When you make your own coffee, how do you like to enjoy it? Is it with milk or creamer? Do you use a sweetener like sugar or honey?
There are many ways to make your home-brewed coffee taste better, and this article will give you some different options.
Making sure the water is at the right temperature, using good quality beans, grinding them properly, and storing them correctly are just a few of the things that can make home-brewed coffee taste even better!
What is home-brewed coffee?
Home-brewed coffee refers to how coffee beans are ground and how they’re brewed. It’s a term that is used broadly to describe how the drink tastes when it is prepared outside of a café at home.
This coffee is awesome because it tastes how you want it to taste, and the cost is low because you’re using your own beans.
6 Tips make your home-brewed coffee taste better
Let’s get started with how to make coffee taste better with some ideas and how-to tips!
1. How does the water affect home-brewed coffee?
Water can have a big impact on how coffee tastes. It’s important to use pure freshwater that has not been treated with any chemicals or additives so it will make clean-tasting coffee.
If you live in an area where your tap water smells like chlorine or sulfur, I recommend using filtered water.
If your tap-water tastes weird; your coffee will taste weird as well, then it’s time to invest in a good filter!
When using bottled or distilled water for home brewing, make sure that no additives are present.
It can be difficult to know how much water to use for different quantities of coffee.
If you are using a French press, pour over technique, or cold brew method, the ratio will vary based on the coffee strength you prefer.
The ratio of ground coffee to water must be measured correctly, so make sure you’re using a scale or measuring cups when making your coffee.
The water temperature can also impact your coffee brewer. Brewing with water that’s too hot can extract unwanted flavor.
Using water that’s too low in temperature will have trouble with the extraction as well.
Tip: If you want to learn more about brewing coffee at home, you can check out my beginner’s guide to brewing coffee.
2. How to make coffee taste better with milk and creamer
The best way to make home-brewed coffee taste better is to experiment with how much milk or creamer you like in your drink.
Most people like about a quarter of the volume in milk or cream as there is in brewed coffee. That means if my cup of brew has eight ounces (0.24 l), I will use two ounces (0.06 l) of milk or cream.
I recommend you use whole milk or even half and half, but if cow’s milk is not your thing, I’ve got some other options for how to make coffee taste better!
If you are lactose intolerant, many plant-based kinds of milk are available that still work great in making home-brewed coffee.
It will also depend on how much sugar is in the creamer and how sweet you like your drink; these plant-based kinds of milk are usually sweetened.
3. How to make coffee taste better without milk, creamer, or sweetener
If you don’t like how to make coffee taste better with cream or milk and prefer your drink black, I have some suggestions for how to do that.
First of all, blooming your coffee can extract more flavors, so adding a little bit of hot water before pouring the rest of the water in can make a big difference. Blooming coffee looks like this:
You should grind the coffee beans just before brewing to keep their flavor.
If possible, I recommend you use a French Press or cold brew method because it can make your coffee taste how you like it in less time than other methods.
The French press can produce coffee with a more robust coffee flavor than pour-over methods like the Chemex and Hario V60.
Choosing a brewing technique that suits your flavor will make your home-brewed coffee taste better in minutes!
If you want to make coffee taste better without milk, how can you do it?
There are a number of ways to get home-brewed coffee that tastes good but doesn’t have any sugars or dairy!
You could try using almond, coconut, soy, cashew, or rice milk!
You can also sweeten your coffee using honey, brown sugar, or a homemade coffee syrup like vanilla syrup or even caramel sauce. The options are endless.
If you want to make your coffee taste better without creamer, how can you do it?
You could try adding a little cinnamon or vanilla extract. Honey and agave syrup are also great ways to make your coffee taste better.
These natural sweeteners have a different flavor than sugar and make for a unique-tasting coffee that you can customize to your liking!
4. How to make coffee taste better with a sweetener (sugar or honey)
Sweeteners are a great way to make coffee taste better.
When using sugar, I recommend you use about one tablespoon per cup of brewed coffee.
If you like your drink sweetened with honey or agave syrup, then just add the amount that tastes right to you in terms of how much sweetness you like.
I recommend you use a sugar substitute if you watch your calories or are on the keto diet since it can often be up to 75% less in sugars than regular sugar!
My favorite sugar substitute is Stevia, which works well with strong-tasting coffee. Adding a little Stevia makes a ton of difference and will sweeten your coffee however you like.
5. How to store beans properly for better-tasting coffee
If you want to make coffee taste better, it’s essential to store your coffee beans properly.
I recommend you store your beans in an airtightcontainer that you can seal, so they stay fresh for longer and do not get stale before being used!
If you are using a bag of pre-ground beans, I recommend that you store them in an airtight container as well and keep them out of direct light or heat!
You could also look into getting a vacuum-sealed jar for your ground coffee to keep it fresh longer!
Tip: If you want to get more information on properly storing your coffee beans, you can find more information here.
6. How to grind your beans for home brewing correctly
Properly grinding your coffee beans can have a big impact on the flavor of your home-brewed coffee.
You want to keep in mind how coarse or fine the grounds should be, which will depend on which coffee brewer you’re using.
The coarser the grind, the less contact with water they will have, which is perfect for a coffee brewer like a French press or when you’re making cold brew coffee. A coarse coffee grind looks like this:
Some people like a coarse grind for French Press, and others prefer more of a fine grind for their Chemex and an even finer grind for their espresso brews.
Freshly ground coffee with the perfect grind size will make amazing home-brewed coffee. If you want to learn more about which grind size is best for every coffee brewer, then you can find more information here.
Conclusion
This article contains a number of tips for how to make coffee taste better when home brewing it.
I recommend using a French press or cold brew method, adding sweeteners like honey or other flavorings to make coffee taste better. Grinding your coffee beans before brewing will also make your home-brewed coffee taste better.
Remember that these tips will depend on personal preference, so feel free to experiment with your preferred methods of how to make coffee taste better.
Which coffee brewer do you prefer for your home-brewed coffee? Let me know by leaving a comment down below. If you have any other questions regarding coffee, you can also contact me directly by pressing the “Contact Me” button at the top!
