Secrets to a Brew-tiful Coffee

*Sponsored Content – Undertow Media September 2021

It’s International Coffee Day next Friday! Turn the humble cup of coffee into a café  au lait with home barista extraordinaire The Drumming Barista’s guide to perfecting  your morning ritual. 

If there’s one silver lining from Delta, it’s that we’ve spent more time than ever at home trying to perfect  our beloved cup of coffee in lieu of our daily café ritual. In honour of International Coffee Day on Friday  1st October, Sean Tiernan – the visionary behind Instagram page @thedrummingbarista – has given us  five steps to perfect your cuppa (if you haven’t quite mastered it yet) Follow them all to ensure every  sip is enjoyed at its best! 

1. The vessel 

You shouldn’t ever drink hot coffee from a cold cup (let’s face it, we all do it!). If possible, always  serve in a pre-heated cup to help keep your coffee warmer for longer. For home baristas, just pour  freshly boiled water into your chosen vessel while preparing your brew. 

2. The beans 

Fresh is best! For a guaranteed tastier coffee, always start with fresh whole coffee beans and grind  on demand. Pay attention to the roast date (if there is one) as coffee is best consumed within a 7  to 14 day window after it’s roasted. To achieve an evenly extracted (and much tastier!) coffee,  distribute grinds in your coffee maker so they form a flat surface for the water to flow over and  onto. 

3. The milk 

It’s best practice to use chilled milk and once steamed always pour immediately. For all those oat,  soy and almond milk fans, treat steaming alternative milk the same as dairy but stop steaming a  couple of seconds prior to not overheat and curdle the milk. 

4. The pour 

When pouring milk into an espresso shot, angle the cup to 45 degrees and pour into the centre of  the shot trying your best to keep a consistent flow. When the liquid has risen near enough to the top  of the cup start to angle the cup back up to 90 degrees – voila!  

5. The gear  

When it comes to coffee, you’re only as good as your tools, so invest your money in good  equipment. From a game-changing grinder to trusty scales and, most importantly a pro coffee  maker, look for top quality products like Bialetti’s stovetop Brikka which ticks all the boxes. Once  you’ve mastered the art, you’ll be left asking “where have you bean all my life?” 

How do you make your coffee?

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