9 tips to make the best cup of coffee Coffee is one of the three most popular drinks in the world along with tea and water. It is also the most profitable beverage ever. Espresso is brewed from the ground and roasted beans of the evergreen equatorial coffee plant, which is of African origin. It helps our livers, make us more intelligent and prevent various diseases and most important, allows us to talk with other people in the morning after getting out of bed. After researching everything and talking to experts, I knew some really useful tips which help to make a great cup of coffee. I am sharing nine must-know tips below: 1. Buy fresh coffee beans: Coffee is best when it is used within a few days of being roasted. The best way to get the freshest espresso beans is to roast yourself or buying from a local roaster. Be careful while purchasing coffee from display bins of supermarkets. Bright lights and oxygen are the worst enemies of the beans. The storage tubes get coated with coffee oil which turns stale. This happens in most departmental stores unless they are oriented to sell fresh coffee beans. On the other hand, espressos which are sold in bulky, vacuum-sealed bags and are packed by quality conscious roasters are better.
2.
Store your coffee properly: Espressos which are not going to be used immediately,
should be stored in an airtight lid and in a shady place. Containers such as glass canning jars, ceramic storage with rubber gasket seals can be great choices. Freezing or not freezing coffee is a major issue of debate in the coffee world. Flavor experts strongly oppose to freeze espressos, especially dark roasts. Because they are absorbent and easily take up moisture and food aroma. Most importantly, purchase 5-7 day supply fresh coffee beans at a time and store them at room temperature. 3. Use whole beans: This is one of the most important advice you should take. If you are thinking to save your time by purchasing a huge amount of coffee at a time, you will get stale, pre-ground espressos. You will notice that when you reach the bottom of the bag, the coffee starts to taste worse. The reason behind this is, once it’s ground, it starts to lose its scent. According to some people, these are good for more than a week while others think only 20 minutes. The grounds will start absorbing the air around which affects the flavor. But whole coffee beans will taste fresher and last longer.
4. Grind coffee beans just before brewing: Espressos start losing flavor and quality immediately after grinding. Roasted coffee is very fragile and perishable. They have many types of flavor but they fade when they come in touch to oxygen. Great tasting espressos are made from beans which are grounded just before brewing. So grinding coffee just before drinking keeps all the compounds intact. This is one of the most important tips you can take into account to improve your cappuccino at home.
5.
Use filtered water: This is another important thing you can do to improve your
coffee. Dirty, unfiltered tap water may ruin your coffee because there is chlorine in the water. Chlorine is used to destroy bacteria which react with the espresso which results in strange, dull, bad taste. Always use a pitcher or faucet filter, you can also use bottled mineral water if you want to. A small note: If you put the water from the faucet filter into a bottle in a fridge, you will notice that
when it remains in the fridge for some days, it will turn to a strange taste.
So take water directly 6.
from the filter from the cold setting.
Beware of the heat: Always remember, cold water is always fresher than hot aqua.
Too hot water may lead to extraction of components of coffee which are bitter instead of pleasant. 200 F or boiling about 45 seconds is the ideal temperature for the proper brewing. Never expect the cappuccino to hold its best flavors for so long. The best tasting
coffee also may transform into bitter, disgusting espresso due to reheating, boiling or continuous holding on a hot platform. 7. Use the right ratio of coffee to water: After applying every way to improve your coffee, and you make mistake in the coffee : water ratio, the espresso will be either too weak or too strong. One of the major errors people make is that they do not use a sufficient amount of coffee. But adding an extra scoop is also seems wasteful. The ideal amount of coffee is: 1 tablespoon of coffee to 6 oz of water, i.e. one cup of water in your coffee maker. There is another ratio called the Golden ratio which suggests: you can start with 30 grams of dry coffee into 523 grams of water. Then you can adjust the ratio on how your coffee tastes. 8. Use the right cup: If you use cheap coffee mugs, especially of plastic, you will realize that your coffee tastes like liquid plastic after a while. According to some people, ceramic is the best type of mug for coffee because it does not transfer any type of flavors to your espresso. But I have heard that these also cannot hold heat very well and are also delicate. Some people also have a tendency to beak mugs, so it is best to go with metal cups and metals does not transfer any taste or flavor to your coffee. On the other hand, most of the beautiful coffee mugs are made of ceramic and they does not transfer any smell to your coffee. So ceramic cups can also be used.
9. Use the right sweetener: You will also have to use the perfect sweetener to improve your coffee
taste. Raw or local honey may not be a good choice because it adds
another mild aroma to your cappuccino. But if you want to use honey and for the first time, try using ½ sugar, ½ honey. Try experimenting on sweeteners. You may use brown sugar, raw honey, white sugar, whatever you want.If you follow the rules above, you can make a great tasting cup of coffee with the right beans, water, sweetener and temperature. You just have to pay attention to the details of the tips above, whether you like light roasted, medium roasted or dark roasted coffee. Go enjoy your morning and evenings with the best coffee made at home!