Coffee is a highly subjective experience. While you may enjoy black coffee, others might not even consider drinking it without a splash of cream or milk. Therefore, the perfect cup of coffee is the one that you or someone else prepares to meet your personal standard of perfection. Ultimately, you just need to discover the secret that works for you.
You can create a truly wonderful cup of coffee using any coffee brewing or preparation method. The flavor, mouthfeel, and satisfaction derived from handling and preparing coffee all depend on personal preference. For example, changing one aspect of the brewing process will alter the taste of your final cup. Additionally, the coffee tools and accessories you choose play a vital role in your brewing process.
There are a few essential accessories that every coffee enthusiast should have to enjoy a great cup of coffee. Here’s a quick guide to help you elevate your coffee game. Since you’re already into coffee, explore the five most popular brewing methods and learn more about coffee beans and the various grind types that make your coffee taste great.
1. Quality Coffee Bean is the Key
The only true commonality in all really good cups of coffee is starting with high-quality coffee beans. You can either start with green, unroasted beans and roast them yourself or find a local coffee shop that roasts their own beans. These shops will provide you with quality beans, roasted to suit the specific type and place of origin.
For example, a light or medium roasted coffee works wonders for iced coffee, while dark roasted coffee gives you bold, chocolaty notes. However, as always with coffee, there are no hard and fast rules. Washed coffee, for instance, can also produce a very refreshing cup. Therefore, you’ll need to experiment and find out what works best for you.
Ultimately, the better the product you’re brewing, the better the result you can expect—regardless of your chosen method. On the other hand, starting with pre-ground grocery store coffee will never give you the excellent cup you’re striving for.
2. A Good Quality Grinder will Get You There
If you buy whole coffee beans, it’s essential to invest in a decent grinder, whether it’s a manual hand grinder or an electric one. Both options will level up your coffee game by improving consistency and uniformity. A quality grinder is crucial for achieving the right consistency in your coffee grounds.
Typically, there are two types of grinders: blade and burr grinders. Burr grinders are generally preferred over blade grinders for their consistency and ability to produce a uniform grind size. While an inexpensive blade grinder will do the job by chopping the beans, a burr grinder delivers better results and provides a more consistent brew from cup to cup.
The burrs in a burr grinder interact with each other to create two 90-degree turns. As a result, coffee beans drop between the burrs twice during the grinding process. Thanks to their structure and alignment, burr grinders are unlikely to heat up. This is important because the temperature of the coffee beans plays a crucial role in retaining their rich flavor. When beans become too hot during grinding, the oils and aromas dissipate quickly, compromising the flavor.
3. Coffee Machines
The main difference lies in the methods you use for brewing your coffee. If you appreciate the convenience of espresso machines, you might want to invest in a quality home espresso machine. On the other hand, if you enjoy the coffee-making process itself, a French press is the perfect choice.
You have two main types of coffee machines to consider. For a more hands-off approach, you can rely on a French press, pour-over, or drip machine, where you simply let the water extract the flavor from the coffee beans. Meanwhile, machines like the moka pot and AeroPress provide a fuller-bodied concentration of coffee.
Espresso machines, however, exist in their own category. Unlike other brewing methods that share some common characteristics, espresso machines apply pressure to extract all of the rich flavors and qualities from the coffee bean.
4. A Kettle
To brew your coffee properly, you need a way to heat and pour the water over your coffee grounds. I highly recommend using a gooseneck kettle for the best results. While you can get by with a regular kettle or even a microwave-safe pouring cup, a gooseneck kettle is essential, especially when brewing coffee with methods like pour-over or French press. It gives you more control over your pouring technique, enhancing the extraction process and ultimately improving the quality of your cup. This incredible tool features a long, narrow spout that allows for precise control of the water flow rate and where it’s poured over the bed of coffee.
5. Precision with Digital Scale
Speaking of consistency, once you’ve brewed the best-tasting coffee you’ve ever had, you’ll likely want to replicate that experience, right? To do so, you’ll need a digital scale, preferably one that measures up to 1-2 decimal places. Digital scales made specifically for brewing coffee often come with built-in timers, which can be helpful since some recipes require precise timing. While this isn’t strictly necessary—you can always use your phone’s stopwatch or a wall clock—having a scale with a built-in timer is simply much more convenient.
6. Coffee Filters
Brewing black coffee with the right filters is just as crucial in elevating your daily brew. There are numerous filter options available, including paper filters, built-in filters, and reusable filters. Speaking of filters, disposable paper filters are the most common, as they filter out the most fines and oils, and they’re the easiest to clean.
Other options include reusable filters, such as cloth, stainless steel, mesh, or plastic mesh. While these can be great choices, the downside is that they require more cleanup and some extra maintenance. For this reason, I personally prefer paper filters. Each type of filter has its own pros and cons, affecting taste, environmental impact, and cost-effectiveness
7. Milk Frother
As you can imagine, a milk frother is a device specifically designed for frothing milk. It’s used to create a light, airy texture in your milk, allowing you to make café-like beverages such as cappuccinos, lattes, and frappes right at home. In fact, it’s an essential part of your coffee routine.
These tools are commonly used by coffee shops and high-speed stirrers. They work by incorporating air into the milk, creating a frothy, air-bubble layer. Additionally, milk frothers can be used with various non-dairy alternatives like almond milk, soy milk, and oat milk.
8.Storing Your Coffee Beans Properly
To get the best flavor from your coffee beans, it’s important to use freshly roasted beans, grind them immediately before brewing, and consume them within two weeks. The flavor comes from the oils in the coffee beans, and these oils evaporate over time. Once you grind the beans, they begin to lose their flavor very quickly—often losing half of their taste within 20-30 minutes.
Storing your coffee beans in the freezer is not effective. The cold doesn’t slow down the evaporation process, and the dry air in the freezer causes the oils to evaporate even faster. Essentially, the enemies of coffee are air, moisture, heat, and light. Therefore, to keep your beans fresher for a longer period, store them away from these elements. Ideally, you should keep them in an airtight container placed in a cool, dark, and dry location.