How do I level up my coffee brewing experience?

I totally get it. Making coffee with your $30 drip coffee machine you purchased from Walmart a few years ago is easy. Buying the cheapest coffee you can get your hands on “does the trick.”

Trust me. You’re missing out on a coffee experience that’ll blow your mind.

The cheap coffee you get in metal cans (we all know the brands…) is made with the lowest quality of beans, roasted very dark, and is full of preservatives in order to have a very high shelf life at the store (more on this later). Cheap coffee is always roasted dark (or dark-er) because there is no attention made to showcasing the flavor of the beans. The focus is quantity over quality here. And roasting dark will always yield the same flavor (nutty, chocolatey, burnt, etc.), no matter what type of beans are used.

High quality coffee is made with high-quality beans roasted in smaller batches (anywhere from 250 grams to 10 kilograms or more). It’s also roasted at a lighter roast level, which highlights the flavor from that specific bean (or blend of beans), rather than having a dark, burnt flavor. Believe it or not, coffee beans have wildly different flavors depending on where they’re from, the roast profile, and how it’s brewed. How cool is that!

How do you find coffee that is high quality? Typically you won’t find it from large brands you find at the grocery store. In fact, you really won’t find any coffee that’s fresh, and high quality at a grocery store period. Why is that? Because coffee is normally at it’s freshest up to a month from it’s roast date. Grocery store coffee won’t have a “roasted on” date, but actually a “best by” date. This is a sales technique used to lure customers into thinking a coffee is fresh up until that date. Take a look yourself next time you’re at your local grocery store. Don’t get me wrong. That bag of coffee will still have flavor and be drinkable, but it won’t be at it’s best. You’ll notice that Squadron Coffee has a “roasted on” date for this exact reason: to show you that your coffee is guaranteed fresh.

You’ll have to go to a local coffee shop or roaster to get your hands on the freshest coffee.

What about coffee brewing methods? I don’t recommend a typical drop coffee machine to yield a high quality cup of coffee, unless:

1. You’re short on time in the morning and need the automation
2. You regularly brew coffee for more than one or two people

You have a few other options for brewing coffee, such as using an aeropress, a chemex/pourover, or a french press. Each produce a different mouthfeel and coffee experience. Since neither of these have a means of heating up your water for coffee, you’ll also need an electric or stovetop kettle (I recommend a gooseneck kettle in order to have a consistent pour rate for a pourover coffee). Click on each link to see the differences between each one. Depending on your use-case (ex: brewing coffee in your own kitchen, at work, in a hotel room, outdoors), you’ll find one method more enticing than another. I encourage you to try each one and experience the different mouthfeels.

Hopefully this short blog has opened new doors to enjoying your favorite cup of coffee. I think we’ve all began our coffee journey on a drip coffee machine we’ve had laying around for years, and I still use mine from time to time. However, I enjoy trying new things (especially with coffee) and broaden my methods of drinking a cup of coffee. Squadron Coffee is always here to answer your coffee questions and take care of your fresh coffee needs!