Reddit mentions: The best manual coffee grinders

Well this is gonna get kinda long and will only scratch the surface but I'll break down the pros and cons of some of the most popular entry-level gear in as un-confusing of a way as I can. First up, let's look at grinders.

First off, you want a burr grinder, particularly a conical burr grinder because those blender-y blade grinders they sell at wal-mart for $5 don't get any kind of a consistent grind. Varying sizes in a grind means varying levels of extraction in the cup and that means off flavors. Because burr grinders are more expensive, hand crank conical burr grinders are commonly recommended to beginners because of their lower price point compared to similar quality electrics. They're cheap and work well but do have some drawbacks beyond the extra effort involved in grinding. First, most of them don't have actual grind settings and you adjust the grind size by twisting a wheel until it looks as fine/coarse as you want it to. If you use different brew methods and switch grind size a lot, this can be a bit of a pain. Second, most hand grinders aren't ideal for french press because of the way the burrs are stabilized; they'll give fantastic fine/medium grinds but the coarse grind is a tad inconsistent. That said, I use a hand grinder for french press all the time and am relatively happy with the results. A few common ones are:

The Hario Skerton. I personally have one and love it. As I said, not perfect for french press but it's a durable daily driver that never lets me down and can do an espresso grind damn near as well as a $300 baratza

The hario mini is essentially the same grinder in a different, smaller package. Perfect for travel

The porlex JP-30 is a tad more expensive but has grind settings that, while unmarked, do "click" into place making adjusting grind coarseness a bit easier


If you wanted to go the electric route, I've seen refurbished Baratza encore grinders for around $100. This will give you a mediocre espresso grind but a perfect and much easier drip and french press grind


Next up: preparation methods

French presses use a metal mesh filter, which gives you all of the oils in the cup and lets a tiny bit of really fine coffee solids through, which gives the cup a rich, full-bodied, velvety character They're also very easy to use as there's pretty much one accepted way to brew in them. And here's Philly's own Todd Carmichael demonstrating it. As far as which one to buy, they're all pretty much the same: a glass tube with a stick in it and some mesh on the end of the stick. I like my sterlingpro a lot but the bodum chambord is hugely popular and looks just as nice. Even a cheapo will do the job just as well, though, even if it doesn't look as nice.

pourovers do essentially the same thing as a drip coffee machine just with a lot more input from you, which is good because all but the most ludicrously expensive drip machines are very inconsistent and don't work as well as just doing it your own damn self. With a pourover, you're going to use a kettle or measuring cup with a spout to pour the water over the grounds in a set amount of time (3-4 minutes depending on the grind size) and usually in a very specific manner. Because these use a paper filter, there are no oils or insoluble solids in the cup so the coffee is clearer, tastes cleaner and usually a bit brighter than french press coffee. Popular models include the Hario v60 which is one of the more finicky models. If you decide on one of these, be sure to use a gooseneck kettle like Mr. Carmichael was using in the french press video above. Slightly more forgiving are the kalita wave and the melitta both of which would work fine with a normal kettle so long as it has some type of pour spout. If you want something with very thick filters, so as to produce a very clear cup, and also looks very nice, the chemex is a beautiful thing that produces great coffee, has a built-in carafe, and can make more than one cup at a time. Really more of a replacement for a large-volume drip machine than most pourovers.

The Aeropress is an absurdly popular, extremely versatile, and very well priced coffee brewer which is essentially a huge syringe with a paper filter instead of a needle. There's a thousand recipes online with different ways to use it, all of which produce a different cup.



Also worth noting is that you may want a kettle with temperature control, coffee should be brewed at 195-205F, so knowing what temp your water is helps reduce a lot of the headaches of cooling off boiled water for a vague amount of time. This bonavita is a little on the pricey side but has temp control and a gooseneck, which is always useful

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)

This won't be 100% relevant but I already have it typed so I'mma just copy paste it here and make some notes at the end:

>Well here's the thing about coffee, it's finicky stuff. Much moreso than most Americans would give it credit for. Automatic machines like you have can deliver quality coffee, but unless the one you have cost $200 or more, it won't really be up to the task of making cafe quality coffee. If you want coffee of the same quality (or even better) you'd find at a cafe, you're going to have to know a couple things. Don't worry, I'll tl;dr this with a few specifics at the end, but right now I'm going to go over the things that affect how coffee tastes:

>Bean quality: probably the most esoteric and taste-dependent part of coffee, it's not much worth getting into grading, processing, etc, just suffice it to say that folger's is definitely not using top-rate beans and they're mixing robusta (high caffeine, very bitter) in with arabica (moderate caffeine, much better flavor), whereas a decent coffee shop is using 100% arabica

>Freshness: Coffee goes stale quick and the flavors dull within about three weeks, a month tops after roasting. Those mass market beans are months old by the time you get them off the shelf. The good news is that there's almost definitely a roaster near you who sells decent beans that are nice and fresh roasted. The bad news is that the cheapest decent coffee you'll find is ~$10/lb most places.

