A Better Cup Of Coffee Right Now
Yesterday I wrote a post about quitting coffee. Today I’m sharing with you advice on how to have a better cup of coffee. You don’t have to have a sophisticated palate or a barista to notice the difference. You can tell because of the magnitude.
We love our coffee. Coffee is a huge part of our daily life ritual and culture (think about how much prime real estate is taken over by Starbucks and Tim Hortons). At the same time, you would think that the average coffee drinker would be a connoisseur about something that they put in their body so much but the reality is that we know so little about our coffee.
Coffee, on its surface, is an incredibly simple beverage: just add hot water to ground up roasted beans. Why complicate it? To have an excellent cup of coffee. You can immediately have a better cup of coffee with these few simple easy tips. First a few comments on coffee machines. A good machine definitely helps. A good machine doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. You can have one of the best cup of coffee in the world with the AreoPress (US$38 on Amazon). Also, very importantly, a good machine won’t turn crappy coffee into a great cup. Garbage in, garbage out. There’s nothing you can do to make it taste good. Now with that out of the way, here’s how you can improve your coffee regardless of the machine.
1- Buy organic whole beans. You might have to fork over a couple extra dollar more but the taste is significantly better. It’s not just a “health” thing or a socially conscious decision. Organic coffee beans taste much better. If you want to take it a notch higher, go with Arabica coffee, its the better coffee plant. The coffee you drink everyday is most likely coming from Robusta coffee plants. If you want to take it another notch higher, aim for beans that within a month of roast date. By the way coffee beans do go bad.
2- Grind your own beans before making each cup. It requires a little extra work but again it’s all about enhancing your coffee. This ensures that the oils and flavors end up in your drink and not in the air. Don’t buy the cheapest grinder
3- Use fresh cold water. Coffee is mostly water but we seem to neglect it. The better the water, the better the cup. The ideal water for coffee is soft water which contains less minerals, rather than mineral rich hard water. This last sentence is now being debated. Generally speaking, soft water is better for coffee. However, if you want to go crazy, some hard water has been known to produce a better cup of coffee. It comes down to knowing which minerals makes it hard. Magnesium helps make the coffee taste better. Bicarbonates does not. It comes down to knowing your water.
4- The ratio of coffee to water. The key is to start with the golden ratio of 17.42 units of water to 1 unit of coffee. It’s a starting point then adjust to taste. A unit could be grams, ounces, whatever you want. Basically 15 grams of coffee requires 261 gram of water. You can be more precise by using weight—instead of volume—to measure your coffee and water. Most of the time people don’t put enough coffee.
Enjoy your next cup of coffee!
