Is your own brewed coffee not tasty? Pay attention to 10 details to help you improve the quality of your coffee

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Do you feel that no matter how you brew it, the coffee you brew at home is not as good as the coffee you drink in a cafe? It is easier to brew a good cup of coffee with the freshest coffee beans and expensive equipment, but sometimes you may not notice that there are many small tips and details that can help you effectively improve the quality of your own coffee brewing, and you don’t have to spend a lot of money at all!

Coffee in a cafe costs dozens of yuan a cup, so it's naturally not that expensive to make it at home, but that doesn't mean you can't make coffee of the same quality at home. First, you should pay attention to these five most common mistakes in making coffee at home. Have you made any of them?

The five most common mistakes you make when making coffee at home

1. Make coffee directly with tap water

Unless you live in a city with water quality that is just right for brewing coffee (which is unlikely), the water that comes out of your tap is probably not suitable for brewing coffee. A cup of coffee is 98% water, which means that the chemical composition of the water will have a great impact on the taste of the coffee. If your water quality is too hard, too many high carbohydrates will mask most of the coffee acidity, and the coffee will easily become bitter and bland; if your water quality is too soft (less than 100ppm), the coffee may be too acidic and stimulating.

The best solution is to buy a water purifier, a water softener, or bottled mineral water, but not all mineral water is suitable...

2. Using the wrong grind

The most common problem is that the ground coffee is too fine. Unless you are making Turkish coffee, the ground coffee should never look like mud after brewing. Most filter extraction devices are suitable for a grind size of fine sugar. If it takes more than a minute for the coffee to flow out after you have filled the water, then it proves that the ground coffee is too fine and the filter holes are blocked.

3. The water is not hot enough

It's a bit funny to say this, I always remind everyone not to use hot water that has just been boiled to make coffee, so as to avoid the water temperature being too high. But later I found that many people don't have the habit of preheating the kettle. When the hot water that has been boiled to near boiling point is poured into the hand-brewed kettle at room temperature, after washing the filter paper, pouring the coffee powder, etc., the water temperature may have dropped to a low level when actually brewing, and the flavor of the coffee cannot be fully extracted.

It is best to have a thermometer. You really can't save this little money.

4. Visually measure the amount of powder and water

Without an accurate electronic scale, it is easy for the brewed coffee to be strong or weak. Even a small difference, even a deviation of only 1 gram of coffee powder, can have a significant impact on the final brewed coffee, especially when there is no weighing assistance when brewing, and only the scale line is used to observe the extraction amount.

You may argue that don’t the masters of Japanese coffee brewing also rely on visual estimation to determine the amount of powder and water? The problem is, you are not one of those masters who have been brewing coffee for decades. If coffee brewed with random amounts can taste good, wouldn’t coffee brewed with precision taste even better?

5. The coffee beans used are of poor quality

Even if you already have the best brewing equipment on the market and master the brewing skills of the world champion level, it will not work. Bad beans can only make bad coffee. The quality of coffee beans determines the upper limit of the quality of coffee.

With the promotion of the concept of specialty coffee, it is not difficult to find high-quality coffee beans on the market. Pay attention to the origin of coffee beans. Coffee beans with clear traceability information can help you find your favorite type of coffee more easily.

If you are sure that you have completely avoided the above-mentioned pitfalls, then congratulations, no matter how bad your coffee tastes, it won't be too bad. Next, I will share a few simple, practical and low-cost tips to quickly improve the quality of your coffee!

Simple, practical and low-cost tips to improve quality

1. Flush and refill the water tank every day

Many people use small coffee machines such as American coffee machines and fully automatic coffee machines to make coffee at home. So before using it every day, it is a step that cannot be ignored to quickly rinse the water tank and refill it with drinking water. Even if the capacity of the water tank is large enough, it is not necessary to fill it all at once, just fill it with enough for daily use. Whether you use filtered water or bottled water, drinking water, like coffee beans, also needs to be kept fresh and clean.

2. Keep the filter and filter cup clean

In order to get a clean and fresh cup of coffee, you must keep the coffee brewing equipment clean. Clean the residue and dirt in time after each use. Glassware and metal filters can be cleaned with mild detergent and then drained.

If your coffee has a burnt bitter or oily taste, it may be a problem of residual oil. The screen in the filter is the most likely place for residual oil, especially the reusable filter cloth and metal filter. All parts that come into contact with coffee should be cleaned and descaled regularly.

3. Descale the machine regularly

Depending on the amount of water used and the quality of the water, it is recommended to perform descaling every 3 to 4 months. The filter element in the water filter, the scale on the inner wall of the kettle, the scale on the boiler and pipes of the coffee machine... brewing coffee does not use pure water, which will inevitably cause scale to form in all water containers over time. Regular descaling can prevent mineral accumulation inside the machine and reduce performance, while extending the service life of the machine.

4. Preheat the coffee cup with hot water

If the coffee you brew is not very hot and you don't plan to finish it in a few sips, you might as well try preheating the coffee cup. Just put some hot water in it and soak it for a few seconds before pouring it out. This seemingly simple step can significantly affect the aroma experience of the coffee, and it can also help with the taste (as long as it is not too hot), and it can also keep the coffee warm for a longer time in the winter when the temperature is low.

5. Choose the right roasting degree

Choosing the right roasting degree when buying coffee beans is the most practical strategy to improve your coffee experience. Whether you are buying specialty coffee beans or ordinary daily rations, choosing the right roasting degree of coffee beans will allow you to brew coffee that suits your taste.

If you like a strong and bitter taste, you might as well choose dark roasted coffee beans; if you like a balanced and mild coffee flavor, you can choose medium roasted coffee beans; if you like bright and strong floral and fruity flavors, lightly roasted coffee is perfect. Especially when buying a brand of coffee beans for the first time, it is most practical to choose the coffee roasting degree you like.

In fact, as long as you follow the practical tips above and master some basic brewing techniques, it is not particularly difficult to brew a cup of delicious coffee at home. Don't think that only experienced and skilled baristas can brew delicious coffee. As long as you are careful enough, you can do it too!

【Recommended reading】：

10 tips for making coffee at home! These little tricks can easily improve the quality of your coffee!

【Hand-brewed coffee repair toolkit】Why does your coffee always taste bad?

[Advanced Barista Skills] The key to quickly improving brewing skills - systematic and intensive training

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