You get the best tasting coffee from the type of coffee you buy, the method you choose to make your coffee and your own personal taste. The best tasting coffee is not the most expensive.
This article will guide you through the process of selecting coffee that works for your palette and then some of the best ways to actually make your coffee to make sure you get the best possible taste.
How you make your coffee is often overlooked but has a massive impact on flavour. The most expensive coffee will taste bad if you make it wrong but you can get some really good flavour out of cheap coffee if you make your coffee correctly.
It gets a little complicated because there are many different ways to make coffee and many different appliances that you can use.
Each type of coffee maker requires a different process to get the best taste so we will explain each method for the most popular coffee makers.
It doesn’t have to be expensive to make a great cup of coffee either. For about £20 you can kit yourself out with all the equipment you need to make an excellent cup of coffee and when you combine that with choosing a cup of coffee that is the right fit for your taste you are onto a winner.
What type of coffee has the best taste?
The roast type. Raw coffee beans are green and need to be roasted in order to turn a shade of brown that we are all familiar with.
The length of time that they are roasted for will determine whether they are a light roast, medium roast or dark roast coffee. The “light”, “medium” and “dark” refers to the shade of brown that they turn to.
As a general rule dark roast coffee has been roasted a long time in order to remove a lot of the bad flavours that exist in the bean because it is mass-produced and of lower quality.
To get the best tasting coffee try light and medium roast coffees as they tend to be of better quality and avoid really dark and oily coffee beans.
This article explains more:
Country of origin. Every country that produces coffee has different flavours and characteristics in its coffee. Columbian coffee is completely different from Brazilian and that in turn is completely different from Ethiopian coffee.
Experiment with coffee from different countries to find the one you like best.
The supermarkets don’t have a very good choice when it comes to coffee beans but there are lots of really good coffee roasters that are too small to produce the quantities that the supermarkets need.
Here are some really good coffee options that you won’t find in supermarkets:
How to choose and buy coffee in the UK
Organic coffee is completely free of pesticides and that makes a difference to the flavour of the coffee and will make it taste better.
It’s harder to grow Organic coffee as well and the coffee trees tend to be in the shade to protect them which produces better quality.
With some products you can question whether it’s worth buying organic or not but with coffee it definitely makes a difference to the flavour.
This article explains why:
Which brewing method has the best flavour?
Because there is a coffee shop on every corner in the UK we have evolved into a country that mostly enjoys drinking espresso-based milk drinks.
Everyone has a favourite drink they enjoy when going into a Starbucks or Costa or Café Nero with the most popular drinks being Latte, Flat White and Cappuccino.
The secret to great tasting coffee is consistency and unfortunately that is not something you get when you order a coffee in a coffee shop.
Once you find the type of coffee you like and the type of coffee drink you enjoy the most (latte, cappuccino etc) then making it the same way every time will dramatically change the way you enjoy coffee.
When you go to one of the popular high street coffee chains it doesn’t matter whether you ask for a cappuccino or a latte, you will always just get a very milky coffee that is neither a cappuccino or a latte.
If you spend £3 on a coffee they should serve you what you ordered, not just a double espresso with loads of milk.
The good news is that for about 25p you can make a better coffee at home than you pay £3 for in a coffee shop.
And it doesn’t have to be made with an espresso machine either.
Of all the ways to make coffee the only one you should try and avoid if you want the best tasting coffee is by adding hot water to instant coffee granules.
Instant coffee is low quality and it has already been brewed months before. This article explains more:
All the other methods can produce great tasting coffee as long as you choose coffee that you like and make it according to the best method for the coffee maker you are using.
These articles detail exactly how to make the best tasting coffee by brew type:
How to make coffee in a cafetiere
What is the best espresso machine
Other tips for the best tasting coffee
Store your coffee correctly. To keep getting the best taste out of your coffee storing it in the right way will help to keep it fresh and tasting great for longer.
Most people will just keep coffee in the bag it came in or maybe decide to keep it in the fridge to keep it fresher for longer.
The best way to keep coffee fresh is to keep it in an airtight container.
Here is an article explaining the do’s and don’ts of storing coffee to keep the flavour intact:
How to store coffee beans and keep them fresh
Grinding coffee beans correctly. Different methods of brewing coffee require a different fineness of ground coffee.
Espresso requires a finely ground coffee and if you make your coffee in a cafetière then to get the best taste a coarser grind is best.
This article explains the best way to grind your coffee for all of the most popular ways of making coffee:
Water affects the taste of the coffee. Because coffee is 90% water, the actual water you choose to make your coffee with makes a big difference to the flavour.
This article explains how to choose the right water for the best tasting coffee:
What is the best water for coffee?
The right amount of coffee per cup is important. The ground coffee to water ratio changes the taste of coffee dramatically and different brewing methods require different ratios for the best taste.
Espresso is best with a ratio of 1:2, so 2 times the amount of water to coffee. If you use 19 grams of coffee for a double espresso then you should try and get 38 grams of liquid coffee in your cup.
Filter coffee and cafetière coffee is completely different with a good guide being 1:15, so use about 60 grams of coffee to 1 litre of water.
Here is an article that explains in detail:
Don’t heat your milk above 70 degrees. A good temperature for milk is 65 degrees Celsius because at that temperature its nice and hot but not burnt.
Above 70 degrees you risk the milk becoming burnt and it will ruin your coffee.
This article explains the best way to froth and heat your milk:
Experiment with a few different types of coffee beans, invest £20 in some kit to brew coffee, grind it yourself from coffee beans just before brewing and you will be able to enjoy the best tasting coffee you have ever had.
