How to Brew Excellent Coffee at Home
We love coffee. Really love it. And yes, we work in a coffee shop, but that doesn’t mean we still don’t want to brew incredibly flavourful coffee at home… because we do. Often.
Learning how to brew coffee at home can be confronting if you’ve grown up with instant (thanks mum and dad) or are used to pods. But it really isn’t too hard. Here are some tips that can help you learn how to brew the best, most flavourful coffee at home.
How to Brew Excellent Coffee at Home
Buy good beans
OK, so we’re roasters and we might be a little bit biased. But when it comes to how to brew coffee at home, buying whole, fresh, high-quality roasted beans is the first and best step. When you buy coffee from the shops, there’s a chance that it was roasted months ago. But roasted coffee reaches its peak flavour in just a few days after roasting.
The best way to get fresh beans is to get them from a local roaster (like us) and then have them ground on the spot.
Know your grinds
If you want to brew coffee at home, you’ll want to know your grinds because how and when you grind matters. The best time to grind your coffee is right before you want to drink it. But if you’d rather your roaster (that’s us!) did the grinding for you, small batches is a good way to go.
You also want to make sure that you get the grind size right. If your grind is too big, the flavour won’t be extracted and your brew will be weak and watery. But if you get the grind too small, you’ll over-extract your coffee leaving you with a bitter taste.
Keep your coffee fresh
Once you’ve got your beautiful ground beans, you’ve got to keep them fresh. And that means proper storage. A sealed container with a one-way valve is a great way (and we’ve got some in store). Plus they’re reusable – another bonus. If you don’t have this type of container, a sealed opaque container (sunlight can cause coffee to go stale) is another great way. Be sure to downsize the container as you use your grounds. That way there’s less air contact and freshness loss!
Measure the right way
Now that you’ve got the best beans and the right grind, it’s time to measure out your coffee. But grabbing a scooper and plopping some coffee into the press isn’t going to ensure you the consistently best cup every time. Instead, weighing the coffee grounds will ensure that you get the same amount of coffee per unit of water.
Use the right water to coffee ratio
For filter coffee, 60g coffee to one litre of water is a great place to start. And for espresso try a 1:2 ratio (so 20g ground coffee will give 40g espresso) over a 30 second extraction. Of course, this is just our preference. You may want to go in with a little bit less coffee if you like your coffee not quite as strong, or even with a bit more if you want it really dark and dense.
It’s really up to you. But once you find the right ratio you’ll be able to replicate that every time for your perfect preferred coffee.
Don’t forget the bloom
Many types of coffee makers and coffee brewing styles skip the pre-infusion, or ‘bloom’ step. A bloom involves pouring hot water slowly over the grounds to help release any carbon dioxide left over from the roasting process. Creating the bloom is easy – you just ensure the grounds are thoroughly wet and then let them sit for around 45 seconds before starting your coffee brewing process.
This step ensures that you are getting the maximum amount of flavour out of your coffee beans.
Coffee likes it hot (unless it’s a cold brew)
Coffee likes it hot – hot, hot. In fact, the best temp for brewing is around 93-96C. But you don’t want to go over this by much, because then you’re at risk of over-extracting or even burning your coffee or (and nobody likes that).
To get the right temp (without a thermometer) just bring the water just to a boil and then remove it and let it sit for about two minutes. This will drop it to just the right degree for making the best cup of coffee.
(Of course, there’s always cold brewing – but that’s a tale for another day!)
Water matters
The quality of water that you use will have a definite effect on how your coffee ultimately tastes. In fact, it’s so important in how to brew coffee that experts have written entire books on just this one factor (if you’re interested, check out, Water for Coffee, a great read). But for our purposes, it helps to understand that water that is high in minerals won’t bond well with the coffee particulates and will leave you with a weak cup. On the other hand, distilled water (that is free from all minerals) is just as bad, making a bitter, over-extracted brew.
Instead, you want to use water that sits right in the middle – with some mineral content, but not mineral heavy. There are ways to achieve this perfect balance, but for most of us using plain filtered water will get you there.\
Enjoy your coffee
If you grew up hearing your nan saying, ‘drink it while it’s hot!’, you might think that’s the best way to have your coffee. But you can enjoy coffee from hot to cold, and every step in between.
In fact, heat masks the flavour of coffee. That’s why you might find that some brews taste more bitter as they cool down. Or that a nice, smooth, sweet blend, like our Check Up Blend, can be enjoyed throughout the entire cooling process (meaning you can savour your experience). And if you brew too much, don’t worry. We always find that good-quality coffee can be left in a glass jar in the fridge to be enjoyed as a great cold brew later.
Give it a go
Learning how to brew coffee at home is pretty easy once you know the right elements. Plus it’s great for the environment and for the pocket book! Give it a go and let us know how you go!
Check out our shop for our favourite beans and get started brewing great coffee at home today.