Coffee should be qualified as its own food group during college, right? Here are some tips to take your coffee game to the next level.
1. Left-over coffee? Make ice cubes!
We all know how heartbreaking it is if we don’t get to finish a cup and we have to pour it down the drain–so don’t! Head to the Dollar Store and get some ice cube trays, and pour your left-over coffee into them. Then, you can use your coffee cubes in place of regular for a stronger, more flavorful iced coffee, or just pop a few into a hot cup to cool it down to a drinkable temperature without making it taste all watery and sad. (Pro tip: If you’re 21+, these coffee cubes are also amazing with Bailey’s Irish and a little bit of vanilla vodka poured over them. Just saying.)
2. Filter your water before you brew!
If you use a Keurig or a French press at home, you’ll notice a big difference if you brew your coffee with water filtered through a Brita, or even just bottled water, instead of the tap. Tap water is usually fine to drink, but using a cleaner, crisper tasting water will take your coffee to new heights.
3. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
I will be the first to admit that coffee is the ONLY thing on my mind from the time my alarm goes off to the time I’m taking my first sip of the day. However, my body would probably appreciate some water first thing in the morning after an H2O-less night, so I’ve been using this hack: I think about how much coffee I’m going to drink (24 ounces, probs), and then I drink that much water before I tear up said coffee. Hydrating my body with water before I give it any caffeine has actually helped me feel more awake and less thirsty throughout the day.
4. Crappy coffee? Add salt.
If you and your roommate switch off who buys coffee for the dorm and she got the “isn’t that a good deal?!” brand, have no fear. Wimpy, bitter coffee can actually be rescued by tossing in a pinch of salt. The salt will counteract the bitterness. With this hack, plus your usual creamer and sugar combo, it should be smooth sailing. (See what I did there?)
5. Take a coffee nap.
You read that right. A coffee nap. The caffeine in your coffee takes about 20 minutes to kick in, and 20 minutes also just happens to be the ideal amount of time for a nap. So, here’s what you do: drink your coffee the way you like. We recommend 8-10 ounces, because that 20 minutes starts as soon as you take the first sip, and we don’t want you to drown yourself in coffee . . . although, there are worse things. After you finish your coffee, get into nap-mode: close the blinds, turn the fan on, and set your alarm for 20 minutes. Snore, drool, and dream about coffee until your alarm goes off. While you’re asleep, the caffeine will be working in your body and the sleep/coffee combo will have you wake up ready to run a marathon. You’re welcome.