In the UK we get through 95 million cups of coffee in a day, putting it ahead of our beloved tea. We can all appreciate a good cup, but can we make one?
If your bank account is weeping from the strain of all those flat whites, it might be time to invest in some equipment and learn the science of brewing barista-quality coffee at home. A great way to impress guests and an even better way to start your morning, making good coffee at home doesn’t have to be difficult, you just have to get your method down. And to get you started, we talked to Sam Binstead, owner of Upshot, a coffee shop in Sheffield that keeps quality and sustainability at its core.
Talking us through the process, top tips and biggest mistakes, here’s Sam’s advice for making barista-quality coffee at home.

Photo of Upshot by Naomi Seed
First things first, can you talk us through a brief step-by-step for brewing the perfect barista-quality cup?
To start with, regardless of what you’re using you always want to weigh out your coffee, this makes all the difference. I like to use around 18g of coffee for 300g of water. Then get your water ready and up to the right temperature. We want to brew with water just off the boil.
If you’re using a cafetiere-
- Pour some hot water into your cafetiere to preheat it, discard.
- Grind your coffee fairly course, about the texture of fancy sea salt, and then pop it into the cafetiere. Gently tap/shake to settle the grounds into a flat bed
- With your cafetiere set on the scales, start your timer and pour the water in all the way up to 300g.
- Quickly but gently give all of the grounds a stir. We want to make sure all of the coffee is wet as soon as possible to make sure all of the grounds extract at the same rate.
- Wait. Don’t do anything. Just sit and wait.
- Now at about 4 minutes put the plunger on to the brewer but don’t press it down!
- Leaving the plunger at the top of the jug, use it as a strainer and carefully pour your coffee into a mug. If you’re brewing a big one for a couple of you then make sure you decant all of the coffee into something else. Leaving it in with the grounds will make it turn bitter.
- Enjoy! If your coffee is too strong and bitter then either use a coarser grind or steep it for less time. Likewise, if it’s weak or a bit sour then leave it in for longer, or use a finer grind! Using a timer and scales will help you to dial in just how you like it.