Keeping your beans or ground coffee fresh is critical to serving up a class act brew every time. Its a bit like a loaf of bread - if left out, it goes hard and stale. Same goes for your beans and grinds. Coffee flavour is 70% aroma. Keep your coffee stored in a dry, airtight container for maximum flavour If stored correctly, your coffee should stay in tip top shape for about 2 weeks.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that coffee is mostly water, but the quality of this ingredient is very often overlooked when brewing at home. If you're using tap water that is strongly flavoured (for example if you live in an area with heavy lime content) - this will dominate the flavour of the coffee and it can often mean lack lustre brews. Try using good quality filtered water for maximum flavour impact. Either from your local supermarket or grab a filter jug for home use.

Brewed up a batch and its not quite to your taste? No problem - check out the quick fire tips below to up the anti on your coffee's flavour profile. Tasting sour? Make your grind finer. Tasting dry and bitter? Make your grind coarser. Darker roasted beans will taste better as a milky coffee -the natural sugars in the milk help to balance the intensity of the dark chocolate flavours often found in these roasts. Prefer your coffee black? Try lighter roasted coffees. Lighter coffees typically have subtle yet complex characteristics that really shine when drunk straight. Adding milk to these types of coffees will dominate the flavours of a light roast and may have you thinking it tastes sour. Lacking flavour? Make sure your coffee is fresh and you are using good quality water. If you're using tap water that is strongly flavoured - this will dominate the flavour of the coffee.

Want to work on perfecting your morning cup of coffee? Consistency is key. Use the same recipe and tweak the variables until its just to your liking. We recommend sticking to 15g of coffee for every 250ml of water you use (this will give you 2 cups or 1 mug). Play with grind size, water quality and brewing times until its bang on.

Give the kettle a hot second to cool off after boiling. Water straight off the boil can burn your coffee so give it about 20-30 seconds to cool down after it has peaked.