9 simple tips to make your coffee taste better!
Take your coffee brewing to the next level, these quick tips may surprise you!
There are some small and simple adjustments that you can make to your coffee preparation that have an incredible effect on the taste of your cup of coffee. We’ve created a list of 9 different tips that you can try today!
1. Buy specialty coffee
By far this is the single biggest difference that you can make to your coffee drinking enjoyments. It’s the secret to bitter-free-coffee. Specialty coffee is superior in taste, it’s superior in quality, and if it’s Road Coffee, it’s making a direct impact to the coffee farmers that work so hard to provide the world with coffee. Check out our BeyondFair program to learn more about this.
2. Use the golden ratio
Unsure of how much coffee to use for your brewing method?
Well good news, in coffee we have the “Golden Ratio”. The golden ratio is a 16 parts water to 1 part coffee, this is a great starting point for any coffee and any brewing method! You can always tweak based on grind size and type of coffee, but the golden ratio is a great place to start to ensure a delicious cup!
3. Storing your coffee
By storing your coffee beans in an airtight container, and out of direct sunlight you will allow your coffee beans to stay fresher longer. You can use a mason jar and keep it in the cupboard or a dark container on a shelf.
If you buy from Road Coffee, you’ll get your coffee in a resealable bag with a one-way valve. This allows the CO2 to escape but stops oxygen from getting in and spoiling the beans.
4. Use filtered water
Water affects coffee more than you may realize, however it makes sense as water is a key ingredient. Coffee extracts best with soft, filtered water. If you’re fortunate enough to live in an area with soft water, you can skip this part. Although, if you live in a region where the water is hard, buy some sort of filter like a Brita or Third Wave Water. It’ll make an enormous difference to the taste.
5. Use freshly boiled water
Although it seems a shame and a waste of money, each time you brew a cup of coffee you should tip away any water that was previously boiled and fill with fresh, cold water. This seems like an insignificant step but you can taste the difference if you drink the cups side by side.
6. Clean your coffee brewing equipment
Never just rinse. Clean your brewing equipment with washing-up detergent. Take the time to take apart all the sections of your brewer and give it a scrub with a neutral detergent. You don’t have to do this after every use, but if you periodically clean your drip brewer, french press, aeropress or anything else, your coffee will taste better.
Rinse thoroughly with fresh water after cleaning. This will prevent a build-up of coffee oils which cause stale and unwanted tasting notes.
7. Rinse paper filter
You know that paper taste? I know you know what I am talking about, and you don’t want that taste ruining your cup of coffee. By using some of your boiled water to rinse the paper, you can eliminate that paper taste. Double bonus, doing so also preheats your brewer and mug!
Don’t believe us? Give it a try just one time and taste the rinse-water. You’re now a convert.
8. Preheat your brewing equipment
Preheat your brewing equipment when making coffee. Get everything as hot as possible. Preheating the brewer means that less water temperature is lost to the brewing apparatus than when brewing from cold. From french press to a chemex, or even drip brewer this trick is tried and true - your coffee will be hotter and will taste better.
9 . Pre-Infuse your grounds
Pre-infusing your coffee is game changing! This step often gets skipped, but can add more value than the other steps. Pre-infusing your coffee means adding enough water to cover the coffee grounds for 30-45 seconds before adding the rest of the water to brew the coffee. This allows the coffee grounds to expand so that when you add the rest of the water you are extracting more flavour and you get the fullness of flavour in your final cup.
Conclusion
There you go! 9 tips that will drastically improve your coffee game at home. Hopefully you try all these tips, but even if you even try a few you will elevate your coffee quality! Let us know how it goes, we’re always curious about how our friends' coffee brewing at home is going. You can email us at info@roadcoffeeco.com or message us on Facebook or Instagram @roadcoffee
Author Alisha Esmail
