Coffee tastes so darn good in the morning. A good cup of coffee will set your mood right the whole day. But how do you make this sweet cup of coffee?
There are so many ways of making coffee. While each of these ways will give coffee not all methods will provide the finest cup of coffee you need for your morning. Baristas take coffee-making as art – this is why you might keep running to your local barista for yet another cup of coffee. The coffee-making process starts will coffee beans collection and ends with you sipping a hot cup of the finest coffee.
Follow the steps below, and you will have a great cup of coffee every morning.
Buy Hand-Picked Arabica Coffee
There are two types of coffee beans from two different species of coffee plants; Arabica and Robusta. Robusta coffee beans are cheap, seeing that the plant is easy to grow. Arabica coffee beans, on the other hand, are relatively expensive, but they make better-tasting coffee. Robusta beans have more caffeine which makes the coffee taste harsh and bitter. On the other side, Arabica beans contain more fat-based compounds and less caffeine for a richer and smoother taste.
While the species of the coffee beans matter, the quality of the beans matter too. Even a single under-ripe bean can spoil the taste of the coffee. As such, only go for hand-picked beans from a farm that uses fewer chemicals.
Roast Coffee Beans at 200 degrees Celsius
Roasting the coffee beans will change their color from green to brown giving them that rich flavor that you’ve come to associate with coffee. Before roasting, the coffee beans smell and taste unpleasant. When roasted, most of the unpleasant molecules are broken down and replaced by aromatic molecules.
When you roast the coffee beans at high temperature for longer, you allow more time for the sugars and amino acids to react and create more aromatic and delicious compounds. However, do not let your beans roast for too long as a very dark roast can overpower the delightful taste of the coffee. Again, do not allow the beans roast at more than 200 degrees Celsius as they might crack in half.
How Should You Grind the Coffee Beans?
Whenever you are making coffee, you need to use freshly ground beans, without excuses.
When you grind the coffee beans into fine powder, you increase the surface area of the coffee beans and as such, it gives out flavor fast. If you are using an espresso machine that brews coffee in less than a minute, you need to use finely ground coffee. You can grind your coffee however you need. However, if you grind too fine, you need to cook in less than a minute or the coffee will five off bitter compounds that will ruin your cup.
Use an Espresso Machine
You can use any of the hundreds of methods of making coffee, but an espresso machine does a better job. The quality of the coffee you make will depend on how fine you grind your coffee beans, the water you use, the temperature setting, and the duration of brewing. That you way can make your espresso in any style you want, whether its a cortado espresso or a cafe mocha.
When brewing, avoid using paper filters as most of the compounds in coffee are fat-based and will end up sticking on the paper filter rather than your cup. Instead of the many new machines, stick to an espresso machine and aim to get everything right.
Use Hot Water
Ninety-nine percent of your cup of coffee is water. To get the finest and the most delicious coffee, you need to treat the water you use with respect. The water you use needs to be between 92 and 96 degrees Celsius. Hotter than that and the coffee will burn and lose its taste. Any colder and the aromatic compounds in coffee will not be completely extracted. Again, ensure that you use tap water, which is hard and contains a lot of calcium to hold the coffee molecules together. Use only 15ml of water for every 1g of coffee.
Brew Enough Without Over-Brewing
To get a perfect cup of coffee, you need to find the balance between bitterness and flavor. If your brew for only a short time, you will have acidic and unpleasant compounds. If you brew for so long, the coffee burns and leaves bitter compounds. Setting the espresso at high pressure will see water flowing fast and the coffee brewing fast. Instead set the pressure low, at 7 or 8 pressure bars, and let it brew slowly for longer. This gives the espresso machine more time to extract aromatic compounds.
Drink Your Coffee Hot
You need to take your coffee while hot to enjoy the rich flavors – unless you are a fan of cold brew. The perfect cup of coffee is different for everyone. However if your follow the steps above, you will have a great tasting cup of coffee.
If you love your coffee with milk, add steamed full-fat milk. Steam the milk to 60 degrees Celsius and add it to the coffee. Steamed milk creates microfoam but if you need true microfoam, you need more fat. Enjoy your cup of coffee.
