(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best coffee makers

Lots to discuss here.
Knives: those knives look nice, but I recommend you go to a kitchen store and actually try knives before you decide. Handles are really important, and what works for one person might not work for another. You can go to WS or SLT and try knives to your heart's content.

Don't know anything about that particular cookware, but I notice there's no skillet in the set: perhaps you want to buy a skillet separately? Which is a smart move, IMO. The skillet will likely get the most use and the hardest use, so spend some money on a good one. Cuisinart MC Pro and Tramontina are almost as good as All-Clad for less money, or if you want to go top of the line get a Demeyere Proline skillet. You won't regret the investment if you want the good stuff, I promise!

Nonstick: love Vollrath, but hate the silocone handle on that skillet. A T-fal is going to last just as long for a little less money, or you can get a set of 2 All Clad cast aluminum pans for less than $60 (a great deal!).
sous vide: I have the Anova but if I had to do it over I would get the Joule all the way. Head and shoulders a better product! All the accessories? Eh. I use a big stockpot and it's worked for pretty much everything. Not sure you need a dedicated sous vide tub, and think of the storage space you'll need for it.
Coffee: my coffee maker broke 15 years ago and I've been making French press ever since. It's way better, and no coffee maker out on the counter. I have this guy after breaking a few glass ones. It's lasted for about 5 years now and going strong. Almost as good as espresso at a fraction of the work!
Immersion blender: You have to be really careful here. The cheaper ones have plastic gears and won't last. Even some of the higher-priced ones are questionable (Breville? All-Clad?). I recently bought a Bamix, the original immersion blender, Swiss made, built like a tank. Read the reviews, you'll see what I mean.

Also would get a good blender: I have a Blendtec, never regretted it.

Electric pressure cooker: TBH I would get a stovetop. They're better quality (Kuhn Rikon or Fissler all they way) and so much more pleasurable to use.

I love that you want the good quality stuff! Good tools make all the difference in the kitchen. You don't have to go top of the line on everything but what I've mentioned here I've found have made my life so much easier. Have you considered a vacuum sealer? It's the dark horse kitchen appliance that I never would have thought I needed, but I got it when I got the sous vide and it has saved hundreds if not thousands in less wasted food.

Have fun stocking your new kitchen!

There are some very affordable burr grinders out there, and it's worth the investment. You'll use it pretty much everyday. Hand grinders can be very cheap, and work great. Hario Skerton is a popular choice (I've seen it around for cheaper, but this is at least what's on amazon). Plenty of options, all varying in price. There's a pretty decent burr grinder from Kona I've used before, which I got for like $20.

But manual grinding can take some time. And if you're like me, and you want some quick coffee in the morning, then it's worth investing in an electric. There are some pretty decent electric burr grinders out there. You really don't have to pay a fortune. Here are a few cheap options:

Capresso Infinity

Bodum Bistro

Baratza Encore

But you can get far snobbier than just grind...

What kind of water are you using? Hopefully filtered, not tap. And definitely not distilled, since you want some of those minerals for flavor. Now, if you want to get even fancier, try using these mineral packets. I think each packet mixes in with 1 gallon of distilled water. I haven't tried it myself (I just use a brita) but I've heard good things. The quality of water makes a huge difference. This was the first "eureka" moment for me, when I moved from tap to filtered.

Next, how are you making your coffee? There are some great, cheap equipment out there. In this sub, here are some pretty cheap and popular choices:

Aeropress

Chemex

Pour-over

French press

We're getting pretty deep in the rabbit hole, right? Not yet! How about measuring the weight of the coffee? Consistency is important. You need the same, proper coffee-to-water ratio for the best cup. You can find people debating over the best scales, some costing hundreds. I'd just get a cheap one if I were you. You can find some decent cheap ones from like $10 to $30. If you want the best bang for your buck, look into American Weigh Scales.

I guess I can mention temperature of water as well. You can get thermometers or even electric kettles with built-in thermometers (like this). I think temperature matters so much more for tea than coffee, but it's something you need to keep in mind for coffee as well.

Here's probably the most important thing, in my opinion: where are you getting your coffee? What is the roast date? Unless you're buying your coffee directly from the roaster, you're probably not buying freshly roasted beans. It makes a world of difference. Try finding a local roaster and getting your beans from them, freshly roasted.

I'm sure there's plenty of other ways you can splurge money on coffee, but I'll let you figure it out!

(edited to fix the links)

<--- Barista here! I second the Moka suggestion. Unless you have thousands to shell out on a shop quality espresso machine, this is the next best thing. A good grinder is key, and burr grinders are best. This is mine. Also, steaming wands on cheaper machines never work very well and are horrible to clean. All you really need to get that nice foam easily is one of these nifty milk frothers.




Most retail coffee "machines" aren't built to last and make mediocre drinks. Low-tech almost always produces a superior tasting beverage. I have a Chemex(for normal coffee), a french press(for stronger coffee), a Toddy(for iced coffee) and a Moka(for espresso).


Also, if you can, seek out a roaster that is local to your mother. They will direct you to their best beans for espresso, and it will most likely be very fresh. All the roasters I have worked with are always happy to help customers troubleshoot and tweak to their tastes as well. It's a really worthwhile relationship for a coffee enthusiast.


So, Moka, burr grinder, frother wand, a pound of beans, and you're set. She'll love it. If you have some extra cash, and she likes normal coffee, throw in that Chemex. 10 times better than an auto-drip, and uses less beans as well. :)

Cool, so now we have a better idea what we're working with. I can run through some options/limitations and you can take it from there.

• An espresso machine with a built-in grinder (superauto) is going to be way over your budget, so you can scratch that off the list.
  
  
• I don't know of a drip coffee machine with a built in grinder that will actually do a good job brewing.
  
  
• There is no machine that can make even halfway decent espresso and drip. You're going to have to choose here. She can dilute an espresso with hot water to make an Americano, which she can then treat like regular coffee but won't be exactly the same (though probably won't be vastly different once she adds her creamer and sugar).
  
  
• Making an espresso with a machine like the Mr. Coffee you mentioned or one of the De'Longhis is going to be a bit of a faff. She'll have to grind, dose, tamp, brew, and clean. With a bit of practice she'll get this down, but it'll be hard not to get some coffee grind spillage no matter how quick/good she gets at doing it. If she's going to want a latte, the Mr. Coffee will froth the milk for you (but I don't know how well), but if it's a machine with the wand, she'll have to steam her own milk which is another skill to learn (and involves another layer of process/cleanup). Again, this should become second nature fairly quickly, but you'd know better if she'll go through the effort until it gets to that point.
  
  
• My advice, if you don't think she'll go through the hassle of making the espresso/latte, would be to go with this machine which is SCAA certified (long story short: coffee-snob approved) and this or this grinder. I linked BB&B because the Americans on here frequently talk about being able to get coupons fairly easily that knock the price down to $80. So either way you'll get her a very respectable coffee-brewing setup for right around your target budget. Get her some good beans and she'll be leaving home to go back to her dorm and make coffee.
  
  
• If you are going to go the espresso route, I'd definitely go for the Capresso over the Bodum grinder.
  
  Based on the way you've described her tastes, I think she'd probably do ok with 15-bar pump espresso maker, but avoid 'steam' espresso makers at all costs. In the first instance you're making something that doesn't have all the glory of a truly great espresso, in the second case you're making something that shouldn't really be called espresso at all.
  
  Anyway, I hope this is somewhat helpful.

V60: Very popular, lots of video help, very good availability of filters, produces outstanding coffee with practice. Can't go wrong.

Kalita, I'd avoid until it's easier and cheaper to get filters.

Chemex, as you say, expensive filters.

Clever, not a pourover at all. But worth considering.

Walkure, a beautiful piece of work that is capable of producing outstanding coffee. I've got one and love it, though I do not use it as an every day method, more for weekends or special occasions. Put this one on your wish list!

Beehive, just a glorified Melitta. Meh.

Personally, I'd recommend a ceramic V60, look for Tanors, they make a $9 Hario knockoff, identical to the original, get a bunch of filters and you're good to go. You will eventually own all the others anyway, so don't sweat this decision too much. ;)

Your best bet for dorm room drinks is going to be an Aeropress. It's a weird plastic tube that you use to push hot water through coffee. People here swear by them, and I do too. They don't make espresso, but they can make a terrific cup of coffee as well as a coffee 'concentrate' that can be used as a worthy espresso substitute. In terms of milk, it's really easy to froth milk in a french press. You just put warm milk in a french press and pump the plunger up and down a few times.

Grinding your own beans, if you want to make good tasting drinks, is unfortunately unavoidable. When was first getting into coffee I quickly became bummed out that the expensive and most important part of the process wasn't the exotic, perfectly roasted beans, nor was it the beautiful brewing devices, but instead... the grinder. Fortunately, a basic hand grinder will last you a long time and won't cost too much.

Aeropress - $28
Hand Grinder - $24
French Press - $17

In total that's about $70 worth of stuff. Add a bag of beans and you're at around $80-85 (hey, Christmas is fast approaching!).

Oh, and flavors like french vanilla and pumpkin spice don't really occur naturally in beans, at least not the way you're going to get them somewhere like Starbucks. Cafes typically use syrups, either artificial or natural, to get those flavors.

Depends on what your lady friend is used to. If she's used to automatic drip coffee I would think a machine like that is not suited to a NYC apartment for a non-coffee drinker. But the coffee dripper style manual devices are going to be similar. However they're a bit tricky to learn and you really benefit from a gooseneck kettle which drives the cost up. Instead, I think the Clever Coffee dripper is a good solution. Here's why: it's immersion brewing like a French Press but with a filter like a drip. This means you don't need a gooseneck kettle, you just need to add hot water. And you get the easy cleanup of a filtered coffee, way better than scooping grounds out of a French Press.

Now the other solution is an AeroPress. It makes a cup similar to a French Press and it has a filter as well. It's incredibly simple to cleanup. Someone else is mentioning height as an issue, but I haven't encountered this. I'm somewhat short for males, 5'7", and that's no issue. I have a female friend, 5'2", who can't use the AeroPress however. That's related to the grind size, it causes too much backpressure and she can't push it down. It's possible with more height, she'd have better leverage. Anyways, I digress - the difficulty of using an AeroPress is only with finely ground coffee. For drip-range grind sizes you simply need to brew a bit longer and it is easy to press down.

Also, as far as space goes - the AeroPress can only hold about 250mL of liquid. You can dilute afterwards and just make it "strong." But if you're looking for something to make a cup of coffee in the morning, there are 3 cup French Presses that take up about the same amount of space. The Clever device is shorter but wider.

Oh, also, if she's not using an automatic drip machine at her place then you can do whatever you want, but maybe ask her what she uses and choose something similar. For example, a Chemex user would probably find the Clever to be more similar than the AeroPress while a French Press user would find the opposite.

hmmm.... he COULD upgrade his grinder, a baratza virtuoso is a step up from his capresso infinity (that's what i think that is), especially when it comes to espresso making.

there are things like custom tamps that you can get and get their name on it? I'm not familiar with the breville machine so not sure if the tamps you get actually work on the breville one, sometimes they are smaller.

other cool things include a siphon coffee machine, you would want to get a butane burner for it, i'm not from america so I don't really know what people recommend of amazon lol but i'll link something for reference:

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Technica-5-Cup-Syphon-Coffee/dp/B000IKLQZK/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=siphon+coffee+hario&qid=1569350492&s=gateway&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Tabletop-Outdoor-Butane-Burner/dp/B07WFDPMNJ/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=siphon+coffee+butane+burner&qid=1569350580&s=gateway&sr=8-15

or a kyoto style drip tower, which is for making iced drip coffee which is great and this is also somethign I would NEVER get myself (price and all) but would be awesome to have but be aware of the practicality of size and where to put it lol, note: it takes 5-6 hours to drip a few cups haha:

https://www.amazon.com/Yama-Glass-YAMCDM8SBK-Coffee-Technology/dp/B004EBUZ1A/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=kyoto+drip+tower&qid=1569350410&s=gateway&sr=8-15

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Coffee-Water-Dripper-780ml/dp/B001807LZS/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=drip+tower&qid=1569350457&s=gateway&sr=8-10

btw, you are a great friend.

Unless you've been regularly cleaning your drip maker for the past 15 years I'd scrap it and pick up a new drip maker.

I can't recommend the Mr. Coffee enough http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Coffee-BVMC-SJX33GT-Programmable-Coffeemaker/dp/B0047Y0UQO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393806339&sr=8-1&keywords=coffee+maker

For whatever reason /r/Coffee hates drip makers, but honestly, if you know how to use them they make a pretty great cup of joe.

1. Get a new coffee maker
   
2. Measure out the water, 6oz to 2 tablespoons of grounds
   
3. Pour the water in, grind your beans, and put the grounds into your filter
   
4. Remove the coffee pot from under the coffee maker
   
5. Close the lid and let the water drip onto the beans until the filter is about half way full with water
   
6. Mix the water around, make sure all the grounds get soaked, this allows for the best extraction
   
7. Fill the bottom of the coffee pot with water, just enough so that when the coffee hits the pot it's hitting water and not the actual glass (This prevents the "burnt" taste that's always associated with drip makers)
   
8. Put the pot under the filter and let that sweet coffee flow through
   
9. Let all the water run through the machine
   
10. At this point you can either drink the coffee fairly soon, or put it into a thermos. Leaving it on the hot plate tends to leave the coffee tasting burnt after a while, and nothing is worse than burnt coffee.
    
    It should go without saying that you NEED to be using fresh beans, can't get any? You can find an air popper for around 5 bucks at your local thrift shop, green beans from multiple sources online, and you can roast a batch of beans in about 20 minutes. You also need to be grinding your beans directly before putting them into the filter. Not to mention it's a good call to use filtered water, and to clean your machine at least once a week.
    
    If you prefer the taste of a French Roast you should look into getting a mesh filter and using that rather than a paper filter. Mesh filters filter out less oil than paper ones and will give a different flavor.

I am using a Bodum Vacuum Coffee Maker, and I've got it locked in pretty nicely.

A few things to consider:

• Get a stirrer. I think the one on Amazon when I bought that maker was like 6 bucks, and it helps make sure all your grounds are soaking.
  
  
• Give it time. I prefer to set my stovetop to 4 (out of 7), and let it slowly come to a boil. When I went to 5, 6, and 7, it gave the coffee a bit of a burnt taste. At 4, or even 3, it took a little while to fill the upper chamber, but the result was a very clean tasting coffee.
  
  
• Be prepared to have some sediment. I had to play with the grind a bit, and I am the largest grind while still being small enough to extract, and I get a good bit of left over. My brew is usually pretty good in flavor so I can't complain too much.
  
  It's a neat contraption, and it produces a lighter coffee overall. I had a few friends try it, and they preferred it black over anything else. Kinda cool!

Wow! With a $500 budget you can actually do so much, and to be honest I don't think that kind of investment is really necessary, especially since overlooking your choices, you seem to be spending way too much for things you can get for a lower price. My setup is only ~$100, and I can get a great brew (though I use a hand grinder). I use a Kalita Wave 155 (this is the smallest size, but feel free to opt for the 185 size if you brew 2+ cups in one sitting). $22.50. The filters are quite pricey at $10.95, but worth it in the long run (for a one cup drinker a-day like me, it will last 3 months+ per pack). A French press from Bodum will only set you back $27 - double walled doesn't really do much because I find temperature loss isn't really a problem. The size I recommend for this one is only suited again for a 1-cup drinker, because my personal experience is using a 1L size for a single or even 2 cup drinker in one sitting will result in extremely sludgey cups. As others have suggested, if looking for a nice electric grinder, spring for the Encore. A good scale is this one for $39. I don't even use a true dedicated gooseneck kettle for this setup, just an adequate tea kettle but I do advocate the variable temp Bonavita you're thinking of. So this all amounts to $313.20. Happy drinking.

First, the grinder. You want a burr grinder, not a blade grinder. Burr grinders cost more, but are well worth it. They make a very even grind, where a blade grinder just chops up the beans and getting the right grind is impossible. A burr grinder lets you set it for what you're using (course grind for French Press, medium grind for drip maker, fine grind for espresso maker, etc). I have this one.

You can get a nice drip coffee maker if you want to make a pot. You can combine the two like I'm about to do and get a drip coffee maker with a built in burr grinder. I have this one.

If you're looking to make single cups at a time, there are other options like pour over's, Chemex, etc. The key is to grind your beans right before you brew the coffee. Good beans may be the most key ingredient. Companies like Tonx ship fresh roasted beans regularly on a plan, you can go that route. For example they can ship a 12oz bag every two weeks. You get beans that are only a few days roasted. Fresh roasted beans produce the best tasting coffee imaginable.

Nobody will think a pour over is sacrilege. Provided you're not using a blade grinder. . . :) Brew methods are a matter of taste. A french press isn't better or worse than a Chemex; it's just different. If you're going pour over, these are way better than these, because they're a true cone, so the water has to go through all the grounds.

You can buy beans online, but if possible it's best to buy locally roasted coffee to ensure freshness. Coffee is at its best around a week after roasting, and gradually loses flavor over time. Chances are you've got a decent roaster in your area. If not, look around online, and make sure you buy from a place that will tell you when yours was roasted.

And feel free to keep asking questions. I'm happy to tell you what I know.

One of the reasons a lot of people end up loading their coffee with cream and sugar is to mask a bitterness that only generally shows up when a coffee is burnt, when too many coffee grounds were used, or when the coffee is old. I suggest using a French press to make coffee to ensure that it isn't getting too hot/sitting on a burner for too long, which can happen easily with a traditional coffee maker. (I've had a Bodum model for about four years now, and it has held up really well). I also recommend going a bit fancier than Maxwell House for your coffee itself. If you can get whole beans and grind them every morning, you'll end up with a better tasting cup of joe, but getting something pre-ground and using it within a week or two isn't that bad. You also may want to look for a medium roast bean if you're looking for more complex flavors. While you definitely can get some good tastes from a darker roast, a medium roast is often a little more approachable if you are weaning yourself off of milk and sugar right now. If you're looking to try different things, I reccomend Rhetoric Coffee. They are a subscription service that sends different roasts out every two weeks and can be great to introduce you to new blends.

Remember that there are LOTS of flavors and different roasts out there too, so don't feel like you have to force yourself to like a certain blend or even drink your coffee a certain way. Kudos to you for trying new things though!

TL;DR: Use fresh-roasted beans from a local roaster, grind them yourself with a burr grinder, use filtered water, and don't cheap out on the brewing equipment.

First of all: /r/Coffee

Now that that's out of the way: What's your goal? Are you just disappointed in how your home-made coffee turns out, and want it to be more like the coffee shop experience?

First, let's talk about the coffee itself, before you add anything to your cup. A good cup of coffee, regardless of whether your goal is just a black cup of joe or a fancy espresso drink, absolutely requires good beans, a good grinder, good water, and a proper brew.

Beans:
-
Ok, obviously, right? Garbage in, garbage out. The problem is that most of what's out there is closer to "garbage" than it is to "great." Beans should be used within a couple of weeks of when they were roasted. That's not snobbery, that's just a fact - roasted beans lose a considerable amount of flavor after the first few weeks, and most of what you'll buy in the grocery store is already weeks old, maybe even months old. Go find a local coffee roaster and buy beans from them. My local roaster charges the same as (or less than) Starbucks for a pound, and the coffee is considerably better.

Grinder:
-
Do not buy pre-ground beans. That bit about using coffee within a couple weeks of roasting? Once you grind it, that drops a lot. You should grind your coffee right before you brew it. However, I would rather use a burr grinder at the time of purchase than use a blade grinder at home. Those will turn some of the beans into fine powder (which will make your coffee bitter), some into big chunks (which will be bland and flavorless). A consistent grind is important, and you can get one from a burr grinder. Use one scoop of grounds per "cup" of coffee (cup is in quote marks because a "cup" of coffee is 6oz, whereas the unit of measure "one cup" is 8oz - your drip maker's carafe should measure by 6oz cups).

Water:
-
Coffee is more than 99% water. It stands to reason that shitty water makes shitty coffee. If your tap water has any flavor to it, use filtered or bottled water. If you use tap water, use only cold water. Or, get a coffee maker with a built-in filter and change it on schedule.

Brewing:
-
Your equipment really matters. The flavors in a coffee bean come out best at right around 200 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take 5 degrees. A colder brew comes out weak, and a hotter brew extracts nasty bitter flavors. Do you suppose a $20 Mr. Coffee brewer achieves the correct temperature and maintains it for the entire brew cycle every time? It probably doesn't. This is even more important with espresso, where pressure is just as important as temperature. Cheap espresso machines rarely give a quality brew. ("Cheap" for an espresso machine, btw, is generally under $400.)

Now What?
-
So, those are the basics. And if you follow them well, you might even find you don't need to add milk or sugar to your cup. Of course, you can - some of the flavors in coffee aren't soluble in water, but they are soluble in fat, so a bit of non-skim milk can actually bring those flavors out.

As for how much cream/sugar to add, well... it's "to taste," as a rule. Taste it black first. Too bold? Add milk. Too bitter? Add sugar. Just a little at a time.

Espresso Drinks
-
Espresso-based drinks (generally anything French or Italian-sounding: espresso, cappuccino, americano, cafe latte, cafe au lait, etc) are tough to make at home, because a good electric espresso machine is expensive, and a good manual one can be even more expensive and much harder to use.

A good compromise is a Moka pot. What it makes is not technically espresso (per the Italian Espresso National Institute), but is very nearly the same. They're generally used stovetop, but electric ones are available.

Once you have your espresso, turning it into something else (cappuccino, americano, whatever) is generally about adding ratios of milk, milk foam, and other ingredients. The milk is heated or turned to foam using steam. Espresso machines generally have the steam wand you need in order to do this. A moka pot will not. You can get a standalone milk frother - some just whip air into it like a hand mixer (though much smaller), others actually use steam (but of course are more expensive).

Use this as a guide to building your espresso drinks.

So what equipment do I use, then?
-
It always bugs me when people give general advice but won't give specifics. So here's what I use at home:

• Grinder: Breville BCG450XL ($99.95) - Grinds well without introducing too much heat, or static electricity (yes, this is a problem with some, and it's obnoxious). They claim the finest setting will work for Turkish, but really it's more of an espresso grind.
  
• Drip Maker: Cuisinart DCC-1200 ($88.49) - Reviews consistently well for evenness and accuracy of temperature. Note: Use the "More Buying Choices" section on the right to find one sold by Amazon.com directly, instead of a marketplace seller - I can't seem to link directly to that listing.
  
