When graphic designer Charleigh Linde joined Caliper, our coffee game improved by 1000 percent. A former roaster with one of the country’s first organic coffee companies, she appreciates the subtle differences between beans, roasting styles, and brewing methods. But it wasn’t long ago, she admits, that she thought “there were just two types of coffee—regular and decaf.”
I didn’t drink coffee until college, and most of what I drank then was pretty disgusting,” she adds. “I liked the effects of the caffeine, but I didn’t really think about flavor.”
Then she got a job as a coffee roasting apprentice. “At first, I was just loading sacks of beans into the roasting drum,”she says, “but then I started learning how to roast—and with that came cuppings every day.”
The skill of cupping—a specialized procedure for sniffing, slurping and tasting coffee to get an accurate reading of its flavor and aromas—was a game changer for Charleigh. Tutored by two expert tasters, her palate evolved to taste differences between bean varieties, roasting styles, processing methods, even between the same beans grown in different countries. Her daily brews soon went from mere fuel to a 360-degree feast for the senses. (And, when she brought her trusty brewing device and beans to the office, our whole outlook on our workdays changed.)
But you don’t have to be a professional roaster or a coffee snob to make a great cup, every day, Charleigh notes. “Everyone can upgrade their coffee in some way.” Here, she shares some tips to get you started, whatever roast or brewing method you prefer.
- Choose fresh, whole beans. Fresher is always better; at a good coffee shop, you might find beans roasted a day or two ago. At the supermarket, choose the brands with the farthest-away expiration dates and look for a 2-way valve on the package, which allows carbon dioxide to escape without letting oxygen in, keeping the beans fresher longer. Since flavor fades with time, “try not to buy more than you’ll use in the next two weeks,” Charleigh recommends. Store beans in an airtight container at cool room temperature—not the fridge or freezer, where they’ll pick up off-flavors and aromas.
- Grind beans to match your brewing method, just before you brew. Each brewing method requires different grind sizes for optimal results; check your coffee system’s instruction manual for guidelines. “Don’t be afraid to use enough coffee,” says Charleigh. “Two tablespoons for every six ounces of water is a good rule of thumb.”
- Start with fresh, cold water. “There are only two ingredients in coffee, and most of it is water. If there are off-flavors in your water, there will be off-flavors in your coffee.”
- Heat to the right water temperature. If you’re doing a pour over or hand brew, water should be slightly below boiling temperature, explains Charleigh. “Just-boiling water will extract the coffee faster, but it will also make it taste more bitter.” Bring the water to a full boil, then remove from heat and let it stand 30 seconds to cool slightly. Gently pour a little water—about ¼ to ½ cup— over the grounds to wet them “and allow the coffee to bloom,” says Charleigh. You might see some bubbling as the fresh grounds give off gases. Let the grounds absorb the water fully, “then continue adding water according to the recipe your coffee maker recommends.”
- Sprinkle in a little Caliper CBD dissolvable powder and make a good thing even better! Once you’ve got your perfect cup of coffee, adding a little CBD relief can help you smooth the edges off your day ahead, with no java jitters. Be sure to choose Caliper—the most coffee-compatible CBD! Flavorless and quick dissolving, it won’t compromise the deliciousness you worked so hard to achieve—and no oil slicks, either.
Best of all, you can count on Caliper to act fast! Published research from Colorado State University* found that Caliper started absorbing within 10 minutes, and delivered 30X more CBD than oil or tincture.
Better coffee, and simply better CBD: Sounds like the perfect start to your day!
*2021 Colorado State University Study, Pharmaceuticals.
The post 5 Ways to Take Your Coffee from Good to Great: Tips from a Coffee Achiever appeared first on Caliper Dissolvable Powder.
