How to Brew Coffee with Coffee Beans at Home? Five Coffee Brewing Tips for Beginners

How to Brew Coffee at Home: A Beginner's Guide

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1. Purchasing Advice for Beginners

For beginners entering the world of specialty coffee, the purchasing order should be: coffee beans, grinder, coffee beans, pour-over kettle, coffee beans, various filter cups, coffee beans, with the coffee machine last—and not necessarily essential.

Good coffee beans are very important, so this needs to be emphasized many times.

When you're just starting out and finding your way, you often get lost in equipment shopping lists. Sometimes you might envy others, but choosing tools that best suit your capabilities is the wisest approach. The best tools are those that are readily available and most convenient for use and brewing—the focus should be on whether the brewed coffee tastes good. Using different coffee cups can sometimes enhance your coffee drinking mood as well.

Drink More, Compare More

It's recommended that coffee beginners try widely, drink more, drink more, and drink more. Try to taste and experience the flavors brought by different growing regions. There's no secret to tasting coffee—just drink more, and it's best to drink it in its original form.

Before buying beans, you can visit the café to taste the flavors they brew in person, then go home and try to replicate them. Commercial grinders are usually more professional with higher grinding uniformity, allowing you to taste more flavor details. Therefore, a grinder is the most worthwhile coffee equipment investment—once you've experienced it, there's no going back.

2. Key Points of Coffee Brewing

Water Quality and Water Temperature

The water temperature affects how much substance dissolves from the coffee. Simply put, higher temperatures dissolve more aromatic compounds from coffee, and using good filtered water will make your coffee taste better.

Coffee Bean Weight

How much coffee bean weight paired with how much water weight can yield a consistently delicious coffee with a fixed ratio. Using a precise electronic scale can greatly increase your chances of successful brewing.

Brewing Time

The longer the brewing time, the longer the coffee is steeped in hot water, and the stronger the flavor will be. More substances will dissolve from the coffee—relatively, the good flavors become better, and the bad flavors become worse.

Grind Coarseness

The grind setting must be determined based on the brewing method and equipment used. Choosing brewing equipment that suits you can greatly enhance the enjoyment of drinking coffee. Below, let's introduce several common brewing methods and their appropriate grind settings:

Pro Tips for Light Roasts

If you want more acidity in light roast coffee: use higher water temperature, controlled between 90-88°C. Then brew slower to obtain more aroma and emphasize the bean's acidity. If you don't want too much acidity, lower the water temperature to 86-84°C and brew slightly faster—you'll notice distinct sweetness and fruit aromas.

Let it cool before drinking for better flavor. Because it won't be throat-bitingly sour, and it allows the floral and fruit aromas to become more apparent. The sweet and sour light roast is perfect for hot summer mornings—its clear, bell-like acidity sweeps away the damp, sticky morning grogginess.

Light roast beans are available here →

3. Brewing Equipment and Corresponding Grind Settings

Drip, Pour-over

Using filter cups with filter paper or mesh screens for filtration is very convenient. Generally, American-style coffee makers use the drip concept to brew coffee. There's a wide variety of pour-over filter cups available on the market, such as T-shaped, cone-shaped, V60, clever dripper, etc. Drip brewing recommends medium-fine grind, Fuji Royal 3~3.5.

French Press, Tea Infuser

Many people use the French Press brewing method because it's very simple and doesn't require too much attention to detail—perfect for the lazy French type. Because brewing time often exceeds 5 minutes due to forgetting to time it, French Press is suitable for coarse grinding, Fuji Royal 7.5~8.

Siphon, Aeropress

People who typically use siphon pots (Syphon, or Siphon) can be considered experts in home coffee brewing. The Aeropress is a relatively new coffee brewing tool in recent years, shaped somewhat like a large syringe, allowing you to use force to shorten the coffee extraction time. It usually uses medium grinding, Fuji Royal 3.5~4.

