How To Make The Perfect Cup Of Coffee

Tips On Making Delicious Coffee

If you’re anything like us, your day doesn’t start until you’ve had a strong cup of coffee. That delicious caffeine boost is essential for kickstarting your day, no matter if you’re working or relaxing. While we can all be easily tempted to buy coffee on the go, it’s much more economical to make yours from home. You might be put off by the thought of buying and using your own equipment but it’s super easy and affordable too.

In this article, we’re going to teach you how to make high quality, barista-style coffee from the comfort of your own home. We’ll also introduce you to a few tools which you’ll need to get started.

Choosing The Right Equipment

There are a few essential tools you need to make the perfect cup of coffee. For simplicity, we’re only going to cover the most important – milk frothers and the coffee maker. If you’re a coffee aficionado and want to take your home brew to the next level, you could take this process much further and invest in more complicated tools. Measuring coffee beans with a kitchen scale before grinding them with a specialist coffee grinder might make an extra special cup of joe, but it’s not practical for everyday use for most people.

• Milk Frothers – High-quality milk frothers come in two main types, manual and electric. While both work well, an electric frother is the easiest and quickest way to achieve that light, frothy milk you’d expect from a barista. However, a manual milk frother is just as fun (maybe even a little more fun) and provides a visual aesthetic that is guaranteed to make you feel like a barista in your own home.
• Coffee Machines – With so many different types of coffee machines to choose from, it might seem like a daunting process. But we’re here to help. Just like milk frothers, there are manual and electric coffee machines but the electric ones are the easiest and quickest to use so we’ll focus on those. Whether it’s a drip coffee machine or countertop, barista-style machine, you’ll be guaranteed perfectly percolated coffee every time.

5 Steps To Make The Perfect Cup Of Coffee

1. Use High-Quality Coffee – Your high-quality coffee of choice should be freshly ground to the consistency which best matches your machine. Each machine will require a particular type of grind which will be specified in the manufacturer’s product description. You can either buy pre-ground coffee of the correct consistency or grind your own from fresh beans using a coffee grinder. While either works and makes a delicious cup of coffee, grinding your own beans at home provides a lot of fun and makes you feel even more like a barista. Just make sure you use the right amount per person to prevent your coffee from being too strong or too weak.
2. Use Filtered Water – Filtered or bottled water is essential for creating the perfect cup of coffee. While some coffee machines filter water automatically from the source, others may need manually filtered water to be added. The correct type of water is important as it contains specific minerals which are key if you want to enjoy the complex taste of your coffee beans.
3. Use A Premium Coffee Machine – A premium coffee machine will make brewing coffee an easy and enjoyable process. Whether you opt for an automatic drip or barista-type coffee machine, you’re guaranteed to make a perfect cup every time. A good coffee machine will heat water to the ideal temperature of 196°F-205°F, which prevents over or under extraction as well as saving your coffee from burning. A good coffee maker will also add the correct amount of water at the correct speed, which creates a perfect coffee taste and consistency.
4. Use A Milk Frother For Barista-Style Coffee – While your coffee machine is working at making you the perfect cup of coffee, it’s time to froth the milk. Unless you have a coffee machine that has a milk steamer, you’ll have to preheat your milk on the stove. The milk should gently be warmed to around 149°F using a thermometer to check it doesn’t get too hot. When you’ve heated the milk, it can then be frothed using your handheld milk frother or any other type of frother.
5. Add The Milk And Coffee Together – Adding your fresh coffee and warm, frothed milk is the final step. Ideally, the coffee should be at the bottom of your cup before pouring in the warm, frothed milk. If you pour slowly with both the cup and milk jug at a slight angle, you might even be able to make some fancy coffee art!

Congratulations! You’ve successfully just made some delicious coffee that any barista would be envious about. So long as you remember these 5 easy steps you’ll make a perfect cup of coffee every time, all from the comfort of your home.

Sources:

1. How To Make The Perfect Cup Of Coffee – Texas A&M Today
2. The Perfect Cup of Coffee, With a Little Help From Science – Around the O
3. 5 Ways to Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee (More sustainably!) – Rainforest Alliance