Every time you are making your cup of joe, avoid these common coffee brewing mistakes.
Coffee is sweet, coffee is refreshing, and coffee is energizing, but while millions of coffee lovers worldwide brew a hot and delicious coffee as part of their daily ritual, many are getting it wrong when it comes to brewing it. And that makes them end up with coffee that lacks the sweet taste and quality.
Your coffee needs to taste as delicious as the one you take at the local coffee shop but if you are making these coffee brewing mistakes, you are denying yourself the opportunity to get the most out of your cup of coffee.
Well, even the experts make some of these mistakes with their coffee and while brewing a great cup of coffee seems like a simple task, buying an expensive gadget isn’t always a guarantee that you will get the most out of it. Coffee brewing is more about techniques.
So avoid these coffee brewing mistakes and get the most possible enjoyment from your cup of joe.
Using Outdated Coffee Beans
This is one of the coffee brewing mistakes you need to avoid completely.
Everyone wants to drink quality coffee. After all, drinking subpar coffee won’t get you the benefits you get with your cup of high-quality coffee. And this happens when you use coffee beans that have been stored for too long. These coffee beans will make your brew stale. When coffee beans stay longer, they lose the flavor and taste and using the beans will result in bitter coffee.
A good rule of thumb is to use coffee beans roasted within the last two or three weeks. It’s easy to find out whether coffee has stayed for longer. Always check the roast date. This is indicated on a label at the bottom of the bag of coffee. And once you buy your coffee beans, make sure you don’t use it for more than one month.
Using Poor Quality Coffee
People love good deals and when it comes to coffee, you may think that picking bargain coffee saves your wallet but that could be the beginning of sacrificing quality for the price.
Remember, you get what you pay for. Unfortunately, this is one of the coffee brewing mistakes even the seasoned coffee drinkers make. Low-quality coffee beans will always get you subpar coffee. Therefore, the next time you go to your local coffee grocery, buy the best coffee beans at the best affordable price.
Using Water That Isn’t Fresh
The fact that you have tap water in your kitchen doesn’t mean you should use it on anything you are preparing. And when brewing coffee, you should consider the quality of water you use. After all, water makes a bigger percentage of your coffee. Tap water contains mineral and chemical content that when mixed with the coffee will leave you with coffee that tastes bitter. Both hard and soft water may change the taste and aroma of your coffee so always use purified or filtered water when brewing your coffee.
Using Pre-ground Beans
Usually, the aromas in coffee are lost easily and unfortunately, they are stored in the coffee bean cells. During grounding, some of the aromas are lost since, in the process, gases and oils are released. That means when you buy pre-ground coffee beans, then you will enjoy coffee that lacks a bigger percent of the needed aromas.
Ground coffee is convenient but when the beans stay too long on the shelf its flavor is altered. The best thing to do is to buy whole beans so that you can ground them when you want to make your coffee.
Using Inappropriate Grinder
If you want to get the best flavor, you should grind your beans before brewing and with the right coffee grinder. A mistake most coffee lovers make that come to leave them regretting when they sip their cup of joe is using any coffee grinder.
To get consistent and precise grinding, a burr grinder is recommended. The good thing is that you can get a manual crank grinder for around $30 and an electric grinder for around $60. For espresso lovers, always use a good quality espresso grinder.
Not Grinding Your Coffee Correctly
Every type of coffee has a style and method when it comes to grinding of the beans. If you don’t grind the beans according to the style of your coffee, you will not enjoy the flavor and aroma in your cup of joe. People who buy pre-ground coffee always find themselves suffering this problem since the beans might not have been ground properly. Therefore, ensure you grind your coffee beans and strive to make them grounds uniform so that water can filter through them. A high-quality burr coffee grinder can help you achieve this.
Inappropriate Water Temperature
When brewing coffee, your temperature doesn’t have to be too hot or too cold. Wrong water temperature won’t give you the best results in your brewing. You need to make sure you get it right and your cup of coffee will be delicious.
The perfect coffee brewing temperature is between 90.6 degrees centigrade and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you get the temperature in this range, your grounds will discharge its mixtures properly and permeate your water with coffee goodness. To get the coffee brewing temperature right, you need to buy a good kitchen thermometer so you can measure the water temperature any time you want to brew your coffee.
Storing Your Coffee Wrongly
Some coffee bags will store coffee for too long while others will make your coffee stale within a short period of storage. Besides, oxygen and moisture are two enemies of your coffee that you need to make sure they don’t affect your coffee beans at all costs. Always store your coffee beans in good airtight coffee canisters, far away from moisture, air, and light and make sure the temperatures are not hot or cold.
Using Equipment for Too Long
The coffee machine when used for too long will likely come to fail you. Although you will keep your coffee maker maintained and cleaned regularly, over time you will need to replace it. You need to monitor the flavor and taste of your coffee and if you notice a strange change in the quality while you haven’t changed the beans and you are using the exact brewing method, then you should consider buying a new brewer.
Using the Wrong Cup
While you may want to drink your coffee with any type of coffee available in your home, some cups aren’t always good for the task. There are plenty of cups that are not the right ones to use. A good rule of thumb is to use a good coffee mug that is thick that can retain the heat. In addition, you should put your coffee into a warm mug. A cold mug will definitely cool down your coffee fast.
Failing to Clean Your Coffee Brewer
You always clean your car, bathtub, and or your dog regularly but you forget to extend the same favor to your coffee brewer. This is also one of the coffee brewing mistakes most coffee lovers make but fail to realize until their cup of coffee starts to have strange tastes.
Your coffee brewer needs frequent scrubbing else it will start to harbor bacteria and other contaminants that can affect even your high-quality coffee.
How to clean a coffee maker depends on the type of brewer you use. And regardless of the type of coffee brewer you prefer, you must always keep it clean.
Buying Coffee in Large Quantities
Like other fresh foods, coffee beans go bad when stored for too long. When you buy it in large quantities, you can expect it to go stale over time and this is something you can’t avoid. The best thing is to buy fresh beans you can use for one or two weeks.
Making Too Much Coffee
Making too much coffee is convenient since you will not need to brew it every time you need it, but this is one of the coffee brewing mistakes coffee drinkers make without unknowingly. If you want a truly exceptional brew, then you want to brew a few cups of coffee. Brewing coffee in large quantities will prevent you from getting the best flavor and aroma from your cup of java.
Storing Coffee in the Freezer
In a bid to keep food fresh for longer, people prefer to keep it in places with low temperatures and the freezer is the best place for this matter. But when it comes to coffee, the freezer is the worst place to store your coffee beans. When coffee freezes, many cells are broken and these cells hold the aroma.
However, you can put your coffee in airtight coffee canisters and then store it in the refrigerator for around one or two weeks.
And if you store your beans in the fridge, ensure to take them out at least half an hour before brewing your coffee to allow the oils in the coffee to return to room temperature.
Drinking Coffee When It’s Not the Time to
Most coffee lovers drink their cup of coffee early in the morning before heading to work. Some feel it’s the best beverage to kick start their day while others say it keeps them energized throughout the day.
Research into cortisol shows that in the morning between 8 am to 9 am this hormone is usually higher and so it’s better to drink your coffee either early or after the time when the cortisol is high.
Final Thoughts
Mistakes are inevitable in life but when it comes to coffee, you should always avoid these coffee brewing mistakes if you want to get the most out of your cup of joe.
