Feel Like A Barista At Home: Top Tips For the Perfect CuppaBy Angelica Malin

The perfect cuppa is the ideal way to start any day. Whether it’s a day in the office or you’re chilling at home and need a caffeine boost, a hot beverage is essential. Of course, you can make your own beverages at home, but they’ve never quite as good as the kind of thing that you would get from a professional barista. So, what should you do to get that perfect coffee? 

Well, if you know what you’re doing, it’s possible to channel your inner barista. You can save yourself a lot of money by making your own brew at home. But how do you do that? Well, there are some things to think about, such as what to consider when choosing a pump espresso machine, or what sorts of ingredients will help you to make the best brew. Otherwise, here are our tips on making the perfect cuppa! 

Make Sure That You Get Whole Bean Coffee

You could pick up some generic coffee from your nearest supermarket, sure. But you want the perfect cuppa, don’t you? Well, you aren’t going to get that with some generic coffee. Sometimes you need to splurge a little bit to get the results that you’re looking for, and that’s okay! If you want to have high-quality beverages, it’s definitely worth splurging on that whole bean coffee. You can order this online or you can purchase it from a local coffee roaster. Whole bean coffee is much fresher and oozes extra flavor, so give it a try! 

Get A Designated Coffee Station

Staying organized is essential in life, but especially when you’re making hot beverages! It’s certainly worth your time to set up a specific area where you will make your brew. Here, you can put all of the key things that you will need, such as the coffee beans, the espresso machines, and more. Set up an area that looks good so you get the real feel that you’re a barista! It’s also worth setting up some open shelving in the area to keep everything tidy. Make sure all of the main things that you will need can be reached easily, and put any coffee-making accessories in locations where they can be easily seen. This is a small step, but it’s important for helping you to make those delicious beverages.

Keep Your Beans Fresh

You don’t want to be drinking old beans that don’t taste fresh, do you? For this reason, it’s essential to ensure that you are storing your beans correctly. Put them into airtight containers if they are opened – you could use a glass canning jar or a storage crock made out of ceramic in order to do this. It’s a bad idea to put the beans inside the refrigerator, even though you may think it’s a good idea. This is because the beans are porous, which means that they will absorb the moisture of the beans and any odors of food that you have in the fridge. You definitely need to avoid freezing the coffee too. Instead, you should buy a supply of coffee fresh each week, storing them at room temperature. This is what will give you the best results.

Invest In A Food Scale

This may seem like a slightly weird tip, but hear us out. If you want good results, it’s in your best interests to get a scale to measure out the amount of coffee that you need. A spoon simply won’t give you the best accuracy. A scale will give you the measurements to an accurate degree. When you have an accurate measurement, you can be sure that you are making coffee that’s utterly perfect. 

Ideally, you should be looking at around 180 grams of coffee for a carafe. This carafe should make around 12 8 ounce cups. Alternatively, you can use an automatic drip coffeemaker, which would mean you’d need around 90 grams of coffee for roughly 6 cups. You can get a cheap food scale to give you an exact measurement – it’s worth the money for the kinds of results that you will get.

Grind the Coffee Yourself

It’s always best to try and grind your coffee yourself. Stay away from the tap water if you can – the water can have a temperamental flavor that could ruin the whole beverage. Instead, it may be better to grab some bottled spring water or have filters on the tap so it’s better for drinking. Whatever you do, stay away from distilled water or softened water. Using either of these will just leave you with terrible-tasting coffee.

Clean Your Equipment

Nobody likes cleaning, but this really does go without saying – make sure that you clean your equipment after use! For starters, ensure that you clean any storage containers or grinders at least once every couple of weeks. You don’t want to have any oil building up inside of them. Then, put a vinegar solution or a coffee equipment cleaner through the coffee maker. This will help to remove any mineral deposits. Naturally, you’ll then just need to rinse it properly before using it again – nobody likes the taste of soap suds in their morning brew! 

Get the Right Coffee Machine

Sure, you could manually make your coffee from scratch, but where’s the fun in that? Your coffee is going to taste a million times better if you use a high-quality coffee machine. Of course, finding the right coffee maker isn’t always the easiest task, especially since there are so many options on the market. Rest assured though, you should be able to find the perfect one for your needs.

There are a few things that you will need to keep in mind when you are choosing your coffee machine. For instance, think about the amount of people in your home or establishment that are going to be drinking the coffee. Then, consider the number of coffees that each person is going to drink each day. You will also need to think about other things such as how much space you have available to you in your kitchen and how sustainable you want your coffee machine to be. Oh, and you’ll want to think about whether the coffee machine works best with pods or with beans.

Use Some Spices

Do you like your coffee plain, or do you want to add a little bit of extra flavor to it? The answer to this will depend on the person, but it’s definitely a good idea to invest in some good quality spices when you’re making the coffee. Invest in things such as syrups, like honey or toffee. These will make a world of difference to the overall flavor of your beverage. 

Steam The Milk!

Another thing that you can do to make your beverage taste extra delicious is to steam your milk at home. This is especially important for things such as cappuccinos and lattes. You can get an electric milk frother to do this for you, or you can manually froth the milk using your own microwave. This is great for adding a little bit of extra authenticity to your brew.

Conclusion

Creating the perfect brew is as simple as just following these easy tips. Just make sure that you have the right equipment and you will be well on your way to having delicious coffee every single morning. Waking up in the morning has never been so exciting as it is when you have a barista-worthy coffee waiting for you!