Improve your coffee at home. Here’s how (5 tips)

Brewing the tastiest coffee at home, who doesn’t want that? But how come there’s such a big difference between the coffee you make at home and the espresso or cappuccino from your favourite coffee bar? Although a lot of that has to do with the coffee machine and the skills of the barista, there are definitely things you can do at home to improve your coffee. Curious how? Read on with us.

These tips come from baristaworden.nl. A website for coffee lovers, by coffee lovers. There you’ll find plenty of tips and tricks to become a better home barista.

1. Buy freshly roasted coffee beans

It sounds logical, but plenty of people still don’t do it. Just like you buy fresh produce at the supermarket, coffee beans also taste best when they’re freshly roasted. But what exactly does that mean? Coffee beans are fresh for up to 6 - 8 weeks after roasting. That doesn’t mean you have to throw the beans straight away once 8 weeks have passed, but the flavour and aromas do start to slowly fade.

2. Grind your own coffee beans

As soon as coffee is ground, it starts to lose its flavour and aromas. This process happens very quickly. So you can imagine there’s not much flavour in pre-ground coffee that’s been sitting on a supermarket shelf for ages. So grind your beans just before brewing using a separate coffee grinder or a fully automatic coffee machine.

3. Buy the right coffee beans

Tastes differ, so we won’t claim that these coffee beans are the best (although we think so haha). When buying coffee beans, we recommend going for Arabica beans or a blend with 80% Arabica beans or more. Arabica coffee beans have a softer flavour than Robusta coffee, which (often) has a bitter flavour. We also recommend choosing a light or medium roast, since with darkly roasted coffee the flavours and aromas are often already “burned off”.

4. Store the coffee beans in an airtight bag

The way you store your coffee beans also has a big influence on the flavour. Store the coffee beans in a dark and cool place. Best of all in an airtight bag with a valve. With such a valve, air can leave the packaging, while no air can get in. That’s a good thing, because oxygen is the enemy, and after roasting the beans need to degas. Through the valve, all gases can leave the packaging.

5. The right kit

Of course, the coffee machine also has a big influence on the flavour. To brew delicious coffee, it’s especially important that the water temperature stays consistent. There are loads of coffee machines on the market, which makes it tricky to make a good choice. Don’t forget that it’s also important to match the coffee and the grind to the brewing method. So for filter coffee you need a coarser grind than for espresso coffee.

In closing

We hope you found the 5 tips useful. If you still have any questions, you can always send us a message. Good luck!