Making coffee is as much a science as it is an art. Yet, coming from someone who performed very poorly in high school science class, the science is pretty fun to learn about.
It's not just about getting the best espresso machine. There's more to it, however overwhelming that can feel at first.
There are three main rules by which I make my coffee: you need the perfect grind, ideal ratio, and, finally, quality coffee beans. While I can’t recommend exactly what beans suit your taste, I can help point you in the right direction.
You need the perfect grind, ideal ratio, and, finally, quality coffee beans.
Alongside a genuine interest and passion for good coffee, I also have three-and-a-half years of professional barista experience under my belt. At university, I worked at one of the U.K.'s main chain coffee shops (Costa) and then an artisan coffee shop in my uni city.
Then, during the pandemic, I was a shift supervisor at my local Starbucks, so I have a varied knowledge of different coffee practices.
Due to this experience, I often get asked, “Erin, why doesn’t the latte I just made on my espresso machine taste as good as the cafe down the road?” My answers are always the same: your coffee is stale, your grind isn’t right, and your ratios are off.
Let me teach you exactly how to get a barista-quality coffee at home: it’s easier than you think.
How to make great coffee at home: You’re not using the correct grind
This is the number one cause of bad coffee: using the wrong grind for your chosen brewing method. Espresso coffee should be ground to about 300-500μm, no bigger than 800μm. The best coffee grinders will have a guide on which setting to grind for your brewing method: read it.
Comandante C40 MK4
The Comandante C40 is perhaps the hand grinder. This is what most of the coffee aficionados use, and for good reason. In my 4.5-star review of the Comandante C40 MK4, I praised its build and versatility.
The Comandante C40 MK4 grinder is so highly revered because it is a darn fantastic grinder. The chamber is pretty small — around 50g to fill it depending on the bean — but seeing as a double espresso shot requires 18g of coffee, I was able to grind enough for multiple shots in one go.
To adjust the grind size, you need to physically press the dial on the underside of the grinder and ‘click’ it until you reach your desired consistency. Comandante has a user guide that tells you exactly how many ‘clicks’ you need for each brewing method.
The grind uniformity on this grinder is like no other. My review has an in-depth table and explanation of consistency comparison, but to paraphrase: the uniformity basically leapt from 1% to 95% (between two sieve sizes), which is what you want to see.
Given that this is a hand grinder, obviously it requires some physical exertion. It’s the inherent nature of a hand grinder: you might need to break a sweat to make a coffee. But when the grinder works as well as this, it’s a price I’m willing to pay.
Baratza Encore ESP
Now this is a recommendation for the beginners: the Baratza Encore ESP is an electric grinder that requires little to no user participation. While the Comandante C40 is a more specialty-focused grinder, the Encore ESP is one for the newbies.
What makes the Baratza Encore ESP so good is its budget price and unbelievable ease of use. There’s no struggling with manually adjusting the burrs, no real maintenance at all really, and it’s also really affordable as far as coffee grinders go.
All you have to do is pour beans in the hopper, set your grind size (there’s a handy label on the grinder itself telling you where espresso-fine is), and press go. There’s literally nothing else to it. No manual grinding, no counting ‘clicks’, nothing.
Although its grind is a touch more inconsistent than the Comandante C40, this is the most beginner-friendly grinder I’ve ever tried. I was able to clean the burr without reading the instructions at all (no screwdriver necessary) and the cleanup is pretty straightforward, all things considered.
For beginner grinder users, this is the only grinder I’d recommend.
How to make great coffee at home: Your ratios are off
Another reason why your home espresso might not taste as good as a cafe’s is because you’re not getting the correct ratio of coffee to water. Many coffee shops have specialized commercial espresso machines that do all the work for you.
Home espresso machines, for the most part, do not. For getting the ideal ratio, you’ll need one of the best coffee scales, like the affordable Wacaco Exagram Pro or the premium Acaia Pearl S.
An ideal espresso ratio is 1 part coffee to 2 parts water, extracted between 25-30 seconds. If you have a coarser grind (recommended for dark roasts) or a finer grind (recommended for lighter roasts), the time will be longer or shorter respectively.
A coffee scale can help you perfect those ratios for the best tasting coffee possible. Here are a couple of my recommendations.
Wacaco Exagram Pro
In my 4-star review of the Wacaco Exagram Pro, I discussed how the affordable price and compact size makes it one of the best beginner-friendly coffee scales out there.
As I touched on just now, the Exagram Pro does lack a flow-rate monitor. However, you can easily work this out by dividing your grams by time taken. For example, if I get 36g of coffee in 25 seconds, I know my flow rate is 1.44g/s, which is within the parameters of a perfect espresso (1.5g/s-2.5g/s).
The Exagram Pro, like the Baratza Encore ESP, is a perfect first time scale. It has physical buttons to switch from ‘espresso’, ‘pour-over’, and ‘normal’ mode, which means no fiddling with annoying button mashing to change mode.
The ‘espresso’ mode automatically tares a cup’s weight so you don’t have to fiddle with it once it’s on the machine drip tray. It works similarly in ‘pour-over’ mode, which calculates your ideal ratio.
For beginners, I recommend the Exagram Pro wholeheartedly. This is a fantastic starter scale with very little wrong with it.
Acaia Pearl S
This is by far the most impressive coffee scale I’ve ever tested — my 4-star Acaia Pearl S review goes into full, comprehensive detail.
If left to my own devices, I could spend thousands of words waxing lyrical about the Acaia Pearl S and why I love it so much. However, I’ll spare you the boredom and quickly run through what makes it so excellent.
While other scales simply weigh coffee and water, the Pearl S weighs coffee and water, connects to your phone via Bluetooth, teaches you how to make coffee, and gives you access to the fantastic Acaia Brewguide app.
You don’t need the Pearl S to use this app, but it’s so much better with it. Roasteries and coffee shops can upload their recipes to Brewguide and you can follow them gram-for-gram at home.
The Pearl S is great for pour-over, but it has an excellent espresso mode too. The timer has auto-recognition, so you don’t need to press ‘start’ for it to begin timing each shot.
How to make great coffee at home: You’re using low-quality coffee
I know it’s tricky if you don’t live in a big city with a range of artisan coffee shops and roasteries, but you should always try to get small-batch, specialty-roasted coffee beans.
Imagine you’re trying to make a sandwich, but you’re using stale bread and deli meat that’s been left out all night. No matter how fresh your veggies are or how delicious your mayo is, that sandwich is never going to taste good.
It’s the same with coffee beans. I’m in the U.K., and all my coffee testing is done with artisanal beans from Hard Lines coffee, which is based in Cardiff. If you don’t live in a city with easy access to a small roastery, you can always get subscription beans online.
If you’re in the U.S., the subscription service Beanz works much the same as the one I personally use. I can also recommend Atlas Coffee Club — my editor Pete Wolinski says its coffee is delicious.
How to make a great coffee at home
There are three main things to remember: grind, ratio, and coffee beans. If you follow the advice I’ve laid out here, you’ll be making barista-quality coffee in no time. Happy brewing!
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