How to make perfect coffee at home: step by step instructions

How to make coffee at home if you don't have a coffee machine or geyser coffee maker? Brew it in a cup! It seems like the easiest way to make coffee is to pour it into a cup, pour boiling water over it, and you're done. But no. Brewing coffee in a cup has its nuances, which will allow you to make a drink as good as those served in trendy coffee shops.

We asked Andriy Gunevskyi, a coffee expert and representative of Pound Coffee in Kyiv, to tell us how to brew coffee in a cup.

"Brewing coffee in a cup is the most common way to prepare it. I don't know where this name came from, but I can say for sure that coffee is tasted and evaluated all over the world by steaming coffee in a cup. This process is called cupping: from the word cup, that is, a cup."

To brew coffee in a cup, we need:

• coffee (Arabica, beans, freshly roasted);
• drinking water (filtered or bottled);
• a kettle (preferably with a temperature control);
• coffee grinder (conical grinders are best);
• scales (ordinary kitchen scales);
• timer (everyone has one on their phone);
• spoon (table).

How to make:

1. Heat water to 95 degrees and grind coffee at the same time. Take about 6 grams of coffee per 100 ml of water. As a rule, a 200-220 ml cup requires about 12 grams of coffee. In this case, we will need a coarse grind, as the water will be in contact with the coffee for a long time and it will brew.
2. Pour the coffee into the cup, pour hot water to the edge of the cup, and wait four minutes. During this time, a so-called coffee crust will form, which must be broken with a spoon and then the particles will settle to the bottom of the cup.
3. Carefully collect the coffee foam with the same spoon to make the drink clean, and wait another four minutes.
4. At the eighth to tenth minute, you can start drinking the coffee and watch its flavor unfold as it cools. The drink should become denser and its acidity should become brighter.

"While drinking coffee, think about what berry or fruit the taste of coffee reminds you of," says Andriy, "and then compare your taste sensations with the description on the coffee pack.

A few life hacks:

• If a coffee crust has not formed, the coffee was not fresh. This is not a bad thing, but it does lead to a simple taste.
• If you don't have a kettle with a thermostat, try not to bring the water to a boil. If the water has already boiled, let it cool for five minutes.
• Don't forget that coffee is a berry, so it should have acidity.