7 Resolutions and various tips for the coffee drinker

Early this year, I suggest you humbly my resolutions and tips to make your coffee a better experience. First of all I wish you a wonderful year and all the motivation necessary to plow, sow in the furrows of your dreams and I wish your harvest is at the height of your labor.

Increase the quality of your coffee

First by buying from specialized roaster and purchasing better beans. 

Did you know that quality coffee sells for around $ 60 to $ 80 per kg? You find it expensive? Yet the 340g bag that will cost you around $ 25 will give you a coffee, home-prepared, for about $ 1 per cup. ($ 25 / 0,340g per kg = 73 -> 15g per cup = $ 1.10). As consumers, we are willing to pay an equivalent amount and sometimes superior to other beverages. We are also willing to pay $ 2.50 for a cup of drip coffee in a restaurant or in a donut chain, but for the home, you want a cup of coffee for $ 0.15. And for those who consume coffee like Keurig or canned as Nespresso, do the math on your cup prices and ask yourself if this is the best coffee you can have for this price.

Learn how to prepare your coffee

The popularity of canned coffee highlights a widespread phenomenon: the inability to prepare a decent coffee. And we find this fear at home and in professional catering and hotel industry. It then gives this preparation in other hands, in this case in canned coffees. So take control of your preparation. Here are some points to keep in mind:

• Opt for manual methods like frenchpress (Bodum), filter cone, standard filter, Chemex, Aeropress, etc. Choose a method you like, allowing you to control all parameters and learn to use it.
• To check your settings, you need the right tools to prepare:
• A burr grinder
• A kettle
• A kitchen scale
• Some good coffee and your favorite coffeemaker

Consider a ratio of 1/16 to the full immersion methods as the frenchpress, the clever, etc. This means that for every gram of coffee you can add 16g of water. (1 ml of water = 1 g of water on your balance) So for a frenchpress 750ml / 16 = 46,8g coffee. Round it a bit for not entangled in decimals and use a coarser grind. Take a prebrewing for 1 minute for a total of about 5 minutes. Rely on your palate. I highly recommend you go to youtube and search for your method of preparation. Ex: How to prepare a french press

To your drip method, filter, consider a ratio of 55g / 1L -> Here, make a rule of three to find the amount of coffee to use. Coffee 55g for 1L of water. And if you have an electric coffee maker, have it work without coffee for weighing the actual amount of water provided to you, because often the information is truncated and when its posted for 12 cups actually give you only 5 250ml size . One wonders what kind of coffee cup they used ... Again, take a look on Youtube: How to prepare drip coffee

If your result is not interesting, adjust your settings one at a time. It may seem daunting, but the result will reward you with satisfaction. Feel free to search the web and ask your coffee roaster for advice.

it relaxes

Although coffee is a psychostimulant and exciting drink, be less rushed. Prepare a good coffee takes 10 minutes max, and why not take the time to enjoy it with your breakfast?

Whose fault?

Do not automatically blame your favorite coffee roaster for poor preparation. We hear too often that one. The coffee you just prepare tastes rusty nail? Yes, the roaster may be flawed, we are human and an error may occur in our operations. But without being pretentious, it's rare. So before you say that the coffee tastes funky, ask yourself if you've prepared it properly

Coffee is not a religion

Do not try to impress with your professional knowledge and do not try to conver. Since several years I am in the coffee business and regularly a client attempts to impress me with his knowledge, spreading its café hardware or declare is love for his favorite coffee imported from

Italy, pre-ground. You are satisfied with your equipment or your favorite coffee? Pitch Perfect! I'm happy for you. Honestly, I'm really happy. That everyone finds his way in the consumption of his favorite beverage. And if you find satisfaction in your old aluminium moka pot you never clean to enhance the flavors and by using roasted coffee from Methuselah, filled to 75% of Indian robusta is yours.

Develop a relationship with your roaster

Just as I can tell my barber, my mechanic, my accountant, my baker,

 adopt a roaster. Without swearing fealty to life to death, while allowing you to be critical and require service and quality, be a partner in an adventure. It tells you about a new cafe that has found? Try it. What are its approach and philosophy? What part does it work? Go visit him, talk to him, to have coffee with him.

Invest in coffee and not in equipment

Do not buy espresso machines for the home. It's expensive and rendering is poor. You want a good espresso, go to a coffeeshop worthy of the name. In the world of espresso, "Go big or go out! ". No one will convince me that a $ 300 coffee machine gives you a cup similar to a commercial machine with a great barista. At $ 3 espresso, you have an annual budget of 100 cups. With an approximately 3 days. For the home, reusable manual methods are, in my opinion, the best. Unless you have the privilege of having an espresso coffee like Mr. Alexandre Taillefer, opt for manual methods and visit your favorite barista more often. And buy good coffee!

Bonne année!