We all feel the same way about home made coffee. The taste isn’t always great and unless you have a great Espresso machine, you are always tempted to get a hot drink from a coffee shop on your way to work. There are some rigorous rules to brewing the best cup even with instant coffee. Here are a couple of tips that should help you prepare the best home coffee.

• Ideally, try and use filtered water rather than tap water as this can spoil the taste of good coffee.
• The temperature of the water is crucial when brewing coffee. Experts agree on 190 degrees Fahrenheit or 85 degrees Celsius. A high temperature ensures that all the flavour is extracted from the coffee.
• The appropriate quantity is 30 grams of coffee for 550 ml of water. Using less results in over extraction and a bitter taste. The flavour can be mellowed by adding more milk or hot water to the brewed coffee.
• Choosing the right grind; this should be coarse for a cafetiere, medium for drip filter and fine for expresso. The amount of time the coffee should be in contact with the water also depends on the grind; the finer the grind the less contact time. So 15 seconds for expresso, 1-2 minutes for a drip coffee maker and five minutes in the cafetiere.
• Coffee used should be freshly roasted and ground immediately before brewing. As this is not always convenient, grounds should be kept in an airtight container so should be transferred straight away after opening . Make sure the grounds stay dry as this could take out the flavour
• Serve coffee immediately. Don’t allow it to hang about and do not keep it warm on the stove as again this will affect the flavour.

If you follow the above, then brewing the best tasting cup of coffee for that early morning lift will become a matter of course.