Are you looking at upskilling your coffee-making skills at home?
Whether you’re an instant coffee magician or coffee aficionado, or just looking at adding a little more finesse to your daily coffee ritual at home, we at Naked have created a collection of helpful hints, that will hopefully give you that inspiration you’ve been searching for.
Whatever brew equipment you have at home or method you choose to use, below may just be the enabler you’ve been searching for, to get the most of your beans.
Coffee storage
If you’ve got some amazing coffee beans (and if you’ve got Naked coffee, they most definitely are) you’ll want to store them in the best way possible.
This is to avoid oxidation and keep them as fresh as possible, for as long as possible.
For long term storage, best practice would be to vac-seal and freeze the beans, but that’s not always practical and involves having a vac-seal machine which most people don’t have at home.
To make things easier we suggest an airtight container kept in a cool, dry place, or if you’ve purchased any of our 250g coffee bags, you’ll find that they are resealable and have a one-way valve to make sure any gasses from roasting can escape without any air getting in!
Coffee age
Coffee is a perishable product and it’s flavour changes over time, that being said there is no hard and fast rule as to what age your coffee should be for your brews, this comes down to personal taste.
Right after roasting, coffee beans will be quite punchy and volatile as the gasses from the roasting process settle down and escape the bean, that's why we would suggest waiting at least 4 days before using them.
In our opinion (and it’s just that) we suggest drinking coffee from 7-28 days from roast date for optimum espresso extraction. (think we need to say what we recommend here at Naked cafes vs home user)
Grinding coffee
Brewing coffee from whole beans is a whole lot of difficult, trust us, we’ve tried.
There are a few important points regarding grinding coffee that come under this heading.
Firstly, where possible it’s best to grind coffee right before you brew to avoid oxidisation as grinding exposes more of the coffee particles to the air rapidly increasing staling.
If you don’t have the funds to invest in an electronic coffee grinder, a hand grinder will suffice (and also give your arms a short workout too).
Another important aspect of grinding coffee is particle size, as this will be a variable that will affect the flavour of your coffee and the speed of your pour.
Different coffee brewing devices require different particle sizes.
A french press and pour overs are at the course end of the scale espresso and turkish sit at the finer end.
Ultimately taste is king.
Letting your taste buds dictate your grind size will allow you get the most of your coffee.
If for example, you’re finding the coffee is tasting medicinal? Salty, and has a muddy or gritty mouthfeel there is a good chance your coffee is ground too fine.
On the other hand, if the coffee is tasting sour grassy with little sweetness and a thin watery mouthfeel, there is a good chance that the coffee is ground to course.
Water
As water makes up such a large percentage of your coffee beverage, the quality of your water and the mineral makeup will have a major effect on the end product.
Best practice includes stripping the water of all minerals and reintroducing key minerals like magnesium (Mg+2) and calcium (Ca+2) to exact quantities each having their own impact on coffee extraction.
If you're interested in crafting your own water for coffee we strongly recommend the blog post by Jonathan Gagne.
If custom water isn't for you, totally understandable, then clear, clean drinking water is going to make you a pretty tasty coffee.
Practice makes perfect!
Whichever brew method you choose, we suggest keeping notes of all the variables that you adjust to, and find what works best for your taste.
At the end of the day we’re all explorers looking for the best coffee for us.
We hope this has been a helpful resource for you! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send us an email info@nakedespressoco.com.au.
Summary
- Coffee storage, keep your beans in an airtight container in a cold dry place (not the fridge or freezer!) For optimal results vacuum seal in small portions and freeze.
- Coffee age, we recommend using your beans within a month.
- Grinding coffee, fresh is best! Grind on demand as opposed to using pre-ground coffee. Use the right particle size for your coffee device.
- Water, use clear, clean drinking water or try customizing your own!
Make sure all your coffee brewing tools and coffee equipment is clean, always.
And remember.......Coffee is always better Naked!