Coffee tastes sour: 7 tips for a delicious coffee

This situation is a nightmare for coffee lovers: You have brewed a fresh cup of coffee and are looking forward to enjoying it. After the first sip, you notice that the coffee tastes sour. You are probably wondering why it has become so sour and whether it could be due to the way you prepare it.

In fact, there are many possible reasons why coffee tastes too sour. We're giving you seven simple tips to help you make delicious coffee - without a sour aftertaste. At the same time, we'll show you how our products can help you and why specialty coffee is a particularly good choice.

Tip 1: Make sure the water temperature is above 85 °C

If you want to brew a delicious coffee, you should be very careful when preparing it. Even the smallest mistakes can affect the aroma and make your coffee taste sour. The brewing temperature is one of the key factors in this.

The water should not be too hot or too cold: If the coffee tastes sour, the water temperature may have been too low. For most beans and preparation methods, a temperature between 92 and 96 °C is recommended. What can help you with this is a kettle with an adjustable temperature. With the Fellow Stagg EKG, for example, you can reliably set a water temperature of 57 to 100 °C.

Tip 2: Test the pH of your water

Let's stay with the water you use to make your coffee. It not only has to be the right temperature, but also the right pH value. If the water is too acidic, the coffee will also taste sour. If the pH value is below 7.0, it intensifies the natural acid contained in the coffee beans.

There are various test strips that you can use to easily determine the pH value. If it turns out that it is below 7.0 in your region, you can use a water filter: you can then filter the water before you make your coffee so that it no longer tastes sour.

Tip 3: Use fresh preparation

Coffee tastes best when it is freshly brewed. Then you can enjoy the full flavors and taste the coffee while it is still hot. But what happens if you make too much filter coffee and leave it for more than a few minutes?

Then it can become sour! If coffee is left standing for a long time, its taste changes and it can become sour. So make sure you only brew as much coffee as you can drink. Share larger quantities with your friends or work colleagues - so they can also enjoy a delicious and fresh coffee.

Do you want to measure exactly how much water and coffee you need to brew the right amount for you? The best way to do this is with a precise scale. We recommend the Timemore Black Mirror Basic Mini model. The scale is highly precise, easy to use and particularly durable. This makes it perfect for coffee lovers!

Tip 4: Take a look at the grind

In addition to the preparation and the water, the coffee itself is of course an important criterion for good taste. The degree of grinding plays a decisive role: if the coffee is ground too coarsely, it can taste watery or sour.

This is because under-extraction occurs: the oxygen is released from the coffee (and not the bitter substances). This leads to a sour taste and the coffee is not drinkable. If you are a coffee lover, you can grind your own beans and get around this problem - you will see that this has a big impact on the taste.

At Coffee Annan you will find the right accessories if you want to grind your own coffee. We offer both electric and manual grinders as well as suitable accessories.

Tip 5: Try a darker roast

If you find a coffee sour, it doesn't necessarily have to be due to a preparation error or a bad taste. It's possible that the coffee is roasted too lightly for your taste, because light roasts have a high acid content.

If this is not your taste, then you should try a darker roast. These contain less fruit acids and therefore taste significantly less sour.

Tip 6: Try gently roasted coffee beans

In addition to the degree of grinding and the degree of roasting, the type of roasting is also crucial. Many coffee beans are roasted too hot. The so-called hot air process is often used for this, in which the beans are roasted at high temperatures in a short time for cost reasons. The coffee beans then become almost black on the outside, while the acids inside are not broken down.

Even if you brew your coffee with the right water temperature and taste it straight away, it won't taste good: the aggressive roasting process will make it taste sour. That's why you should make sure that you buy gently roasted coffee. Look for the addition "drum roasting", for example. This process is particularly gentle and ensures a wonderfully mild coffee experience.

For a perfect coffee or espresso, we only offer beans that have been gently drum roasted. What's special about this is that we have our coffee roasted directly in the country where it is grown. This way, we ensure a fair distribution of funds and support the local economy in the country where it is grown.

Tip 7: Try a high-quality specialty coffee

Do you want to make a cup of coffee that is full of flavor? You don't want it to taste watery or have a bitter aftertaste? Then you should try Specialty Coffee . This is the highest quality coffee in the world. The Specialty Coffee Association awards this distinction to a coffee after testing the quality of the beans.

Specialty coffee, which is also called specialty coffee, is therefore particularly high quality and delicious. For example, we recommend our Congo Specialty Coffee : It offers notes of orange marmalade, black tea and star fruit. It is grown in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The coffee grows there at 1,500 to 1,800 meters and is roasted on site using a gentle drum roasting process.

Conclusion: Coffee tastes sour? Pay attention to the correct preparation & high-quality beans

In this article, we have presented you with some tips that will effectively prevent your coffee from tasting sour. First, make sure you prepare it correctly and check the temperature and pH value of the water. Then you should look at the coffee, its roasting and its grind. If you implement the tips from this article, you should be able to avoid sour coffee in the future.

With our high-quality coffee beans and our specialty coffee, you can expect a unique and particularly aromatic taste experience.