How to Make Good Coffee: A Complete Guide

What Are the Different Ingredients in a Perfect Cup of Coffee?

While your local barista might make it seem simple, a lot goes into making a great cup of coffee. If you want to know how to make good coffee, you’ll need to put together a number of ingredients (hint: it’s more than just coffee and hot water). 

Here are the different ingredients you’ll need to put together when you’re brewing coffee: 

• Use clean, filtered water 
• Buy coffee beans from a great local roaster 
• Source a quality coffee grinder 
• Find your perfect brewing method 

That may seem like a lot, but once you get your brewing process figured out, it’ll be easy to repeat daily for great coffee every morning. Let’s take each of these ingredients in turn as we figure out how to make good coffee. 

Do I Need Filtered Water to Make Good Coffee?

While most coffee drinkers would like to know how to make good coffee, many make the mistake of using unfiltered tap water for their morning brew. 

Don’t fall into this trap! Unfiltered tap water may carry in it a wide variety of contaminants, chemicals, and sediment. Not only are these contaminants found in tap water harmful to the health of you and your family, they can also affect the taste of your water. 

This extends to the taste of your coffee too. If you use unfiltered tap water for brewing coffee, you could introduce contaminants to your cup of coffee, and you also run the risk of negatively affecting your coffee’s taste. 

If you want to know how to make good coffee, your first step should be making sure you have a source of clean, healthy, good-tasting filtered water. 

There are a number of different methods for filtering your tap water at home, but the two most comprehensive home filtration solutions are to install an Under Counter filtration system, or even better to invest in a Whole Home water filtration system. 

Check out Homewater’s lineup of home water filtration systems. We’ll help you find the right setup for your home, so you can start enjoying the health benefits of filtered water, all while upping your coffee brewing game! 

How to Make Good Coffee: What Coffee Beans Do I Need?

Now that you’ve got your filtered water ready, it’s time to tackle the next step: finding quality coffee beans. 

The world of coffee has grown dramatically in recent decades, and there are a lot more coffee options out there besides just a can of Folgers. 

The type of coffee beans you’ll need to make good coffee will depend on your specific tastes. A good first step is to go to your local coffee shop and see what they have on offer. Larger chains will sell bags of the same coffee that they brew in store, so if you like a specific roast while you’re in the coffee shop, you can buy a bag of coffee beans to bring home. 

If you’re willing to pay a bit of a premium, you can’t go wrong by looking up local roasters in your area. Many coffee roasters have their own local coffee shops, so you can go in for a cup of joe and see what you like. Generally speaking, local roasters will provide fresher coffee beans than the bags of coffee you might buy from the grocery store. 

That said, grocery stores are another great place to buy quality coffee beans. If you haven’t checked out the coffee aisle lately, stop by next time you’re out shopping — you might be surprised at the variety of coffee beans on offer. 

Finally, if you’re having trouble deciding between quality bags of coffee beans (a good problem to have!), take a closer look at the packaging. Most roasters will include tasting notes for their different roasts right there on the bag, and these notes can give you a better idea of what to expect. 

Do I Need a Coffee Grinder to Make Good Coffee?

This is a common question people ask when they’re looking to learn how to make good coffee. The answer: in most cases, yes, a coffee grinder will help you make that perfect cup of coffee. 

Most of us brew coffee at home with ground coffee. It’s easier to just scoop the right amount of ground coffee out of a bag and into our coffeemaker than to worry about grinding it ourselves. 

If this brewing process is working for you, great! There’s no need to shake things up if you’re happy with pre-ground coffee. But if you’re curious about how to make good coffee, it might be time to make the jump to buying whole bean coffee. 

Generally speaking, whole bean coffee that’s ground at home just before brewing is going to make a better, fresher tasting cup of coffee than pre-ground coffee. This is because grinding coffee releases aromatics in the bean (the source of that classic coffee smell) that can dissipate over time. Grinding also increases the surface area of your coffee, which gives oxygen more places to break down coffee’s delicious fresh taste. 

Long story short: if you really want to learn how to make good coffee, you should probably invest in a home grinder. If you decide to make the plunge into the world of coffee grinders, keep in mind that coffee experts generally prefer burr grinders over blade grinders, as they produce a more consistent grind. 

What’s the Best Coffee Brewing Method?

Now that we’ve found our filtered water, we’ve gotten high-quality coffee beans from a local roaster, and we’ve purchased a coffee grinder to grind those whole beans, it’s time to actually brew the coffee. But what’s the best coffee brewing process? 

At this point in our quest to make good coffee, there are fewer right and wrong answers. When it comes to coffee brewing methods, you’ll have to find the right fit for you. Unlike the filtered water vs. tap water debate, where there’s one clear correct answer, there’s no one-size-fits-all coffee brewing method that will be perfect for everyone. 

That said, let’s quickly mention some of the most popular brewing methods that can help you learn how to make good coffee: