The significance of that ever-so-important cup of coffee every day can't truly be measured. It's what gets your day going. It's what picks you up at midday. The unique flavors of a well-prepared cup of coffee can even be inspiring.
Your most important daily experience should be great every single time.
But we realize that sometimes it's tough to make great coffee at home. While investing in a pourover system will really take your coffee game to the next level, there are also a handful of things you may be doing now that really hurt your coffee experience at home.
Improving may be easier than you think!
Here are 5 ways you can stop killing your coffee experience and start making great coffee more often.
1. Your Equipment Looks Like It's Been Buried In The Ground For A Year
As simple as this sounds, we've all seen the coffee pot, french press, or pourover decanter that has rings of dark coffee stains inside of it. If you brew with an automatic brewer, leaving coffee inside of the pot while the heating element is on literally cooks the coffee onto the glass. It may take some elbow grease and 'Cafiza' cleaner, but dirty equipment is the easiest way to mess up your coffee.
If this is you, start emptying your grounds and clean your equipment after each use. Cafiza cleaner is also a great tool for keeping your equipment in shape!
2. Your Coffee Isn't Fresh
Coffee beans have a shelf life of roughly two weeks before their tastes start deteriorating. Ground coffee begins deteriorating within hours of being ground. This means that the pre-ground stuff you buy in grocery stores was roasted and ground...when? Even coffee beans that are several months old are simply not going to taste nearly as wonderful as they do within the first few weeks.
Investing in a grinder and checking the roast date on the coffee you buy can really enhance your coffee experience!
3. Tap Water Is Not Usually Your Friend
Interestingly, the same batch of coffee brewed with the same steps and same measurements can taste different from home to home. The reason: tap water. Different areas, cities, regions, and states put different amounts of minerals in tap water and believe it or not, it actually affects the taste. Coffee is 98% water, so average water equals average coffee, right?
We believe that the best solution is to use "Third Wave Water" in a gallon of distilled water. If you're just not that into it, we recommend buying purified water from the store to brew your coffee with. With either of these methods, you'll easily notice a jump in the consistency of your coffee - and it's just as simple as grabbing a gallon of water from the grocery store!
4. Storing Coffee In the Fridge or Freezer
The constant freeze/thaw cycles of your freezer and the removing and placing it back from the fridge causes the package to build up moisture inside. When coffee beans are exposed to moisture, they deteriorate. So, while you may be intending to preserve your coffee by placing it in the fridge or freezer, you may actually be doing more harm than good.
Coffee should be stored in opaque, airtight ceramic or glass containers on the counter or in a cupboard.
5. (Not) Spending Money On Coffee
When you buy cheap coffee, you get a cheap taste - it's just as simple as that. There's no snobbery in saying that, it's true of just about every agricultural product or mass produced product. Coffee that is mass produced is generally not farmed and processed with as much care as a smaller co-op or farm. If you want the fastest route to having better coffee at home, buy better coffee.
Hopefully, these tips will help you stop making killer mistakes with your coffee at home. We want you to have the best experience every single day because it really matters!