If you love coffee, you will want to ensure you get the most out of every cup you drink. By taking note of the following six essential coffee-making tips, you can do just that.
1. Make Coffee with Whole Coffee Beans
While store-bought ground coffee is full of flavor and ideal to use when you are in a hurry, it cannot compare to coffee made with fresh, whole coffee beans.
The problem with store-bought ground coffee is it loses a lot of flavor during the degassing process, which comes immediately after roasting.
On the other hand, when you make coffee using fresh beans, you will grind the coffee shortly before brewing, helping you to get a more flavorful and aromatic cup of coffee.
2. Use a Scale
There are numerous wonderful coffee gifts on RoastyCoffee that any coffee lover will love receiving. But sometimes it is the most basic of items that help to elevate coffee lovers’ enjoyment of consuming their favorite drink. A scale is one such item.
Most people add two tablespoons of coffee for every six ounces of water. While that ratio can indeed produce a tasty cup of coffee, if you want to take your coffee enjoyment to the next level, you need to take different coffees and blends of coffee into consideration.
Size and density matter. One tablespoon of one type of coffee could actually weigh a lot less than a tablespoon of another type of coffee. So, by using a scale to measure the weight, instead of relying on a spoon or scoop to measure volume, you will ensure you use the ideal amount of coffee for the perfect brew.
3. Use a Burr Grinder
Having a high-quality grinder can make all the difference to the taste of a cup of coffee.
That is because the particle size of ground coffee affects how fast the flavors are extracted from the coffee beans. Smaller particles extract more quickly than larger particles.
So, to make the perfect coffee, you need all of the grounds to be approximately the same size. That enables all of the particles to brew at the same rate.
Using a burr grinder is the best way of ensuring you get particle consistency.
4. Fully Saturate the Coffee
When you add water to coffee, even if it appears that the coffee is fully saturated, it is not rare to have pockets of dry coffee. Therefore, you should double-check that all of the ground coffee is fully saturated with water.
You can make certain by giving the coffee a quick, light stir just after you add the water.
5. Use Filtered Water
Speaking of water, consider this: almost 99% of brewed coffee is made up of water. So, the water you use can significantly affect the end result of your brew.
Using filtered water is one of the best and easiest ways of ensuring your cup of coffee always tastes perfect.
You could use bottled water, but using a filter for tap water will be just as good. If you do use bottled water, ensure it is not distilled. Even though distilled water is technically the purest, coffee needs some minerals for it to taste its best.
6. Ensure the Water Is the Correct Temperature
You also need to ensure the water is at the right temperature.
For a great cup of coffee, it is crucial that the water you use to brew is between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit. If you make coffee using water at a lower temperature, you will miss out on a lot of flavor.