How to Brew the Perfect Cup of Coffee at Home

Great coffee is decided long before it hits your cup. Fresh, altitude-grown beans matter, but so does how you brew them. Here's a straightforward guide to getting the best out of your Altura Roast bag, whatever equipment you've got on the counter. If you're curious why altitude makes such a difference in the first place, we get into that in what speciality coffee actually means.

Start with the ratio

Most brewing problems trace back to one thing: the ratio of coffee to water. A reliable starting point is 1:16, that's 1g of coffee for every 16g (or ml) of water. For a standard 250ml cup, that's around 15 to 16g of coffee, roughly two heaped tablespoons. From there, adjust to taste. More coffee for a bolder cup, more water for something lighter.

French press

The French press is forgiving and full-bodied, which makes it a great match for our Peak or Ascent roasts. Coarsely grind your beans (think sea salt, not table salt), add water just off the boil, and let it steep for four minutes before plunging slowly. Pour immediately. Leaving coffee sitting on the grounds will over-extract it and turn it bitter.

Drip coffee maker

If you're using a drip machine, a medium grind works best. Use filtered water where you can, it makes a bigger difference than most people expect, especially with beans roasted to order like ours, where the flavour is worth protecting. Clean your machine regularly too. Old oil residue is a common cause of stale-tasting coffee.

Pour-over

For a cleaner, brighter cup, pour-over is hard to beat, and it's where our Cruise blend really shines, with its berry and vanilla notes. Use a medium-fine grind, bloom the coffee with a small amount of water for 30 seconds to let the CO2 escape, then pour in slow, steady circles over 2.5 to 3 minutes total.

Grind fresh, and grind right

If you take away one thing from this guide, make it this: buy a grinder. Pre-ground coffee starts losing aroma within minutes. Grinding just before you brew keeps every cup closer to how it tasted the day we roasted it.

Store it properly

Keep your beans in an airtight container, away from light and heat. Skip the fridge, condensation is the enemy of fresh coffee. Our bags are designed to keep beans fresh after opening, but they'll taste best within a few weeks of the roast date printed on the bag.

Whichever method you choose, the goal is the same: let the bean do the talking. That's why we roast to order in the first place. If you want a decaf option that still delivers on flavour, Drift is worth a look too.