How to Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee at Home

A great pick for coffee aficionados out there, both manual and automatic machines are designed to give you a café-quality cuppa at home. But when it comes to how to make a coffee with a coffee machine, it can take a little practice to nail the perfect coffee. Espresso machines extract the coffee from the beans quickly, giving an intense depth of flavour, and work best with a darker roasted bean.

Capsule coffee machines are great for those who like a good cup in a hurry. Just drop in a pod, froth some milk (many of these machines have milk frothing attachments), and you’re ready to face the day. While there are many different roasts available, there are also companies that create eco-friendly reusable pods, so you can test a few beans to find the one that’s right for you. For the best capsule coffee experience, choose your machine’s 30mL setting – more than this, and you can over-extract the coffee.

Like espresso machines, stovetop coffee makers extract coffee quickly, resulting in a robust, intense flavour that works well with milk (although if you love a hard-hitting espresso, go for gold!). And like espresso, dark beans are the top pick for stovetop coffee. 

Tip: Fill the water reservoir with hot water instead of cold to speed up the extraction if you’re in a hurry for your caffeine fix.

Filter coffee is extracted much more slowly than espresso, spending longer in contact with the water, so a more lightly roasted bean is the way to go. Filter coffee results in milder flavours than espresso and is often sipped black (or, in the case of cold drip, with some ice cubes – a great option if you’re looking for how to make iced coffee at home minus the milk). 

Whether you use a pour-over device, plunger (aka a French press), or a drip machine, there are a few tips to keep in mind for fab filter coffee. Grind your beans to the consistency of coarse paper or sand (too fine will clog up the filter) and use 60g of coffee per litre of water (that’s 20g coffee and 333mL water for a single cup). 

For a drip machine, pour the water into the water reservoir (not over the grounds) and turn it on. For pour-over, add the hot water slowly, one third at a time, and in 45-second increments, stirring gently in between. Once all the water’s dripped through, you’re good to go! If you use a French press, give it four to eight minutes’ brewing time, then press the plunger down slowly.

Start with the best quality beans your wallet will allow, and be sure to buy them fresh (from a local roaster is your best bet). While a darker roast is usually preferred for espresso, it comes down to what tantalises your tastebuds. Keep your beans fresh by storing them at room temperature in an airtight container – glass and ceramic are the top choices – and never refrigerate or freeze your beans. Grind just before brewing for ultimate freshness.

Ah, tamping – the pressing of the coffee grounds into the filter basket. Too firm or too loose, and you’ll get a coffee that is, frankly, too bad to face first thing in the morning. Even tamping is essential for proper extraction, so to get this step right, place your coffee grounds into the filter on a flat, stable surface. Level off the coffee with your hand, then place the tamper gently on top of the coffee and press down with light pressure. Let it rest for a moment, then tamp the ground coffee a second time with a little more pressure.

Always use fresh water to brew your coffee, either straight from the tap or – if you’re super serious about your cup – using bottled water (just make sure it doesn’t have a chlorine flavour to it, or your coffee will, too). You also want to get the temperature right – too hot, and you’ll get an unpleasant bitter shot; too cold, and you end up with a watery, weak espresso. The ideal water temperature is somewhere between 91-92°C (about 45 seconds off boiling, if you’re using a filter method), though most machines should take care of this for you.

There’s no point in extracting the perfect shot only to ruin it with sub-par milk. For fab froth, use cold milk straight from the fridge in a small stainless-steel jug. You want the milk to get to around 65°C (and never more than 72°C), but if you don’t have a thermometer handy, a good rule of thumb is to stop frothing when you can no longer hold your hand at the bottom of the metal jug. Tap the jug on the benchtop lightly and give it a swirl to break up air bubbles, then pour.