Master barista spills the beans on the perfect coffee

Chris Taylor

04/11/2011 14:13:16

There’s a lot more to making the perfect cup of coffee than simply pushing a button, a former World Barista Champion has claimed.

In an interview with India Today, Fritz Storm divulged the intricacies that lie behind creating the optimum cup of coffee. While choosing a great coffee machine such as a Gaggia Classic is good start, the secret actually lies in the condition of the coffee beans.

Explaining the process from the beginning, the 2002 barista champion explained that it takes as many as 5,000 beans to make just one kilo of coffee. What’s important about this is that the quality of any coffee is dependent on how fresh the beans were when they were picked.

“Make sure it has been packed as recently as possible,” he says, explaining that beans lose more flavour the longer they are stored in a tin or packet. For this reason he says that coffee-lovers should avoid anything packaged more than three months ago. It’s also advised that coffee is consumed as quickly as possible after opening a packet.

Storm then said that its vital to invest in decent coffee-making equipment. While a high quality coffee machine is important, getting the right grinder is also essential. Coffee aficionados should also be aware that hard water areas can seriously impair the quality of a coffee too.

When quizzed on his favourite flavoured beans at the end of the interview, Storm said he goes for the Columbian variety: “I like coffees that grow at a higher altitude. It’s warm during the day and extremely cold at night.

“The contrast in temperature makes the plant mature slowly and the end product is more refined and has subtle flavours,” he said, according to DailyPioneer.com.