5 Facts that brew a bad coffee

We all strive for a good coffee when we reach out for that hot beverage. For some of us good simply means quick and convenient (ergo Starbucks and Costa to the rescue), while sometimes good means brewing your own roasted beans at home.

Regardless of your definition of good, here’s some facts that will guarantee to put a downer on your coffee drinking days. Avoid these at all costs.

Cheap Coffee Tastes Cheap

Now we’re not saying that everyone should be buying the finest Blue Mountain beans from Jamaica every time they want a sip of coffee, but we’re definitely telling you guys to avoid any dirt cheap coffees you see in the markets.  You can get some perfectly good day-to-day packaged grounds from any supermarket these days.

Dirty Brewing Equipment

I was very guilty of this back in the day. Being a regular coffee drinker, if I was in a caffietire mood then that Pyrex pot would stay in use all day, sometimes having 3 or 4 refills brewed over the course of the day. However I wasn’t aware that the old grounds stuck between the mesh, as well as the oils coating the whole container, would start to detract from the overal taste of the next batch.

So now after every pot its time for a complete deep clean, with the plunger being taken apart and thoroughly cleaned in hot water. Don’t forget to clean those glass walls too.

This will guarantee far better tastes are extract each time you plunge those new grounds.

Air makes coffee grounds stale

Just as the growing ecology of the beans conjure up different flavours in the beans, your very own environmental conditions of where you keep them significantly effects the lifespan, textures and flavours you’ll be able to extract

Buy some decent air proof containers and keep the beans/granules in there, they should keep for a decent amount of time.

Grind what you need

Going one better than storing your freshly ground beans in air-tight containers is to grind the beans for each brewing experience. Obviously only applicable to those who aren’t in a rush, this will guarantee some of the freshest coffee moments you can possible hope to achieve at home.

Don’t use boiling water

If you use boiling water for your coffee you are going to scald those beautiful tasty granules before the water can extract any of the flavours or oils. This causes bitterness in the palette when drinking. If you’re using a kettle in the brewing process, which most of us do, free free to let it boil but then importantly give it a few minutes to cool.

Ideally you’d leave it to the low 90s, where you have a perfect mix of temperature and taste.

Many more tips to find…

The world of coffee buying, making and brewing is vast. There are tips a plenty as long as you’re willing to listen to experienced people and trial them out for yourself. Some of them listed above are probably common sense to most of our readers, but we shouldn’t forget to also pass this information on to those fresh into the coffee world.

Happy brewing

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *