Tips for Great Coffee... Every Time.

Over Christmas break, I had a fun little experience around a topic near and dear to my heart… you guessed it—coffee.

I was at my brother-in-law’s house making coffee with my AeroPress when my nephew and his wife walked into the kitchen. They watched for a moment and finally asked, “What are you doing?”

“Making great coffee,” I replied.

Naturally, I followed up with, “Do you like coffee?”

The answers were mixed:

• “Yeah… sometimes.”

• “Not really.”

• “If it’s sweet enough.”

  
  

So I offered to make them a cup. They agreed.

When I travel, I always bring my hand grinder, AeroPress, and fresh coffee with me (priorities, right?). I brewed them each a cup and asked them to taste it before adding any cream or sugar.

Their response?

They liked it.

Actually—they really liked it.

Better than anything they’d had before.

Then I asked, “Want some cream and sugar?”

They said yes.

So I gently heated and frothed the cream and sugar, added it to their cups, and handed them back. Their eyes lit up. They couldn’t stop sipping. They couldn’t stop talking about it.

They loved it.

In fact, my nephew later left this review on Google:

"I have never liked coffee in my entire life. Turns out I’ve never had a good coffee. Baptize me in this stuff because now I’m a believer. This coffee is amazing. Buy it, it’ll change your life."

I love that! So what made the difference?

Was it the cream and sugar? Maybe.

The coffee itself? Definitely part of it.

The AeroPress? It’s an awesome brewer, no doubt.

But after five years in the coffee business, I’ve learned this: There are three keys to enjoying a GREAT (not just good) cup of coffee—every single time.

☕ Key #1: Fresh Coffee

Most grocery store coffee is 3–6 months old—sometimes even older. It’s often pre-ground (which stales faster) and over-roasted (hello, burnt tar flavor).

Fresh coffee is like fresh bread.It’s just better—a lot better.

Don’t take my word for it. Try this simple taste test:Brew one cup with grocery store coffee (Folgers, Starbucks, you know the ones), then brew another with freshly roasted coffee from your local roaster.

The difference will be obvious.

If you want a GREAT cup of coffee every time, fresh coffee makes the biggest impact.

⚙️ Key #2: A Burr Grinder

Coffee stays fresh longer as whole beans—so grind your own.

But please… skip the blade grinders. They chop beans unevenly, which leads to bitter over-extraction and weak under-extraction.

Great coffee is all about even extraction.

A burr grinder produces uniform grounds and lets you precisely adjust grind size for your brew method:

• Fine for espresso

• Medium for drip and pour-over

• Coarse for French press and cold brew

This is a game changer, I promise.

⚖️ Key #3: Ratios (a.k.a. the Recipe)

You wouldn’t cook without a recipe—coffee is no different.

Volume measurements (like tablespoons) are wildly inaccurate. A tablespoon of dark roast weighs differently than a tablespoon of light roast. And let’s be honest—your “heaping tablespoon” is not the same as mine.

The solution? Weigh your coffee.

A great place to start is a 16:1 ratio:

• 16 parts water

• 1 part coffee

Using grams makes this easy. For example:

• Want a 400g cup of coffee?

• 400 ÷ 16 = 25g of coffee

Too strong? Try 17:1 or 18:1.

Too weak? Try 15:1 or 14:1.

You can have fresh coffee and a great grinder—and still end up with bad coffee if the ratio is off. In my experience, most people simply don’t use enough coffee… and end up drinking brown water. 😬

These three keys are exactly why my nephew and his wife loved that cup of coffee so much.

It was fresh.

It was properly ground.

And the ratios were dialed in—for both the coffee and the cream and sugar.

If you want to level up your coffee game, start here.

And if you have questions or want help along the way, reach out—I’d love to chat.

— Jason