WHY DOES MY COFFEE TASTE BAD AND TIPS FOR A BETTER BREW

If you ever wondered how to make your coffee taste better, it means that you are a true coffee lover and know just how many benefits a good cup of Joe can bring. With so many different types of coffee available out there and all these preparation methods that people have come across over the years, not making good coffee isn’t all that impossible, so the following article may bring some new insight on how to make your coffee taste better. Let’s get into it!

WHY DOES MY COFFEE TASTE BAD?

Here’s the problem: there are multiple reasons why coffee can taste bad. Some of them are pretty intuitive, while others are details that you might have not considered up until now. That being said, let’s take a look at some of the main reasons why coffee doesn’t really have a good flavor:

• Coffee Beans are not fresh
• Coffee is low quality
• Using impure water
• cheap equipment
• dirty equipment

THE COFFEE BEANS ARE NOT FRESH

Coffee doesn’t last forever, and that’s something that plenty of people tend to forget. The flavor of coffee beans begins to fade the moment they leave the roaster. Coffee beans emit a lot of carbon dioxide when they are roasted. The carbon dioxide is subsequently released through a process known as degassing. When your beans are degassing for too long, they lose flavor bit by bit. It’s necessary to toss away beloved beans, no matter how painful it is. Avoid being a coffee hoarder by properly storing your beans. Because coffee tastes better when it’s fresh, you should go grocery shopping regularly and only buy what you’ll need for the following week.

THE COFFEE IS OF LOW QUALITY

This can mean two things: either the roast is bad or the coffee itself is bad (you might already know that Robusta coffee isn’t as good as Arabica). If your home roast isn’t up to par, try a different recipe or look for equipment substitutions. If your purchased beans aren’t up to par, try a new batch of beans of the same variety or switch to a different sort of coffee. You’ll have a greater chance of finding better coffee if you avoid pre-ground coffee with ambiguous labeling.

YOU’RE NOT USING PROPER WATER

Tap water isn’t the best option for making coffee because of the impurities that affect the taste. It’s always a good idea to filter the water that you’re planning to use for coffee brewing. It could also be a matter of not heating the water at the proper temperature. A perfect cup of coffee is prepared with water heated at 205°F. If you find it difficult to reach this temperature, a thermometer would be of great help.

YOU’RE NOT USING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT

You can get away with lying about your coffee equipment on occasion. Even if it is possible to make good espresso without using a special machine for that, but not with the regularity and precision that an espresso machine can provide. Another item to keep an eye on is the cup you’re sipping your coffee from.  There is quite a difference between sipping coffee from a ceramic mug and drinking it from a cheap plastic cup.

YOUR EQUIPMENT IS NOT CLEAN

You may not feel obligated to clean your whatever-it-is-that-you-use-to-make-coffee machine every time you brew a cup, but you’d be wrong not to. When it comes to cleaning the coffee equipment, people feel like the cleaning stops with the filter and the coffee pot. Make sure that all parts of your coffee preparing equipment are clean and your taste buds will thank you for it.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I CLEAN MY COFFEE MAKER?

If you’re truly serious about learning how to make your coffee taste better, you need to know more about what it takes to clean your coffee maker. The ideal would be to clean your coffee maker after each use, and that includes everything from removing the coffee grounds to cleaning the carafe.

Descaling and deep cleaning should be done at least once every three months to remove mineral deposits. If you know that your home has hard tap water, there are higher odds of building up residue that makes coffee taste bad.  For those of you with hard water problems, it’s best to clean the coffee maker each month.

A forced downtime is frequently preceded by an audible or visible cleaning indicator on some coffee machines. Staying on top of your coffee maker maintenance duties can help you prevent downtime. Other brewers feature a cleaning cycle that is usually described in the instructions. Always clean according to the manufacturer’s explicit instructions.

TIPS TO MAKE YOUR COFFEE TASTE BETTER

The following list of tips was put together to aid those of you that are willing to invest what it takes for a more delicious cup of coffee. Some of these tips might be intuitive considering our previous section on what makes coffee taste bad. If you skipped that part or if you want more specific instruction on how to make your coffee taste better, here is what you have to do.

#1: MAKE SURE THE BEANS ARE PROPERLY ROASTED

Coffee beans are either bought roasted or you can roast them yourself. If you roast them yourself, this could be the source of your terrible coffee. Roasting is a delicate technique that necessitates the application of constant heat throughout the roasting duration. While you may easily roast your own beans at home, you will need to create an atmosphere that closely resembles that of a professional roaster.

However, there are situations when the quality of your roast is beyond your control. Not all roasters are flawless and they could be responsible for that horrible coffee taste. If you buy coffee from the supermarket, there’s a significant probability that the beans aren’t always of the same quality. There are plenty of differences between the available brands of coffee, and it is this precise inconsistency that leads to differences in taste.

#2: AVOID LOW-QUALITY COFFEE

Of course, it would be amazing if good coffee was always cheap, but that isn’t the case most of the time. Arabica coffee beans are considered to be of superior quality because of their rich flavors and aromas, with Robusta being a less desirable option. Robusta coffee generally lacks complexity, so if you find that you’re often drinking Robusta coffee and are not happy with the taste, maybe it’s time to switch to Arabica.

