Making café-quality coffee doesn’t require fancy gear or barista-level skills—just a little practice and the right beans. Whether you’re brewing with a French press, AeroPress, pour-over, or espresso machine, we’ve got the tips (and the coffee) to help you make every cup your best one yet. Explore some of our hot tips below including our Brightside Brew Guides.
Oxygen, moisture, heat, and light are coffee’s worst enemies and they have a significant impact on the taste of your brew. Here are our hot tips:
Buy Fresh
Brewed coffee tastes best the day the beans are roasted and start to decline in taste from about 4 weeks after the brew date. Brightside beans are roasted fresh to order. Check the roasted date on the bottom of any bag you buy from the supermarket to do the maths yourselves.
Keep fresh
Buying and storing your coffee in a sealed bag with a degassing valve makes sure those beans last even longer than 4 weeks.
Only Grind what you need
Only take your beans out of the bag when you need them, rather than storing them all in the grinder.
Brewing coffee is a bit like cooking—you need the right balance of time, temperature, and ingredients to get the best result.
Brew time
Affects how much flavor is extracted from your coffee. Too long, and you’ll pull out bitter, over-extracted notes; too short, and you’ll be left with a weak, underwhelming cup.
Grind size
Plays a huge role too—finer grinds extract faster (perfect for espresso), while coarser grinds take longer (ideal for French press). Finding the sweet spot between under-extraction (sour, weak, and acidic) and over-extraction (bitter and hollow) is key.
Brew Guide
Each of our coffees has a brew recipe you will find on the product page. Following these takes the guesswork out of your brew and helps you hit that perfect balance for a consistently great cup, every time.
Explore more of our Brew Guides below.
Brew time affects extraction levels. Shorter brew times can lead to under-extraction, resulting in sour or weak flavors, while longer brew times may cause over-extraction, leading to bitterness. Each brewing method has an optimal brew time; for example, a French press typically requires about 4 minutes.
Bitterness often results from over-extraction, which can occur if the grind is too fine, the water is too hot, or the brew time is too long. Sourness is usually due to under-extraction, possibly from too coarse a grind, insufficient brew time, or water that’s not hot enough. Adjusting these variables can help balance the flavor.
Once opened, t’s best to avoid storing coffee beans in the fridge. Coffee is highly absorbent, meaning it can take on moisture and odours from other foods in your fridge, which affects the flavor. If the bag is sealed and you want to preserve it's flavour for longer, you can consider freezing the coffee or refridgerating in an air tight container.
Whole beans customarily stay fresher for longer. Grinding coffee increases the surface area exposed to air, speeding up oxidation and staling. Pre-ground coffee is convenient, but it loses its peak flavor faster than whole beans, so if you don't have a grinder you may want to consider ordering smaller amounts and using it up quickly.
Several factors can cause inconsistent extraction times:
Grind size – If your grind size is inconsistent or changes from batch to batch, your brew time will fluctuate.
Humidity & temperature – Changes in weather can subtly affect how coffee behaves, especially for espresso. If you're using beans straight from the bag vs ones that have been sitting in the grinder that can make a difference.
Coffee freshness – as your beans get older, they can extract faster or slower than fresh ones, depending on their age and moisture content.
Consistent dosing – if you're not weighing your coffee, you may get inconsistent dosing. Consider measuring the weight of your ground coffee, to ensure consistency.
If your extraction time keeps shifting, double-check your grind size, tamping technique (for espresso), and make sure your coffee is fresh.
Mixing different beans can be a fun way to create your own custom blend and reduce waste!
Here's just a few things to keep in mind:
