Ina Garten's Coffee Rule Totally Checks Out

Celebrity chef Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa, is no stranger to good cuisine. Starting in Greenwich Village, New York, Ina Garten learned early on to cook exquisitely simple dishes that take easy meals and, with skill and quality ingredients, turn them into culinary delights. Her simple approach extends far into her daily life, including, as it turns out, her morning coffee.

According to the Barefoot Contessa herself, as told bluntly to Today, "I like coffee to taste like coffee." True to her history, she doesn't include any fancy additives and is notably not a fan of the ever-popular Pumpkin Spice Latte. In an interview with Bon Appétit, Ina Garten described her daily coffee ritual: "For coffee I either make an espresso or a pot of coffee — depending on my mood [....] I take it with milk, no sweetener. I find sugar in coffee to be bitter, ironically."

Honestly, she has a very good point. While we all have our own tastes, and trendy, fancy coffee orders are fun, a good-quality coffee on its own is a delectable treat with a deep, complex flavor profile. Adding too many ingredients can get in the way of that experience and spoil half the point of making the coffee in the first place. Sometimes, you really should just let coffee taste like coffee.

So, how do you make a great cup of coffee that doesn't need a bunch of extra ingredients? Let's take a leaf out of the Barefoot Contessa's book and start with the beans. Her favored brand, Dallis Brothers, has been making quality coffee beans for over 100 years to great success. High-quality coffee beans make a world of difference in the final result, cutting out the need for any extras.

Another great way to make a cup of quality coffee is to consider your process. A drip coffeemaker or espresso a la Garten is all well and good, but there's a whole world of techniques that can vastly improve your morning Joe. A French press is an underrated coffee brewing method that can produce an incredible cup of coffee, for example, and a pour-over coffee can make a smooth, balanced brew that really brings out the beans' natural flavors.

There's one more key factor to consider. All the quality beans and coffee-making techniques in the world will amount to nothing if you're not paying attention to your coffee's water. Quantity and quality of water both matter greatly when making coffee. If your water is hard or the pH balance is off, the quality of your brew is going to suffer; it's the same if you use too much. Generally speaking, the golden ratio when making coffee is one liter of water for every 17 grams of coffee. Much more than that and your morning cup will be over-extracted and taste bitter.