How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part Two—Environmental Concerns

Agave has become an increasingly popular sweetener in the coffee industry. But is it as environmentally friendly as people claim it to be? BY EMILY JOY MENESESBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Featured photo sourced via Pixabay In recent years, you may have noticed an increase in demand for “alternative sweeteners” like agave. While today, the nectar serves […]


Study Shines New Light on the Complex Arabica Coffee Genome

Researchers in Italy say they’ve shed new light on arabica coffee’s large and complex genome, which may ultimately help breeders seeking desirable traits such as high quality and disease resistance….


Know Your Sweeteners: Honey: Part Two

We continue our deep dive into honey, bringing to light environmental and animal rights concerns related to the product, and how the industry is addressing them. BY EMILY JOY MENESESBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Feature photo via Unsplash This week we started our discussion of honey, uncovering how it’s produced, the differences between varieties of honey, and […]


Florencia y Fortunata: A Café Empowering Women in Peru

The Cusco café, founded by Carolina Peralta Minaya, sells coffee from women producers and features women demonstrating their skills behind the bar. BY JORDAN BUCHANANBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Photos courtesy of Carolina Peralta Minaya Traceability, sustainability, and conscientiousness are key values pervading the specialty-coffee trade. For many consumers and traders, these values inform their decision to […]

How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

What I Learned from My First Tea Ceremony

After taking in a brief moment of a tea ceremony in Thailand, I finally had the chance to participate in the full experience recently in Malaysia. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos by Tanya Nanetti In the years that I worked as a barista in a café, tea always played a marginal role in […]


5 Cool Cafés Worth a Try in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, one of Thailand’s most fascinating cities, is home to a vibrant specialty-coffee scene, with many cafés and roasteriess often offering locally grown coffee. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo by Tim Durgan via Unsplash With a population of 3 million, Chiang Mai is a little (by Asian standards) gem in northern […]


From Malawi to Edinburgh: The MF Coffee Project

We take a trip from North Carolina to Northern Malawi to Edinburgh, exploring the roots, roasts, and impact of the MF Coffee Project. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of the MF Coffee Project In the quaint village of Manchewe, Northern Malawi, a story unfolded when Cameron Mcallister made the life-altering decision to relocate […]


Why it’s easier for wealthier producers to grow specialty coffee

It takes money – and sometimes a lot – to grow specialty coffee. Producers not only need to continuously maintain and improve quality and yields, but they also have to invest back into their farms. Whether it’s replacing equipment and machinery or planting more resilient varieties, producers need to turn a profit to operate their […]

How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

The First Women-Only Coffee Championships Held in Costa Rica

Feria del Café Frailes seeks to increase the gender diversity of coffee competitions. BY SUNGHEE TARKSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Cover photo by Sunghee Tark The coffee industry has come a long way in the past 20 years, with innovations happening in many parts of the world and in different links of the supply chain. […]


Is the World Barista Championship too exclusive & expensive for competitors?

There are a number of competitions in specialty coffee designed to test the skills and knowledge of industry professionals. However, many consider the World Barista Championship (WBC) to be one of the most esteemed and highly regarded events, acting as a platform to showcase excellence in the barista profession. There are many reasons to celebrate […]


Test Drive: Update Your Grinding With More Comandante Grinder Accessories

The popular hand grinder has more to offer with a new line of tools and accessories now available. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Feature photo by Tanya Nanetti To brew the perfect cup of coffee, it’s important to choose the right coffee equipment. One essential is a reliable coffee grinder. Most coffee lovers start with a […]


5 Amazing Coffee Drinks in Reno, Nev.

Here are some standout specialty drinks you can try in the Biggest Little City in the World. BY EDDIE P. GOMEZSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE Photos by Eddie P. Gomez Reno, Nev., has more cafés per capita than just about any other place in North America. And because it is a snowier-than-usual winter in northwestern Nevada […]

How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

minimum dose size?

Jan 31, 2024 |

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

Hi folks, I'm hoping someone can help give me some guidance on how brew better coffee. My goals are to maximize aroma and minimize bitterness. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. I buy fresh (within ~1 week of roasting) medium-roast beans which I store it in an air-tight coffee container (I never replace the little C02 valve though), and it lasts me about a week (the coffee tastes pretty bad by the end of the week after I open the bag). I have the strength figured out (grounds to water ratio). I grind it roughly in the middle of the fine to course settings dial (very slightly more towards the coarse). I then brew it in a regular cheap Walmart coffee brewer. Because I only brew one cup for myself, if I just put the pot under the coffee maker and let it brew, there's so little water in my one cup that all of the grounds won't even come in contact with the water. For this reason, I remove the pot from the coffee maker and let the hot water accumulate inside the basket for a few minutes, stir it with a spoon and then put the coffee pot in place to let it drop into the pot.

The coffee is okay, but it's never as good as when I get the same drip coffee brewed from the coffee shop I get it from. I suspect that some of the culprits might be:

​

  • Coffee beans just aren't fresh enough 1 week after roasting
  • Grind setting
  • Letting the coffee sit in the basket for a few minutes, causing over-extraction
  • Perhaps the water temperature is off in the cheapo Walmart coffee maker

That's all I can think of.. maybe I should just measure the water temperature myself, switch to pour-over and increase the grind coarseness (and therefore also increase the quantity of beans)? Anything else I'm missing?

Thank you!

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How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

Perfect Little Beans

Chinmey Hill Coffee uses specialty-grade beans with zero primary defects (such as black beans or sour beans) and less than five secondary defects (such as broken beans). This is important because primary defects will greatly affect the taste of the coffee. Having zero defects allows the coffee to be the most optimal flavor.

Window for Optimal Flavor

Chimney Hill Coffee ships our coffee the same day it was roasted, so you will receive it before it enters the window of optimal flavor.  This means you’ll never miss the opportunity to enjoy the coffee’s peak flavor.

Coffee Ratings

Coffee undergoes many scoring processes by professionals who achieved their Q Grader certification. Coffee is first graded when it’s green. If there are defects the coffee is determined to be “not-specialty grade”. For those coffees that pass green grading, they are sample roasted and cupped. (Cupping is the official term for critically tasting and scoring coffees. The official cupping form is standard worldwide, and where the 100-point scoring system comes from.) A coffee’s dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, body, acidity, balance, and overall impression are taken into consideration while uniformity issues and defects, will lower the overall score.

Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee, coined by Erna Knutsen in 1974, refers to a coffee that receives a quality grading score of 80 percent or higher. While “premium” or “gourmet” seem like they’re synonymous with “specialty,” they simply are marketing terms with no defined standards. Specialty coffees are grown in specific and ideal micro-climates, and have distinctive and unique flavor profiles, with little to no defects.

Third-Wave Coffee

We’re currently in the third wave of coffee. The first wave of American coffee put pre-ground, vacuum-sealed cans in kitchens across America. The second wave started with the late ‘60s introduction of Peet’s coffee (by Alfred Peet) through the proliferation of Starbucks. The third wave of coffee focuses on origin transparency, nuanced flavors, and artisan roasting. The term “third wave” is synonymous with specialty coffee.

How can I improve my coffee brew? It always tastes bitter

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