You might be one of those people who drink coffee daily. Millions do. However, you might not think there is anything else to know about the topic. After all, you mix the beans and the water and that’s it, right? Wrong! There are a lot of things you can learn that can improve your coffee. Here are just a few tips.
To make a good coffee, always start with fresh beans. They should look kind of oily, and they should be potent. Try to avoid very dry beans, any grocery store beans, and any beans that have been exposed to air for a long time. Your best bet is to either roast beans yourself or buy them from a local roaster.
Make sure that you make your coffee in water that you would have no problem drinking alone. This is important because the taste of the water will affect the way that it makes your coffee taste. If you live in an area where the water quality is not that great, use spring water to brew your coffee.
While your coffee is brewing, try soaking the coffee mugs in hot water. A cold mug will cool off your drink before you can even get it to your lips! When the coffee is ready, simply dry off the mugs and serve. This trick will keep it hot much longer.
One way to ensure that your iced coffee does not become watery when you place the hot coffee over ice is to use ice cubes made from coffee. To make coffee ice cubes, simply pour freshly brewed room temperature coffee into your ice cube trays and freeze. When you are ready to enjoy an iced coffee, place the frozen coffee ice cubes in a glass and fill with your freshly brewed coffee.
Do you enjoy the fancy beverages you can get in coffee shops? You can make most of these beverages at home if you have milk, cream and chocolate syrup. Use the Internet to find tutorials on how to make your favorite drinks and with a little practice, you will be able to make the same beverages you can get at your favorite coffee shop.
Just because you are drinking a dark roast coffee does not mean your coffee has more caffeine in it. This is just the way the beans were prepared, not how much caffeine is in them. If your coffee has the term Robusta on it’s packaging, it usually has twice the amount of caffeine as standard Arabica coffee.
Try using coffee when cooking meats. When you think of coffee in foods, you typically think of a flavor that is rather strong. In desserts, that’s definitely true. But when you use coffee as a rub for red meat, it actually brings out the flavor of the meat itself, making for a much tastier meal.
Do you find it hard to brew a rich cup of coffee, like what you can get at a coffee shop? When brewing, try adding more coffee. Most specialty houses use 6 ounces of water for every 2 tablespoons of coffee. Try different ratios of coffee to water to get the flavor that you like best.
If you have trouble staying awake and have been buying those expensive energy drinks, you should start drinking coffee instead. Each energy drink contains about 100-150 milligrams of caffeine. You can get the same effect from drinking a cup of coffee or two, and you will not have to spend as much money.
Don’t be afraid to spice up your coffee grounds. You can add lots of different things to develop different flavors, like allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices. If you’re afraid of adding too much, you could even add a pinch after the brewing cycle instead. You’ll be surprised at the flavor combinations you can create!
If you prefer a strong cup of coffee than you should roast your beans from 12 to 14 minutes. The bean sugar caramelizes, giving the beans a slightly oily appearance when taken out of the roaster. This will give your coffee almost a smokey taste, perfect for espressos or those who just love a strong cup of joe.
You don’t have to go out for fancy coffee. You can easily make lattes and other drinks at home inexpensively. Research how to make your favorite coffee drinks online. You will be surprised at how many of them; you can make without the aid of fancy appliances. Likely, a simple coffee maker is all you’ll need.
To gauge which roasts are right for your taste preferences, pay close attention to the color of the beans. Typically, the darker a bean is roasted the stronger its brewed taste will be. French roasted beans are dark but Italian roasted beans by far produce the darkest and strongest coffee.
Experiment with varying levels of grind for your coffee. Finely ground coffee often results in a strong flavor, but you can weaken flavor with a more coarse grind. The best time to grind is right before you actually brew. Grinding earlier than that can result in stale tasting coffee once brewed later.
Buy new coffee beans every two weeks. Once you open coffee beans, they usually don’t have a set expiration date. You can seal them in airtight containers to keep them fresh longer. You will, however, likely find that the quality of the taste starts to fade a bit after two weeks.
Try a new variety or blend of coffee every week. This can be a great idea for a lot of reasons. You can try new tastes of course, and that helps you avoid getting bored with one flavor, but there is also an opportunity for you to buy a new favorite.
These are just a few of the tips can help you find out more about coffee, and in turn help you make a more fantastic cup of coffee. Apply the tips to your own coffee practices, and you will start tasting the difference and you are going to love it!
