4 Tips to Becoming a Better Home Barista with Jacob Michaud
As head barista trainer at Equator Coffee, Jacob Michaud spends his days turning coffee newbies into skilled baristas. Here’s his advice on how you can improve your barista game at home.
1. Understand the Science Behind Extraction
At Equator, we try to emphasize the importance of explaining the "how’s" and "why’s" when training our baristas. A big part of that is understanding the science of extraction. When you pull a shot of espresso, you're extracting compounds in a specific order: acids and sugars in the first 10 seconds, oils in the middle, and bitter compounds at the end. If you know what's happening and when, you can better diagnose what's going wrong.
For instance, if your coffee tastes sour, it’s probably under-extracted—you're stopping the extraction before getting to the good stuff. If it's too bitter, that usually means it's over-extracted, meaning you let the extraction go into the bitter zone. Understanding the process and order of extraction can really help you dial in your coffee.
2. Start With Pourovers, Then Graduate to Espresso
If you're just getting into coffee, I always recommend starting with pourovers or AeroPress before jumping to espresso. Espresso can be unforgiving initially if you're not sure what you should be doing. If you want to dial in properly, you might burn through half a bag before it tastes right. I've seen it become a deterrent—people hit that brick wall and give up. Pourovers and AeroPress let you hone in on your skills without the waste, cost, or technical barrier. Plus, there are many options for brew guides to make this a more accessible route.
3. Map Out Your Palate
A big part of my job is teaching people how to actually taste coffee. I like to use a geographic approach to map out what you're tasting, and where. Acids and sugars usually hit the tip and sides of your tongue, oils coat your jawline, and bitter compounds settle in the back of your throat. Once you know where to notice each flavour element, you can start to notice which one overpowers the other. That's how you go from "this tastes like coffee" to "this is sour" or "this is too oily."
4. Record Your Variables
I always recommend keeping a notebook and writing down your grind size, brew time, dose, and tasting notes every brew. It sounds tedious, but when something goes wrong you'll have a foundation to diagnose the problem. It's way more efficient than guessing, and helps you track your progress over time.
The beauty of home brewing is that you can experiment without pressure. Take these principles, apply them consistently, and you'll start noticing the difference in your cup. And most importantly, have fun with it!
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