• Espresso: DeLonghi DC155 ($84.99) - Has all the flaws of a cheap espresso machine, except it's pump-driven rather than steam-driven (meaning pressure is consistent). Its heat block is also about the best you'll do in this price range. That said, I don't use it often. Making espresso is kind of a pain regardless of your equipment, unless you get a so-called super-automatic machine.
  
  And there you go - that's how to make coffee that's as good as, or better than, coffee shop coffee at home. I know the giant wall of text makes it seem like a lot but really it comes down to the TL;DR at the top.

I don't think there's another name for the Clever dripper, per se. There are other "single cup immersion drippers" like this one from Bonavita, but the Clever is probably the best known.

There ARE 2 versions and 2 sizes of the Clever, though. Good comparison of the versions can be found here.

I'm not the best to answer on material - so hopefully someone else chimes in, but... I'd point primarily to the affect on heat. Ceramic is going to hold heat a little better than plastic or metal... but I wouldn't let that alter your decision if you're looking to buy a single cup brewer. u/SirGeekaLot 's run down of filters and taste would be where I would focus while trying to choose one.

Good luck!

Hi all—habitual tea drinker here. But my new office is kept warm, and I find myself almost dozing off in the morning. I was thinking of starting to drink a mug of coffee in the morning as I'm puttering around and listening to NPR.

My equipment isn't anything too fancy; I don't have my own grinder nor a proper pourover like a Chemex or something. I do have a variable-temperature kettle (this guy, it recommends 200°F for French Press), and a French Press (a cheerfully-colored Bodum 12oz).

I am lucky enough to live in a town ('town'? NYC) that has no surfeit of amazing coffee roasters, makers, purveyors, etc. so name a thing and I can probably get it.

I was going to stop by my favorite tea shop tonight, which incidentally has an equally good selection of coffee.

So I guess the end result of this drawn-out comment is a bunch of very basic questions:

1. What coffee region/bean/roast etc. would be best for small-batch, pre-ground (I know, I know, coffee should be fresh ground in the morning. But grinders are as loud af, and I have roommates and thin walls), French press? I find myself enjoying malty, vanill-y, richer styles of coffee, on the lower-acid, fuller-bodied style (it's amazing how much of coffee and tea talk sounds like wine talk, which is my domain). While I'd say roughly 'latte-esque' (my standard cafe order), I'm not about to start steaming milk in the morning—and I know black coffee won't be like a latte unless you ... make a latte.
   
   
2. Preparation? 200° good? What's the proper coffee/water ratio? Steep (brew?) time? Specialized glassware? I have a classic diner mug that I really like drinking out of, very comforting and reminds me of Kyle MachLachlan.
   
   
3. Do y'all not like tea drinkers? Some tea folk have a weird resentment against coffee people, which I find odd.
   
   Side note, if there's an FAQ anyone could point me to, so that y'all good folks don't have to spend too much time answering these ultra-basic questions, lmk, and I'll go over there and stop bothering you.
   
   Thanks in advance, all!

I have been a huge fan or and supporter of the Behmor Brazen Plus. Some people feel that its too big, but I love how it looks and I really love how the boiling chamber is above the grounds. This means it doesn't have to pump the hot water up to the shower head (the pump area can get hard water build up that's hard to clean). The water merely gets to temp and then drops down through the shower head onto the grounds.

I have had mine for around 3 years and other than the occasional descaling it still works like the day I bought it. Behmor has great customer support and the build quality is amazing compared to the cuisinart's I had in the past.

​

Just make sure to NOT buy the Behmor Connected. Most bad reviews are for that "smart" coffee maker.

Any kettle will do. Most people go for stuff with more steel because they don't want hot water sitting with plastic, but that's up to you.

Most french presses are very similar well. In fact, I find most immersion techniques (where you steep the coffee in the water) come out very similar. I personally prefer this porcelain brewer from Bonavita. You steep the coffee for ~3 mins, then open the valve on the bottom and let it drip into a cup. Cleanup is just tossing the filter and rinsing, which I think you'll find much less of a hassle than french press.

No matter what you get, one of the most important pieces is a scale. This one from Jennings is great. The french press can be a great way to let you make different batch sizes, but only if you keep your ratios consistent. That is one of the best advantages of french press, because a lot of pourovers only work well for a certain batch size.

Drinking lapsang souchong from Red Blossom Tea; it's starting to grow on me more although I'll admit I definitely prefer later brews to the first brew.

No tea-specific gifts this year, which I'm OK with because I'm very picky. Someone who knows me well would usually just ask what I like/want (clearly I've had more than a handful of bad surprises, hah).

My favorite gift by far is a homemade version of this drip tower. I'll upload if I get around to taking pictures! I'm not really sure if I could use this for tea (this is for cold brew coffee, my favorite style), but I am SO happy witih it. Handmade thoughtful gifts are the best. :)

Ok. There's been some great advice in this thread and I don't want to step on anyone's toes. But I went through a similar process when I wanted to stop drinking shit coffee a couple years ago, and this is my current setup.

The Grinder. You want a conical burr grinder. You can do this without breaking the bank: I got a Breville for less than $100 and it kicks ass. Grinds like a boss, whisper quiet, and it looks like a robot.

But why, you ask, should you splurge on the grinder? You could get a little Krups grinder for $15. And that would be great -- if all you wanted, ever, was to drink french pressed or drip coffee. But if you ever want to make espresso, then you need a conical burr grinder. And it sounds like you are going to want to do some experimenting.

The Brewer. My personal thing is this: I don't brew coffee through anything that plugs in. There's just no reason to.

Get yourself a kettle for your stove - I like this one, because you can see that there's nothing growing inside. And you avoid the mineral-y crust that you would have to scrape off of an electric kettle.

Use filtered water. It makes a difference.

Get yourself a simple drip cone or, if you want to be a little fancier, a Chemex carafe. You put a filter in the top, you grind the beans, you put the beans in the filter, you pour hot water over the top of it. The beans get thoroughly steeped and you end up with an even, smooth coffee with little to no bitterness.

Because you've saved so much money on coffee makers, splurge a bit. Get yourself a French press for when you want something with more oomph. And get yourself a little Italian stovetop espresso maker. You put fine espresso grinds in the top, you put water in the bottom, you put the whole thing on the stove - voilà.

There. If you wanted all this shit to plug into the wall you would have spent $1000. But you can get all of this for less than $200.

The Beans. Here's the dirty little secret about coffee beans: freshness matters more than brand. You could get the finest quality beans shipped to you from halfway across the country if you like - but they're going to be stale by the time they get to you.

Here's what you do instead: find a cafe that roasts their own beans and buy from their cafe. They'll have been roasted within the last few weeks. The beans will have this great oily sheen to them - that's how you know they're good. Buy them one package at a time and keep them in an airtight canister. And for christ's sakes, never freeze coffee beans.

There you go! With this setup you can make almost any type of coffee drink available at your local Starbucks, for cheap. There'll be no gunk to clean out of the musty interiors of a complex drip coffee maker. And a lot of this stuff has a great aesthetic, so your kitchen will look fantastic.

Edited for spelling.

If you're buying expensive coffee and really enjoy the taste of good coffee, I'd suggest either making pour-over coffee or french press coffee at home. There are even very good automatic pour over coffee makers. The relatively new Oxo automatic pour-over has unseated the Bonavita in many minds: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YEYKK8U/ref=psdc_289745_t3_B00O9FO1HK

From the listed features:

• Microprocessor-controlled brew cycle replicates the pour-over method to produce 2-9 cups of SCAA-certified perfect coffee
  
  
• Water is heated and held at the perfect temperature for coffee (197.6-204.8 Degrees F)
  
  
• Rainmaker shower head evenly disperses water over coffee grounds for uniform saturation and full flavor extraction
  
  
• Intuitive LED interface features a backlit screen that displays the Coffee Maker status and freshness indicator
  
  
• A single dial allows you to program the number of cups and the 24-hour start timer
  
  It even first soaks the grounds, waits, and then pours the water over them. Pair this with a grinder and some good recently-roasted beans and the coffee you make at home will taste even better than what you'd buy at the coffee place and cost a fraction of what they charge.
  
  Personally, I'm generally fine with an older Cuisinart single-cup brewer with one of the better store-bought grounds (Chock Full o Nuts or similar).

A cheap gooseneck kettle and a plastic Hario V60. You will need filters too.

If you want to spend a little more this set has it all.

Keep in mind that a scale is extremely helpful too. If you don’t want to spend the money on a grinder, which everyone is going to recommend, just get pre-ground, quality coffee. I recommend HappyMug online. Happy Mug makes great coffee and will grind it for you before shipping. They also have an awesome little timer for $5 that is helpful at first If you’re using your phone for recipes and stuff.

The problem with recommending a machine is that you have to have an espresso capable grinder first for most machines. Fresh roasted whole beans > Grinder > Machine. I recommend the Flair because the deeper, narrower basket means you don't have to grind as fine as something with (or near) a standard 58mm portafilter, therefore you might be able to get away with something as inexpensive as a refurbished Encore (when they're in stock). If you have an espresso capable stepless manual grinder (Lido, Commandante, Aergrind, etc.) or stepless electric grinder (Refurbished Sette 270 and above) you could also go with a ROK or Robot manual machines, but personally I still think the Flair is better as it's easier to heat up. For a pump machine, there's really only one under $500 I'd recommend, that I know of, and that's the Gaggia Classic, due to the fact that it can do standard commercial shots as well as pressurized portafilter shots. If you're handy, you could also trawl your used marketplaces for a machine, I've seen people get amazing deals on r/espresso that just needed some cleaning or an inexpensive part.

Chemex! We used to have an electric coffee maker years ago and switched to French press, but then we found this bad boy and have never looked back. It's practical, attractive, easy to clean, and (most importantly) perfect coffee every time:

https://www.amazon.com/Chemex-6-Cup-Classic-Glass-Coffee/dp/B000I1WP7W?th=1

Hope this helps! <3

The aesthetics look really awesome. I've seen many dutch coffee devices being used in South Korea. Like this one from Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Yama-Glass-Maker-Straight-Black/dp/B004EBUZ1A/ref=pd_sim_79_6?ie=UTF8&dpID=41tRrVDoWJL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=D620MKJ5734WVNBTRF3Q

Most of them are big (which may be good for displays in coffee shops), and like you said, the openings allow dust and air to enter. I think that's why these dutch coffee tasted so acidic from being oxidized. Have you guys tested if your coffee is less acidic than regular dutch coffee since there's less oxidation?

1. How often do you have to replace filters? And will they be expensive to purchase? (With SS filter, do you never have to buy a new one?)
   
2. Does the unit have any thermo-resistance? Sometimes ice melts too fast in the chamber, or the coffee at the bottom warms up too fast and becomes oxidized (especially in summer). It would be cool if there's some thermal resistance so ice melts slow and the coffee at the bottom stays cool. How do you maintain that "constant temperature" that you mention on the website?
   
3. Will the brewing rate become slower as the filter gets clogged up?
   
   As a Korean, I think one of the biggest up-sell is that it prevents "dust" from entering. Korea is currently suffering "micro dust" problem and they are obsessed with preventing dust in any possible way. The fact that this prevents dust and purifies water, it could be a huge up-sell there.
   
   In the future, do you guys plan on making larger version for commercial use? Like at coffee shops? Will you guys ever export to Korea?
   
