Lifestyle 10/10/2021

Creating the perfect coffee at home

Getting your daily caffeine fix on a morning is a ritual for many in order to start their day right. With many of us still home working, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to head to our favourite café and go-to coffee shops, but don’t let that stop you making a good cup of coffee at home.

Here we’ve shared a handful of ways and tips to perfect the perfect pour in your own home, without having to purchase all the mod cons, ensuring you don’t have to go without.

The Rules

The Coffee

Without a doubt, fresh coffee is best. In order to perfect your coffee experience at home, make sure you use fresh beans, that are kept in an airtight container. Glass jars with rubber-gasket seals are always a good shout. Roasted coffee beans tend to start losing their freshness and flavours after 2 to 3 weeks - and never refrigerate. Experts always advise against freezing coffee to preserve their longevity.

Buy decent coffee. A good cup of coffee requires good quality beans and whilst we’d advise to stay within your budget, venturing a little further than just the mass-marketed commercial brands, is where the true world of coffee tastes await.

The Water

Believe it or not, water makes a huge difference to your coffee. Did you know that each time you boil water, oxygen escapes and the taste changes? Make sure that the water is fresh and hasn’t been sitting in your kettle for a while.

Interestingly, soft water tastes much better than hard water, so if you live in a hard water area, you may want to filter the water first to remove any excess minerals.

Don’t burn your coffee. Boiling water can make your coffee taste bitter rather than pleasant, and it’s advised to turn off your kettle about 45 seconds off a full boil for the perfect temperature.

The Ratio

The ratio must be right so avoid skimping on your coffee. The golden ratio to create the best cup is 1:16 ground coffee to water ratio.

The Techniques

The French Press

This is one of the most classic and easiest way to make coffee. Requiring only ground coffee and a French Press, which are both quite easy and cheap to buy, it’s no wonder it’s a firm favourite.

You simply scoop ground coffee into the carafe, and then fill it with boiling water before giving it a quick stir. After waiting for a couple of minutes (4 minutes to be precise) for the coffee to do its magic, slowly press down the plunger to separate the grounds from the coffee, and it’s ready to go.

If you don’t like strong coffee, our advice is to make sure you don’t leave any leftover coffee in the French Press as it will continue to brew and become bitter. Instead pour it into a carafe so you can enjoy it later on.

Pour Over

This method is becoming increasingly more popular and is one of the oldest ways to brew coffee but arguably the best for a delicious and aromatic cup of coffee, giving you complete control over the coffee-making process.

To perfect this technique, you’ll need to place a filter in a coffee cone dripper which is then placed over a cup. Make sure you rinse the filter with hot water to avoid having a papery taste in your coffee and discard this water). Then simply add fine coffee grounds into the filter before pouring hot water on top - only enough to saturate them completely. After waiting for around 30 seconds for the coffee to “bloom” – which allows the coffee to de-gas and remove any carbon dioxide left from the roasting beans (skipping this step can weaken the brew), continue to pour a little more water in a circular motion as to wet all the coffee ground evenly until you reach your desired amount. Then simply remove the filter and enjoy.

Iced Coffee

Iced coffee is very much on trend right not with more and more of us searching for the best way to make the best version.

In fact, it’s a very simple recipe and all you need is a tall glass filled with ice, your perfected brewed coffee, some milk – and some syrup if you fancy.

If you’re not a fan of pouring hot coffee over ice, you can brew your coffee the night before, so it has time to come to room temperature by the time the morning comes, but it’s up to you!

Let us know how you’ve perfected your coffee at home by tagging us on social, and using the hashtag #KeepmoatHomes