There are many ways to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee at home. For instance, those with east-facing homes can take pleasure in their cup of joe while watching the majestic sunrise. And here’s a fun fact for you: Consuming coffee can help ward off melanoma, a form of skin cancer, according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
For those with well-ventilated homes, they can attest that one of the best ways of waking up is to smelling the invigorating scent of coffee in the bedroom as their loved one brews it over at the kitchen.
But before you can relish these experiences, you need to master, or at least become adept, at making excellent coffee. To help you, we listed 6 tips to brewing the best coffee in your own home.
1. Always use Arabica beans instead of Robusta
Arabica and Robusta are the two major kinds of commercially grown coffee in the world. The latter accounts for about 30 percent of the global supply, while the former makes up around 70 percent. Not only is Arabica more widely cultivated, it also commands a higher price. For instance, one kg of Robusta only sold for US$1.87 in the world market in 2018, while a similar amount of Arabica fetched US$3.14, according to data from Statista.
Apart from being less easy to grow, the major reason for the great price disparity is the taste. Arabica coffee has a milder and sweeter flavour with hints of fruits and berries. On the other hand, Robusta has a more bitter and harsher taste as it has two times more caffeine than Arabica. As such, Robusta generally creates an inferior brew. But because it’s more affordable and easier to produce, companies always use it for instant coffees and cheap grounded coffee.
If you want to make sure you’re purchasing Arabica beans, try San Francisco Coffee, which only utilises Specialty Grade Arabica beans which are among the top 5 percent produced in the whole world.
2. Go for fresh, whole beans
Never purchase pre-ground coffee. Instead opt for fresh, whole beans. This is because coffee hits its peak flavour merely days after it has been roasted, and it should be drank within a month of its roast date. In comparison, pre-ground coffee could have been staying on the supermarket shelf for months.
Another crucial reason to use fresh, whole beans is that experts advise us to grind the beans by ourselves. Moreover, coffee starts to lose its flavour within half an hour of being crushed. As such, it’s best to grind the beans just prior to brewing.
Ideally, use beans within two weeks of opening the bag as coffee kept beyond that period will definitely turn stale. When storing the beans, they should be kept in clean, dry, air-tight containers and placed in a cold and dark place. This is because bright light, oxygen and high temperature greatly degrades the flavour of coffee.
So if you’re concerned about the taste, try San Francisco Coffee. The company guarantees the freshness of its coffee as it strictly abides with its unbreakable “1” rule, whereby they only use coffee beans within 1 month of being roasted and bagged, 1 week from the opening of their bag, 1 day from being grounded.
3. Use the appropriate tools
Utilise the most suitable equipment for grinding, brewing and filtering coffee.
For Grinding
Connoisseurs recommend the use of burr grinders instead of bladed grinders due to how the former can evenly and consistently grind coffee beans to the preferred fineness or coarseness. The consistency of the grind size is extremely crucial in determining your coffee’s taste, as hot water quickly absorbs the flavour of smaller coffee particles than larger particles. If the coffee is sour or too bitter, it could have been grounded too fine. If the coffee tastes bland, the bean particles are too coarse. You’ll know you’ve achieved a good balance if it’s pleasing to the palate.
Nevertheless, if you don’t want to spend too much money, bladed grinders can also do an okay job as long as the device is shaken during grinding to obtain fine, even particles. For burr grinders that are reasonably priced, choose the manual handheld ones instead of the automatic versions.
For Brewing
San Francisco Coffee suggests three methods for those who want to brew good coffee in their own homes, along with simple instructions. Once you’re more experienced and comfortable with brewing, you can search for other techniques. For the three methods, it’s ideal to use 16-20g of coffee (roughly 2 tbsp) for every 8oz (240ml) of water.
Method I: French Press
This is an easy way to make truly excellent coffee at home, as this tool features a pressing screen that separates the liquid from the coffee grounds, but lets the flavourful coffee oils through. To use this tool:
Step 1: Add coarse ground coffee to the container and pour in the desired amount of hot water.
Step 2: Insert the container’s lid, but don’t press the plunger just yet.
Step 3: After 4 minutes, press the plunger all the way down.