   EDIT: Haha, I just realized this was being made in Korea after reading Amazon product page.
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=71&v=4czF1u4tixo
   

V60 Personally I'd get the glass or ceramic one, but they are a bit more.
Filters
Gooseneck kettle with thermometer Warning, I don't have this personally, but it does have good reviews. There are a number of gooseneck kettles on amazon to choose from.
There's a Hario Skerton for $15 used in excellent condition right now

Total=$55.38 Slightly more if you miss out on the Skerton. Beans extra of course. You could make do with whatever kettle you currently have but the gooseneck makes things exponentially easier. Something you could always save for though.

IDK what you're looking for taste wise for beans, but I like Red Bird for reasonably priced coffees that are extremely tasty.

I would strongly recommend investing in a cold brewer if it's your favorite method. There are a few available but I use a Filtron Cold Water Coffee Concentrate Brewer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001GSSIO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_P7Eqzb5CJZ9VN.

Best cold brew I ever had by a wide margin. One benefit is because it's a concentrate you can mix yours with less water if you like it stronger and your SO can mix with more water.

The below is the page that sold me on it.
https://www.stumptowncoffee.com/brew-guides/filtron

i love coffee, but don't drink it quite as often as i used to, probably bc i work at bucks and am kind of bored with it :D i am actually a big tea drinker now. i black teas like earl grey and irish breakfast. my favorite coffee drink would have to be just a simple iced coffee with lots of cream and some sort of sweetener. i love the gingerbread syrup bucks gets in the winter. my favorite way to make coffee is via my coffee press. it's so simple and really tastes the best. i've always wanted to try the glass vacuum coffee makers--one of my friend's aunts had one and i was amazed--but they're too pricey for my light coffee habit.

I'm not really sure what an "iced coffee blender" is. Are you talking about making iced coffee, or frappuccinos (blended coffee-like drinks)?

If you mean regular iced coffee, you really don't need to spend $150. You need a decent grinder and a cold-brew system like this one.

Also, make iced coffee ice cubes or put your glass(es) in the freezer to prevent dilution.

As far as flavors, you may be in the wrong subreddit for that kind of question. You could try a decent mocha powder like the kind that Intelligentsia offers because it mixes well with espresso, but honestly, the coffee should really be allowed to speak for itself.

"Flavors" like caramel mask the taste of mediocre (or worse) coffee with sugar and artificial sweeteners. Trust me, I worked at Starbucks and looked at the ingredients in those syrups. If you need those syrups to enjoy the coffee, there's really no point in shelling out more money for better coffee or equipment.

I have a bonvita immersion dripper which is twice the price of a normal clever dripper, but is also made out of ceramic instead of plastic (which I like...especially if I'm going to be pouring boiling water into the thing. To be fair however, the clever dripper is made out of medical grade plastic). Its my favorite way to brew, but can only make two cups max at a time. It also uses commonly found melitta #4 filters so that's a plus. I use a pretty coarse grind and it works very well.

A great intro to pour-over coffee is this Melitta which, imho, makes fabulous coffee especially for the money. Just snag some #6 coffee filters and you're good to go.

I do think that a goose neck kettle makes a big difference in your ability to pour slowly and methodically but if you have a regular kettle already you can start with that.

To keep things warm you can pick up a nice vacuum carafe and you can enjoy hot coffee for about 10 hours. The linked one is nice because if you make a full pot, then pour off two cups for you and the misses, it should hold the rest.

Is your goal French press specifically (as in, the coarse grind and long brew time that results in that characteristic slightly-grainy taste) - or is it more generally non-shitty coffee from an automatic machine?

The mechanics of French press make it hard to automate, so I'm not terribly surprised there's not a lot of robotic presses out there. If your goal is just good coffee without a long manual process, the best option I'm aware of are the automatic "pour-over" machines:

https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KCM0802OB-Coffee-Brewer-Black/dp/B00OQJ7X8S/

https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV1902DW-Coffee-Brewer-Silver/dp/B0752CKQHW/

https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Barista-Brain-Coffee-Maker/dp/B00YEYKK8U/

There's also "fully automated" espresso machines. A lot of them even include a grinder, so in theory you can press 1 button and get a latte or americano or whatever a few minutes later. They tend to be $$$ and use up a lot of counter space, though.

My personal setup is fairly manual - an electric kettle and an Aeropress. The electric kettle is way easier than a kettle on the stove - the one I linked has variable temp controls, so you can set it to heat up to 80 C and hold there. Doesn't need constant monitoring the way a teakettle on a burner does, and you'll get much better results with not-quite-boiling water. And the Aeropress makes fucking great coffee, without the PITA of cleaning a French press.

This is just my humble opinion especially based on your criteria...

This automatic drip coffee maker was the Consumer Reports Best Buy last year for under $40 (might can find it cheaper now) & it is a best seller on Amazon. The reason I like it is that it has the ability to reach 195° to 205° F for five or six minutes, the industry standard for optimal brewing.

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Coffee-BVMC-SJX33GT-Programmable-Coffeemaker/dp/B0047Y0UQO

Considering bang for buck, ease of use & amount of coffee produced, I'd probably go with Wired Magazine's 7 out of 10 recommendation.

http://www.amazon.com/Capresso-560-01-Infinity-Grinder-Black/dp/B0000AR7SY

Both will be about the same, neither will be any good. the first steps to a good cup require three main things:

• Good beans (find a local roaster. Expect to pay $10-15 a pound. I know this is steep, but it makes ALL the difference)
  
  
• grinding your coffee fresh when you brew it (pre-ground coffee loses much of its flavor in a few hours, forget the months that many people spend on a ground bag). You can find excellent cheap hand-operated burr grinders for about $35. Stay away from blade grinders; they'll make your beans a choppy, uneven mess.
  
  
• a better brewing method. They're not hard to learn at all, and the equipment is cheap. Here's a plastic pour-over cone for 6 bucks. A pack of filters for it costs another $5. A lot of people like the $25 aeropress also, because it's very straightforward and versatile (the pourover only makes regular coffee). there are other options as well; browse /r/coffee to learn more.
  
  tl;dr the things you should do to up your coffee game the first level (in the order you should do them) are: 1. Find a new brewing method 2. Buy better beans 3. Get a grinder

Moka pots are fun, but I can't make it a daily thing.

I say shore up your pour over gear. A gooseneck kettle ($38) and a scale ($17) are musts.

You could replace the plastic cone with something prettier like a v60 ($11), but you can use the scale and kettle with the plastic pour over cone just fine.

[edit] the pour over cone I linked isn't a v60, but I'm sure you can find it :)

>The same goddamn drip brew I do at home?

​

just like craft beers, and microbreweries, there are equally enthusiastic coffee drinkers.

"drip brew" does not exist in that world. (yes, sounds assholish, but the coffee is really fucking good)

its like top shelf vs bottom shelf. drink to get drunk, drink to enjoy the flavor.

​

I won't drink it any other way now. I used to use a french press.

​

how to pour-over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aWH9UgmuCM

​

when you go to starbucks/Peets, they fill your cup from a tank.

​

when you go to a pourover coffee place, they make it one cup at a time. every cup is hand poured, beans are ground immediately before use. and they use beam heaters because, believe it or not.. temperature really matters. coffee made from 200 degree water tastes different than coffee made from 212 water.

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Beam-Heater-Coffee-Syphon/dp/B00R6YPTYA

​

​

for home..

optional - but helps make hot water, but not too hot - note the narrow spout to control where the water goes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005YR0F40/

​

one of these and the filters to go with.

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Plastic-Coffee-Dripper-Size/dp/B006IKMUIG/

​

​

​

I'd advise a good Conical Burr Grinder is the best way to give your friends great coffee to start off their new lives as newlyweds. Then either the Aeropress or a nice-looking French Press. Hope this helps!

I like cold drip personally. Give something like this a try if you're looking to use higher end coffees for something with a cleaner sweeter more delicate flavor. Toddy extractions can make great coffee taste brackish, malty and plain. I have something like this and love it.

Sure!

This is the popcorn popper I'm using to roast (not pictured)

This is the Sweet Maria's sampler pack (4 lbs of green coffee for roasting). Mine specifically came with these four coffees:

• Java Kopi Sunda
  
  
• Sumatra Toba Batak Peaberry
  
  
• Ethiopia Sidama Deri Kochoha
  
  
• Colombia "Dos Payasos de Tolima"
  
  Now on to the equipment:
  
  
  Bonavita BV3825ST 1-Liter Stovetop Kettle
  
  American Weigh Black Blade Digital Pocket Scale, 1000 by 0.1 G
  
  Taylor Classic Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer
  
  Chemex Coffee Maker 8 Cup Classic
  
  Chemex Coffee Filters - 100 Chemex Bonded Unbleached Filter Squares FSU-100
  
  Hario MSS-1B Mini Mill Slim Coffee Grinder
  
  
  I also have a bodum french press and an aeropress. The scale is big enough to measure coffee, but not big enough to brew on, so keep that in mind if you are thinking about getting one, but it was pretty cheap and I don't mind pre-measuring the coffee and water rather than doing it while i brew. I also have already had some issues with the thermometer head rotating, throwing off the measurement, but it's not really a huge deal because it's easy to rotate it back and I usually just bring water to a boil and then let it drop 10 degrees regardless of what the temp actually says. Overall, loving all my new goodies!

Melitta cone cup-top and pot-top filters are quite cheap and, in my opinion, do most if not all of the job of a Chemex or whatever without the financial outlay. I'd see that as your next step: Moving from the Mr. Coffee to something that brews at the right temperature.

You can simply heat water on the stovetop, until you get a better solution. Premeasure the water, so that you know to just pour the entire lot instead of guessing how much water to pour after it's heated. If you have a thermometer that goes high enough, time how long it takes that amount of freshly boiled water to cool down to your target brew temparature. If your inside conditions remain the same and you use the same vessel to heat the water, then you don't need to use the thermometer each time. Just bring the water to a boil, switch off the heat, and wait that long.

As far as using the Melitta, don't neglect to "bloom" the grounds for several seconds with a bit of that hot water, before continuing the pour. Pour the water carefully, to help keep the grounds from "climbing" the sides, where they will not extract fully. I pour some water thusly and then also tap the side of the Melitta lightly to help settle the grounds. I pour the water in a few stages, instead of all at once, again to help keep the grounds settled and so promote better extraction.

Switching to a Melitta filter made a big difference, for me. If you are concerned about quality/flavor, you want to get away from that Mr. Coffee.

P.S. Non-affiliate Amazon links, just as examples including of low prices. Not saying it need be Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Ready-Single-Coffee-Brewer/dp/B0014CVEH6/

http://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Cone-Filter-Coffeemaker-1-Count/dp/B000MIT2OK/

I have used several hand operated espresso devices and none of them have been worth the time you invest in both brewing coffee with it, or the clean up afterward. To get anything of quality you really need to spend a bit of cash, even if the device you are using is completely manual. I haven't used it yet, but when I get the funds I plan on purchasing the Rok espresso maker.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AV1E0GI



For your grinder, I recommend getting a hand grinder if you don't want to spend $100+ on an adjustable coffee grinder. I have been using something like what I linked below, which can go fine enough of a grind to even do turkish coffee.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D44AX1O

College student here!
I personally use a French press in my room with a hot water kettle (I live in a dorm). For my grinder I use a Khaw-Fee HG1B Manual Coffee Grinder with a Blue Horse upgrade kit. As far as beans go, I recommend going around to local rosters and try one bag at a time; the only way to find out what you like is to try as much as you can.
When I have a little extra time I use my Rok Espresso press, which I have found to work great in the dorm. It's easy to use and clean, pulls a decent shot, and is nearly indestructible.

