How to Make Better Coffee at Home

Nothing gets your day off to a great start quite like an exquisite cup of coffee. While it can be tempting to have a quick cuppa with instant or pre-ground coffee, or quickly grab a brew from your local barista, there are plenty of ways for you to elevate your coffee to perfection at home. If you’re using an AeroPress, then we think you’re already on your way to enjoying the best possible coffee at home, but here are some more tips to get you on the path to greatness!

Use Fresh Coffee

The first place to start when looking to make better coffee is with the beans. The coffee beans themselves are going to be responsible for the flavours and tastes, so naturally, the beans you choose will have a big impact on your brew. While coffee doesn’t go ‘bad’ like food if left for some time, its flavour does deteriorate over time, meaning that you need to choose fresh coffee to ensure you’re enjoying the best tastes possible. Find a good local roastery, so the time between the beans being roasted and them arriving at your door is as quick as possible.

Buy Whole Beans

It is best to buy whole beans and grind them yourself, as opposed to purchasing pre-ground coffee. While it can be tempting to save yourself a few extra moments in bed in the morning by using pre-ground coffee, it is definitely worth the time to grind your coffee each morning. This is because coffee’s flavour is found within the oils packed inside the beans, and these are released when the beans are ground. Once the beans have been ground, the oils begin to evaporate quickly, so by using pre-ground coffee you will be losing a lot of flavour.

Store Your Beans Better

Once your bag of coffee beans is opened, the clock is ticking for their taste. Oxidation begins to occur when the beans are exposed to oxygen, making the flavour degrade and leaving the beans stale. Look for a bag of freshly roasted beans that are stored within an airtight packaging. It can also be beneficial if the bag has a degassing valve, as this will allow the release of gases without letting air into the packaging. Once you get your beans home, keep them in an airtight glass container in a dark and cool location. Check out our guide to storing coffee beans at home for more advice on keeping beans as fresh as possible at home.

Use Scales

While you can make a good cup of coffee by using a scoop or eyeballing the amount of coffee you’re adding to a cup, true (and repeatable) greatness can only be achieved when using a set of scales. Precision is key to an incredible cup of coffee, so you’ll need scales to weigh out the exact amount of beans and water needed for your brew recipe. When selecting scales to use, you’ll want one that can measure in 0.1-gram increments, as coffee beans are quite small and light, and you need it to be as precise as possible.

Change Your Grind

When grinding your own coffee beans, it is essential to use the right coffee grinder. There are two main types of coffee grinder – a blade grinder or a burr grinder. If you’re looking to up your coffee game, then you need a conical burr grinder, as it offers a more consistent grind. It is also adjustable, meaning that it can make a very fine ground for espresso or a much coarser ground for a French press.

Filter Your Water

Hot water is used to extract the flavours that are found within your brew. While the coffee beans will account for a great deal of the flavour, your coffee will be made up of 98% water, so if your water doesn’t taste good, it can impact on your coffee. Your tap water may contain hints of chlorine, rust or lime, and this can be transferred into your brew. To eliminate these unwanted tastes, make sure to purify your water using a filter.

Ditch Your Coffee Machine

Single-serve automatic brewing systems, like the Keurig K-Cup, certainly saw a rise in popularity, but that doesn’t mean that they are making the best coffee. While it may seem as if we are biased, the reality is that these coffee pod coffee machines simply don’t follow any of the rules about what makes good coffee. The beans haven’t been freshly roasted and ground, the water temperature is likely to be wrong, and there is no way to accurately measure out the right bean to water ratios. As well as this, these coffee machines will typically use single-use disposable plastics that are terrible for the environment, not to mention incredibly expensive.

As an affordable and environmentally-friendly option, the AeroPress UK is the perfect choice for making your coffee both at home and on the go. Producing a smooth and flavourful coffee in seconds, the AeroPress is sure to impress you with a superior sip!