>Grind: piggybacking on my last point, coffee, even when sealed in those cans, goes stale VERY fast after being ground (like, within an hour), so buy whole bean and grind it yourself right before brewing

>Grind consistency: if the grind isn't uniform, the coffee won't extract evenly and will taste off. The normal blade grinders you think of when you think "coffee grinder" won't work, you'll need a burr grinder, whether hand crank or electric. Doesn't have to be fancy but it does have to be a burr grinder

>Brew ratio: coffee will optimally be brewed (for most methods) with 16 or 17g of water (a fat tablespoon) for each gram of coffee. You can guestimate it but digital kitchen scales that read in grams can be had for dirt cheap on amazon. IME people who don't know about brewing coffee tend to use way too little coffee for the amount they brew. This extracts too much from the grounds and makes it watery and bitter

>Brew time: each method has its own ideal brew time but for most, like pourover or french press, ~4 minutes is optimal

>Water temperature: Coffee should ideally be brewed between 195-205Fthis is where the vast majority of home drip machines fail, the reason that /r/coffee approved drip machines start off at like $200 is that they have big, heavy copper heaters that can reach ideal brew temp, most drip machines have crummy weak heating coils that end up brewing at lower temperatures and making the coffee taste flat and sour.

>#TL;DR
I know this seems overwhelming, so I'll give you a nice, easy starter kit and instructions how to use it to get you started. And I know you said your bank account was getting crushed, so I'll make this nice and wallet-friendly

>For a grinder, go with either this manual one which has the advantage of being really cheap and producing decent grinds, but will take some effort to grind your coffee (2-3 minutes) and setting the grind size can be a pain, or if you want to spend a little bit more and get an electric, go for this one, it's not the greatest in the world but for a starting point it works ok and it's darn cheap.

>You can either keep brewing with your auto drip or, if you're still not satisfied, get a french press. They're crazy easy to use (weigh coffee, put in press. Place press on scale and tare. Pour in water. wait four minutes. drink), and they can be had for damn cheap

>Then find someone who roasts coffee near you, get some beans, and enjoy!

>Anyway sorry to bombard you with the wall of text but coffee's a complicated thing and we're hobbyists (and snobs) around here. Hope that helps! Feel free to ask more questions

>EDIT: forgot to add in Todd Carmichael's awesome instruction video for the french press.


If you're brewing for one, though, I'd look at the Aeropress, the learning curve is a bit steeper than FP but it makes wicked good coffee, is extremely versatile, and (my favorite part) cleanup is super quick and easy. And if you're willing to shell out a little more for a grinder take a peek at the Baratza encore.

EDIT: link to the aeropress and just one of many, many recipes for it. I actually used that recipe just last night and it came out fantastic. Might make myself one right now, actually...

Don't listen to the Aeropress people (like me). They're a cult. ;-)

J/K (sorta) . . . but if his general aesthetic shies away from the modern, he may use it quite rarely. I love my Aeropress, but it still feels all "modern and plastic" to me, and there are times I just don't want my coffee to involve anything modern or plastic, so I leave it in the cabinet and reach for my Chemex or French press.

In general, for any hobby, I recommend the things that are both the most useful and the least specific.

I honestly wouldn't get him any brewing device, since he's still at the stage where he's learning what he likes. If he decides he doesn't like an Aeropress or a V60 or a Chemex or anything else we like, it'll never be used. However, a good kettle, a good scale, and a good grinder are all very versatile (he can use them immediately with his press) and very non-specific (he can use them with any brewing method he settles on).

My recommendations are:

1. Hario Slim or Hario Skerton hand grinder, depending on whether you think being small for travel or large for serving more than two people will be more important to him.
   
2. Bonavita electronic kettle to enable him to brew any temperature he wants, for any brewing method he wants. The gooseneck spout is really important if he ends up liking manual pourover methods, too, even though it's more expensive than the plain kettle. (Versatility, and all that.)
   
3. Any of the scales recommended in the brew guide: weighing both the coffee and the water become very important the more into coffee fanaticism you get. :-)
   
   You're right to leave the beans out of your calculations. Besides being entirely a matter of taste, it goes stale very quickly (a month old is pushing it). Though a gift certificate to a local coffee roaster wouldn't be amiss!
   
