees Fahrenheit will cause more bitter flavors to be extracted from the coffee. Brewing at the ideal temperature will bring out the sweetness and complexities of our coffees without extracting the unwanted bitter flavors. Although a thermometer is the best way to check the temperature, water that is 30-60 seconds away from boiling is usually within the desired range.
7. Pre-heat / Pre-wet everything
It’s important to heat anything your coffee will touch to the brewing temperature, or else the brewing device will lower the water temperature. Prepare your filter by wetting it with hot water and letting it drain before brewing.
8. Prime your coffee maker
Swirl it around and let it drain before adding your grounds. To prime your coffee maker, pour a little hot water over the filter (if you’re using one) and into the coffee maker. Swirl it around and let it drain before adding your grounds.
This will improve the brewing process and keep your coffee hotter for a longer period of time.
9. Bloom your coffee
You’ll notice that when you pour water over coffee grounds for the first time, the coffee starts to bubble up. This is especially noticeable with very fresh coffee. This phenomenon is called the bloom, and it happens because CO2 is forced out of the coffee. CO2 is a natural byproduct of the roasting process.
The blooming process is an important step in coffee brewing, as the presence of carbon dioxide can have a negative effect on the brew by pushing water away from the coffee grounds and preventing extraction. You should add a small amount of water at the beginning of the brewing process, wait about 30 seconds for the coffee to bloom, and then add more water.
To bloom coffee, use twice the amount of water as there are coffee beans. For example, if you are using 35 grams of coffee, use 70 grams of water.
10. Fully saturate your coffee
The bloom phase is when you first add water to the coffee grounds. To make sure all the coffee gets wet, give it a brief stir.
11. Experiment
Different brewing methods can produce different results, even with the same coffee. Try brewing your coffee with a Bee House Dripper and an AeroPress and see how the taste differs!
The text is asking if the reader has tried brewing one of the company’s Single Origins coffees and comparing it to the House Blend. It also suggests that the reader experiment with using more or less coffee to see how it affects the taste.