Get the best barista experience

Nothing gets your day started and improves those morning blues like a steaming mug of good coffee; whether you're getting your fix from your favourite coffee shop or enjoying it in style by giving yourself the luxury barista experience at home. 

When it comes to brewing an excellent cup of coffee at home, there are a number of factors that come into play, including the quality and freshness of the beans, the brewing method and, of course, your personal preferences. To help you improve your coffee experience, we're looking at how you can make a high-end cup of coffee in the comfort of your own home and which local coffee shops and roasters you can visit.

Ditch the instant coffee for fresh beans or freshly ground coffee

While there's nothing wrong with a good old cup of instant coffee, when it comes to getting that rich coffee flavour, using freshly roasted coffee beans (or freshly ground coffee beans if you don't have a grinder) from your favourite local roasters is an absolute no brainer. If you're looking for more than just the much-needed caffeine injection, then it's definitely worth your while to visit your local coffee roasters to find out about their different types, strengths and flavours of coffee beans and to find the one that's the perfect fit for you.

There are some wonderful coffee roasters based in South Africa, so we've put together a list of some of the most well-known and well-loved shops where you can get your freshly roasted beans:

Origin Roasting (Cape Town and Johannesburg)

The Perfect Cup (Johannesburg)

Truth Coffee (Cape Town)

Motherland Coffee (Johannesburg)

Urban Grind Roasters (Johannesburg)

Root Coffee (Knysna)

Father Coffee (Johannesburg)

Grind your own beans

If you're a fan of a luxuriously fresh and rich cup of coffee, then getting a grinder in your home is an absolute must. While you can still get a wonderful brew from pre-ground coffee, you simply can't beat the flavour you get from a cup of coffee made from freshly ground beans. You can also grind your beans to suit your personal coffee preferences, with finer grinds giving you a more flavoursome brew while a coarser grind ensures that you will get more caffeine from your cup.

How you brew it matters

Whether you're using a traditional coffee machine, an AeroPress, a percolator or a French press, the way you brew your coffee can make or break your cup.  The coffee to water ratio will dictate the strength of your brew so it goes without saying that your perfect coffee to water ratio will be based on your own personal preferences. You can calculate the perfect water to coffee ratio for your cup of coffee here.

Secondly, when it comes to brewing the perfect cup of coffee, water temperature plays a big role in getting it right and ensuring that your coffee is not over-or under-brewed. The generally accepted brewing temperature for a good cup of coffee is about 96°c, which is slightly below boiling temperature. So, if you're using a coffee machine that has an adjustable temperature, just double check that your machine is set to the optimal temperature.

At the end of the day though, nothing beats a delicious cup of coffee from your local coffee shop

There are few better things than getting an amazing Americano, or cappuccino or shot of espresso made by a barista at your favourite coffee shop. With the lockdown and all its restrictions, it's more important than ever to support your local coffee shops by getting the occasional takeaway cup.

Here are some local coffee shops that are known for their exceptional coffee:

Deluxe Coffee (Cape Town)

Rosetta Roasting (Cape Town)

Ile de Pain (Knysna)

Snobs Coffee  (Knysna)

Doubleshot Coffee (Johannesburg and Plettenberg Bay)

Le Fournil de Plett (Plettenberg Bay)

Jarryd's (Cape Town)

Bean There (Johannesburg)

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