Grinder: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01A6CP1HI/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517663256&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=khawfee+grinder&dpPl=1&dpID=41-m2sv1nxL&ref=plSrch
Blue Horse Upgrade Kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B012HDKKQ6/ref=ya_aw_oh_bia_dp?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Rok Espresso Press: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00AV1E0GI/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517663717&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=rok+espresso&dpPl=1&dpID=41J1GlEZmpL&ref=plSrch

(Sorry for like/lack of hyperlinks, I'm on mobile)

You could probably get both if you get the BV1900TS . I just ordered that and the Baratza Encore for about $300 total, shipped!

After extensive research and posting, it came down to the Behmor Brazen Plus or the BV. The BV, seems to have a slight edge. Its probably the best home auto-drip coffee maker out there, right now, and its on the cheaper side of the SCA Certified Home Brewers

Take a look at this review listed under the Brazen, but its a comparison of both


On a side-note, this is probably the best review of anything I have ever seen, hands-down, ever. Also, if you live up in the moutains where boiling water is an issue, the Brazen is probably better.

62 Answered Questions

Example Q&A:
What is the size of the decanter - what is the maximum amount that can be cold-berwed at one time?

Answer: While not totally responsive to your question, here is some helpful information. The decanter is 5.75 in. tall. With the stopper (that you can use to measure the standard 2 oz. of concentrate) it is 6.75 in. tall. The neck of the decanter, where you hold it to pour, is about 11 in. around. I have small hands and have … see more
By L. Dix on February 1, 2015

First you pour in 8 oz. this will be absorbed by the freshly grind coffee. Then you pour in 32 oz more. You will get about 32 oz after 12 hours of brewing. I get a little less (30 oz) of concentrated coffee. The decanter is marked 32 oz. Some people re-use the used coffee grinds for a second brew. I use 4 oz of concent… see more
By Peter Kiss on January 31, 2015

The others are correct: the decanter can hold 32 oz of concentrate.
The tank that contains the grounds and water (which eventually deposits the concentrate into the decanter) can hold 64 oz of water, in the absence of coffee grounds, so there is some room for additional water above the recommended 40 oz, if wanted.
By Paul Curtis on February 2, 2015

32 oz
The maximum amount that it brews is 4 cups. It makes great cold coffee.
By A. Dixon on February 16, 2015

I have the OXO Cold Brew system. I really like it. I used to use a mason jar and it's functional, but more messy. I am super happy I got it. I bought mine at Marshals for $30 but I think they are $50 on amazon. Found it

It comes with a steel mesh filter and a few paper filters. I have been re-using the paper filters so they last longer. So far they have held up quite well.

IMO I think you can get better bang for your bucks, all possible with a cheaper price tag -- I've assembled a list assuming a pour over kit. Obviously you would want to get a dripper. Now, there are a lot of different kinds out there (even within the same product line e.g. plastic vs ceramic construction), amongst which the popular ones would be the Hario V60 and the Melitta, the Beehouse included. For the kettle, you can get the Bonavita Variable GooseNeck for $60 now at Amazon (it's a steal!), or the Stovetop version for $20 less. The Bonavita allows the user to manipulate the temperature much more precisely, and thus ensures more consistent consecutive cups of coffee. To be even more precise, get a scale. I have owned the Hario Slim Mill for some time now, and with some simple modification, it can grind some pretty darn consistent grinds! I think altogether this will sum total to at most the same price. And above all, make sure you buy him freshly roasted beans!

and cleaning. ugh grounds. i switched back to a Drip but I use the behmor item-- it heats the entire volume of water to the ideal brewing temperature and only then brings it in contact with the grounds. A wonderfully customizable unit that produces coffee as good as my french press but without the sediment.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PKEYY8U/

hi I am completely new to this, spent a while researching yesterday and found that for my price point, french press would be the best start for me. I am looking at all my options on amazon, and i am looking at the ones around the 20-30 dollar range. will there be a big difference in quality from press to press? And also, I am looking at coffee grinders at around the same price range, and was wondering what would be the best and if manual is fine for what I need, since those are cheaper.

example combo of what i am considering:

[press](
https://www.amazon.com/Secura-Stainless-French-Coffee-Screen/dp/B00JE36GLQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1496434282&sr=8-4&keywords=french+press)

grinder

please make any adjustments to these 2, as long as it totals to not more than ~50 usd

I think the two most important questions are: what are some coffees that you've had and like? What sort of work are you willing to put into it?

My personal recommendation would be to get a Baratza Encore grinder, a digital scale, a gooseneck kettle of some sort, a Chemex, and a French Press. All that should easily fit within your budget. And of all the accessories I have, on 90% of the days I don't use anything other than those. Well, and some coffee beans.

But that will take some work -- measuring, grinding, pouring, waiting, more pouring. It will make much better coffee than any automated machine, but maybe you don't care that much and it sounds like too much work. In that case, the Technivorm Moccamaster and Bonvavita 1900 TS are good options for automatic drip machines.

EDTIT: Sorry, I missed "automatic" in the text. I still don't think that will give you the best coffee, but if you're set on it, ignore everything I said except the Technivorm and Bonavita.

Yes, ditch it. You'll get better coffee for less money with less environmental waste from any of the methods suggested here.

I'll put in my vote for what got me into pour-overs, and which never seems to get much love on this sub: a good old fashioned Melitta drip cone, which makes a more than decent cup of coffee with easily obainable (and cheap) filters with a minimum of fuss. You can pick up a small one that's perfect for one or two cups for under ten bucks, and a set with a larger cone which also includes a glass carafe (perfect for making multiple cups at once) for not much more than that.

https://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Coffee-Single-Pour-Over-Brewer/dp/B0014CVEH6

https://www.amazon.com/Melitta-640446-Pour-Over-Coffee-Brewer/dp/B0000CFLCT

Almost every major coffee house that makes New Orleans style cold brew uses the Commercial Toddy Maker, including CC's Community Coffee, PJ's Coffee, and even Starbucks. This is a larger variant of the Toddy Cold Brew System which many of us use at home.

If you want traditional, smooth New Orleans style cold brew, you'll want to use a Viennese blend or something close to it. No, not Vietnamese; Viennese, as in Vienna. Some people like to do Ethiopian (Starbucks even used it when they were first trialing their cold brew in your area, but they ultimately switched to something much closer to Viennese-style), but as long as you stay away from bright flavors (particularly citrus), you should be fine. Most places will also add a dash of Mexican Vanilla as well.

The original Toddy system is designed to reduce the amount of oils extracted from the coffee grounds. The absence of heat already does this to an extent, but you also have to make an effort to layer in the water in a controlled fashion. Disturb the coffee grounds too much, and the filter disc will clog. It looks like they're now offering paper filters (similar to what the commercial system uses) to address this issue.

IIRC nine cups of water yields six cups of concentrate. You'll want to cut that 1:1 with water at serving time.

----

The other popular variant, Kyoto style cold brew, is made using a setup that resembles lab equipment.

does it have to be drip? i would recommend an espresso machine... its pretty quick, and makes amazing fresh coffee. if i had to recommend a drip, it would be this due to the control you have over the brew

https://www.amazon.com/Behmor-Brazen-Temperature-Control-Coffee/dp/B00PKEYY8U

You won't be able to get all of the alkaloids out of the leaf when making tea. The tea will have have a different effect vs whole leaf. To make tea you need to add something to the water to acidify it slightly, I use citric acid powder, but lemon juice works well too. You need to simmer the water and kratom for around 30 minutes, then strain. This is what I use to strain, along with natural brown filters. You can sweeten with honey, sugar or stevia if you'd like. Enjoy!

If it's volume that you need then take a look at the pour over coffee makers. Chemex offer them in a lot of sizes, the 8 cup is pretty cheap right now. They also have a 10 cup and 13 cup model as well I think.


Here is a link to the 8 cup
https://www.amazon.com/Chemex-Classic-Pour-over-Glass-Coffeemaker/dp/B000I1WP7W/

​

I personally think that pour over coffee is just as good or better than a french press, and way better than the drip coffee makers.

I don't think you can get a good espresso machine at that price.

Does she like drip coffee? Because you can actually do pretty well for that much. The Bonavita is supposed to be really good.

I took the plunge recently and got a bodum French press (3cup) for $17 at the local box store, but you can get it on amazon for http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Brazil-French-Press-Coffee/dp/B00008WU9F

I must say the French press is a enjoyable way to make coffee. And done right the coffee is superb!

Oh cool, I see where you are coming from. One thing thats great about pour overs is there are a ton of different types to explore if you end up liking it, but you can get what you need for really cheap, you might want to look at something like this since its easy to use, you just need kettle or something to heat up/pour your water and thats it. Just throwing that out there.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0000CFLCT/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1417998216&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

I've heard the Technivorms are among the best, but also some of the most expensive. I've got a Bonavita on the way (birthday gift next weekend!) which is sort of the cheaper version of the technivorm. I asked this exact question on Metafilter a few months ago, here is that thread. In it someone linked to a video breakdown of drip coffeepots from America's Test Kitchen, and one of the most important factors they brought up was a 1400W power supply to heat the water to the correct temperature. Basically, most home pots don't get the water hot enough, nor do they maintain the temperature with any kind of steadiness, which results in crummy coffee. The one that DOES that, was the Technivorm (or, like I said, the cheaper Bonavita), both of them have 1400W heating elements to get the water at the right temp. I'll let you know how the Bonavita works out for me.

Can i be a hater for a second. You're better off asking for an independent grinder like this baratza and this drip machine if you're set on a top quality drip

the SCAA has a list of approved drip machines theyre going to be the best of the best for what you need. The biggest issues with most drip machines is evenness of the brew and temperature variability. Unfortunately im not aware of any good all in one solutions but i can whole hardheartedly recommend the baratza and the brewer can be open season

I was using a Keurig before, and just recently got a Clever Dripper, and I really do enjoy it. I am now in the process of looking for better beans, and a grinder to use with the Clever. The Clever I think is a good gateway into this coffee addiction, and it is not very expensive. I even got a new variable water boiler (which cost more than the Clever haha).

If you are not about the plastic coffee dripper life Bonavita also makes a product that is similar to the Clever dripper.
I am also looking at getting the Hario grinder, but the Skerton.

You're in luck, as recently as three years ago no electric drip coffee maker for under $300 existed that could make a legitimately good cup of coffee. None of them could achieve the proper temperature needed for brewing.

However, in recent years Bonavita stepped up their game and produces several good models for under $200, all of which are certified by the SCAA (which is genuinely a big deal and pretty rare). I would specifically recommend the Bonavita BV1900TS which you can get on Amazon for $138.99. The only negative to it is that the carafe isn't particularly good so if you need the coffee to stay piping hot for hours this isn't a great option. If you're willing to pay a bit more but still under $200 another good option is the one of few other SCAA certified makers - the Behmor Brazen Plus which I personally am hoping to get from Santa.

A coffee shop near work has the Kyoto

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002RL9DW6/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

The cold brew that comes out of there is nice and smooth, and super powerful. When I have more kitchen space I'd also like to build one.

is there a particular reason there isn't much love for vacuum makers in this subreddit? i've been using the bodum vacuum maker for a while now and love it; however, i have no experience using a chemex or aeropress, so i can't make a comparison. i don't have any intention of switching over anytime soon, but if i'm missing out on something even more wonderful, it'd be awesome to know.

i'm relatively new, so it's possible that i just haven't seen anyone else talking about it much.

edit: i'm using this one

-Pyrex dishes/bowls with plastic lids are really convenient for meal preps.

