5 most common mistakes of a home coffee drinker

How to prepare a really delicious cup of coffee at home? In fact, it is really simple and the good news is that it does not necessarily mean buying a coffee machine for several thousand euros. It is enough to avoid these five most common mistakes, at least one of which is made by most home coffee drinkers. So just out of curiosity, how many of them have you made so far?

1. Thinks that if it's not espresso, it's not coffee!

First, some sad news right off the bat—if you want to make espresso at home just like in your favorite café serving Specialty coffee (and that's surely Goriffee, right?), it will cost you a fair amount of money, effort, and energy. Unfortunately, espresso is simply a drink born in café environments as a response to the need to serve large crowds of customers as quickly as possible (hence the name). That is why decent home espresso machines start in the hundreds of euros. And that's without a grinder…

What to do about it? Try brewing filter coffee. You can get a dripper like the Hario V60 for a few euros, paper filters too, and while everything else will help you brew better and better coffee, it isn't strictly necessary. As a reward, the wonderful world of specialty coffees will open up to you, boasting flavor profiles that you could only coax out of a home espresso machine with far greater effort. Not to mention that sipping two deciliters of coffee in the morning is much more pleasant than "knocking back" a shot of espresso.

2. Doesn't have a coffee grinder at home

If you'd like to take your home coffee brewing to the next level, you have plenty of options, but few will bring you such a significant improvement as buying a coffee grinder. Coffee oxidizes in the presence of oxygen, and once ground, many aromatic compounds vanish within 20 minutes. That's why grinding coffee right before brewing is recommended, and trust us—this is one factor no vacuum packaging can cheat. Simply put, nothing beats freshly ground coffee.

There's a lot that could be written about buying a coffee grinder (and we certainly will in the future), but for now, all you need to know is that you can find a quality manual grinder for under 50 euros. If you need advice, write to us and we'll gladly help.

3. Uses the scale only when baking

Imagine brewing a perfect cup of coffee one morning. Truly delicious, with nothing missing. And then it hits you: you won't be able to replicate it because you eyeballed both the coffee and the water.

A kitchen scale brings order to your coffee brewing and, above all, the ability to replicate proven ratios. Or intentionally tweak the characteristics of the coffee you make. And that is the only way to gradually dial in a cup of coffee that suits your preferences perfectly.

4. Ignores the importance of water when making coffee

Water makes up more than 98% of every single cup of coffee. That's probably not surprising once you stop to think about it. It's just that most home coffee brewers don't.

The issue of water quality and composition in coffee brewing can be really complex and tricky, but in short and very simple terms, the harder your water at home is, the less "willing" it is to bind flavors from the coffee. So the least you can do on your journey to a better cup of coffee is to find out what kind of water you have in your area and adjust accordingly. There are several options—either buy bottled water with a more suitable composition or get a water filter jug.

5. Doesn't buy freshly roasted coffee

And finally, we saved the most important mistake for last—in the sense that if you were to avoid just one single mistake, it should definitely be this one. We have already dedicated an entire article to coffee freshness (you can find it right HERE), so in short, suffice it to say that coffee is a food product, and freshness (meaning the time since roasting) is probably the most crucial factor influencing the final taste. The solution here is really simple—just order Goriffee coffee from our online store, and you will always be sure that freshly roasted coffee will arrive at your home, ready to brew the most delicious cups of your favorite drink.