S3: Episode 1: Levelling Up Your Coffee On A Budget
Welcome to the first episode of Season 3! In Seasons 1 and 2 we explored some key influences on the taste of your coffee for better - and worse! Now its time to use that knowledge to help you up your coffee game without breaking the bank. Yes, its true, you really don’t have to spend a fortune on coffee and coffee paraphernalia to be able to drink better coffee. To that end in this week’s FACQ we circle back to the question of using the (relatively inexpensive) spice grinder to grind coffee.
Suggested episodes to listen to:
Brewing variables:
* The Impact Of Brewing Water Temperature On Coffee on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify Podcasts
* Grind Size Matters on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify Podcasts
* The Surprising Impact Of This Overlooked Brewing Variable (On the quality of your water) on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify Podcasts
* Put Down The Scoop And Get Out The Scales! (Tackling the question of how much coffee should you use to brew with?) on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify Podcasts
Other useful episodes:
* When Was Your Coffee Roasted? on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify Podcasts
* Why Arabica Is So Special To Specialty Coffee on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify Podcasts
* The Daily Grind(er) on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify Podcasts
* You Say French Press, I Say Cafetière on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify Podcasts
Get in touch!
Please note that although I read all texts, I don’t have the facility to reply to them, but you can also get in touch via Instagram and email.
Email: thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com
Instagram: @thecoffeedrinkersguide
Lusona Publishing and Media Limited website: https://www.lusonapub.co.uk
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Hello and welcome to Season Three of The Coffee Drinker’s Guide, a podcast for the coffee curious where I explore and explain the world of specialty coffee to make your daily coffee better and more satisfying.
I’m Angela Holder a coffee roaster and writer on a mission to fight back against bad coffee by giving you the knowledge you need to help you get good coffee and a happier (coffee) life in coffee-break sized episodes. So grab your coffee, pull up a chair and take a break…
In this first episode of the new season we are taking a look at how to level up your coffee game without breaking the bank and later I’ll be tackling the question of using spice grinders to grind coffee - again!
Times are tough. And the pursuit of good coffee can be frankly expensive. I am not going to lie. If you want to spend hundreds on just a cup of coffee or even thousands on a semi-professional home machine to make coffee for you it is actually possible to do that these days. But should you have to? My strong conviction is that while you can of course spend a lot of money on coffee and coffee paraphernalia if you want, you really don’t have to in order to enjoy good coffee. To that end in seasons one and two I focused on some key bits of coffee knowledge to help you level up your coffee game and in this first episode of season three we are going to apply some of that information in the real world, so to speak. If you haven’t yet listened to all the episodes or you want to dive back into specific details I will put links in the show notes to some past episodes you may find helpful in your quest for better coffee. In the meanwhile lets get into how upping your coffee game is really not that difficult and could actually save you some money…
So firstly levelling up and the brew
Let’s start with some low hanging fruit that will definitely save you some money. If you have fallen into the habit of buying a daily coffee drink from a cafe, stop doing that and brew your coffee at home instead. If you need convincing that it is worth the time and effort to make coffee at home, consider this: for the price of one or two lattes from a cafe you can buy a bag of decent coffee and make coffee for a week at home. Two easy and very low cost ways to make that coffee are by using a filter cone or cafetière. And as I’ve said before, chances are that you already have a cafetière lurking somewhere at the back of a cupboard so all you’ll need to do is find it!
Next levelling up and the taste
If you struggle to brew a decent coffee at home then its time to take a close look at your brewing variables. These are things that influence the way your coffee brews and crucially how it tastes. Tweaking the right brewing variable can make all the difference to the flavour of your coffee and costs little except the time to do it. So look at the grind size of the coffee, your water quality, the temperature of your brewing water and how much coffee you are using to brew with. To help you with this, the links to episodes on each of these important brewing factors are in the show notes. The flavour of your coffee will also be immensely improved by paying some attention to the beans that you buy which we’ll get into next….
Finally levelling up and the bean
The biggest improvement you can make to your home coffee drinking experience is to buy whole beans and grind just as much coffee as you need to brew each cup. This potentially does mean investing in a coffee grinder if you don’t have one but if you can, it is worth it. [I say potentially because if you have a spice grinder, stick around for this week’s Frequently Asked Coffee Question!] If a home grinder is not an option for you the next best way to improve your coffee is to buy your beans from your local independent roaster and get them to grind the coffee for you. Their cheapest beans will be fresher and of a better quality than those to be found in any supermarket. But if supermarket coffee is your only option you can still up your game by paying attention to the information on the packet. Avoid blends that will inevitably contain poorer quality beans which will taste bad and look for mention of the word Arabica along with extra details about the coffee such as the country and farm names. Supermarket packets do tend to be sparse on the actual coffee details but the more detail the better. Also take a look at the ‘best before’ date and pick the packet with the longest time left on it to get the freshest coffee possible.
And now its time for a Frequently Asked Coffee Question…
And this episode’s question is…
Is it OK to use a spice grinder to grind coffee?
If you already have one and can’t afford a dedicated coffee grinder then yes by all means use it to grind coffee. But - and regular listeners will already know what’s coming - I have two caveats. Firstly, remember to clean the machine out properly before using it on your coffee if you do actually use it to chop spices in - unless of course you want to dabble in ‘flavouring’ your coffee! And second it’s important to know that despite the name spice grinders aren’t actually grinders. Instead they use blades to chop the coffee beans - or spices - into pieces which produces particles of uneven size. This will make a muddy tasting brew, but all things considered it is still better than using very old pre-ground coffee or drinking instant coffee! If you really want to buy a grinder but don’t have a lot of cash to splash, for around the same price as a spice grinder you can buy a decent burr hand grinder which would give you a much better result. They do take a bit of effort to use but on the plus side will give you a little work out every time you make a coffee.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coffee Drinker’s Guide and that was all about levelling up your coffee. I hope you found this episode helpful but if there’s something you’re still confused about feel free to get in touch. I’m on Instagram @thecoffeedrinkersguide, email me at thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com or send me a text message using the link in the show notes. In the next episode we will be looking into the many different types of coffee there are because - yes - there is more than one! If you are intrigued and haven’t already, hit follow so that you don’t miss it. If you have a friend who also wants to level up their coffee game please tell them about the show and rate and review this podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts to help other coffee curious people find the show too. Thanks to my executive producer Viel Richardson at Lusona Publishing and Media Limited. You can find him at lusonapub.co.uk. Until next time I’m Angela Holder thanks for taking your coffee break with me - the best way to tackle life is one coffee at a time and here’s to better coffee!
The Coffee Drinker’s Guide is a Blue Sky Coffee Project