Secrets to a brew-tiful coffee
If there’s one silver lining from Delta, it’s that we’ve spent more time than ever at home trying to perfect our beloved cup of coffee in lieu of our daily café ritual.
In honour of International Coffee Day on Friday 1 st October, Sean Tiernan – the visionary behind Instagram page @thedrummingbarista – has given us five steps to perfect your cuppa (if you haven’t quite mastered it yet).
Follow them all to ensure every sip is enjoyed at its best – prego!
- The vessel
You shouldn’t ever drink hot coffee from a cold cup (let’s face it, we all do it!). If possible, always serve in a pre-heated cup to help keep your coffee warmer for longer. For home baristas, just pour freshly boiled water into your chosen vessel while preparing your brew.
- The beans
Fresh is best! For a guaranteed tastier coffee, always start with fresh whole coffee beans and grind on demand. Pay attention to the roast date (if there is one) as coffee is best consumed within a 7 to 14 day window after it’s roasted. To achieve an evenly extracted (and much tastier!) coffee, distribute grinds in your coffee maker so they form a flat surface for the water to flow over and onto.
- The milk
It’s best practice to use chilled milk and once steamed always pour immediately. For all those oat, soy and almond milk fans, treat steaming alternative milk the same as dairy but stop steaming a couple of seconds prior to not overheat and curdle the milk.
- The pour
When pouring milk into an espresso shot, angle the cup to 45 degrees and pour into the centre of the shot trying your best to keep a consistent flow. When the liquid has risen near enough to the top of the cup start to angle the cup back up to 90 degrees – voila!
- The gear
When it comes to coffee, you’re only as good as your tools, so invest your money in good equipment. From a game-changing grinder to trusty scales and, most importantly a pro coffee maker, look for top quality products like Bialetti’s stovetop Brikka which ticks all the boxes.
Once you’ve mastered the art, you’ll be left asking “where have you bean all my life?”