-[A butter dish ] (https://www.amazon.com/Miles-Kimball-Green-Depression-Butter/dp/B00G2G40S4%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-ffab-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00G2G40S4) is always a good idea! Keeps butter spreadable and handy, right on the kitchen counter. Best to use salted butter, which keeps longer at room temp.

-A [Microplane ] (https://www.amazon.com/Microplane-40020-Classic-Zester-Grater/dp/B00004S7V8%3Fpsc%3D1%26SubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-ffab-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00004S7V8) is a good tool for finely shredding parmesan and other hard cheeses, zesting citrus fruits and any other fine grating. Not the most practical gift for everyone but I've gotten a lot of use out of one.

-Order some coconut oil for her, or any other keto-approved oil so she starts off on the right track, with the right fats.


-I really like reusing bacon grease, which she can put through a coffee filter in a [ pour-over coffee maker, ] (https://www.amazon.com/Tanors-700443183734-Ceramic-Coffee-Dripper/dp/B00JNZ7VNW%3Fpsc%3D1%26SubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-ffab-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00JNZ7VNW0 or rest a coffee filter in the mouth of a mason jar

The OXO On is a great coffee maker which I think would probably make coffee that both you and your wife would enjoy. It regulates the temperature of the water so you don't burn the coffee and it's very easy to use.

Cold brew at home is pretty easy to tackle.

There are a number of cold brew contraptions you can buy to ease and simplify the transition between steeping and drinking.

• Filtron
  
• Toddy
  
  Alternatively, if you own a french press, then the results from that are just as good. Throw the grounds in, add water, plunge after X hours.
  
  General steps:
  
  

1. Medium coarse grind of beans - a middle of the road coffee is fine (even a few weeks out), here you don't need your most expensive or freshest free-range cage-free single origin.
   
2. Ratio of water:coffee - experiment here as you do your batches, but 4:1 (by weight) is a decent starting point for a coffee concentrate that you can then dilute with water/milk and syrups as desired.
   
3. Pour measured out water over grounds.
   
4. Stir the mixture a bit to even out the coverage.
   
5. Let the container sit for 12 hours at room temperature. (24 hours if done in the fridge)
   
6. Strain, dilute to taste and serve.
   
   
   
   ---------
   
   Resources:
   
   See the comment from /u/dreamer6 - on how to create the vanilla cream and syrup
   
   Blue Bottle - guide and recipe
   
   Stumptown - guide and recipe
   
   NYTimes - blurb article and recipe

Big Clever Brewer is what you want. I think you can make as much as 20 ounces in one of those. much more forgiving in terms of grind, and much easier to clean up than a french press.

Also, there's nothing wrong with a big melitta- single hole. you even get the carafe for a dirt cheap price.

http://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Cone-Filter-Coffeemaker-1-Count/dp/B000MIT2OK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1449004453&sr=8-2&keywords=melitta+pour+over

My sis got me the OXO one for my birthday last year. It works pretty great actually. It's just pretty tall and I guess my little guy didn't like the look of it.

Been using one of these for 3 years, daily. Work AWESOME, and never an issue. Several sizes available. I HIGHLY recommend one!!! https://www.amazon.com/Secura-Stainless-French-Coffee-Screen/dp/B00JE36GLQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1523724465&sr=8-3&keywords=stainless+french+press&dpID=41rGx%252Bn2aYL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

You don't have to spend that much for good coffee.

You can get a pour over dripper for $12 on Amazon

100 filters for $6

Electric kettle for $12

Manual coffee grinder for $10

Digital scale for $10

That's $50 for gear, (you can probably pick up some of that even cheaper if you look around) and then you can spend what you want on beans. I'm really into Stumptown coffee right now, which is $18 for 12oz. but you can definitely go a little cheaper or a lot more expensive depending on your tastes.

You can spend as much as you want making coffee, but I haven't noticed a discernible difference between coffee from that setup and coffee from a $500ish setup. A large part of what makes a cup of pour over good is the skill level of the person pouring it, and there's no reason to spend more than $75-$100 on gear until you reach a point where you know for sure your bottleneck is your equipment. I've been making my own coffee this way (as well as french press and espresso) for a few years and I still don't feel like I need to upgrade.

EDIT: Ignore the scale I linked, refer to /u/throwswithfats comment below instead.

Here is what I would get

• Porlex JP-30 grinder $40
  
• Hario V60 $12.50 + $7 for filters
  
• Chromatic coffee really good coffee with free shipping. Pick something good. ~$17.
  
  That comes to ~$75 for your everything including your first 1.5 weeks of beans.
  
  

I received this stainless steel press from Amazon a few years ago as a gift and it’s held up great.

I like stainless vs glass as it stays hot much longer.

Just buy a plastic cone, a grinder, and #4 filters. Buy beans in bulk and make coffee at the cheapest and best rate.

It is the cheapest and best quality/taste/speed/temperature/bother ratio

I have a ninja coffee bar and it makes very tasty coffee, though not a lot at a time. I have found that filling to the max fill line for a full pot leaves some water in the reservoir. I now fill the carafe to the bottom of the plastic and fill the reservoir form there instead of relying on the markings (unless I'm not doing a full pot). I also don't really care for the way it pours. It tends to spill around the sides of travel mugs and my Stanley thermos if I dont pour slow and carefully. I look past this because of the great tasting coffee is produces. It's only 10 cups or so as well, and you said they drink A LOT, so a 12 cup model would be more their style. This Mr. Coffee makes some decent drip coffee for a cheapo coffee maker. I'm pretty sure it's cheaper at your local walmart.

There is no "one device immersion / filter" device like the Clever in glass/ metal or ceramic. I am not sure that the design of the mechanism would be possible in those materials at a price that people would be willing to pay. There is the Bonavita BV4000ID. It does use a silicone gasket incase you have any concerns about that material.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFJX7P4/ref=dp_cerb_3

https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV4000ID-Porcelain-Immersion-Dripper/dp/B00C0NZWT4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

While not as compact or easy, if you like the immersion brewing taste combined with a paper filter removing oils and sediments (ie no French press), then you will need to go two step. For example go is use a glass carafe (I would actually use a French press...) that you immerse the grounds into the hot water for the desired time, then pour through whatever filter with a glass/metal/ceramic filter holder, like the porcelain Melitta you that mynameisjonas posted, or a Beehouse Ceramic, Kalita, Zero, Hario glass/metal/ceramic, Chemix, etc.

Been using the Yama one for over 5 years now. Great cold brew plus a great conversation piece.

The typical recommended r/coffee starter kit is an aeropress ($33) and a grinder like this one ($29). I think that the grinder and something to brew it in are the two most important components. Get those before a kettle. If you want to get something a little cheaper, maybe start with a french press (could be had for around $20) or a pourover ($22). You won't be able to do a precise pourover without a kettle, though. And if you absolutely need to stay under $15, this exists for $12. In theory, you could boil water then pour it into a measuring cup or something like that and then do your pourover. I used one of those before I knew anything about coffee. I haven't touched it since I got an aeropress and I just bought a chemex for pourover. So, it's not going to be the best option, and you may be looking to replace it later. That said, if you're on a strict budget now and you don't see that changing in the future... it exists. But if you think it's a hobby you'll stick with, get something nice now so you don't end up spending more later and throwing away your first item. Anything less than a v60/french press won't be "good", but will produce coffee.

It really makes good coffee. My parents had a classic Danish Bodum Santos since the Eighties, and I have had one for fifteen years now or so.

Making coffee with it really doesn't have to be as … elaborate as shown in the video. Due to its design, the water seems to hit the coffee at a very good temperature and it produces a very nice and mellow flavor. Just make sure you have a rather rough grind, and the rest is almost fire and forget.

Honestly, I'd skip it unless you need something really light/portable. I much prefer a French press, and I have both.

I use the aero rarely, really only when I want a small cup.

I got this for my birthday, I love it for espresso.

I'm pretty sure this is the one he has. He doesn't seem to love it. We have this one and we love it.

So I started with the Yama, but thought it would be a fun project to try to make something from scratch. Had to turn to chem glassware, which is a little pricey but I think looks cool. I used a separatory funnel, Buchner funnel, and Florence flask.

Glassware ended up costing about $83, and I used the ring stand we had in the science lab at school.

Something like this

It's capable of making concentrate that you can cut with milk/water or just straight drinking strength coffee.

You could make a batch before opening and brew more as the day progresses based on the expected number of customers. It's really mesmerising to watch!

I doubt I would have agreed with this comment so much a year ago. But, then I bought the Bonavita (basically this with a glass carafe). And, I use the scoop from my Aeropress - 1 scoop of finely ground coffee for each cup I'm making.

I finally have strong coffee at home that is easy to make.

It's made all the difference!

Perhaps a really cool science-lab-looking iced-tea maker like this one? Northwest Glass makes a much larger version (about 3-4 feet tall) that is very impressive in person and would be suitable for a tea cafe.

There are a ton of great ways to brew coffee, but sadly a drip machine is probably not among them unless you're willing to fork over the dough for a Bunn or similarly well-designed machine. If you find that your coffee is bitter it's probably because you're brewing too long or your water is way too hot.

A french press is my go-to methond, but my favorite sexy way to brew coffee is with one of these. It's science so you know it has to be good.

And because it can never be said enough: 1. Do not freeze/refrigerate your beans. Ever. 2. Do not use flavored coffee beans in anything that will ever be used for unflavored coffee again. The flavor oils get everywhere, and they will get rank over time.

Wow, that picture made me shudder.

Well, if it's an automatic machine you're looking for, this might be up your alley. It has a built-in filter, so maybe it might help with the water a bit.

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Coffee-BVMC-SJX33GT-Programmable-Coffeemaker/dp/B0047Y0UQO/ref=lp_289745_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1408075240&sr=1-1

You get more flavor out of the drip ones too. I saw that the cold version of the drip coffee is pretty convenient since you can make a batch that you can use for a week. It's acidity is lower, you get more flavor since it's a slower brew(overnight), and it's great for people who like iced coffee over hot.

That drip station is indeed pretty, but with that distance between the dripper and your cup/mug, you're probably going to have quite the mess of splashes and splatters to clean up afterwards.

If you're really looking to improve your coffee and not just decorate the counter, I'd start with a simple plastic V60-02 for the dripper. For the grinder, since you're already contemplating spending ~90 USD, why not bump it up another $25 and get a Knock Aergrind; it'll be a significant step up in grind quality from the ones you listed.

French Press, https://www.amazon.com/Secura-Stainless-French-Coffee-Screen/dp/B00JE36GLQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=french+press&qid=1566748969&s=kitchen&sprefix=French+p&sr=1-4

It tastes better, is easier to clean, and is faster than drip coffee.

Basic technique including my favorite beans:

beans

grinder

french press

boil 3.5 cups water.

fill grinder even with top and grind. just a few seconds. Don't powder it. pour in french press.

pour water over ground beans, stir, put the lid on but don't plunge.

After four minutes, plunge.

Heaven.

Only issue you might run into is there being enough volume of water to allow for a good steep of the beans. If you have a very large press this could be problematic. If you have a 17 or 34 oz size you'll likely be ok. You can also get very small ones that are only 12 oz that would suit your needs perfectly.

http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Brazil-French-Press-Coffee/dp/B00008WU9F/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1415024897&sr=1-3&keywords=8+oz+french+press

(all the sizes are specific to Bodum presses - other companies might have slightly different sizes. I don't really know)

French press! Bodum sells a great one. Here is a good tutorial by a redditor from a few weeks ago.

