How do you make your brew taste great?

There are lots of ways to make coffee, here are a few recommendations if the list of options is getting a bit too much.
Contrary to popular opinion, the most complex and expensive ways of making coffee will not necessarily give the best results and importantly everyone is different, our advice is to try a few different methods and see which you prefer.
We will start with the simplest and work our way up.

1. Turkish coffee pot or Jezva:
These are not so popular in the UK but near ubiquitous in Eastern Europe. Simply an enamelled pot with a pouring spout and a long handle so it doesn’t get too hot. They are very simple to use, you just heat water in them and when it’s nearly bubbling throw in some very finely ground coffee and wait until it starts to boil over, then remove from heat and return until it boils again which is usually only a few seconds.
That’s it, give it a little while for the coffee to sink and pour into cups, sometimes you get a bit of coffee grounds in the bottom of the cup but if this really bothers you just pour the coffee through a tea strainer.
Very quick and easy but it’s important to use very finely ground coffee otherwise it’ll taste off.

2. Cafetiere or French press:
Probably the most common method in the UK is the cafetiere. Simply warm up the pot before you use it and add coarsely ground coffee with just below boiling water. This is good for releasing delicate flavours but the coffee can over-brew if you leave it too long.
We are often asked how much coffee to use and the answer is of course however much makes it at the strength you prefer but a good starting point is 60g of coffee per litre of water (so 30g for a 500ml pot, 15g for 250ml etc)

3. Filter or V60 method:
These used to be very popular and are coming back, a simple up-side down pyramid shaped bit of plastic that you put a disposable paper filter into and pour water in. The things to remember here are a medium grind, and water that is a bit below boiling.
The same ratio of coffee to water as above works for filter.

4. Pod machines:
Pod machines are those fancy things you have seen being advertised by George Clooney. You drop in a small plastic pod of coffee and press a button which dispenses a shot of espresso. Quick and easy to use but create quite a bit of waste and not cheap. You also have no idea how old the ground coffee is.

5. Espresso machines:
Espresso machines are becoming much more popular and you can buy smaller machines for home use now. This method uses very high pressure water to extract the flavours from the coffee. You will want to use different coffee and grind it up finer than for the cafetiere but with this system you can make a wider range of interesting coffees like latte or cappuccino (once you master the milk frothing bit).
If you decide to go for one of these make sure you have a good quality grinder and someone to show you the ropes, it’s very easy to get vile tasting coffee from an espresso machine if you don’t quite have the knack.

Whatever you choose make sure you have fresh beans and the correct grind for the method you’re using, the ideal water temperature for making coffee is low to mid 90s so let the kettle boil and then sit for a minute or two so you’re not scorching the coffee.

If you’d like to try out all these methods with a range of different coffees, just come and see us.