Welcome to another blog post from Valeri !

This time I'd like to discuss some positive tips and strategies to help you appreciate and be more conservative with your premium coffee as it is set to become harder to get and become more expensive.

I will help you be prepared for what is to come in 2022 and you will not have to worry about the price of quality coffee as much as you will be getting more out of it and continue enjoy Premium quality Mikro coffee without having to downgrade to a cheaper product.

Imagine if you treated your Premium Mikro coffee with such care and precision as a cigar connoisseur.

They keep their cigars in humidity-controlled Cigar boxes, they trim their cigars with precision and care and they never over-indulge and waste their cigars because they are expensive and premium product.

Premium quality coffee is no different, learning to care for your coffee and treat it with respect that it deserves will help you also be in the mind set that you will not be willing to waste your coffee and become more conservative coffee connoisseur.

Coffee is a precious commodity and now that we are heading in to the perfect storm that will create unforeseen coffee shortages and hugely hike up the coffee prices we need to be ready. The time to start getting ready to care for your coffee and enjoy it properly is now.

If you are able to afford your coffee and you are not too phased by being conservative that is okay and it is your choice and we respect you and your individual taste in coffee and what you do with it. Nevertheless here are some tips if you are interested to push the boundaries of your Mikro Coffee.

Here are some tips to get you started and prepared for next year!

• Buy yourself a set of good quality scales that can measure weight down to 0.01 of a gram. This will help you know exactly how much coffee you are using for each brew and not over dose your coffee unnecessarily.

• Use only just enough coffee to make yourself a brew that you thoroughly enjoy and experiment with using slightly less coffee than what the youtube coffee geeks or speciality coffee blogs might suggest or what your roasters suggested recipe might be. There is no reason why your coffee would not still taste satisfying whilst using less dose (grams) and getting more out of it.

• Do NOT under extract your coffee, it is a biggest waste of product and there is no real reason to do it. You are leaving behind value in your coffee and its going in the bin.

• Use a smaller cup for milk coffees. This is a very simple hack that will help you get the most flavour in your flat white or latte etc without using as much coffee as you normally would. You will get more flavour and feel more satisfied without having to drink a larger coffee and use more product. I recommend 140 to 160ml cup for milk coffees.

• Don't be clumsy and spill your beans or ground coffee everywhere and then end up throwing it out. Every bean counts and every bean is a Premium product that you should care about.

• Only grind just enough coffee to make what you need. Say if you are making one latte, don't grind 25 grams of coffee, sweep 5 grams in the bin and use only 20. Many people do this without really giving it much thought, but it adds up and we care about your budget and the coffee wastage. If your latte needs 18 grams of coffee, put no more than 18 to 18.5 grams of coffee in your grinder and grind only that. No more no less. This also depends on the quality of your home espresso grinder and how much ground coffee it retains inside its grinding chamber.

• If you love practicing latte art at home, please actually drink the coffee that you make, don't just tip it down the sink and start again, i've seen so much of that over time that it makes my stomach churn.

• If you bought too much coffee to get a good deal on your price per KG that's totally cool but you need to make sure you store that coffee properly so it doesn't degas too much and start staling and tasting flat and boring. You can freeze some of your coffee safely providing that you put it in a very good air tight bag or container and not keep it in the freezer for too many months as the freezer might dry it out over a long time anyway.

• And remember, every single coffee seed (bean) has been worked on by many people along the way. Its hard work to bring Premium Coffee to market from farm to roastery and to your home and we must respect and treasure our coffee as the premium product that it is.

Thank you for taking the time to read my tips, I really hope I've given you some inspiration and new sense of appreciation for Premium Coffee and how precious it is and what you can do to help enjoy it wisely and with respect that this delicious product deserves.

If you like my tips and content feel free to also follow my instagram account @valeri.tkatchenko

Valeri Tkatchenko

CVO & Coffee Buyer

Mikro Coffee Roasters