coffee brewing

While visiting your favourite cafe to enjoy that morning cuppa is great, you have to admit there’s something magical about not having to step out of your house for a quality cup of coffee.

Be your own barista and follow these eight amazing tips and hacks for the perfect brew right in the comfort of your own home.

1. Buy Whole Beans, Not Pre-ground

It may not seem like a big thing, but you can really taste the difference between pre-ground coffee and whole-bean coffee.

Having a whole-bean coffee means you’re getting the freshest cup possible. If you think about it, it makes sense, too: from seed to plant, coffee beans go through a long process. Once the bean is ground up, it starts to age at a rapid pace.

Whole-bean coffee is generally fresher, has better flavour, and smells a whole lot more impressive.

• Read more: A Guide to Buying the Freshest Coffee Beans

2. Stick to the Good Stuff

This tip seems self-explanatory, but it’s important to be selective and choose quality beans.

If you’re unsure where one would go for quality beans, look to specialty coffee shops, which are more likely to have beans that aren’t over-roasted. If you’re shopping for beans online, don’t bulk buy, and check for a ‘roasted on’ date and not a ‘best by’ date.

When looking at the roast date, search for something that’s been roasted anywhere from seven to 21 days from the said roasted date. Any coffee in this time frame will more or less be as fresh as it can possibly be.

• Read more: Why You Should Care About A Coffee Bean’s Roasting Date

3. Arabica vs Robusta, Light Roasts vs Dark Roasts

For most of us, coffee is fundamental to starting the day on a good note. Some prefer it with a strong caffeine kick, whereas others prefer a milder, decaffeinated version.

We already know how various elements such as grind size and the coffee’s roasting date can affect the flavour and perceived “strength” of a coffee. In this article, we explore how different types of brewing methods affect caffeine extraction.

The Science Behind It

First things first, what is caffeine and how is it produced? Caffeine is a natural stimulant that is most commonly found in coffee beans, tea leaves, and cocoa plants. These plants produce caffeine as a natural pesticide – that is why coffee beans that are grown in higher altitudes have lower caffeine content.

• Read more: Factors that Influence Caffeine Levels in Coffee

The roasting process doesn’t affect a bean’s caffeine content; however, its density decreases as it is being roasted. Beans that are roasted longer are less dense and lighter in mass. This means for the same weight of coffee grounds, more coffee grounds are used for dark roasts than light roasts. This is why dark roasts tend to taste richer and toastier.

• Read more: From Dark to Light: The Serious Coffee Lovers’ Guide to Coffee Roasts

French Press – 80 to 100 milligrams