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Brew Like a Pro Guide
← Resources & Downloads Coffee Knowledge Great coffee isn't luck — it's a repeatable process. Master these fundamentals and every cup from your office machine will be consistently excellent. 1. Start With Fresh Beans...
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Coffee Knowledge
Brew Like a Pro Guide
Great coffee isn't luck — it's a repeatable process. Master these fundamentals and every cup from your office machine will be consistently excellent.
1. Start With Fresh Beans
Coffee goes stale fast. Once roasted, beans are at their best within 2–4 weeks. Once ground, within minutes. Always buy whole beans in quantities you'll use within a month, and store them in an airtight container away from heat and light. Never freeze office coffee beans — the moisture cycle degrades flavour rapidly.
2. Grind Size Matters More Than You Think
The grind size controls how quickly water extracts flavour from the coffee. Get it wrong and you get either sour (under-extracted) or bitter (over-extracted) coffee.
- Espresso — Fine grind, like table salt
- Bean-to-cup / Aeropress — Medium-fine
- Filter / Pour over — Medium, like coarse sand
- Cafetière / French press — Coarse, like breadcrumbs
If your coffee tastes sour or weak — grind finer. If it tastes bitter or harsh — grind coarser.
3. Water Temperature
Boiling water (100°C) scorches coffee and produces harsh, bitter flavours. The ideal brewing temperature is 90–96°C. Most quality bean-to-cup machines manage this automatically. If you're using a manual method, let boiled water rest for 30–45 seconds before pouring.
4. The Golden Ratio
For most brewing methods, the starting point is 60g of coffee per litre of water (roughly 1:16 ratio). For espresso, aim for a 1:2 ratio — 18g of coffee producing 36g of liquid espresso in 25–30 seconds.
Adjust to taste: more coffee = stronger, bolder flavour. Less coffee = lighter, more delicate.
5. Extraction Time
- Espresso — 25–30 seconds
- Filter / Pour over — 3–4 minutes total
- Cafetière — 4 minutes steep before pressing
- Bean-to-cup — Managed automatically; adjust strength setting if needed
6. Water Quality
Coffee is 98% water. Hard water (common across most of England) contains minerals that interfere with extraction and cause limescale build-up. A good water filter — built into most quality office machines — makes a significant difference to both taste and machine longevity. Change filters on schedule.
7. Clean Equipment = Better Coffee
Coffee oils go rancid and build up on every surface they touch. A machine that isn't cleaned regularly will produce increasingly bitter, stale-tasting coffee regardless of bean quality. Run cleaning cycles daily and descale monthly. See our Cleaning & Maintenance Guide for a full schedule.
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