If you're buying a present for your husband, just get him a filtron. It's very easy to use and not too expensive. For beans, I like to use a blend. Lately, I've been using Verve's StreetLevel. It's $15 and free shipping. If you don't have a grinder, you can also order it coarsely ground. While its not ideal to order preground, they ship it really quickly and I don't think it makes much of a difference in cold brew.

https://www.amazon.com/Filtron-Water-Coffee-Concentrate-Brewer/dp/B0001GSSIO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473863512&sr=8-1&keywords=filtron+cold+brew+system

https://vervecoffee.com/collections/blends/products/streetlevel-1

This is the one that I got. Worth every penny. I only use it on weekends because it's a bit more involved than other methods, but I love it.

Considering getting an actual coffee maker instead of doing the clever dripper I've been using.

Right now I have my eye on the Behmor Brazen Plus. Seems to be the most controllable and least expensive SCA certified brewer.

Anyone have that one or another coffee maker that you love?

That's awesome. I picked up this. https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-Wide-Porcelain-Immersion-Dripper/dp/B00MFJX7P4

It makes a single cup and uses easily accessible filters. There is no need to wait for a bloom yadda yadda. You get your grind size right, pour in water off a boil, stir and wait 3.5 minutes, and it drains into your choice of drinking vessel. I used it today, and I love it. Definitely need to dial in the drink size but besides that very low maintenance. You could also get the clever, but I think this has a better shelf life since it's porcelain vs plastic.

People see this as a good medium between chemex and french press in terms of the body you get out of your coffee.

Brutally honest answer: not worth your time and your money to make this work because you wont ever get the results you want.

More informative answer: The amount of extraction time during the brewing of a K-Cup is not enough to properly get the full flavor of the coffee. Additionally you have no control over water amount or grind amount. When I had a Keurig I bought one of the reusable holders and despite it saying 2Tbsp I could barely fit 1 1/4Tbsp. The most control you have is the water temperature and even then the temperature is not ideal. Also Keurig's are kind of junky, I had one fail after a year and the replacement was acting up within two months. No matter the grind, temp, bean, etc the coffee will always come out under extracted and not enjoyable.

90% of this sub hate keurigs, myself included, but we often do understand the appeal of them. However you need to be aware with that appeal comes major drawbacks like your experiencing now. They are meant entirely as a no frills way of making coffee for people who just want a cup of a coffee.

This would be my recommendation: If you like the appeal of a no frills coffee setup but want to experiment with different beans then I would consider selling the Keurig to a friend or family member. I would use that money to pick up a higher quality drip machine and a hand grinder. If you don't like the idea of using a hand grinder than maybe consider buying a Baratza Encore but it will cost more (FYI watch the Baratza site, every Thursday they restock the refurbs store so you could get a deal).

I used this one for a while, a Breville Burr Grinder. It's pretty fantastic and not too loud.

OXO Barista Brain 9 Cup Coffee Maker - $100

Turns out that we prefer burned coffee made in a cheap coffee maker. This was way too high end for us.

​

SportDOG SDF-100A Invisible Fence System - $100

This is super easy to install yourself. 500 feet of wire and 75 flags are unused in the box. Lowe's & Home Depot sell wire and additional flags for cheap, should you need it. I installed this thing, tested it, and ended up rebuilding my fence before I bothered putting it on my dog to teach him how it works. If needed, you can pay me to install it or help you install it.

​

I could use a Men's XL hybrid bike, so let me know if you think you might have something to trade.

Bodum has a nifty 3-cup (12oz) French Press. Good enough for a healthy sized mug.

Chambord version

Brazil version

Regarding the Chemex, I've never had a chance to use the metal filters unfortunately, but I've heard good things about the Able Kone, pricey as it is.

I use this and love it. Makes delicious coffee and I had never done cold brew before I got it so I appreciated the fact this system walked me through the process :

OXO Good Grips Cold Brew Coffee Maker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JVSVM36/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_5lQ3xbQ6SMN8W

An engineer would probably prefer a vacuum siphon coffee maker or a cold drip brewer. I wish I had a friend in college with one of those setups. Hell, I wish I had a friend now with one of those!

So what I like to do is go on Amazon and search and usually I look at the top rated item. This is no referral code or anything cheesy like that. But read the reviews, look at the similar items and decide amongst them. I have the hamilton beach one listed amongst the similar items, but it is a bit more. Most of these will last for a while, at least until you're ready to move on to something different.

edit: I actually have this sitting idle in my kitchen. I was going to donate it to goodwill but if you want it, it's yours.

Two small touches of luxury I own and appreciate are my French Press and Coffee Grinder. Being able to buy a bag of whole coffee beans from a local roaster and give them a proper grind and brew is a great way to star my mornings.

I use a Baratza Encore Grinder - a often recommended grinder from /r/Coffee and they can be found refurbished from the manufacturer themselves occasionally if the price is a tad much.

As far as the French Press itself - I use this one. Doesn't look too fancy, but its insulated well enough that I don't have to rush drinking my coffee before it gets too cold.

I need a drink after looking at that. And I don't mean coffee. You said your budgets $30ish I'd go with the mr coffee one kaffeinefix posted. It has a built in water filter so that'll help improve taste from your tap water.

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Coffee-BVMC-SJX33GT-Programmable-Coffeemaker/dp/B0047Y0UQO/ref=lp_289745_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1408075240&sr=1-1


There also this one, it doesn't have the water filter but it has good reviews

http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-49467-Coffeemaker-Digital/dp/B0097D2YE6/ref=sr_1_26?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1408076928&sr=1-26

That cold brew science-looking experiment is the Yama and it's for sale on Amazon, as well as other outlets when you know the name. But amazon is easiest for me to link as I already looked it up. My local coffee shop uses ice water in the reservoir.

25 cup model for $479

6-8 cup model for $269

10 Cup version of the same thing with a glass pot for $13 Just leave the carafe at home, or I'm sure if you look you could find just the filter part. I've got an ancient one and if it ever came with a glass pot it's long gone. That balanced on two twigs over a pot makes for great coffee while camping.

$150+ for a coffee maker seems like they have to be doing alright on the makers. I just bought a new drip machine with a clock, timer, two strengths settings for $20 (it's $30 now).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047Y0UQO/

In order of importance, in my opinion. Now, while the grinder is pricey, it's very important to producing an exceptional cup. But I'd personally start lower grinder-wise to garner more appreciation for good grinders (unless budget ain't a concern, in which case go for it).

Lido E Grinder (all the Lido series grinders are back ordered I think)

V60 Dripper

Fino Pour Over Kettle

AWS Pocket Scale

[V60 filters (although I notice no difference between this and folded #4 filters that are much cheaper)]
(http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001U7EOYA/ref=twister_B00Q60WESO?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)

Video on technique

Where I personally like getting beans, but there are a lot of places for that

Do you mean something like this?

I can't answer your question but if you mean that sort of thing that's a really neat design and I'm gonna need one.

Looks like it's called a ROK manual espresso maker:

http://www.amazon.com/ROK-ROKMAKER-Manual-Espresso-Maker/dp/B00AV1E0GI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374965113&sr=8-1&keywords=rok+espresso

$200 ain't bad if it makes a good cup...

I love my filtron. It's worth a look. https://www.amazon.com/Filtron-Water-Coffee-Concentrate-Brewer/dp/B0001GSSIO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483010878&sr=8-3&keywords=filtron

Thank you for pointing that out. I didn't catch that earlier. I have a hario hand grinder and bonavita gooseneck kettle.

Is this what you're talking about? www.amazon.com/Cold-Drip-Coffee-Maker-8-Cup/dp/B002RL9DW6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1370400757&sr=8-2&keywords=yama+drip

I use a Filtron and I love it. $38 on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Filtron-Water-Coffee-Concentrate-Brewer/dp/B0001GSSIO/

• Pharos Grinder
  
  
• Hario Cold Brewer
  
  
• Siphon and halogen heater
  
  
• A roaster
  
  
• Fat gift certificate or subscription to his favorite bean source
  
  
• Somebody on a coffee forum was making custom wood handles/knobs for espresso machines
  
  EDIT: Formatting, how does it work?

Google Kyoto drip tower, I have the one below:

http://www.amazon.com/Yama-Glass-Maker-Curved-Brown/dp/B002RL9DW6

It makes good cold brew or you can make your own with a good chem lab supply catalog.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

porcelain brewer

This one from Jennings

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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

i would imagine it might pull with less acid and if the filter is good less sediment than french so ima go smoother less gritty less acidic cup compared to french i mean it should be close to a Moka pot which to me is a similar method using Bernoulli's principle of fluid dynamics using heat to produce a pressure change and then taking away said heat but ya know coffee is about consistency if your timing is the same and temp the same on your french press you can just get different beans to change your cup but learning all the ways is good too if you wanna try it at home https://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Vacuum-Coffee-Maker-Black/dp/B00005NCX5

Get a chemex coffee pot. Coffee aficionados love it. Don't forget to buy the chemex filters with it (a bit more expensive, but worth it).
http://www.amazon.com/Chemex-Cup-Coffee-Maker-CM/dp/B000I1WP7W

ive got three Breville products. Espresso machine, Coffee grinder and a Juicer. All have this - they are solidly built.
However, the coffee grinder uses 3.1 watts all the time while it's plugged in such that the side of it is warm. There's no clock, no timer, nothing which merits drawing any current while not in use from what I can tell. So this finger pull plug works like a charm. I unplug it after every use and still going strong 6 years now. https://www.amazon.com/Breville-Grinder/dp/B000MDHH0Q

bro im not a ROK user but im replying to this post because of 2 reasons.. first reason is that i have heard only good things about this product.. and secondly and main reason of my reply was 130$ for a used ROK Espresso maker??

bro why dont you buy a new ROK Espresso Maker directly from ROK for $150

I can't speak to the quality but the Rok Presso is basically a cheaper hand pump machine. Although it lacks the heat source and a steam wand supposedly it can pull an actual shot.

Bodum makes a damn fine coffee, but maybe you need an all metal one eh? $25 to get you something a little less Fra-jee-lay Secura Stainless Steel French Press Coffee Maker 18/10 Bonus Stainless Steel Screen (1000ML) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JE36GLQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_49WvCbA4JTH5S

I use a half gallon mason jar for brewing and [melitta] (https://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Cone-Filter-Coffeemaker-1-Count/dp/B000MIT2OK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1500459437&sr=8-4&keywords=melitta%2Bpour%2Bover&th=1) to filter the grounds. The melitta makes for easy filtering to coffee pot and clean up is easy. Not sure how good of a job the nut bags contain silt. I filter twice and the paper filters do good job at removing the silt.

I was using a fine mesh strainer but after a couple washes the metal ring started getting rust so I tossed it.

Absolute best investment I've ever made:

https://www.amazon.com/Yama-Glass-Maker-Straight-Black/dp/B004EBUZ1A

We have a Rok and love it.

I love my behmor brazen plus.


http://www.amazon.com/Behmor-Brazen-Temperature-Control-Coffee/dp/B00PKEYY8U

Why? Are the hand presses like a ROK not espresso? What is the procedural differences between something like that and putting the same amount of pressure on an aeropress? If I can make a puck of the same grind of coffee and apply the same amount of pressure to it, why isn't that espresso? Is it the paper filter? Is there some mechanism of a real espresso maker that I'm not aware of? I honestly don't understand the difference.

