It’s no secret that I’m a major coffee fan – my website and header speak loud enough about my coffee obsession. For coffeeholics like me, coffee is more than just a drink: it’s a way of life, a passion, and a delicious start and continuation to our day.

Throughout my many years of enjoying the tasty drinks, I picked up numerous hacks to get the most out of those cups of coffee.

These are a few of the best hacks I discovered along the way:

Some drinks have an extreme amount of calories with some sources claiming one drink could have 25 teaspoons of sugar. First of all, stay away from those sugar-filled options in any coffee shops; your body cannot handle that much sugar properly.

Second, look into alternative options for your drinks. For people who want to drink less milk and cream in their coffee, adding a pad of unsalted butter can help keep calorie counts lower. Canned coconut milk is also a solid alternative as it is not loaded with preservatives and artificial ingredients. Of course, you have to get used to the difference in flavor.

Additionally, instead of sugar, try artificial sugar substitutes. If your palate cannot handle the extra sweetness, a bit of cinnamon can sweeten your drink without adding the extra calories.

This brew can change your coffee routine and help you get a kick start to a hot summer day. Cold-brewing your coffee is easy and cheap and it has a less acidic taste than hot-brewed coffee.

For an easy cold-brew coffee, blend whole coffee beans until they are coarsely ground. Add water and place in the fridge for 12 hours. Then, strain through a mesh strainer lined with a coffee filter. Dilute with water, add some milk, and enjoy!

Another idea? Instead of throwing out your leftover coffee, freeze it in ice trays, mix it with some milk and you get an instant iced latte.

Starbucks and coffee house drinks are delicious. They also offer the simplicity of not having to make the drink ourselves; baristas make the coffee exactly as we want it so we can enjoy it without all the hassle. However, that comes at a heavy cost. If you are purchasing a pricey coffee drink every day, you could be emptying your pockets by at least $150 per month!

There are alternatives – delicious, cheap alternatives. Brands like Gourmesso offer coffee capsules that are even cheaper than big-name brand capsules like Nespresso but taste very similar, if not exactly the same. Basically, you can get delightful blends that can be made at home in a Nespresso machine for a fraction of the price.

Not every cup of home-brewed coffee will be a drink straight from the heavens. Sometimes we end up with a drink that is too bitter or tastes unfiltered.

If your coffee is too bitter, add a dash of salt. The salt will counteract the bitterness and create a more palatable drink. Don’t use too much or your coffee will go from bitter to salty!

If your drink tastes unfiltered even though the coffee filter is new, then the problem is likely the water you are using. Some regions have a strong chlorine taste in their tap water and the taste is not disguised in the coffee itself. Buy a filtering system for your tap or look into alternative water sources.

Finally, for the purest tasting coffee, make sure to rinse your filters every time you brew a pot. Paper filters should be flushed with hot water to remove chemical flavors and to remove residue. This will help create a cleaner-tasting post of coffee.

Hey coffee lovers, there are now various apps to walk us through our coffee addiction. Whether its apps that can show us a ‘brew calculator and timer’ to ensure the brewed coffee is in top shape, recipe apps with precise directions on how to create coffee-shop worthy cups, or an app displaying the effects of coffee on our body, there seems to be an app for everything coffee-related.