The do’s & don’ts of making coffee at home
We speak to Over Under Coffee Trainer Bianca, who gives top tips on how to make a great cuppa at home. Give them a try for yourself.
We love nothing more than making an amazing cup of coffee for our customers, but we know it’s not always possible to make it to your local OU store for your caffeine fix. So this week we chatted with our Over Under Coffee Trainer to ask for some top tips on how you can make a great coffee at home. Try them out and tell us what you think. We know, we’re here saving the world from bad coffee, one cup at a time!
5 Coffee Do’s
Do your research - Take the time to find out where your coffee comes from. Not only is it fun to learn about the origin, tasting notes and roasting methods, but it’s also important to make sure your beans are ethically sourced.
Check your grind size - There’s nothing worse than getting your coffee home and realising it’s not ground correctly for the appliances that you have. If you get it wrong you can end up with an awful-tasting coffee. If in doubt google is your best friend!
Create latte-style milk at home - If you have a french press, you can make great milk at home. Simply heat the milk on the stove and add it to your french press. Plunge up and down a few times, until you create the amount of foam you like and add to your espresso. If you don’t have access to an espresso machine, you can also put a couple of teaspoons of instant coffee, add a dash of hot water into your mug, and top it off with the milk from your french press. Et voila!
Make your own syrup - If you have a sweet tooth, you can make your own flavours at home. Instead of buying expensive bottles of syrup, you can make your own by adding 3 cups of water and 3 cups of sugar together and heating them on the stove. Don’t leave it on too long though or it will end up like a crème brûlée! Once melted, let the mixture cool and pour it into a bottle. It will last for around 6 months and if you want to add in any additional flavour add a drop or two of vanilla essence. Not only will it taste great, but you can also save some cash.
Be open-minded about the different types of brewing - You can achieve different tastes and flavours from different brewing methods. Choose between, filter, Aeropress, V60 or Chemex. All you need is water, ground coffee and the correct appliance. Have fun sampling the different results and decide which you enjoy the most.
5 Coffee Don’ts
Don’t buy a professional coffee machine at home - We maintain and clean the machines in-store every day and this is what’s required to keep the coffee tasting great. In comparison at home, you would perhaps make one or two cups of coffee per day. Although you may not think that it’s very much, the grounds build up and it will affect the performance of the coffee machine and the taste.
Don’t microwave your milk - If you love milky coffee, do yourself a favour and heat it on the stove. In the microwave, the milk gets hot too quickly and you will burn the protein in the milk. Not only that, it just tastes bad, don’t do it!
Don’t reheat your coffee - If you make a batch of french press at home and it goes cool, make yourself a fresh batch rather than reheating it. When you reheat coffee it will affect the sugar level which impacts the taste. You could also put it in the fridge for iced coffee which means no waste. Plus it’s hella hot in the city!
Don’t through your coffee grounds away - Coffee grounds are full of nutrients and are a great exfoliator. You can mix them with some coconut oil and use them as a coffee scrub. Your skin will be baby smooth. If you don’t fancy a coffee scrub, you can use them in your garden too, they’re great fertilizer for your plants.
Don’t make it at home - Just save yourself the time and come to Over Under instead! We understand that you can’t always make it to the store, but let’s admit it, coffee tastes better when someone else makes it for you. It’s all about the experience, baby!
So there you have it our 5 do’s and don’ts for making great coffee at home. If this has left you feeling like you need to give it a try for yourself, you can head over to our online shop and buy our Over Under house blend. We grind it to your preference and deliver it straight to your front door. To sweeten the deal, we’re also offering 3 for 2 right now, so why not grab yourself a few bags?