Pre-warm your mug. Before adding water to your ground beans and filter, pour some hot water into your mug. Your coffee will stay hot and keep flavour longer. Not-quite-boiling. The water temperature for pouring directly over the grounds should be 200 degrees F. Don't save your beans for special occasions. The further you get for the roast date, the weaker the flavour. The golden ratio of coffee to water is 1:16 for above-average beans (about 22 grams of coffee to 253 grams of water).

Improving your coffee game

If you have an espresso machine at home, it is helpful to know how to use it properly. <ul><li>Ensure the screen on top of your ground, compacted beans is totally wet before brewing. This will ensure that water runs evenly through the entire thing, the coffee sitting beneath will be hydrated evenly, and your flavour will be concentrated and consistent.</li><li>Break up the crema - that tan, creamy froth on top of the dark brown espresso - to release all the aromatics.</li></ul>

Tips for making espresso

<div>From pre-warming mugs to water temperature guidance, we're here to improve your morning ritual.</div><picture class="ResponsiveImagePicture-jIKgcS fArnhQ ContentHeaderContributorImage-fUiPmb cwfzh responsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/5d001f2d40c8ce8e7a3e271d/1:1/w_80, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/Ba_Staff_Portrait_Alex%20Delany.jpg 80w" sizes="66px"><source media="(min-width: 768px)" srcset="https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/5d001f2d40c8ce8e7a3e271d/1:1/w_90, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/Ba_Staff_Portrait_Alex%20Delany.jpg 90w" sizes="66px"><img alt="" src="https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/5d001f2d40c8ce8e7a3e271d/1:1/w_90%2Cc_limit/Ba_Staff_Portrait_Alex%2520Delany.jpg" width="66" height="66"></picture><div><time data-testid="ContentHeaderPublishDate">September 13, 2017</time></div><figure><picture class="ResponsiveImagePicture-jIKgcS fArnhQ ContentHeaderResponsiveAsset-MZuHf bhAhpP responsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/1:1/w_120, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 120w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/1:1/w_240, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 240w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/1:1/w_320, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 320w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/1:1/w_640, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 640w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/1:1/w_960, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 960w" sizes="100vw"><source media="(min-width: 768px)" srcset="https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_120, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 120w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_240, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 240w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_320, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 320w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_640, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 640w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_960, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 960w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_1280, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 1280w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_1600, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 1600w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_1920, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 1920w, https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_2240, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/c_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg 2240w" sizes="100vw"><img alt="Image may contain Human Person Finger Confectionery Food and Sweets" src="https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d325842e9e46792492c5c4/16:9/w_2560%2Cc_limit/oakland-subrosa-cortado.jpg" width="785" height="441"></picture><figcaption dir="auto">Alex Lau</figcaption></figure>Drinking coffee is more than a routine that starts the day. It's the routine that lets you know you’re still breathing. That being said, it’s easy to get stuck in your ways. Stubbornness—or maybe just tiredness—can keep you from improving your coffee game. We’re here to revive your routine and deliver the best coffee experience possible, directly to your caffeine-deprived brain. We don’t want you slipping. We want you sipping (perfectly-roasted coffee). Here are five small changes that will bring a major improvement to your coffee agenda:<figcaption class="caption" data-event-boundary="click" data-event-click="{&quot;pattern&quot;:&quot;Caption&quot;}" data-in-view="{&quot;pattern&quot;:&quot;Caption&quot;}" data-include-experiments="true">Photo by Jake Stangel</figcaption><h2>Pre-Warm That Mug</h2>If you’re in the <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/how-to-pour-over-coffee" dir="ltr">pour over</a> camp, temperature is key. Getting your kettle to the right spot, just to have your coffee hit a cold mug, is a disservice to yourself (and those artisan beans you decided to splurge on). Before you add water to your ground beans and filter, pour a little of the hot H2O into your mug. Filling it about a third of the way will warm the walls of the mug during the few minutes it takes to brew your pour over. Your coffee will keep its temperature and flavor longer, kind of like putting your socks in the dryer before heading out into a blizzard. Which you should also do.<h2>Not-Quite-Boiling Is the Way to Go</h2>200 degrees. That’s the water-temperature that all coffee Jacuzzis should be set to. If you’re boiling your water and pouring it directly over the grounds in your <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/how-to/article/how-to-french-press" dir="ltr">French press</a> or <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/how-to-chemex" dir="ltr">Chemex</a>, let it cool it for a bit while you take a run through last night's Twitter happenings. 20-40 seconds of wait time after your boil should lower your water temperature to around 200 degrees. Patience will make your coffee better.<figcaption class="caption" data-event-boundary="click" data-event-click="{&quot;pattern&quot;:&quot;Caption&quot;}" data-in-view="{&quot;pattern&quot;:&quot;Caption&quot;}" data-include-experiments="true" dir="ltr">https://www.flickr.com/photos/pokpok/3717295073/Flickr/Christian Kadluba</figcaption><h2>Don’t Be Precious with Your Beans</h2>Use them. Use the hell out of your <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/storing-coffee" dir="ltr">beans</a>. Don’t save them for special occasions, because the further you get from the roast date, the weaker the flavor will be. Around the BA Test Kitchen, we describe the two-week old bean flavor as cardboard-y, because honestly, that’s what they start to taste like. Coffee can taste like a lot of things, but we’d rather it not taste like corrugated paper. Keep your bean supply on the smaller side (<a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/storing-coffee" dir="ltr">don't freeze that stuff!)</a>, and use what you have, when you have it.<h2>The Golden Ratio</h2>As a general rule, a 1:16 ratio of coffee to water is a great place to start for above-average beans (we’re talking the stuff you’d buy from an independent coffee roaster). We like to measure by weight (about 22 grams of coffee to 352 grams of water) for a precise ratio, but roughly it translates to about 3 tablespoons of coffee to every 12 ounces of water (or ¼ cup coffee to every 4 cups water). You can play with the ratio depending on how strong you want it.