Step 4: Serve immediately or decant coffee into a separate container to prevent over extraction, which leads to coffee being too bitter.
Method II: Pourover
This method requires delicately pouring water by hand. One advantage of the method is that drippers take up less space than a coffee maker, and are very convenient for making only a mug-full of coffee. To use this technique:
Step 1: Set a filter into the dripper and rinse with hot water to remove the residual taste of paper.
Step 2: Add ground coffee (medium fine) to the filter and place on top of a mug.
Step 3: Saturate the grounds evenly with a small amount of hot water first. This is to let it ‘bloom’ for 30 seconds to improve its flavour. Blooming occurs when carbon dioxide quick bubbles up from coffee grounds
Step 4: Allow the water in the dripper to drain a little then add more water. Repeat until the desired brew amount is reached.
Method III: Aeropress
The Aeropress provides you with a consistent way to brew a delicious cup of coffee. It’s small, lightweight, easy to clean, and portable. All you need is ground coffee and hot water to make a tasty cup pretty much anywhere. To use this equipment:
Step 1: Place a filter in the cap, twist it onto the chamber, and then rinse with hot water to remove any residual paper flavour.
Step 2: Stand the chamber on a mug and put ground coffee (finely ground) into the chamber.
Step 3: Slowly pour hot water into the chamber until nearly full, stir briefly and then insert the plunger.
Step 4: After 1 minute, press the plunger down for 20-30 seconds. Stop pressing when you hear air hissing.
For Filtering
According to experts, cheap coffee filters made out of paper produce an inferior brew. They recommend ‘dioxin-free’ or ‘oxygen-bleached’ paper filters. You can also purchase expensive but long-lasting gold-plated filters. These maximises the coffee’s flavour, but could let sediments through if the beans are ground too finely.
4. Use the right kind of water at the right temperature
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) recommends using hot water with a temperature ranging from 90ºC/195ºF to 96ºC/205ºF. Never ever use water that is hotter than the maximum temperature as there are particular astringent compounds in coffee beans that only gets dissolved in water at higher temperatures, leading to bitter and foul-tasting coffee. Another related practice is to pre-heat any container you will use for brewing coffee, as a cold vessel will lower the temperature of the water, ruining the flavour of the coffee.
In terms of quality, experts say the ideal water is that with a mineral balance of approximately 150 parts per million. But for the casual coffee drinker, lightly filtered water such as those that passed through a refrigerator's filter or filter pitcher will do just fine.
This is because using hard water that contains many minerals tend to produce bland coffee as the water molecules with minerals won’t bond well with the dissolved coffee grounds. Meanwhile, heavily filtered or distilled water can lead to a foul-tasting brew due to over-extraction as there’s more space for molecular bonds.
5. Never ever store your coffee beans in the refrigerator
Don’t place your coffee beans in the fridge, as the seeds are porous and will absorb any flavour permeating throughout the refrigerator. They will also suck up the odour of strong-smelling food, such as garlic, kimchi, cheese, or durian.
It’s also not advisable to freeze your coffee beans as thawing it will generate humidity, which ruins the flavour. But if you need to keep your coffee in the freezer, separate them into smaller portions that are individually sealed.
6. Experiment!
Part of the fun in brewing coffee is trying different techniques in making coffee, as well as sampling the taste of coffee beans originating from different parts of the world. Basically, local roasters and coffee shops offer two kinds of retail coffee beans, namely Single Origins and Blends.
Single Origins
These are coffee beans from a particular region with their own distinct taste. For instance, the Ethiopia Yrghacheffe offered by San Francisco Coffee is known for its lively and fruity taste, while the Sumatra Mandheling offers a brew that is not only smooth, but also rich and mellow.
Blends
This is a combination of different single origins. Good roasters know how to use one particular coffee to offset the deficiency of another, picking elements from each to create a unique symphony of flavours. Blending also enables brands to concoct their own original creations and proprietary mix, like San Francisco Coffee’s signature Cable Car Blend.
If you want to know more about San Francisco Coffee, please visit its official website. For news and updates, you can check out its Facebook page and Instagram account. You can also email them at info@sfcoffee.com.
(13 December 2019)