However, that doesn’t mean all Robusta coffee is bad and all Arabica coffee is good. There are plenty of other factors that determine the quality level of your coffee. The best advice anyone can give you is to turn away from coffee with vague labels and experiment with different types of coffee until you find the varieties you like (coffee subscription boxes are a great way for experimenting with aromas and flavors).

#3: MAKE SURE THE GRIND IS OF THE RIGHT SIZE

The way your beans are ground can have a significant impact on the flavor of your coffee. Coffee grounds must be soluble enough to provide taste while being insoluble enough to avoid clogging your filter system. If you notice that your coffee has a sour or a weak taste, it could be due to under extraction.  Early in the brewing process, the acids in the bean dissolve, leaving a foul flavor.

In case you notice that your coffee has a bitter taste, it’s possible that it’s been over-extracted. This is most common when the grind is too fine.  You may need to modify the ground size depending on the sort of coffee you’re brewing. For example, the grind needed to make a fine cup of espresso is different compared to the one needed to make drip coffee.

First and foremost, you must choose which grind is appropriate for the brewing process. You want your coffee beans to be incredibly coarse if you’re using a French press to make coffee. Turkish coffee, on the other hand, necessitates pounded beans that are super fine (almost powder-like).

#4: HEAT THE WATER TO THE RECOMMENDED TEMPERATURE

As most baristas and coffee experts will tell you, the perfect cup of coffee is made using water heated at precisely 205° F. Naturally, if you’re not using a thermometer, it’s almost impossible to tell when the water is close to its boiling point. You basically want hot, but not boiling water to prepare a cup of coffee.

Coffee has volatile oils that can be destroyed when the coffee is too hot, but under-heating the water could lead to under-extraction.  If you want to make coffee but don’t have a thermometer nearby, simply bring the water to the boiling point, turn off the heat source, and let the water sit for half a minute before brewing.

#5: AVOID HARD WATER WHEN BREWING

As we mentioned in the first part of this article, the water source you use can have an impact on the quality of the water itself. Tap water is usually filled with chemicals and residue, which end up having an impact on your coffee’s flavor. It’s always a good idea to filter the water before brewing your coffee.

#6: USE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT FOR THE BREWING METHOD

If you’re not a true coffee brewer and haven’t experimented that much with making your own coffee, the foul taste of your coffee could be because you’re not using the right type of equipment. Improper equipment could be everything from not using a French press to make actual French press coffee to using the wrong cups when savoring it.

We don’t want to turn this specific article on the type of equipment needed for each brewing method, but we do want to point out that this is very important if you want to consistently be able to enjoy cups of coffee packed with flavor.

#7: MAKE SURE YOUR EQUIPMENT ISN’T OUTDATED

We have this tendency to stick to the equipment we’ve been using for a million years, but sometimes it’s time for an update, whether that means getting rid of the coffee maker that’s been with you since college or that mug that has sentimental value but is scratched to oblivion and has become way too difficult to clean.

If you notice that the quality of your coffee is declining and you’re not really able to figure out why this could be the reason. Of course, you also need to rule out all other potential problems that we talked about today. If everything is clean and fresh, maybe it’s time to buy a new coffee grinder.

#8: THOROUGHLY CLEAN YOUR EQUIPMENT

One of the most common problems that lead to bad-tasting coffee is because you’re either not cleaning the equipment after each use, or you’re just rinsing it superficially when more deep cleaning is required. Of course, equipment means everything from the coffee maker to the spoon you used to stir the coffee. Each piece of equipment might have different cleaning requirements, so make sure you check the care instructions specified on the label of each product you use.

For instance, when you’re cleaning your coffee maker, you want to remove the brew basket and filter (throw away the paper filter is needed or wash it if it’s a reusable one), fill the sink with hot water, and throw in some dishwashing soap (the kind that removes oil), clean the components that came in contact with coffee (such as the carafe or the brew basket), rinse the components down, wipe down the coffee maker, and put the components back together.

#9: STAY ON TOP OF BREW TIMES

To get a good-tasting cup of coffee, you need to know the brew times for the different types of coffee machines and makes that you’re using. Most espresso machines will automatically prepare the brew with you having to push only a couple of buttons. Other coffee makers require manual operation and have different recommended brew times.

Some of the numbers include 3 to 5 minutes for brewing with an Aeropress, 4 minutes for a French press, a Chemex, or a dripper, 2 to 6 minutes for a coffee bag, and up to 24 hours to make cold brew.

#10: RESPECT THE COFFEE-TO-WATER RATIO

Another common reason why coffee doesn’t taste good is that you’re not following the rules when it comes to using the right coffee-to-water ratio. For every gram of coffee that you’re using, you need between 15 and 18 grams of water. If you always follow this golden rule, your coffee will surely have improved flavor on a constant basis.

CONCLUSION

While we all love a good cup of coffee, some of us aren’t willing to put in the effort to make a consistently tasty batch each day. To a certain extent, this is perfectly understandable, as making good coffee isn’t always an easy process. However, once you’re invested in making the best possible coffee you could, you start to internalize these pieces of advice so you can get coffee that’s as tasty and flavor-packed as the one you buy from the coffee shop.