Coffee can often feel like more than just a morning pick-me-up- it’s a morning ritual. Although popping into your local caf can be pleasant, learning to brew the perfect cup of coffee at home not only saves you money, but will offer you a consistent, satisfying cup every time you want one. The wonderful news is that you don’t need any fancy, expensive coffee equipment to brew excellent coffee at home, because with a quality roast, good brewing technique and the right approach, everyone can brew the perfect coffee.
Freshly roasted coffee beans
When buying your coffee, you want to buy the most freshly roasted beans possible. This will ensure that your coffee is as fresh as it possibly can be when you begin to brew it. Freshly roasted beans are key to getting full flavor and aroma out of your coffee, so when you are buying your coffee, be sure to buy roasted coffee, pay close attention to the origin and roast, and check the tasting notes of your coffee. Coffee beans will remain fresh in small quantities if you have enough for a few cups; you should keep it in an air-tight container away from heat, light, and moisture.
Grind your coffee beans just before you want to make coffee
The first major tip to getting great coffee at home, is to grind your coffee beans right before you make coffee, because when coffee is grounded, it loses a lot of its taste and aroma. There are a few grind settings needed depending on the type of equipment used:
-Coarse for French Press
-Medium for drip makers
-Medium-fine for pour over
-Fine for espresso
Use fresh filtered water
Water makes up around 98% of coffee, so it is one of the most important elements when it comes to coffee. Distilled water can ruin your coffee so use water that is from your tap, it doesn’t need to be filtered but using filter water helps, because otherwise water straight from the tap can have a distinct taste that can sometimes be detected.
The correct temperature for making coffee is 90 C to 96 C. Any hotter than this will result in bitterness in your coffee and it is too cold, your coffee won’t be hot enough, therefore you might get a weakness from the taste.
Measure your coffee correctly
To have a cup of coffee you have brewed correctly at home you will need to use a measure. This could be a measuring jug for your water and a measure for your coffee. For a cup of coffee we generally want about 1 gram of coffee to 15 to 18 grams of water. This creates a more balanced cup and if you have say 20 grams of coffee then you would use around 300ml to 360ml of water. This will create a delicious and very palatable cup of coffee, but this is to be tweaked to taste and experiment with to find what you prefer.
Use your equipment in an efficient way
All methods require you to put coffee grounds into your chosen brewing apparatus; you then add water to steep, and then pour the coffee from apparatus to cup. The method used depends on taste:
-French Press: rich, bold flavors and heavier mouthfeel.
-Pour over: clarity, to enhance subtle notes.
-Drip coffee makers: good for large amounts.
-Espresso machine: concentrate coffee.
Take care with the timing of your coffee brew.
Your coffee needs to steep for a specific amount of time, anything longer and you risk your coffee becoming too bitter due to it becoming over-extracted, but anything too short and your coffee will lack the intensity that a great cup needs and the result can be bitter or weak coffee.
-French press: 4 minutes
-Pour over: 2-4 minutes
-Drip coffee makers: 4-6 minutes
-Espresso: 25-30 seconds
Ensure equipment is cleaned after use.
This seems an obvious one, but coffee oil builds up quickly on your brewing apparatus. The more that oil builds up on equipment, the weaker the taste of your coffee will be. Therefore it is very important to wash your apparatus out as often as possible, to achieve the best possible flavor for your home brew.
Conclusion
By now, you should feel confident that you can create the perfect cup of coffee from your own home! It all comes down to the quality of your coffee beans, the grind size of the coffee, the freshness of your water and careful consideration of brewing time. The team here at The House of Coffee believe that every coffee lover deserves the perfect brew, so get involved and start perfecting the art of brewing the perfect cup of coffee.
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