Espresso Machine

Espresso has been popular for quite some time, and many people have inexplicably bought one for home but struggle with how to use it. Suggestion: Since you've already spent a lot of money, why not invest a bit more in a dedicated grinder suitable for espresso grind fineness? Good espresso made with a quality grinder can take you to heaven. Bad espresso made with a poor grinder will make you cry your heart out.

Grind setting: The finest setting on a Fuji Royal might still not be fine enough—recommend a dedicated espresso grinder (Super Jolly stepless micro-adjustment extra fine).

So, About Those Chopper Grinders

It's recommended to put away those propeller-style electric chopper grinders you got from credit card point rewards, or give them to your mom for grinding pepper, mung bean flour, or spices. Chopper grinders use a crushing method and cannot be called grinding. The disadvantage is that the crushed coffee particles have huge variations in fineness and cannot be controlled.

During over-grinding, the heat generated by the machine has already consumed most of the coffee's aroma. If you're frugal, you might even scrape off the fine powder stuck to the walls from static electricity and brew it. This powder, as fine as flour, is the reason your coffee flavor has particularly high "complexity."

4. Coffee Storage Methods

Taiwan's climate is relatively humid and hot, so you must strictly prevent coffee beans from getting hot or damp. The best way is to store them in sealed containers in a cool, dark cabinet that doesn't get sun exposure.

The best way to store coffee is to brew it quickly and drink it. Opened coffee beans are not recommended to be stored in home refrigerators (-5~5°C), but wine refrigerators (17~18°C) are acceptable. When purchasing coffee beans, choose those roasted by local Taiwanese freshly roasted cafés.

Purchasing in small quantities ensures freshness. Local home-roasting shops often emphasize extremely fresh roasting and immediate drinking, but the freshest coffee beans aren't necessarily the best tasting. The optimal drinking time is usually 7~15 days after coffee roasting.

The bean bags used by cafés to package coffee beans should ideally be sealed bags with one-way degassing valves. With proper storage, you'll be surprised to find that coffee beans last longer than you expected. After opening, they should be consumed as quickly as possible. Of course, you can also drink slowly and gradually experience the rise and fall of coffee flavors—this is also a kind of enjoyment.

Storage Key Points Review

• Start by purchasing from local freshly roasted cafés
• Coffee needs 7~15 days to mature after roasting
• Only buy what you can finish
• Ensure bean bags have one-way degassing valves
• Store in sealed containers in cool cabinets—don't refrigerate in home refrigerators, but wine refrigerators are acceptable
• Enjoy quickly after opening

5. Want to Drink Coffee but Afraid of Not Sleeping?

Choose Low-Caffeine Beans

What if you want to drink coffee at night but are afraid of not being able to sleep? The first method is to choose low-caffeine coffee beans. Besides naturally low-caffeine varieties due to their genetics, there are now many post-processing methods that aren't chemical-based but use water washing or steam treatment that won't harm your body. These are called Decaf or Decaffeinated Coffee. If needed, you can ask the café for information about this.

Choose Specialty Grade Beans

If it's specialty coffee beans, compared to commercial beans with too many defects, specialty beans will have relatively lower caffeine. Although more expensive, you're buying peace of mind, because overly cheap commercial beans are very likely produced through cost-cutting methods that are highly environmentally unfriendly and mass-produced.

Choose Darker Roasted Beans

If you're drinking specialty coffee but still have trouble sleeping, besides brewing it weaker, you can consider choosing darker roasted coffee beans. Because the roasting time is relatively longer, the caffeine that dissipates during the roasting process will be slightly more than in light roasts. Darker roasted beans also have stronger roasting flavors, suitable for connoisseurs, and taste good with milk too.

What to Do If You've Already Drank It

If you've already consumed excessive caffeine but have to go to sleep quickly, then quickly consume large amounts of water, or sports drinks rich in electrolytes mixed 1:1 with water. After drinking, you'll immediately need to use the bathroom. Caffeine is water-soluble and can be metabolized and expelled more quickly through urination.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473