If your morning coffee is more like a cup of muddy water than a fabulous frappe or nerve-tingling macchiato then it may be time to up your coffee game. Making a good cup of Joe takes time, beautiful beans, and a tiny pinch of skill. While we can’t promise these tricks and tips will turn your kitchen into a Costa Rican dream, we can say that these are the small ways you make your morning coffee truly pass the taste test…
It’s All in the Bean
A workwoman is only as good as her tools and if you don’t have high-quality beans to begin with, then your latte may fall flat. Always try and source the best freshly roasted beans you can get and it's always worth investing in a grinder for your kitchen counter. Freshly roasted and freshly ground coffee brings out the beautiful subtleties of flavor in the bean, whereas these delicate notes can be lost with pre-ground choices. When grinding try and keep it slightly coarse – imagine a similar texture to sea-salt.
Be Sure to Store Right
Keeping your beans beautiful means knowing how to store them with love and care. While some swear by keeping fresh beans stashed in the fridge, you may want to be wary of your beans absorbing other food scents and flavors from the shelves. The best way is to pick a solid airtight container for your beans and keep out of direct heat and sunlight – a cool cupboard always works wonders for keeping whole beans in wholesome shape.
Choose Filtered Water
If you want to bring a spot of sweetness to your morning coffee, ditch the hard tap water for something a little lighter and brighter. Filtered water contains fewer impurities meaning that your morning cup will have a cleaner palate for your coffee beans to shine through. Also, make sure that you boil the water properly but don’t leave it boiling on the stove as this can dull the taste.
Better Understand Your Brewing
Bubbling up your morning coffee in an Italian percolator will have a much different taste to the smooth notes of a French press. Understanding which style of coffee brew suits you will help you to bring better harmony to your palate. If using a French press leave your coffee to steep for around four minutes and never plunge down with force but go gentle with the press and take your time to allow the flavor to bloom.
Magic Up Your Milk
One of the best things about buying coffee from a barista is the prospect of perfect luxury milk. Whether whole or oat, make sure that you steam it up exactly right. If you don’t have milk-steaming apparatus, you can simply heat in a pan (be sure not to boil) and whip it up using an electric or battery-operated milk whisk just to get a little foam.
Warm Your Mug
After all that hard work making a mega cup of coffee the last thing you want to do is to pour it into a cold cup. Warm-up your cup by adding a splash of hot water and letting it sit until your cup is nice and warm.
A Pinch of Spice
Even if you are a purist when it comes to coffee, you can still add a pinch of spice to pick your cup up and send it to a whole new realm. We all know that a sprinkle of chocolate, a light dusting of cinnamon and a grating of nutmeg can add a sweet sense of notoriety to your morning brew, but there are lesser-known spices that bring magic too. Cayenne, lavender, cardamom, chilli, and even ginger and black pepper. Play around and see which scents and heady spices stick.
Which tips do you have for making amazing coffee at home? Do you have any tips to for those unfortunate times when we need to get a coffee stain out of the carpet or your favorite shirt? Share in the comments and let’s kickstart our mornings in glorious style…
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