If you’re a coffee-lover, you’ve come to the right place. Many articles on the internet offer tips on saving money, and one of the tips mainly offered is to stop buying coffee from coffee shops. This might work for some, but for others, having coffee is a daily ritual. This is why you need to learn some coffee-making tips. There are a few DIY tweaks and tricks that you can try to immediately transform your coffee quality, no matter how expensive or standard your machine is. So, if you’re ready to embark on this journey, read these seven suggestions to level up your barista skills.
Ensure Your Coffee Is Stored Well
For many coffee lovers, this is one of the biggest coffee mistakes they make; not storing coffee to maintain its freshness, flavor, and taste quality. According to the Black Ink Coffee Company, coffee beans are absorbent, which is why you should store them away from odors, oxygen, heat, moisture, direct sunlight, and heat. Additionally, you should also avoid freezing your beans. Freezing them exposes them to moisture from condensation as well as food odors. We suggest storing your beans in an airtight container in a dark place away from smoke and food odor.
Have the Right Ratio
Before preparing coffee, it’s vital to get the right coffee-water brewing ratio. This ratio is perhaps one of the essential factors you have to consider when making coffee. Many people are not sure how much coffee you need to use in a particular serving. There are many brewing methods available, which is why there’s no one-size-fits-all method that can be deemed as 100 percent. However, the near-perfection ratio is: each gram of coffee goes with 16 milliliters of water or 55-60 grams for each water liter. For excellent results, we suggest using a kitchen weighing scale.
Use Quality Water
This is another aspect that is often overlooked by many people. If you use hard water, it will not blend well with the dissolved particles from the coffee. This leads to an under-extracted weak coffee. Additionally, the high mineral content in hard water also leads to buildups in your coffee machine. It would be best to use flat water that is between hard water and distilled water. Also, you can use lightly filtered water; mostly refrigerator filtered water.
Have the Right Size of Coffee Beans
The size of the ground coffee particles also matters in your coffee preparation. Grinding coffee is necessary to help water penetrate the small particles and extract enough flavour compounds in a single time. Ideally, grinding coffee helps increase the surface of the coffee and water, making extraction faster. It will help if you also understand that the size to which coffee should be ground depends on the brewing method and the specific brewing time. The brewing time matters since the water needs enough time to blend in with the coffee to extract the necessary flavor compounds. If you brew for too short or too long, it may negatively change your coffee’s flavor.
Temperature
Ensure you brew at the right temperature by also ensuring the water temperature is correct. Brewing at the right temperature helps extract the flavor reasonably without making the coffee too bitter. We recommend brewing your coffee at about 91-96 degrees C. While some coffee makers will brew at the right temperature, others are inconsistent. When buying your next brewer, go for the best one if you’re passionate about coffee making.
Adjusting the Variables
Changing your coffee’s taste requires you to start by adjusting the grinder or the amount of coffee you use. We recommend only changing one variable at a time. This is because you will not know which change led to your ideal flavor. Changing the size of your grind can significantly influence the taste of your coffee.
When and How Matters
Seasoned coffee experts say coffee begins to lose its flavor within the first half-hour of being ground. This is why we recommend grinding on the spot just before brewing a pot. Additionally, grind size and consistency also matter. If you grind too coarse, you will have a weak pot of coffee. Additionally, if you grind too finely, it will over-extract the coffee, hence taste bitter.
Using these tips will make you a seasoned coffee barista overtimes. Also, the filter you use matters. We recommend experimenting a couple of times before you can achieve the best brew. Finally, continue learning from other seasoned baristas on the internet and be passionate about it.
