Never Drink Watery Coffee Again With These Tips

It can be pretty disappointing when you pour yourself a hot cup of coffee and take a sip expecting a cup full of wonderful flavor but get a thin, watery mess instead. Don’t let this setback upset you. Here are some solutions to avoid drinking watery coffee ever again.

Coffee may taste watery due to various reasons, like the wrong coffee grind. To fix watery coffee, use a grind that suits your brewing method or switch to a more intense roast. If that doesn’t sort things out, try brewing longer or different brewing methods and check your coffee machine for malfunctions.

Coffee brewing is an art that has its do’s and don’ts — all of which you have to follow religiously, or you’ll likely end up with an awful-tasting cup of coffee. Let’s jump into the details to figure out what makes your coffee taste watery and how you can fix it.

What Makes Coffee Taste Watery? 

An ordinary woman making drip coffee and transplants tree at her home

Your coffee may taste watery, weak, and lifeless due to the following mistakes:

You’re Not Using Enough Coffee

Using an insufficient amount coffee is one of the most common mistakes people make when brewing. While some brewing methods, like an Aeropress (on Amazon), require a minimal amount of coffee grinds, methods like a French press (on Amazon) call for much more coffee in the brewing process.

You’re Not Brewing for Long Enough

Coffee’s flavor and strength come solely from its interaction with water and heat for a specific amount of time. Like tea, the strength of your cup of coffee depends on how long you allow the coffee to steep.

Watery coffee is often a result of under-steeping. If you don’t give the coffee adequate time to interact with the water, it won’t entirely extract its flavor.

You’re Using the Wrong Coffee Grind

The consistency and size of your coffee grind is crucial when brewing coffee, and that’s why you need a top-of-the-line coffee grinder, like the Cuisinart DMB-8 Supreme Burr Mill (on Amazon).

Although each brewing method uses a different grind level, a general rule is that if you use a coffee grind that’s too coarse, it’s highly likely that you won’t extract enough of the flavor and may end up with watery coffee.

Your Coffee Is Under-Extracted

If you extract too little, possibly because your grind is too coarse or you’re not brewing for long enough, your coffee becomes overshadowed by the extracting acidic compounds. It then starts tasting watery since your drink has absorbed a tiny bit of the compounds in the coffee beans.

How to Fix Your Coffee-to-Water Ratio

A watery cup of coffee can ruin your mood in the morning, but the good thing is that it doesn’t have to be the norm. Here are some general solutions for a better coffee-to-water ratio:

Use a Grind That Suits Your Brewing Method

For a perfectly balanced coffee-to-water ratio, carefully consider the coarseness of your coffee grind. If your grind is too coarse for your brewing method, it will produce a weak cup of coffee.

Moka pots, Espresso machines, and Aeropress coffee makers preferably use fine to extra fine ground beans. On the other hand, regular drip machines use medium grinds, and a brewing method like the French press uses a coarse grind.

Use More Coffee for Your Brewing Method

As it turns out, some brewing methods require more coffee than others. For instance, an Aeropress and a Moka pot (on Amazon) can use a small amount of coffee grinds compared to a method such as a French press, which uses much more coffee in the brewing process.

Adding more grinds to any brewing process results in stronger coffee, regardless of the grind size or roast intensity. 

Degas Your Coffee Beans for Longer

Degassing roasted coffee beans properly before grinding and brewing is vital for every type of coffee. It’s even more necessary if you roast your coffee beans at home.

Degassing is the process of releasing the built-up carbon dioxide inside roasted coffee beans that would otherwise prevent water from adequately soaking through them. Releasing these gasses allows water into the beans, thereby profoundly affecting the flavor of your coffee.

Check Your Coffee Machine for Malfunctions

Your coffee may taste watery if your coffee machine has malfunctioned. A damaged coffee machine may not allow the beans to brew for long enough. It may also fail to raise the water temperature high enough for proper brewing. 

If this is the case, have an expert look at the machine or try another brewing method to make a stronger cup.

Use a More Intense Roast

Switch to a more intense roast for a stronger-tasting cup of coffee, so you don’t have to go through the misery of drinking a flat cup. To ensure your coffee is always as strong as you like it, use the right coffee for your preferred brewing process, use high-quality beans from a good roastery, and be careful when brewing.

Determining Your Brew Strength

Roasted coffee on a stainless spoon

The strength of your brew is determined by the amount of coffee dissolved in the water. The dilution will vary among different brewing methods. We can measure the strength of coffee using a refractometer (on Amazon) and refer to the strength using TDS (Total dissolved solids).

The Universal Brewing Control chart suggests we should target between 8% and 12% TDS for that ‘brewed correctly’ cup.

When brewing to a specific TDS, three main factors influence the change in brew strength. They include:

  • Contact time
  • Water temperature
  • Agitation

If all other aspects of the brew remain constant and we raise the machine temperature by one degree Celsius, we should expect a higher TDS reading (stronger brew). The same applies if we brew for a longer time or increase the agitation while all other variables remain the same.

What Temperature Is Best for Brewing Coffee?

As a rule of thumb, you should maintain a water temperature between 195 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit when brewing your coffee for optimal extraction. Any hotter, and you’re at risk of over-extracting and losing the taste of your coffee. Colder water, in contrast, will result in flat, under-extracted coffee.

What Type of Roast Should I Buy? 

There are hundreds of varieties of coffee and equally as many types of roasts, so it can be overwhelming to choose one on the grocery store coffee aisle. Let’s look at the options to determine which one you should buy to best satisfy your needs. 

Light Coffee Roast

Light coffee roast is pale brown and has the most caffeine and acidity. Its acidity is often accompanied by a lemon or citrus tone, which some people find very pleasing.

A light roast, like this one from Caribou Coffee (on Amazon), is an excellent option if you’re looking to taste the entire complexity of the coffee bean. Its tasting notes make a sophisticated cup of coffee that allows you to taste everything the coffee has to offer.

Medium Coffee Roast

Medium roast, also known as American, City, or High roast, is brown, and depending on the roast, the bean may show some oil on the surface. 

It has balanced flavors. What’s more, its acidity and body can vary, but they are pretty much somewhere in the middle.

A good medium roast, like Starbucks’ Pike Place Roast (on Amazon), offers the smoothest and most traditional tasting experience and the best of both light and dark roast coffees in a single cup. 

Most Americans prefer roasts that fall into this range, and it’s definitely one you should try if you’re looking for a more conventional-tasting coffee. 

Medium-Dark Coffee Roast

This one’s a shade darker than the medium roast and generally shows some oil on the surface of the beans. This roast has a richer, fuller flavor, more body, and significantly less acidity.

You can go for a medium-dark roast like San Francisco Bay Coffee’s Fog Chaser (on Amazon), if you’re looking for a bolder taste but don’t want the bitterness mostly found in the darker roasts. Its roast level results in a flavorful but bold cup.

Dark Coffee Roast

Dark roast, also known as French or Italian roast coffee, is dark brown and normally exhibits an oily surface on the bean. It has sweet flavors because the sugars in the coffee beans have time to caramelize. 

The roast has the least acidity and caffeine of all coffee roasts as it’s roasted the longest. A dark roast, like Peet’s Organic French Roast (on Amazon), goes well with both dairy and non-dairy additions. 

You can’t go wrong with a dark roast if you enjoy strong, full-bodied coffee.

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