Posted on 03/24/2023 3:48:15 PM PDT by nickcarraway
You don't have to suffer through a bad cup of morning coffee.×
Most people would probably assume I make great coffee at home. I work at Food & Wine, I care about things like garnishing my scrambled eggs in a cute way, and I deeply appreciate a good cocktail (or mocktail). Still, when it comes to my at-home coffee situation, the standards are floor-level. My roommate and I have been brewing our daily coffee in an ancient Mr. Coffee machine for the past four years — the coffee pot actually came with the first apartment we got together, so its age is undetermined, and someone clearly didn’t care enough to take it when they moved out. It also doesn’t help that we’re reluctant to buy anything but the cheapest coffee beans available at the grocery store.
Even if you happen to have a coffee scale and Chemex at home, odds are at some point you’ll end up in an office, great aunt’s house, hotel room, or somewhere else with mediocre coffee — and that’s when you’ll be grateful for these tips on how to make it taste better.
Okay, don’t literally add the cinnamon to the pot — you want to add your spices to the coffee grounds before you brew. This is an easy way to make your coffee more aromatic, flavorful, and cozy-feeling; it’s one of my favorite tricks in the wintertime. Any warm baking spices will work, such as nutmeg, star anise, cloves, or cardamom (the latter is especially good), but I’m more likely to have ground cinnamon on hand than anything else. Simply add a pinch or two of the ground spice to the grinds in your coffee filter, give it a stir to evenly distribute things, and brew as normal.
Make a little milk froth
Want to feel like you just went through the drive-thru at Starbucks, without the $6 hole in your pocket ?Add some foamy milk to your cup of joe, and you’ll instantly feel a little fancier. Milk will hold bubbles (as in, it’ll become foamy) when it’s warm –– so, to create a little layer of froth for your coffee, just pour a little milk into a sealable container, like a jar or tupperware. This will work slightly better with a dairy milk, but non-dairy alternatives will hold some bubbles too. Microwave it until thoroughly warm, but not scalding hot. Then add the appropriate lid, and shake the container vigorously for about thirty seconds. The result should be some frothy milk that will make it feel like you’re drinking a cappuccino.
Turn your coffee into a mocha
The obvious answer to making bad coffee taste better is to simply add more sugar, and there’s no way better to do that than by stirring a packet of hot chocolate mix into your mug. This is basically a cheat code for making a mocha at home, and the combination of sugar and milk powder is really great at masking overly bitter coffee. Make sure you use a cocoa mix that’s meant to be dissolved in water, like Swiss Miss. One of the biggest benefits of this hack is that it doesn’t require intervention before the coffee is brewed — so if your mother-in-law already started the pot, you can still save your own cup.
Sprinkle in some salt
According to the rules of science — which I know to be true, although I don’t really know why — either salt or sugar can help offset and cut bitter flavors. (A fun way to test this is by trying a leaf of radicchio without seasoning, then with salt, with honey, and with both salt and honey. But I digress.) Sprinkle a small amount of salt — think just half of a pinch — into your coffee grounds before brewing to reduce excess sharpness and acidity.
Use that random orange in your fridge
Coffee often has some chocolate notes to it, which pair especially nicely with citrus. If you don’t believe me, just ask, like, every pastry chef ever. Zest whatever citrus fruit you have in your fridge (I’d recommend using something you’d be willing to eat plain, like an orange or grapefruit, but not a lemon), and add about a teaspoon of the zested peel to your coffee grounds. Similar to what you’d do when adding cinnamon or another spice, make sure you stir the zest in to get it evenly distributed throughout the coffee.
While I happen to have a drip coffee pot, these tips would work for most at-home coffee brewing techniques. Feel free to try them out with your French press, Moka pot, or pour over; simply adjust the quantity of cinnamon, orange zest, or whichever addition you’re using to suit the amount of coffee you’re brewing. If you’re only crafting one or two cups, you’ll need a lot less salt than if you’re making an entire pot. And, please, do not add an entire packet of hot chocolate to your single serving of espresso.
So go forth and buy the cheapest coffee beans your grocery store offers. Be like me and avoid purchasing a state-of-the-art coffee machine at all costs, and hack your way into a better cup of coffee.
I guess it was just better because I have never gotten a good cup of coffee out of A Mr. Coffee and I grind my own beans. Now I’ve moved to a cuisenart pod machine which I love.
Well, if you’re using a reusable filter that has to be cleaned then I don’t see much advantage over a French press. And you’ve got the disadvantage that it only makes one cup at a time.
I love me some Lapsang Souchong tea. It smells a bit like a burning wood fire but the taste, while a bit smokey is more subtle.
When I want to pamper myself especially on a cold rainy or snowy winter’s day, I get some good quality loose-leaf tea - Lapsang Souchong or one of my other favorites – Irish Breakfast Tea or an Earl Gray.
I have an electric water kettle. I learned the secret is to bring the water to a boil but not to a rolling boil for too long – too hot boiling water ruins the tea IMO and can make it bitter. And not tap water – I found filtered water works best.
Pour some of the hot water into a ceramic or porcelain tea pot, swirl the water around a bit, let it sit for a minute, then pour the water out. Put the loose-leaf tea into the heated tea pot, wait a minute. The heated pot helps bring out the full flavor of the tea leaves and helps keeps a consistent temperature after adding the hot water.
The ratio of tea is one teaspoon of loose-leaf tea for each cup and + one for the pot. I like my tea rather strong.
Poor the very hot but not roiling boiling water into the tea pot, a cup for each cup + maybe a 1/4 cup more of water and let sit for about 3 minutes.
Pour the tea from the tea pot through a tea strainer and into a nice teacup, China preferably but whatever you like.
If you are going to use milk in your tea, you can put it in the cup before you strain the tea into it.
In the old days the sign of your wealth and class and having the best quality China was that your China teacups would not crack if you added the hot tea before adding the milk. Lesser quality China would crack so adding the milk to the teacup first would temper it so it would not crack.
I find that tea accepts additives and enhancers better than coffee does. Cherry Bitters, Lemon, Honey, Raw Sugar, dried cherries, dried pineapple, orange zest, hazelnut syrup, milk, chocolate milk, licorice, mint and it goes on and on.
I have enjoyed Lapsang Souchong since the 1960s. My wife says it smells like cigarette butts. LOL
If you like Lapsang, you may like the various Pu-erh teas which are also processed after harvest but fermented in their case. Some have a toffee flavor, some nutty, and some chocolate.
Thanks. I will try Pu-erh.
Any fru-fru flavor added to coffee is not for me. Boss used to drink hazelnut coffee and the smell almost made me gag.
Fresh, strong, black coffee...
Well that’s good that you’re pleased with your Aeropress.
Thanks for letting us know.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.