From pre-warming mugs to water temperature guidance, we're here to improve your morning ritual with 5 quick tips.

food

Food

health

Health

Drinking coffee is more than a routine that starts the day. It's the routine that lets you know you’re still breathing. That being said, it’s easy to get stuck in your ways. Stubbornness—or maybe just tiredness—can keep you from improving your coffee game. We’re here to revive your routine and deliver the best coffee experience possible, directly to your caffeine-deprived brain. We don’t want you slipping. We want you sipping (perfectly-roasted coffee). Here are five small changes that will bring a major improvement to your coffee agenda:

If you’re in the <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/how-to-pour-over-coffee">pour over </a>camp, temperature is key. Getting your kettle to the right spot, just to have your coffee hit a cold mug, is a disservice to yourself (and those artisan beans you decided to splurge on). Before you add water to your ground beans and filter, pour a little of the hot H2O into your mug. Filling it about a third of the way will warm the walls of the mug during the few minutes it takes to brew your pour over. Your coffee will keep its temperature and flavor longer, kind of like putting your socks in the dryer before heading out into a blizzard. Which you should also do.

200 degrees. That’s the water-temperature that all coffee Jacuzzis should be set to. If you’re boiling your water and pouring it directly over the grounds in your <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/how-to/article/how-to-french-press">French press </a>or <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/how-to-chemex">Chemex </a>, let it cool it for a bit while you take a run through last night's Twitter happenings. 20-40 seconds of wait time after your boil should lower your water temperature to around 200 degrees. Patience will make your coffee better.

Use them. Use the hell out of your <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/storing-coffee">beans </a>. Don’t save them for special occasions, because the further you get from the roast date, the weaker the flavor will be. Around the BA Test Kitchen, we describe the two-week old bean flavor as cardboard-y, because honestly, that’s what they start to taste like. Coffee can taste like a lot of things, but we’d rather it not taste like corrugated paper. Keep your bean supply on the smaller side (<a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/non-alcoholic/article/storing-coffee">don't freeze that stuff!) </a>, and use what you have, when you have it.

As a general rule, a 1:16 ratio of coffee to water is a great place to start for above-average beans (we’re talking the stuff you’d buy from an independent coffee roaster). We like to measure by weight (about 22 grams of coffee to 352 grams of water) for a precise ratio, but roughly it translates to about 3 tablespoons of coffee to every 12 ounces of water (or ¼ cup coffee to every 4 cups water). You can play with the ratio depending on how strong you want it.

5 Tips for a Better Cup of Coffee

Improving your coffee game

Tips for making espresso

Sebastian 's ideas are part of this journey:

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