How to Sweeten Bitter Coffee? (And You Should Avoid At Any Cost)

Ever wondered ‘How to sweeten bitter coffee?’ 

This is what I was thinking the other day as the coffee I brewed for my girlfriend was pretty bitter (according to what she was saying). I did research on the topic and I found a bunch of interesting ways I’d like to share with you. Stick around, I’m also going to share tips and tricks on how to brew coffee that’s not bitter. 

Let’s jump straight into it.

What makes your coffee bitter?

First off, it’s wise to find the root of the problem and really understand what makes your brew bitter. Let’s go over 6 common reasons that cause bitter coffee. 

1. Over-extraction 

Over-extraction is one of the most common ways that turns your coffee bitter. 

Making coffee is more like a science than an art; you need the right portion of water, coffee grinds, and brewing time to really brew the ‘perfect’ coffee. This means that if you brew your coffee longer than your brewing machine recommends, the odds are it’s going to be burned and taste bitter. Because the ideal brewing time differs from one brand to another, it’s wise to refer to your manual (or even speak with the manufacturer) and find out the recommended brewing time. 

What if you don’t use a coffee machine? 

Here’s the recommended time for brewing gadgets: 

• Moka pot → 3-4 minutes
• French press → 4-5 minutes
• Aeropress → 2-3 minutes (do you know what’s the right Aeropress water temperature)
• Pour Over → 3-4 minutes 

2. Not Clean enough coffee machine

This is another reason that your coffee turns bitter, and it’s pretty easy to fix.

You might have noticed lately that more coffee residue ends up in your brew or even your machine is making weird noises when brewing or the taste of your coffee has changed and it’s more bitter than it used to be. These are signals that your brewer needs a proper good cleaning. 

Your machine or even gadget needs regular cleaning, ideally, you go about it right after you’re done with your brewing. 

But this isn’t all…

It’s wise to use a cleaning solution every 2 months (depending on the usage of your machine) to remove coffee residue that has been built on the inside of your coffee machine. And you’ll also need to use a descaling solution to remove hard water minerals stuck on the inside over time that affect the taste of your brew. If you don’t clean your Breville or other machine regularly your coffee will taste bitter.

I know, everyone hates cleaning but it’s a necessary evil for brewing delicious coffee.

3. Over-roasted beans

This has nothing to do with your brewing process. 

This issue is more of the coffee beans you use for brewing. There are certain coffee brands labeling themselves as dark roast but the time they have been roasted is longer than what typical dark-roast coffee beans are. Some of those coffee beans are labeled as:

• Italian roast
• French roast
• Espresso roast

It’s wise to steer clear of those kinds of beans and go for normal roast coffee beans which are roasted no longer than 15-30 minutes and the roasting temperature is between  180 and 250 ° C.

4. Too thin coffee grounds

This is another issue that you can easily fix.

Are your coffee grounds too thin? If so, this leads to over-extraction as water doesn’t find much resistance when it hit the coffee grounds in your machine turning your coffee bitter. 

How to fix that? 

Go for 1 or 2 levels of coarser coffee grinds and the taste of your coffee is going to change. If not, experiment with your grind size until you hit this soft spot for brewing delicious coffee.

5. Make sure you use fresh coffee beans 

How long have you been keeping this coffee pack? 

If you’ve had it open for longer than a month your coffee beans become stale and your brew is going to taste bitter. So make sure you use your coffee beans within this timeframe – if you catch yourself keeping them for longer repeatedly, buy a smaller pack next time. Another way you can go around this issue is to keep your coffee beans in the fridge but still, you need to use them cause they will turn stale after 1.5 months. 

Coffee grounds become stale faster than coffee beans, so it’s wise to buy packs that just cover your needs, avoiding brewing bitter coffee or throwing away unused coffee. 

6. Poor water quality & wrong temperature

Did you know that 97% of your coffee is water? 

If the water you use for brewing isn’t great quality, the chances are that your coffee is going to be bitter. If you use tap water for brewing, I suggest you switch to bottled or filtered water that isn’t high in hard minerals that give a weird taste to your brew. It might cost you a bit more to make coffee at home but it’s worth it especially if you’re a true coffee lover. 

And you might have guessed it water temperature plays a key role in brewing, it’s not wise to fill the water tank of your machine with boiling hot water as it leads to over-extraction and coffee that tastes bitter.  

What to add to your coffee to make it sweeter

Let’s talk about 5 different ingredients you can add to your coffee to make it sweeter. 

Salt 

Really, does salt make your coffee sweeter? Yes, that’s right, salt makes your coffee sweeter. It contains sodium which makes your taste buds taste less bitterness even if your coffee is quite bitter and at the same time, it makes you taste only the sweet flavour of your brew. How much salt do you need? Go for just a pinch of salt as too much salt will ruin the taste of your brew. 

Milk or butter 

Cow milk (especially full fat) turns your coffee sweeter as it contains lactose, a natural sugar that gives this subtle sweet taste to milk. What about other types of milk like almonds or oat? Because they contain little to no lactose they won’t make your coffee as sweet as cow milk will. The alternative to milk is butter as it contains fat and has this natural sweetness that makes your coffee taste smooth and sweet. 

Add sugar

That’s an obvious one and probably the most popular way to make your coffee sweeter. But sugar is high in calories; if you are on a strict diet it’s wise to go for one of the other options. More specifically a tbsp of white sugar contains 60 calories while the same amount of brown sugar has roughly 50 calories. An alternative to sugar is stevia which will still sweeten your coffee but has ways less calories (a tbsp of stevia contains less than 10 calories).

Add a few drops of lemon

How does that work exactly? 

Lemon contains citric acid that takes the bitterness away and makes your coffee taste more tangy and fruity. If you’re big on citrus fruit, consider opting for light roast coffee beans as they typically taste more tangy and fruity than medium and dark roast.

Add Cinnamon 

It’s always a good idea to add cinnamon to your hot brew whether it’s tea, espresso or cappuccino. 

It simply adds another layer of taste to your brew and it’s conducive to your health with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and it also helps moderate your blood sugar pressure. 

Let’s wrap it up 

Since you made it to the end of this article I believe you have a good idea of how to sweeten bitter coffee and really enjoy your brew the way you like it. Stay tuned I’m going to be writing more articles about coffee and how to really perfect your brewing skills to make coffee that will impress your family.