barista-quality coffee

A Barista’s Guide To Brewing Cafe Quality Coffee At Home

There’s a seemingly inimitable quality about cafe bought coffee. Perhaps it’s the bustling energy, the takeaway cup, or maybe it’s quite simply the beans. Nonetheless, if you can’t seem to replicate the cafe-level standard at home, you’re not alone. Fortunately, making a delicious cup of coffee at home is easier than it seems. To capture that elusive cup of barista-quality coffee, we’ve tapped Dan Agapiou, owner of Barrel One Coffee Roasters and founder of The Breakfast Club, for his tips on how to brew the perfect cup of coffee.

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The Breakfast Club is a newly launched coffee subscription service, bringing freshly roasted, barista-quality coffee to your doorstep. With both whole beans and instant varieties available, The Breakfast Club has something for every taste. “I can’t go past recommending our Milk & Honey Blend for both milky and black drinkers,” says Dan Agapiou on his surefire brew. “With tasting notes of vanilla malt, honey and blackberry, it’s a great versatile blend for the home brewer.”

Whether you have a French press or an espresso machine, here’s how to brew cafe quality coffee at home.

How to brew coffee using a French press 

  1. Always grind your coffee beans fresh. If not, that’s ok; it’ll still be great!
  2. Use fresh filtered water.
  3. Preheat your French press and mug.
  4. Depending on the size of your brewer, we recommend adding 1tbsp of coffee per person and one for the pot. If you have scales even better! Add 30g of coffee per 500ml of water. 
  5. Add your water (just off the boil) and let the coffee brew and do its thing for 5 minutes. 
  6. Use your French press filter to purge the coffee to the bottom of the carafe. Pour and enjoy your coffee.

How to brew coffee using an espresso machine 

  1. Grind coffee beans to resemble fine sand. 
  2. Use fresh filtered water in your machine. 
  3. Add 21g of coffee to your filter basket and tamp gently (home espresso machines don’t respond well to tightly packed coffee)
  4. Press your manual brew button and brew for 22-25 seconds. You should have roughly 30-40ml of coffee extracted. 
  5. If you have less, make your coffee coarser. If you have more, make your coffee finer. 
  6. Top with frothed milk or hot water and enjoy.

In collaboration with The Breakfast Club
Feature image by Lachlan Bailey