Is your coffee not tasting like it should? Well, you're astute. The first step is to be able to notice that. Now what we want to do is to guide you to fixing it. Let's make the perfect cup of coffee! Follow our troubleshooting steps.
Troubleshooting:
Does your coffee taste weak? Possibly lacks sweetness, little to no mouthfeel, and may taste sour? Did your coffee brew faster than the recipe called for?
Possible ways to fix:
- Make your grind size finer - doing this will slow down the brew time allowing for the water to spend more time extracting out flavor from the coffee grinds.
- Add some pulsing to your brew - by breaking up the brew with some pulses, this will slow down the extraction by having less water in the slurry at any given time. This is another way to allow for the coffee and water to spend time together, bringing out more flavor.
- Use a higher temperature water, which will attack the coffee grounds to extract more.
Does your coffee taste bitter or astringent? This could give the feeling of dry cotton in your mouth or just be lingering in a harsh way. Did your coffee brew much slower than your recipe called for?
Possible ways to fix:
- Make your grind size coarser - doing this will speed up your brew time, allowing for all the yummy flavors to still extract but leaving the unpleasantness behind.
- Lowering your temperature will also lessen the extraction of the grind particles.
- Use fresh beans, stored in a vacuum sealed container. Low quality or stale beans will over-extract more quickly, extract less flavor, and you’ll lose out on some of your aroma qualities.
- Clean your equipment. Dirty equipment can impart dirty characteristics which can impart similar taste characteristics as bitterness in coffee. Specifically, your grinder may need to be cleaned in-between coffees - for example, between light roast and dark roast coffees. Residual coffee can cause flavors of "burnt". We recommend Grindz cleaners.
**To fix your brew, be sure to change only one variable at a time**
Looking for our brew guides, visit https://www.klatchcoffee.com/brew-guides
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