So just curious: is there any real difference in what a Chemex makes and what this makes? Are all pour over devices created equally and the Chemex is just a fancy looking one?

There is a great Bodum 12 oz French press that I use to make single cups of coffee (about 10 oz water, 2 or 2 1/2 tbsp of coffee)

https://www.amazon.com/Bodum-BRAZIL-Coffee-Maker-French/dp/B00008WU9F

Ok thanks. I bought http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047Y0UQO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 .

This is the one I have. https://www.amazon.ca/Bonavita-BV1800-8-Cup-Coffee-Carafe/dp/B005YQZT92/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1488238735&sr=8-3&keywords=bonavita


I've been using it for nearly three years and it's been great.

I use this and it works great

Filtron is good as well.

>What's the advantage of electric?

Not having to spend 2 minutes cranking the thing every time you want coffee ;)

Under $150 you're looking at the Capresso Infinity, Baratza Encore and Breville BCG450. I can't vouch for the quality of any of these machines as I don't own any of them, though I did do some research into them as I was grinder-shopping fairly recently, and as long as you're not looking to grind espresso or turkish, any of those machines should do a pretty decent job (I ended up buying a Sunbeam em0480 as I wanted something capable of a passable espresso grind, but it's slightly outside your budget and, as far as I'm aware, not available outside Australia). That said, I'm far from a professional and I'd advise doing some research and reading some professional reviews before making any purchase, of course.

If you look at places like Kijiji you might find some used Breville machine...

Unless you are looking at manual espresso maker like Rok:

https://www.amazon.com/ROK-Presso-Manual-Espresso-Maker/dp/B00AV1E0GI

I had a similar problem at one point. You might not be so eager to fix this problem that you buy a new French press but a few months ago I got a stainless steel one (insulated) and it made all the difference.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JE36GLQ/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488200987&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

It's sometimes still too hot to drink after 4 minutes of steeping and blending. Added benefit of not being so fragile. I've broken my last 3 that were made of glass. This thing is super sturdy.

<$300 grinder recommendations specifically for French Press?

The particle size distribution on my current Breville sucks. I've read lots of recommendations on the Baratza Encore but I don't know whether or not that's for large particle size. Some other recommendations specifically for French Press included Bodum Bistro and Breville Smart Grinder.

Can anyone chime in? Do people think I'm silly for getting such an expensive grinder for such a "dirty" process such as French Press?

While it is certainly not the same as Gale's setup, you can always pick up this coffee maker.

Supposedly it makes a good cup, and it looks damn cool.

Amazon, my friend:

http://www.amazon.com/Yama-Northwest-Glass-32-Ounce-Coffee/dp/B004EBUZ1A

I've had my eye on one for some time. Can't quite justify it, though..

Manual lever espresso machines have been around for a very long time.

Some newer iterations you add the water manually (1), (2).

There are a plethora (3) of machines that have the boiler and sometimes a steam-wand built in. There are even new 5-figure versions still being introduced (4).

However, if you want to make your own, that would be an exciting challenge. I have seen a few cross-sections of machines that should get your brain off to the races (5), (6).

Get something like this. I use a plastic one, for convenience it is amazing, it just takes a #2 filter.

Buy a cone. It will last as long as you don't do anything stupid. No electronics to screw up. They come in plastic or ceramic. There are also multiple sizes for if you want a pot of coffee or a cup of coffee.

http://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Filter-Manual-Coffeemaker-1-Count/dp/B0000CFLCT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318016719&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Porcelain-Gourmet-Cup-Coffeemaker/dp/B000QY9YDY/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1318016490&sr=8-8

My electric kettle sits right next to said cone, and they are a very happy couple.

It's a small 3-cup Bodum french press. Perfect for storing in my desk at work.

this is at least the third time this has been posted in the past few days alone. at least the second time today. the consensus is that it is way overpriced, and is just composed of standard lab glassware with a fancy stand. many other nice options (yama) exist at half the price. i think the yamas look better too. (http://www.amazon.com/Yama-Northwest-Glass-32-Ounce-Coffee/dp/B004EBUZ1A?tag=duckduckgo-d-20)

Here's a summary of the good automatic drip machines.

If you can lower the "easy" threshold just a bit and give up the programmable timer feature, you can get very good coffee for under $250. Pick up a $70-$90 burr grinder and the well-reviewed (from the first link) Bonavita machine for $130.

I've had success with a Tea Stick while travelling. You can also use a 12oz French Press for tea in a pinch. The hardest part is TSA flagging your tea when they check your bags. Gunpowder green tea makes them freak.

This All-in-one Travel Tea Mug looks promising.

Melitta CM-10 Heritage Series 10-Cup Glass Carafe Pour-Over Coffee Maker, Grey https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B000MIT2OK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qblNDbVN33P79

It takes #6 filter, comes with 6 for free in the box

I guess if you had a hammer and some time you could break this one. Best French Press I’ve ever owned.

Secura Stainless Steel French Press Coffee Maker 18/10 Bonus Stainless Steel Screen (1000ML) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JE36GLQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_mTRTAb84THSMS

I don't really drink it for leisure or to slowly enjoy the taste. I do want a great tasting coffee but I also don't want to NOT like my coffee some day because I'm trying a bunch of types. I'm not big on surprises.

I just want to have good coffee and not worry. There's many more things to worry about.

I currently use this:

https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Barista-Brain-Coffee-Maker/dp/B00YEYKK8U

Where are you seeing 8-cup Classic for $40 + free shipping?

This is what I see: http://www.amazon.com/Chemex-8-Cup-Classic-Series-Coffeemaker/dp/B000I1WP7W

What do you think of this setup?

​

Gooseneck

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Baratza Encore

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Chemex

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Chemex Filter

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$304 shipped from Amazon.

​

Would this be a good intro to better coffee setup? I don't know if there's a more cost-efficient way to go, but this seems acceptable to me.

Immersion brewing with paper filters is my preferred way to make coffee. You get the longer extraction of immersion methods with the cleanness of a paper filtered method. You can also make a lot more coffee than you can with an Aeropress.

Here are two good devices for this:

https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-Wide-Porcelain-Immersion-Dripper/dp/B00MFJX7P4/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=bonavita+dripper&qid=1549779370&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Clever-Coffee-Dripper-CoastLine-Large/dp/B014JVOWB8/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=bonavita+dripper&qid=1549779395&s=gateway&sr=8-6

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Bonavita BV1800 8-Cup Coffee Maker No timer but it's better to grind right before you brew. I guess you can get an appliance timer.

I was looking at this just now https://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Vacuum-Coffee-Maker-Black/dp/B00005NCX5 looks pretty tasty

Careful. You might wind up like me & buy one of these before you realize you've gone too far.

I have the Harrio Manual coffee grinder (very similar to that Cuissinart grinder) and it's a bit of work but makes lovely coffee.

May have to throw the Cuisinart on my wishlist because I've avoided making coffee in my Italian stovetop percolator because the grinder is set for pour-overs in a dripper.

EDIT: Now I remember why I went with the Hario over the Cuisinart: The reviews on the Cuisinart say it grinds half as fast as the Hario.

Pourover is the brew method, which can be acheived with a variety of instruments. This particular one is a Hario V60, the most popular pourover brew method used in cafés.

Other common pourover brewers include (my favorite) the Chemex and Melitta Cone

I got my Zoji here on my desk. It's 1.75". The inner inset diameter of the bottom of the Bonavita was just large enough to not sit evenly with my thermos requiring me to buy a stand. Perhaps you have a different Bonavita model? What does the bottom of yours look like?

This is the bonavita I got: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFJX7P4/ref=sxr_rr_xsim_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3008523062&pd_rd_wg=HlA0g&pf_rd_r=Y1V7BVQT6NK4CK82G97B&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B00MFJX7P4&pd_rd_w=TaBwS&pf_rd_i=bonavita+brewer&pd_rd_r=FB72JJBNV1TNA8WA3YS1&ie=UTF8&qid=1496160730&sr=1

I only watched parts... But don't see how this is all that different from a method that has been used for decades: Bodum Pebo Vacuum Coffee Maker, 8 cup, 1.0 l, 34 oz., Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005NCX5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_f4ksxbTJW4P34

Interesting. How would you compare it to http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV1800-8-Cup-Coffee-Carafe/dp/B005YQZT92

I didn't want to do chemex or French press. Did a lot of research on /r/coffee and found the Bonavita to be the only "drip" that equally disperses water like a shower head and heats up to the correct temperature.

I think there really is limited options here.

I would suggest a plastic v60 for $8 would be a better next choice.

I have [this] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JVSVM36/ref=psdc_289745_t1_B004EBUZ1A) one and its a rather good cold brew. Doesn't break the bank either.

OXO Good Grips Cold Brew Coffee Maker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JVSVM36/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ClZqyb5JW6Z5K

One of the many coffee makers I own is a quality drip coffee maker. It’s like a V60 pour over built into a drip coffee maker. And you’ll stay in budget. You won’t be disappointed. Enjoy!

OXO BREW 9 Cup Coffee Maker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YEYKK8U/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_zLTHDb29QMTB6

Seconding the French press idea. You can get French presses of different sizes and use it to make different amounts.

I have this one and would recommend it.

What's your budget? Are you looking for a drip coffee maker?

Like this?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AV1E0GI

or this?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004S9G8

How do you like the cold brewer? I use this one

Also, go Clippers.

• Proper grind size (good conical burr grinder is needed - $80 minimum)
  
• Electric water kettle for proper temperature (~200 degrees F)
  
• Proper saturation (I use a manual drip coffee maker)
  
• Proper amount of coffee per cup (1.5-2 tablespoons per 6 ounces of water)
  
  Perfect cup of coffee every time. If it is too strong, cut the finished product with water or milk. Using less freshly ground coffee makes it more bitter.

Nm I found it. lol I would have never guessed Vacuum Brew would work.
Bodum Santos Stovetop Glass Vacuum 34-Ounce Coffee Maker

The OXO brewers are both on sale right now.

• OXO On Barista Brain 9 Cup Coffee Maker
  
• OXO On Barista Brain 12 Cup Coffee Maker with Removable Kettle
  
  Both are SCAA approved.

I basically just don't drink coffee at work anymore.

If you wanna be fancy, you could get something like this and a Mini Mill for work, if you can get hot water.

Does he like cold brew?

https://www.amazon.com/Yama-Glass-Maker-Straight-Black/dp/B004EBUZ1A

I'd recommend a used Gaggia Classic.

Or, since it's at the office and you probably aren't looking for expensive quality, the ROK might work for what you are looking for.

The Behmor Brazen Plus and Connected have that feature and are both SCA(A?) certified.

However, we generally recommend grinding right before brewing for maximum freshness. You can experiment and try grinding the night before and see whether the convenience outweighs the taste though.

I think we have that one at our office - not ideal - too much static cling, and ground coffee accumulates between the hopper/burrs and the container, so you have to bang/jostle the unit to clear all the grounds.

I have a Breville at home, and I think it is much better - almost zero static and doesn't accumulate as much grounds in the machine. I think it will also go finer than the Bodum. If price is substantially equal, no question I would take the Breville over the Bodum.

http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BCG450XL-Conical-Burr-Grinder/dp/B000MDHH0Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1412980633&sr=1-2&keywords=breville+grinder

so does anyone have one of these or have any insight? considering pulling the trigger at $129.

edit: glass carafe version is only $149 on amazon so this isn't an insane deal