Free Tips to Make Your Coffee Taste Better

From the alluring scent to the energising burst you get from the first sip, there's no denying the hold coffee has over many of us. A good start to the day relies on a really good cup of joe, and coffee classes in Sydney are the perfect way to ensure you don't start your day off on the wrong foot. A Sydney barista course will show you the ins and outs of mastering that sweet elixir, all under the guidance of some of Sydney's top baristas. But there's so much to know about coffee! From different brewing methods to the effect adding other ingredients can make, you may not know how much goes into making that cup of goodness. Whether you're a home coffee drinker wanting to learn more about using your espresso machine, a coffee connoisseur keen to sample and taste different styles and beans or a beginner barista looking to expand your skillset, there's a coffee class for you in Sydney. 

To get you started, let us kick you off with a few tips to make your coffee taste better right away. This might give you an idea of everything that goes on behind the scene when it comes to making a coffee. The best way to learn all about coffee including how to make your own coffee in 2024? A barista class in Sydney. 

How to store your coffee beans

Barista classes will tell you everything you need to know about storing your beans and more, but this one is a freebie. If you store whole roasted beans at your house, it’s important to make sure that when they’re not in the machine, they’re in an air-tight container. Coffee beans have the tendency to go stale and flavourless very, very quickly when left out in the elements, and coffee beans - as we’re sure you’re aware - are expensive.

Burning fifty dollars on a small bag of beans better be worthwhile, so it’s important to ensure that you don’t give the beans an opportunity to become the saboteur to your cup. You don’t want to put all the time and effort into whipping up beautiful latte art just to taste a soppy, flavourless brown cup of bean soup. Store beans in an air-tight container at room temperature and store ground coffee in an air-tight container in the fridge. Our Sydney workshops can cover all the reasons why this is important but for now, just know that if you want to go to flavour town every morning your beans need to be taken care of.

The daily grind

Getting the coffee grind right is a delicate and often meticulous task and a crucial element in good coffee training. You have to balance how fine or coarse the grind should be with the type of beans you’re using, and then you have to make sure you have the correct amount in the coffee basket to get a good extraction. Our barista workshops in Sydney are the best place to learn the intricacies of this procedure, as it’s difficult to learn without proper hands-on experience. But for now - once again - we shall give you some cheeky tips for your home coffee machine. 

The coarser the grind, the easier water flows through it. Because of this, a highly coarser grind is good for percolators and french press coffee and will give you a nice healthy flavour. Try this in an espresso machine, however, and you’re going to find yourself sipping on tepid, flavourless warm coffee cordial. Espresso machines work by pushing pressurised water through the coffee basket, creating a concentrated coffee extraction, AKA espresso. Because the pressure required is so intense, it’s crucial your coffee grind is packed in tight enough for the extraction to be successful. For this, it’s most common to use a larger quantity of finely ground coffee, tamped down to create the coffee “puck”, and then extracted for anywhere between 23 and 30 seconds. Under 20 seconds means you’re coffee is under-extracted and will be lifeless and empty, over-extracted coffee that pours thinly for over 35 seconds will be bitter and sour. There are more important factors for this, but our barista classes in Sydney are the best place to work it out.

How to jazz up your coffee

Part of the luxury of getting a coffee at a cafe is that the person making your cuppa has a firm grasp of the barista basics. Whether that’s mastering the pour, controlling the temperatures (a delicate process which requires particular attention: coffee courses will help you master this) or texturing the milk. Latte art has become synonymous with good coffee, and we offer plenty of latte art classes in Sydney to help you discover how to make latte art like a pro. But until then, how can you make your coffee “pop”? If you don’t have a proper steam wand at home, you won’t be able to texture the milk and your latte art will be - how shall we put this delicately - impressionistic. But you don’t always have to add milk to get the most out of your coffee.

Replacing milk with two tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of coconut oil will have you up and out the door faster than you can say “well, what about all the calories?” Well, what about them? Although a shot of bulletproof coffee - as it’s been coined - contains over four hundred calories, it is virtually carbohydrate-free, meaning your body doesn’t store the energy in fat. Instead, it converts it straight away, giving your coffee the type of kick that all the latte art in the world couldn’t dress up. Although bulletproof coffee had its moment and most barista courses in Sydney will not cover it in basic coffee training, it is an effective method of making your coffee shot go further.

Alternatively, if you enjoy your coffee black, adding an espresso shot to iced sparkling water is a refreshing twist on the usual coffee making standards. Trust us, this is a very classy way to start your morning and feels a lot fancier than it is. Add a slice of lemon if you really feel like posh-ing it up.

Practice makes perfect!

The saying says it all, but it's true that when it comes to coffee, practice really does make perfect. Everyone's palates and coffee preferences are different, so a lot of learning how to make coffee at home is about finding your preferred taste and mastering exactly that. At Sydney coffee classes, you'll get the chance to practice your brewing skills over and over again, all under the guidance of a trained professional. Instead of feeling stumped with your coffee making for beginners at home, you can get real-time feedback and tweak your technique straight away. Whether it's a barista basics class or a latte art for beginners workshop, you're guaranteed to go home feeling perked up at the thought of your new skills. These workshops are one of the best things to do in Sydney not only because of the unique experience they offer, but because of the long-lasting skills you take home with you afterwards.

Well, there you have it—some free tips on improving your coffee game. But honestly, this is just a drop in the giant cup of coffee knowledge that you can extract from our barista courses in Sydney. A good cup of coffee has so many variables, so it’s essential to get as many shots of knowledge as you can if you truly want to take your coffee training and your latte art to the next level.