Ordering coffee at your favorite cafe can be a delight, but it is not the most economical option.
Making a cup at home is a cheaper alternative, so Insider talked to coffee experts about his best tricks for making beer at home.
Read on for some easy ways to step up your coffee game.
Start by cleaning your coffee maker regularly
Old coffee grounds can affect the taste of a freshly brewed cup.
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One way to improve your coffee cup is to clean your coffee maker regularly, Josh Zad, founder and creative director of the popular coffee chain Alfred, told Insider.
“Make sure you get into the corners and crevices of each part, especially where the coffee seeps through the filter,” he said. “The taste and aroma of old coffee really confuses the taste of freshly brewed coffee.”
The best way to clean hard-to-reach stains is to pour a little baking soda, a little vinegar and a little water. Then let it sit overnight and cool down the next day, according to Zad.
Consider trying a new fermentation method, such as a French press or moka pot
If you’re ready to venture further into the world of artisanal coffee, there are so many fun ways to prepare it at home, Selina Viguera, coffee leader at Blue Bottle Coffee’s Abbot Kinney, told Insider.
Moka pot, French press, AeroPress, Chemex and a variety of pour-overs are just the beginning.
If you don’t know where to start, Viguera said that there are many resources online and most coffee roasting companies have tutorials on their websites.
For a fun and unique coffee experience, invest in a bottle to serve.
Pour-over coffee is a new popular method of beer.
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If you’re looking for a specific beer recommendation, several experts agree that the spill – which involves slowly pouring hot water over the coffee powder – is your favorite.
With proper technique, you can produce a really delicious coffee, according to Viguera.
Once you understand some of the variables for making coffee (grind size, water temperature, stirring), you can create different cups from the same coffee bag, she added.
Buy whole coffee beans instead of pre-ground
Whole coffee beans are fresher.
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“To make better coffee, buy better coffee,” Viguera told Insider.
Whole-grain coffee is fresher and tastes more vibrant than pre-ground varieties, according to Alex Azoury, the original founder and CEO of Home Grounds, a community for coffee enthusiasts.
Prepare fresh coffee in the first 2 weeks after roasting
“Coffee is a natural product (it is the seed of a fruit) and, although it never spoils, it will lose a lot of flavor if it stays for a long time,” Zad told Insider.
The taste of coffee reaches its peak in the first two weeks after roasting, according to Viguera, so it is important to check if the coffee you are buying has been roasted recently.
To keep the coffee fresh, proper storage is also important. Zad suggested keeping it away from heat, light, moisture and the freezer.
Invest in a good coffee grinder that meets your bean preferences
Good coffee beans require a quality grinder.
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After buying quality grains, it is also important to invest in a good grinder.
“It’s a good idea to get a grinder that grinds the coffee to the amount and roughness you want,” Azoury told Insider. “A good grinder will give you options for grinding and quantity according to your taste.”
Be sure to adjust your grinder to the right size
Very fine ground coffee causes excessive extraction and very coarse ground coffee leads to underextraction, according to Viguera.
Excess coffee may have a dry, bitter taste, and excess coffee may have a watery or sour taste.
To avoid this, Viguera told Insider that it is important to “dial” your coffee. Baristas use this term to describe the act of adjusting your grinding setting to find the right roughness / fineness to prepare a balanced cup.
Coffee has a sweet spot – a perfect grinding configuration – that produces a balance of bitterness, acidity and sweetness. This sweet spot can vary according to the origin of the coffee, roasting level and age, according to Viguera.
Just grind the beans you are planning to prepare immediately
Once the coffee beans are ground, they can start to lose their flavors.
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You should only grind the amount of coffee you are going to make.
“If you pre-ground all of your coffee, but you are not going to brew it right away, then you have dramatically accelerated how quickly the rest of the coffee will lose its delicious complexity,” Zad told Insider.
A cup of coffee may taste different depending on the quality of the water
Another important factor to consider when making coffee at home is water, which makes up about 98% of the prepared cup of coffee, according to Viguera.
“As the main solvent to extract the flavor and aroma from your ground coffee, your water needs a certain level of hardness / minerality and alkalinity for a quality extraction,” she told Insider. “Depending on where you live, tap water can be too hard / soft to get the best out of your glass.”
Light and dark roasts require different fermentation temperatures
Too hot water can ruin a cup of coffee.
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Water temperature is another important variable when preparing coffee.
“You want to use water heated to 198 degrees Fahrenheit to 202 degrees Fahrenheit to make a properly extracted cup of coffee,” said Viguera. “Lighter roasted coffees can withstand more heat (202 degrees Fahrenheit), while darker roasted coffees taste better with water close to 198 degrees Fahrenheit.”
Try preheating your mug before serving coffee
If you are pouring hot coffee into a cold mug, it will only make the coffee cooler the second it hits the ceramic.
According to Zad, a preheated mug will increase the time you can enjoy a hot coffee in the morning.
Change things by making cold beer at home
Cold beer is not as difficult to make as some people think.
Megan Willett / Tech Insider
Another way to mix the coffee routine is to make your own cold drink at home.
To do this, just grind the beans coarsely and add water, Zad said. Then place it in the refrigerator overnight to extract all the sweetness from the coffee.
Add spices to make your own flavored coffee
According to Zad, flavored coffee may contain artificial ingredients that do not complement the natural flavor of the beans.
Instead, he suggested adding the real ingredients behind the flavors you like to your coffee.
“Try adding spices to the coffee beans when preparing the cold drink,” Zad told Insider. “Add cinnamon sticks, crushed roasted hazelnuts, cardamom pods, fennel, cocoa shells or even tasty elements like cumin to infuse your cold drink overnight, and you’ll have the natural spicy goodness in the morning – nothing artificial . “
Use a scale to achieve the right coffee to water ratio
The proportion can change the intensity of the coffee.
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Knowing the ratio of your preparation – or ratio of coffee to water – and using a scale can help you prepare consistently good cups.
“For reference, the industry standard is 1:18 (one part of coffee to 18 parts of water), which normally produces a cup with a light body, but with greater clarity of flavor,” Viguera told Insider. “If you prefer a bolder, fuller cup, try a 1:14 ratio.”
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