How To Be A Great At-Home Barista!

Whole Coffee Beans – Buy Them
Good coffee costs that little extra, and there is no way to avoid that extra cost. Good coffee beans are the first step. If you can search out a local roaster, you can quickly grind your own.
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Why do you need to but whole beans? This coffee will be fresher and contain more flavor.

Buying a Scale
This might seem strange, but when you are seeking a perfect cup, you need to be exact as the weight of coffee will affect the taste by quite a margin. A good starting point is 90 grams of coffee beans for a 6 cup machine. Weigh before grinding and brewing.

Only Grind What You Will Use
This makes a lot of sense. Grind what you need and when you are about to use them. This will keep it as fresh as possible.
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Keep Your Beans in a Ceramic Container
Ceramic containers might appear old fashioned, but they are the secret in keeping your coffee as fresh as possible.
Coffee needs to be stored away from sunlight and ceramic is the ideal material to do this. As an aside, if you have been told you can freeze your coffee, avoid this as it can absorb moisture and this will affect the taste.

Pure Water
If there is anything which can ruin the taste of a good cup of coffee, it is water. Filtered water makes all the difference in achieving the perfect cup.

If you can’t lay your hands on filtered keep a pitcher in the refrigerator of water which has been heated to between 195 degrees Fahrenheit and 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Brewing Methods 
If all methods of brewing coffee were equal things would be far more straightforward. Unfortunately, they aren’t so it isn’t. Every machine will be different in function, so until you find the ideal amount of coffee, you might have some trial and error on your hands. Hence the scale in a previous section.

You also need to choose brewing methods which meet your taste preferences because the strength of your coffee won’t be purely the amount of coffee you use.
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As a guide, and automatic drip coffee maker will brew an even, mild pot of coffee. A French press, on the other hand, will provide a much bolder and darker flavor.

Knowing Your Beans
If you had barista training on making the best cup of coffee possible, this might be the one area where you can learn more than reading. Knowing your coffee beans is essential.

More than anything the growing region affects many factors in the final cup of coffee. These can include the following:

• Acidity
• Strength
• Flavor

A good example being coffee beans from Africa, and these are generally dark and more acidic. This is compared to beans which are from South America which are less acidic and produce a medium roast so they won’t be as strong.  On top of this, you have the most common bean in the world Arabica followed by Robusta which makes up the majority of the remaining market. There is another which makes up 3% of the global market and is known as Liberian Coffee.  To keep up with demand, there are many variants so what you get might not be a pure strain as you first expect.