Thoughtfully Add Ingredients To Coffee For A Balanced Brew

A coffee lover's worst nightmare is when ingredients that were added in to enhance a brew's flavor completely overshadow the coffee itself. It is much easier to drink your coffee like a pro when all of the flavors work together instead of trying to take center stage. But thankfully, making a cup of coffee with a perfectly complex flavor is a skill you can master in your own home, especially with advice from Matt Woodburn-Simmonds, a tried and true coffee pro and one of the co-founders of Home Coffee Expert. Woodburn-Simmonds fell in love with this caffeinated beverage during his barista days as a student, but over time became increasingly familiar with and passionate about the world of coffee.

Woodburn-Simmonds has channeled his expertise to share how you can intentionally add ingredients to coffee for a thoughtfully crafted brew. According to him, to create a harmonious cup, the ingredients should balance each other's flavors; for instance, bitterness and acidity can be balanced with sweetness, and sweetness is balanced with saltiness. After you have settled on an ingredient combination, the last thing to consider is what mug you enjoy your hot cup of joe in, since its color could affect how the coffee tastes, at least in a psychological sense.

According to Woodburn-Simmonds, the key thing to consider is how the added ingredients will play with the base flavor of the coffee. "To elevate coffee flavor you need to think about it in the same way you'd think about food. What is the base flavor, and what do I want to balance that with?" he explains. According to Woodburn-Simmonds, if the coffee is bitter or acidic, then adding spices like cardamom and cinnamon, which tend to have a sweeter flavor profile, will balance it well. If your coffee is far too sweet, a touch of salt can be the ingredient you need.

Vietnamese cà phê muối might be the perfect example of this balancing act. The drink's robusta coffee base has plenty of bitterness to begin with, but the sweet, salty, and thick cream it is topped with easily balances that flavor profile. For this reason, "I love Vietnamese cà phê muối," says Woodburn-Simmonds. If you want more advice from Woodburn-Simmonds, consider looking into his list of drinks that are a red flag for baristas. Happy brewing!