We all love getting a fresh and tasty cup of coffee from a good cafe, but getting out of the house in the morning without a little pick me up can be a challenge!
The obvious solution is to brew a tasty cup of coffee from the comfort of your home. Too many people think that getting a cafe quality cup at home is impossible.
In reality, with a few optimizations to your current coffee making set-up, you can be well on your way to a high-quality cup of coffee at home.
Here are some of the easiest things to improve on to make a better cup of coffee at home.
Buy Freshly Roasted Beans
The obvious place to start if we are looking for improvements is the coffee you are using. Beans or ground coffee from the supermarket is convenient but rarely fresh or high-quality.
A lot of the nuanced flavour is lost when coffee is sitting around on a shelf for too long, so you want to find the freshest beans possible.
You can get some from your local cafe or go directly to the source with a specialty roaster like Belvico.
To help those brewing coffee at home, Belvico even offers a convenient subscription service, so you will always have freshly roasted coffee beans available!
Grind Your Own Coffee
Besides buying fresh coffee from a producer committed to quality, you should also consider grinding your coffee.
While Belvico or other roasters can send pre-ground coffee, you will get the best results if you grind the beans yourself.
This allows you to control for freshness and grind size, which is particularly important for certain pour over or immersion brewing methods.
There are many relatively affordable home grinding options, so get out there and treat yourself to a new coffee grinder!
Choose the Right Brewing Method
If you want great coffee at home, you may want to steer clear of the espresso based drink you typically get when you are out at a cafe.
You can make cafe quality espresso at home, but the investment in equipment and training can be quite extreme.
Many home coffee brewers instead go for easier to master pour-over or immersion techniques. Popular options include V60, French Press, Chemex and Aeropress methods.
These all have the potential to produce a great cup of coffee with minimal time and equipment, which is perfect for the home coffee drinker.
Measure Carefully
Every brewing method uses quite precise ratios of ground coffee to water, and for the best results, you should measure your doses of ground coffee using a scale.
Not only does this ensure you get a full-bodied cup of coffee, it allows you to replicate your results daily.
Pay Attention to Technique
Once you are all set up for brewing coffee at home, spend a little bit of time mastering your chosen techniques.
There is no need to go to an expensive course; there are so many great tutorials available online for free! Mastering a new technique and looking for the next optimization in your coffee routine can be a gratifying process.
