Why does coffee taste better at the coffee shop than when you make your own?!
Answers: It never seems to matter.. We get the same brand but when we make it at home, it's just not as good!! Can't figure it out!
I've got a few steps that might just make your coffee a bit better.
The biggest thing you can do to have better coffee is to make sure you are using good water. Most coffee shops, at the very least, filter their water once...many up to 3 times.
If your tap water isn't that great, go for bottled water. Bottled Water may just be tap, but it is usually filtered several times.
The reason why this is the best thing you can do to have better coffee is because coffee is 98% water. That should make it quite obvious why it's important to have good water, huh?
You also want to check the grind on your coffee. Different types of filters(cone or flat-bottom) call for different types of grind. See what kind of filter you have and check with your local coffee shop on they type of grind they would use for that filter. If you are grinding it yourself using a push-button grinder, then it is really hard to get the proper grind for your filter as you are basically just guessing. If you need to, i'm sure you could get a sample of the proper grind from your coffee shop and learn to match it with your push-button.
The grind may seem insignificant, but how the water goes through the coffee makes a big difference.
Coffee shops use only the freshest beans(or at least they should!). If you have your own grinder, grind only what you need every day as whole beans stay fresher a lot longer than ground coffee, which is only good for around a week.
If you must grind your coffee ahead of time, keep it in an air-tight container away from the sun or other lights. NEVER FREEZE THEM! If you keep your coffee fresh, I guarantee you will notice a difference.
best of luck!
There are a couple of things that could cause that.
They probably grind the beans right before brewing the coffee. (unless you do that as well)
Also the water used could have an effect. I have horrible water at home and must use bottled.
they have one of those huge awesome machines that grind the beans and do the milk all fancy and stuff for you
ewww i dont like coffee from coffee shops they make it so strong! i like the way i make it personally.
I find everything tastes better when someone else makes it. I feel like I'm being pampered.
The Muse
Being a former chef and having worked with many coffee makers in the years I spent as a chef, there 2 main reasons, first the sprayer head for the commercial makers is like a shower head so all the coffee is hit with water that is 10-20 degrees hotter than home ones, the fresh ground issues is a good point but alot of places have there pre-package in small 2-4 oz size bags and they are air tight sealed, so like fresh ground the coffee has not broken down at all.
They also only serve it for a short length of time Dunkin Donuts in the US and Tim Hortons here in Canada are only allow the have a pot ready to serve for 10 minute then it is dumped. Other factors raised like the quality of the beans, water is important to as home units generally get a scale build up and that affects the flavour, commercial one have a filter in the water line that can be changed.
I agree with the young lady name "The Muse" a fellow Canadian, that everything tastes better outside the home for some reason???
If you are using a coffee maker like "Mr. Coffee" or one of the cheap Chinese manufactured machines (which most are) you will not get the right temperature to brew the coffee correctly. If you get 180 degrees from one of these things you are a fortunate person, but 200 degrees is the right temp.
Also, buying canned or bagged coffee is a waste of time. You are usually getting stale or rancid coffee.
If you can find a local roaster who will sell you coffee with a positively stated roast date that is your best bet. Other wise you should roast your own.