☕️ The only 8 things every human needs to know about coffee
Keep this in your back pocket for a rainy (or sunny, or cloudy, or foggy) day
1: How to use coffee to be smarter
Add 1–2 tablespoons of coconut oil or its more potent derivative MCT oil to your cup of coffee. Why? Here is the result of a severe Alzheimer’s patient taking coconut oil and attempting to draw a clock:
This is anecdotal, but evidence is mounting that the fats in coconut/MCT oil provide super efficient energy to the brain. Try it out — it tastes great.
2: How to create the best alarm clock
Buy this alarm-based coffee maker, these grounds and these filters. Keep them in your bedroom. Before bed add water, add grounds, and set the alarm. You’ll wake up to the sounds and scents of a fresh cup of coffee being brewed, which is arguably better than the nuclear reactor sounds of your alarm clock.
3: How to make cold brew, known in some circles as the easiest thing of all time
1. Grind coffee on the most course setting
2. Put grounds in a container (mason jar, pitcher, clean bucket … anything)
3. Stir in 8 times as much water as there are coffee grounds
4. Leave for 24 hours, refrigerated or not
5. Remove the grounds using a sieve, coffee filter, porous towel … anything
That’s it! Try it once in a small batch to confirm that you can in fact do this, then make a bucket’s worth to serve over the next month.
4. The effect of water temp on coffee flavor
The hotter the water, the more flavors drawn from your grinds. Unfortunately, you also draw more acidity and bitterness. Hence why cold brew is so damn pleasant, and why you should experiment with the water temp to see what you like.
5: The golden ratio of coffee to water
2 tablespoons of coffee per 6 ounces of water.
6: How to order the poor wo/man’s iced latte
Order an iced double espresso, then add a dash of milk yourself. Literally no difference from an iced latte.
7: The best ways to make coffee, ranked
According to experts slash us trying them all out and reading all the online research about this:
- Aero press: This is similar to a french press, but it uses an airtight tube and a paper filter. It’s the easiest thing ever, and the favored method of many a coffee expert. Try it out.
- Pour over / french press / chemex: Coffee snobs just judo chopped their screen, but we’ll be honest and say that all of these methods produce a solid cup that’s rich in complexity and not too bitter.
- Auto drip: No temp control, so these tend to brew too hot and extract too much bitterness.
- Keurig: Brews unfresh, cheap coffee at a low temp so that not too much flavor is extracted, resulting in a palatable yet flavorless brew. But when it’s 11PM and Livday HQ is out of coffee before a deadline, we’ll fight you for it.
8: When to stop drinking coffee
NEVER! But seriously, 2PM. You may not feel wired until bed time, but the coffee is still in your system and will mess up your sleep. 2PM is the safe cutoff point, unless you’re us in which case ignore this advice every day.
Happy coffee drinking!
-Sarah and The Nudge SF team
