8 Tips and Tricks For Better Coffee Brewing
illustrations by Miah Brown
1. Make the coffee bed of grounds flat, no matter the brewing device
Why? When the bed of grounds is tilted to one side, water flows across the grounds that are closer to the floor more than those that are further.
This causes them to extract more than the grounds that are further away. It can make for a muddled cup.
2. Use filtered water
Why? Your cup of coffee is mostly water. So if it doesn’t taste good before you brew coffee with it, it won’t taste good after.
Also Chlorine has a diminishing effect on brewed coffee, masking aromatics and neutralizing acids. Even a Brita filter will do the trick!
Why? Your cup of coffee is mostly water. So if it doesn’t taste good before you brew coffee with it, it won’t taste good after.
Also Chlorine has a diminishing effect on brewed coffee, masking aromatics and neutralizing acids. Even a Brita filter will do the trick!
3. Use water that is near boiling
Why? Most of the heavy lifting in extraction comes from the temperature of the water.
Try putting grounds in a cup of room temp water. Not much happens right?
So the closer to boil you can make your water, the better extraction you will get out.
Why? Most of the heavy lifting in extraction comes from the temperature of the water.
Try putting grounds in a cup of room temp water. Not much happens right?
So the closer to boil you can make your water, the better extraction you will get out.
4. Make your grind size consistent
Why? A tablespoon of small grounds have a lot more surface area than a tablespoon of large grounds.
That means they will extract easier. If you are brewing with a mix of large and small grounds,
their respective extraction will be different and uneven, making for a muddled result.
5. Keep the air out of the bag!
Resealing your bag right after using will help your beans preserve their flavors for much longer.
Why? Just like a loaf of bread will go stale if left out on the counter too many days,
coffee exposed to open air will dry of it’s delicious oils inside the bean and become stale and flat tasting.
6. Grind coffee right before brewing
Why? Similar to #5, ground coffee has vastly more surface area than whole beans,
and more exposure to oxidation and evaporation of the oils.
Why? A tablespoon of small grounds have a lot more surface area than a tablespoon of large grounds.
That means they will extract easier. If you are brewing with a mix of large and small grounds,
their respective extraction will be different and uneven, making for a muddled result.
5. Keep the air out of the bag!
Resealing your bag right after using will help your beans preserve their flavors for much longer.
Why? Just like a loaf of bread will go stale if left out on the counter too many days,
coffee exposed to open air will dry of it’s delicious oils inside the bean and become stale and flat tasting.
6. Grind coffee right before brewing
Why? Similar to #5, ground coffee has vastly more surface area than whole beans,
and more exposure to oxidation and evaporation of the oils.
7. “Just add water” approach:
Make your brew stronger, you can always add water after the fact.
If you brew it too weak, there isn’t much that can be done!
8. Try overextracting, it’s hard to do.
Most poor cups we hear about are due to underextraction.
Most poor cups we hear about are due to underextraction.
Overextraction is hard to do with our coffees. Stir the heck out of it, see how it tastes.
You might be surprised!
You might be surprised!
