5 keys to sipping the perfect cup of coffee.
Coffee is an intimate experience and only you know how you like it best.
That being said, we thought you may want to consider a few simple steps to increase the odds of that perfect cup.
We narrowed things down to 5 key ingredients including
- Fresh beans
- Proper grind size
- Golden ratio of water to coffee
- Mastering your brew method
- Choosing the right partner to share it with
If you only get 3 or 4, you’re probably still in good shape.
Step 1. Freshly roasted, high quality beans.
All about the beans, baby.
To truly enjoy the best your beans have to offer, you want to brew those bad boys up within 2-3 weeks of roasting. If you're buying ground beans from the grocery store, chances are those beans were roasted several months ago and are well past their peak.
How do you know which beans to buy?
Let your taste buds be your guide. After drinking the Kirkland Signature House Blend every morning for years, I had my mind blown the first time I tried Stumptown coffee in Portland.
It transformed coffee for me from utility to pleasure.
It is hard to know where to start but the fun part is experimenting.
Take a tour around the world with a bright Ethiopian, a rich, chocolatey Guatemalan or lately, I've been partial to our Out of Office Blend.
Your favorite origin might be waiting out there for you to discover it.
Prescription Roasting roasts coffee weekly to ensure freshness.
Step 2. Proper Grind Size
A perfect cup of coffee demands the proper grind size for ideal extraction.
You have to nail the grind (and we're not talking about Eric Nies. Google it.)
The grind and brew method go hand in hand to get the most out of your coffee. Ideally, you want to grind your coffee just before brewing for to prevent oxidation, loss of moisture, and CO2 depletion but we understand that life can get in the way and you don't always have time.
For home grinders you can go with a burr or a blade. We would never judge, but in general, the burr grinder will give you a more consistent grind which can help achieve the proper extraction for your brew method.
In an effort to not reinvent the wheel, we like the guide below found in a blog post titled "The Last Coffee Grind Size Chart You'll Ever Need"
| GRIND SIZE | BREWING METHOD |
| Extra coarse | Cold Brew Coffee, Cowboy Coffee |
| Coarse | French Press, Percolator, Coffee Cupping |
| Medium-coarse | Chemex coffee maker, Clever Dripper, Cafe Solo Brewer |
| Medium | Cone-shaped Pour-over Brewers, Flat Bottom Drip Coffee Machines, Siphon Coffee, Aeropress (with 3+ minute brew time) |
| Medium-fine | Cone-shaped Pour-over Brewers, Aeropress (with 2-3 minute brew time) |
| Fine | Espresso, Moka Pot (Stovetop Espresso Maker), Aeropress (with 1 minute brew time) |
| Extra Fine | Turkish coffee |
Step 3. The golden ratio of coffee to water.
There are a few "golden rules" out there when it comes to coffee to water ratio.
Our preferred method is to weigh both the coffee and water, because you feel like a scientist and you're always right on.
The golden ratio for this method is 16g of water for every 1g of coffee.
If you don't have a scale in your kitchen, just get one. They are cheap and useful.
If you're not into that, another option is 1 tablespoons of ground coffee for every 4oz of water. Note: The lines on your coffee pot are 5 ounces for each cup.
There are a few other things to consider with the water including water temp (ideally between 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit).
You can use filtered water if you don't normally drink your tap water but the ratio is the most important part for our purposes.
4. Perfect your brew method.
You may prefer the romance of the pour over for a lazy Sunday, or the efficiency and [let's be real] quantity of the electric drip coffee maker for when you need the extra cup for the road. You may want the sophistication of the french press, the rugged aero press, or perhaps the elegance of pulling an espresso shot.
Or maybe something weird we've never heard of.
Use something you enjoy and become an expert.
Check out Prescription Roasting's Other Stuff to shop for Fellow's 12oz Carter Move Mugs if you're looking for the perfect vessel for your road coffee.
5. A worthy companion.
You can absolutely have a delicious cup of coffee solo.
No doubt.
But to truly achieve perfection, coffee must be shared.
There is something about sitting across the table from someone who has a story to tell or an ear to listen that elevates the cup beyond the science of the proper extraction. Bonus points if you have absolutely nowhere to be.
Make a friend. Drink a cup.
Check out our friends bundle at Prescription Roasting where you can bribe an acquaintance into becoming your friend.