Gone are the days when coffee was just this bitter and milky-tasting concoction that served as a rare replacement to tea. Today, coffee has moved much beyond the instant varieties (read: Nescafé) and some people are ready to experiment with new flavours of the coffee bean. However, most of us know neither where to start nor how to do it without spending hoards on fancy equipment.
Every street corner of practically every city has coffee shops that claim to make the best coffee in town. But, what makes all these coffee drinks taste so dramatically different from one another is the fact that they use coffee beans sourced from different plantations, roasted and ground in different ways. Even the brewing technique, which gives a particular coffee drink its flavour, can vary greatly. How many times have we had an unforgettable cup of homemade coffee? Almost never! (We are not referring to South Indian filter coffee but something different entirely). That's because we never imagine that we can make professional coffee at home with almost no equipment.
Most of the time, we turn to big coffee chains such as Starbucks and Café Coffee Day for our coffee fix. However, coffee-making can be really easy, if you know a few simple but amazing techniques to get the most out of your coffee; you only need to worry about the quality of coffee that you buy.
The simplest method of brewing coffee is the French Press method, where you pour steaming water over your coffee powder and leave it for a while to brew. Then, press the plunger and voilà, your coffee is ready! If you're interested in different methods of brewing coffee, check out this link, which neatly explains how to make French Press coffee.
In this episode of The Real Food Podcast, Vikram Doctor, who loves his teas, finds out that coffee-making may isn't as daunting a task as he initially thought and that you can make a delicious cup of coffee at home.