Coffee Bean Beginner's Guide: How to Brew Delicious Coffee by Home-roasting?

Coffee Bean Selection

To brew a mellow and delicious coffee, you first need to choose high-quality coffee beans. Before roasting at home, you can try coffee beans from different origins and varieties to find the flavor you like. Generally speaking, Arabica and Robusta are the two most common coffee beans.

Arabica coffee has a higher acidity and floral and fruity aroma, with a smooth and delicate taste; Robusta is more intense, bitter, and contains more caffeine. Choose the one that suits your taste or a mixture of the two types based on your personal preferences.

Baking process

Baking is one of the key steps, and baking at home requires a few basic tools: a stove, a wok or a professional baking machine, and a thermometer.

First, preheat the iron pan to the appropriate temperature (usually 200-230 degrees Celsius), then pour the raw beans into the pan and stir. Stir constantly during the roasting process to prevent the beans from burning. Observe the color changes of the beans, and when the ideal roasting degree is reached, immediately pour them into a cold plate to cool down.

Different roasting degrees will bring different tastes and flavor characteristics. Light roasting usually retains the original acidity and floral and fruity aroma of coffee beans; medium roasting is more balanced while retaining a certain degree of sweetness; dark roasting makes the coffee produce a strong bitterness, cocoa flavor and caramel aroma.

Brewing tools

Choosing the right brewing tool is also one of the keys. Common brewing methods include drip brewing, French press, hand brewing pot, etc.

The drip method is one of the simplest and most popular methods. Simply put the filter paper into the dripper, sprinkle the coarse ground coffee evenly on the filter paper, and then slowly pour in an appropriate amount of boiling water.

For a French press, you need to put the ground coffee powder into the pot, add an appropriate amount of hot water, stir evenly, let it sit for a while, and then press the filter to isolate the coffee grounds.

For a hand brewing kettle, you need to preheat the kettle and cup with hot water in advance, and place an appropriate amount of coffee powder on the glass filter. Then slowly pour in an appropriate amount of boiling water, wait for a while for the coffee to fully soak, and then gently rotate the filter to make it evenly precipitated.

Brewing steps

No matter which brewing tool you use, make sure all equipment is clean and rinse thoroughly with clean water before you begin. Here are the simple steps for brewing:

1. Choose the appropriate ratio (usually 1:15-1:18) according to your favorite taste, that is, the ratio of gram of coffee powder to milliliter of boiling water.
2. Heat the required amount of freshly boiled water to between 90-96 degrees Celsius.
3. If using a drip or pour-over kettle, pre-wet the paper or glass filter to remove any flavor from the paper or glass.
4. Place the ground coffee into the brewing tool and spread it evenly.
5. Slowly pour in an appropriate amount of boiling water to fully soak the coffee powder. Wait for a while (usually 3-4 minutes).
6. Filter and pour according to the requirements of different brewing tools. If you use a French press, you need to press the filter; if you use a drip coffee pot, you need to wait for all the water to pass through and collect the coffee in the container; if you use a hand-poured pot, you need to gently rotate the filter to make it evenly settle and then pour the upper liquid into the cup.

Enjoy delicious

The last step is to enjoy the delicious coffee you brewed yourself. You can adjust the taste by adding appropriate amount of milk, sugar or other seasonings according to your personal taste. At the same time, remember to drink freshly brewed coffee as soon as possible, because they will lose flavor and aroma over time.

Hopefully, this beginner's guide to coffee beans will help you brew a cup of delicious coffee. Remember, constant experimentation and adjustment is the key to finding the best taste for you!