5 Ways to Improve the Taste of Your Coffee with a Coffee Machine

When you buy a coffee machine it is natural to want to reach the maximum potential with that machine, meaning getting the very best when it comes to taste. Coffee is quite a personal thing and while we all have our own specific tastes and preferences, there are some universal techniques you can use in order to improve the taste of your coffee.

Grind Fresh Coffee
If you look at the number of coffee machines with grinder options attached you will notice that there are more than ever on the market today. One of the reasons for this is the fact that people are so keen to use coffee that has not been sitting in a bag or a hopper.

This is not one of those things that coffee snobs tend to say that you aren’t sure whether or not to believe. Grinding coffee so that it is fresh really does make a big difference. As soon as coffee starts to make contact with the air it can reduce in quality. Oxidation isn’t a good thing for coffee beans. This means that you want to use it as quickly as possible after grinding. If your coffee is ground and then sits in a hopper or container then it will have a bigger surface area which can make contact with the air and degrade the quality.

You can tell for yourself if you start to grind your own drinks, that coffee that is fresh is normally vastly better.

Use the Correct Grind Size
There are different grind sizes for different types of coffee and this links closely with the way that coffee is extracted into the water.

If you are going to drink an espresso-based drink, for instance, you will want your coffee to be incredibly finely ground. This helps it to quickly extract into the water. If you are making batch-based coffee drinks though it really doesn’t need to be that fine. Coarse coffee is a good option for this type of beverage as it has longer to steep into the water.

Use Fresh Milk
The type of milk you use to make your drink can really make a huge difference. Using long-life milks can be convenient but these don’t tend to have the most sweetness and the best flavor due to the way they have been processed.

It is far better to use milk that you have bought fresh. A lot of coffee machines now include an option to make milk-based beverages such as lattes and they will need to feed from a carafe or container of milk for this. Ensure the milk you use is fresh and has been kept nice and cold.

If you aren’t going to use dairy milk, you should also pay attention to the quality of the alternative milk you are making. Oat milk and other forms such as soya milk can be great choices for making drinks like lattes and cappuccinos too. There are specific barista-style oat milks that can be a wonderful choice for these purposes.

Only Use The Best Coffee
The drink always starts with the very base ingredient, and that means the coffee bean! If you are wondering why your coffee machine isn’t providing you with a slightly better taste then there is every chance that this boils down to the fact that you aren’t using amazing coffee.

Some of the cheap coffee varieties that you might find in a supermarket are not ideal for great-tasting drinks. They’re often overroasted and sourced from coffee farms providing the cheapest option rather than giving the very best.

Of course, the trade-off in this scenario is the fact that you need to pay a little more if you are going to use the very best coffee varieties. We recommend going for a single-origin coffee that has plenty of information on the farm where it was grown. This helps you to vet the quality.

Added Extras
There are a lot of little extras that can further add to your coffee experience. Now, we don’t want to get into too much of a debate on this as there are plenty of coffee purists that will say you shouldn’t be adding anything but water and maybe milk to your drink.

However, there’s no denying that people enjoy adding sugar, syrup, cinnamon and other added extras to their coffee. Why not set up a simple station near your coffee machine and give people these options whenever you make a coffee-based drink?

Summary
A coffee machine is really only as good as the person operating it, and the ingredients you put into it. You need to make sure you choose a great coffee machine, of course, but by using great coffee, other top ingredients, and using your machine in an efficient way, you can enhance the flavor.