This is what you absolutely need at home, according to baristas
Baristas experience hilarious things when they’re at work, and we love questioning them just as we do other hospitality professionals. But while the bartender at your local pub probably doesn’t care too much about whether or how you open a beer at home, a barista often genuinely enjoys helping you expand your coffee knowledge for home. Ask a barista for tips on how to best get started with your daily cup of joe, and before you know it, you’ll be chatting away for a good fifteen minutes.
All on the same page
The funny thing is that every single barista we asked this question immediately gave us the same answer. And because they’re baristas who love elaborating a little more on everything coffee-related, one of them even gave us an extra tip…
What you absolutely need to make a decent cup of coffee at home
A coffee grinder. Hands down, no question, this is the number one answer. Grind. Your. Own. Beans. However you make coffee at home—whether it’s with a French press, a pour-over method, a regular filter coffee maker or an espresso machine—every coffee tastes ten times better when you’ve just run the beans through the grinder yourself. You can do this with a hand grinder, but electric coffee grinders with different grind settings no longer have to cost a fortune either.
There you have it, get started!
And the extra tip
Your water… I naively thought that we all have perfectly good tap water in the Netherlands that you can use for anything, but if you do want to reach the next level, filter that water before boiling it, before it drips at 95 degrees over those freshly ground beans. They’re baristas, after all 😉
Read also:
- How to stay on your barista’s good side
- Storing coffee: not like this, but like that
- Sfogliatella: the Italian answer to the croissant
