Toby’s Tips & Tricks For Perfecting The Perfect Cuppa
It's noisy out there, Brew Crew. You got Nan telling you to add three sugars to your latte and George Clooney telling you to look like a dazzling Hollywood devil each time you wanna make a cuppa!
To clear up some main questions you might have, we've rustled up all the need-to-knows about how to perfect the ultimate cuppa. Hit play to watch!
WHICH INTENSITY ARE YOU?
Drinking with milk? Stick to the 12's and up. These are designed to cut through milk. Moo! If you're enjoying your coffee milk-free, 10 and under is perfect for you.
THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT
For almost all of our intensities, we recommend using our short shot: this gets all those elusive oils and goodness out of your pod. The only exception here is our Long Shot. (Go figure!) If you're using this roast from us, go to town with that Long Shot button.
THE SECRET WE HAVE TO SHARE WITH YOU
For most of us getting into the coffee pod game, we love the schmancy coffees from our local café. We think that if we use the long shot button on a coffee pod that this means we're getting more 'bang for our buck. But the truth is we're not! After chatting to some of my barista friends I found out that extracting more than 30 - 40 mls for a coffee ruins a good coffee! A 30 - 40 ml extraction is all you need to grab the best bits (oils, aroma and flavour). When you order a larger coffee in a café, they don't extract the coffee for longer; they use a bigger basket. GASP!
So, here's my pod equivalent/recommendation:
More flavour and caffeine = extract two pods (three if you don't want to sleep until the following week).
A bigger cup of coffee = extract one pod. Clear your pod. Top up your cup by using the Long Shot button without a pod.
BOOM.
THE FLAVOUR-CAFFEINE CONFUSION
Most folks think that the higher you go up in our blends, the more caffeine you get in your pod. This actually isn't true! The only way you can add more caffeine to your mug is by doubling your pod (or adding a second shot). As we go up in the roast scale, this is for flavour. This flavour is for those who love milk in their coffee or a mind-blowing kinda blend that'll knock your socks off.
The exception here is our Double Shot, which is infused with natural guarana that's foraged in a fancy Brazilian rainforest.
So, as we've mentioned earlier, if you want more caffeine, extract another pod or consider our Double Shot!
YOUR TASTEBUDS NEED TIME
The last thing I'll leave you here with is: sometimes your tastebuds need time to adjust. And maybe it's not just a week or two. You'll know this is true if you and your friend both have a local cafe and you both swear it's the best coffee. Here, this is the brain working perfectly: if you keep giving it something, eventually it'll start working towards telling you, 'Yes, this is the most delicious coffee!
Now, we're not trying to brainwash you into thinking we're the best (really!), but what we are saying is you should experiment and let your tastebuds catch up with your brain. Both might need some adjusting to the best coffee in the world. We don't need subliminal messaging here because we believe it!
We hope that this helps and clears some common questions you might've had about nailin' a delicious coffee. Life's simply too short for something in your cup that tastes like liquified cardboard, so if you're not enjoying your pods from us: we need to know! Give us a call or email. We are here to help. Always.
QUESTIONS? QUERIES? WANNA SAY HEY?
Check out our FAQs, send me an email at hello@urbanbrew.co.uk. We are happy to help!
Be happy,
Toby Strong (aka The Podfather)
Founder & Customer Happiness Specialist
