Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

Cup of Excellence to Offer El Salvador Immersion Program

The immersion experience will allow participants to grow their knowledge on Salvadoran culture and coffee varieties. BY J. MARIE CARLANBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Photos courtesy of Cup of Excellence Cup of Excellence is launching a new learning opportunity in 2024: the Origin Immersion Program, to be held in El Salvador from February 26 to March 5. […]


Hawaiian Legislators Introduce Bills for Stricter Coffee Labeling

Legislators representing the Kona district of Hawaii have introduced a series of bills that would require more strict labeling requirements for single-origin coffees and blends containing Hawaiian-grown coffees. Some Kona…


Miami-Made Panther Coffee is Popping Up in Manhattan

Beloved Miami specialty coffee company Panther Coffee is making its first major New York City showing with the opening of a popup shop in Soho. With a soft opening scheduled…


Serving Coffee in the Epicenter

The Turkish specialty-coffee community is coming together to support earthquake relief. BY MICHAEL BUTTERWORTHSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE When Niji Coffee went live on Instagram,…

Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

Miami-Made Panther Coffee is Popping Up in Manhattan

Beloved Miami specialty coffee company Panther Coffee is making its first major New York City showing with the opening of a popup shop in Soho. With a soft opening scheduled…


A Look at Digital Coffee Future’s Digital Origin Education Program

The new program connects coffee producers to one another, provides them with educational resources, and more. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of the Cocaerol, Comal & Amprocal cooperatives in Honduras Since 2021, Digital Coffee Future (DCF) has been working on a digital training program to address the needs of coffee producers. In September […]


María Andrée Is Honing Olfactory Skills in Antigua 

A sensorial class in Guatemala at Artista de Café teaches how to use your nose for the ultimate coffee experience. BY JORDAN BUCHANANBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Photos courtesy of Arista de Café Walking into a specialty café in Guatemala, your nostrils are infused with aromas from the best coffees in the country. Your nose recollects the […]


Weekly Coffee News: Grounds for Health Week + Iconic SF Shop Closes

Welcome to DCN’s Weekly Coffee News. Keep up with all the latest coffee industry stories and career opportunities by subscribing to DCN’s newsletter. Tell our editors about your news here. Registration Opens for Inaugural…

Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

How do you roast coffee for milk?

It’s impossible to deny just how popular milk-based coffee drinks (such as the flat white, latte, and cappuccino) are in coffee shops around the world. According to 2020 data from Project Café USA, the latte was the most ordered drink in the UK, and the third-most popular beverage in US coffee shops. In line with […]


4 Coffee Shops Worth a Visit in Madrid

In recent years, the Spanish capital has developed a vibrant specialty-coffee scene. Here are some cool cafés to visit for a caffeine fuel-up. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo by Jorge Fernández Salas via Unsplash The espresso bar at HanSo. HanSo Café, a Perfect Spot for Breakfast   In Chinese, HanSo roughly translates to “a […]


Brewing at Home and On the Road with Darrin Daniel

We check in with the Cup of Excellence executive director to learn his current coffee-brewing habits. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo by Emre…


10 (More) Minutes With Helena Oliviero

Today we continue our conversation with Helena Oliviero about her coffee career and life on a Colombian finca. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Helena Oliviero Barista Magazine: Let’s talk about living on a Colombian coffee farm, Finca Palma Roja. How do you spend your days? What’s usually happening on a busy coffee […]

Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

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...

Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

This is more of a rant than advice, so apologies in advance.

My way of having coffee recently has been to go to my nearby Winco, take a pound of vanilla flavored beans, use their in-store grinder for the coarsest setting, and take it home.

Not ideal to grind a whole bunch at once, but I am an embarassing novice, sorry.

I boil water in an electric kettle, use Ikea's glass teapot with the mesh infuser, put about 1.5 tsp of the super coarse coffee in the infuser, then pour 14oz of boiling water through it, and let it sit for about 5 minutes. I'll then pour out the coffee infused water into my mug and enjoy. The coffee feels just light for me, and the vanilla flavor is something I really enjoy.

To try and improve my coffee experience, I ordered a cuisinart grind & brew single serve coffee maker, to have every cup of coffee freshly ground. I saw the reviews and was concerned because, the coffee maker will always grind the same amount of coffee, and I can adjust the strength based on how many ounces of water to serve (8, 10 or 12 oz). The youtuber whose review I saw said that he prefers 8oz, and 12oz is just too watery. I tried the 12oz, and was reeling from how strong this was compared to what I was used to. The vanilla favor is all but gone, and while the coffee's flavor itself is not bad, the experience is bitter (pun intended) partly from the shock of how unexpectedly strong it was.

Before I consider switching to my old ways and returning the coffee maker, I wanted to understand something first. I have one 14oz mug of coffee a day, which I start my morning with. I'd like to appreciate proper coffee and understand a bit better, and was wondering if in my previous way, the priority in the vanilla flavoring and much lighter strength was stopping me from appreciating what proper coffee could be, and the single serve coffee maker is actually pointing me in the right direction, I just need better quality coffee? Of course, if this presumption is wrong, then I suppose purchasing a small grinder and ginding a small amount everyday is another way to go. However, I'd need guidance on which direction is more advisable. To note, my wife hardly drinks coffee, so it's about one serving a day of coffee in the household, which means spending $$$ on coffee related equipment is a relatively harder decision for me.

Thanks for reading this far. Again, apologies if reading this post was not what you wanted, and I'd be happy to hear your opinions.

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Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

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.

Trying to understand how to better appreciate coffee

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