   I'm not sure what your price range is, but since you say that a nice mug was one option, I'm going to guess it's $30 or less. In that case, probably the hand grinder or the scale are your most likely options. Either of them will be something he'll use forever (regardless of what brewing methods he ends up liking), and will be a great contribution to his hobby.
   
   (Also, my gf just asked me, "So what are you telling her?" Maybe I can spin this for some good gear for me too! :-D )
   
   Edit: As far as the scale goes, a cheap electronic scale from Harbor Freight in the $15 range is perfectly serviceable (and in fact, I use one from there at work). You're looking for hundredths of an ounce or tenths of a gram precision.

Ok I am going to try to answer every question

1. 100% worth it. The difference in taste is indescribable. With a good burr grinder and an aero press the coffee will be immeasurably better. And, you can measure a system were it will take you maybe 5 minutes, tops. Heck, you can even pre measure the water and coffee the night before if you need to save time.
   
   
2. This is hard to answer since everyone's choices are different. I have never seen a mug recommend on here that I loved, they always seem to be really tacky in my opinion, I guess I just don't like novelty mugs. One thing that is mostly a safe bet is going to a local roaster or a good roster online and buying there branded mugs, a lot of those are really cool. This one from Kickapoo Roatsers is really cool for instance. A lot of stump towns diner mugs are really nice.In addition, A lot of these are really unique, albeit pricy. But these are all personal preferences, find what you like.
   
   
3. Starbucks is very contervesial on this subreddit. What follows here is my personal opinion. First, if there is a Starbucks that sells reserve near you, you are in luck because those bags are mostly quite good. The problem with most of Starbucks roasts is that they are so dark most are undrinkable, as lighter roasts typically bring out the natural flavors in coffee. The only semi good ones are there "light" or "blond" roasts, and even then those are pretty average. Some of there single origin, like the (now out of season) Guatemalan Casi Cielo were decent quality. I would first try out local roasters with actually freshly roasted beans, and if there are absolutely none with some good freshly roasted beans near you, then online would be a good place to start. Try some of the big (all good) ones like blue bottle, intelligentsia, or stump town. One I don't see recommended on here a lot is La Colombe, which is quite delicious, I loved there Hatian.
   
   Lastly, and most importantly, BUY A GOOD BURR GRINDER. Freshly ground truly does make all the difference. A good starter is the Hario Skerton availiable on Amazon, or a Hario mini mill, also on Amazon.
   
   I hope this helps! Good luck man!

What's your budget? That's going to make a difference in what gets recommended. If you can only spend $100 vs $500 there are going to be some compromises that you'll have to make, especially when it comes to the grinder.

Scale:

• This basic scale does not include a timer, but you could just use your phone or something https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004C3CAB8
  
  
• This scale comes with a timer and some advanced features https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3U7RKH
  
  
• The Acaia scales are the top-notch pro-level deal which don't really add much compared to the Brewista scale, but people like them. https://www.amazon.com/s/ie=UTF8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Acaia
  
  Burr Grinder:
  
  
• Most basic hand grinder that will give you the least amount of problems for the price: https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Skerton-Coffee-Grinder-Black/dp/B01MXJI90S
  
  
• Jump on up to the AerGrind, Feld2, Lido, Helor 101, Kinu M47, Commandante... these hand grinders are top-notch and a great value, giving the best quality grind until you hit the $500-600 price.
  
  
• If you want to go electric, don't get anything less than the Encore which you can get refurb for $100. It won't be as good of a grind as the better hand grinders, but it's a great grinder for the price.
  
  Pour over cone:
  
  
• I really can't recommend anything other than the V60. I don't see an advantage to the Wave or Chemex. They all make the same quality level of coffee, but the Wave filters can be annoying, the Chemex filters are extra thick and you may not care for it, and both Wave and Chemex are more expensive. Get the $5 plastic V60-02 and some white filters for $10 and you're set. Or you can get a fancier glass or metal one if you want. Get a server/carafe if you plan on making that much coffee but it can just sit on a mug. If you want to try the Chemex filters, they fit in the V60-02 or V60-03. If you want to try cloth or metal filters, there are options that fit in the V60's.
  
  Gooseneck Kettle
  
  
• Bonavita Variable Temp is perfectly fine but not amazing quality; mine has lasted a couple years just fine but I can't use my well water in it because it rusts it due to high sodium levels... also it tends to heat the water too much if I don't have at least a pint in it (I often don't). It's not too annoying though, just be aware it's not perfect but is good for the price https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV382510V-Variable-Temperature-Gooseneck/dp/B005YR0F40
  
  
• The Oxo kettle would be the competitor at that price, which I haven't used but it's worth looking at reviews for it https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Adjustable-Temperature-Electric-Pour-Over/dp/B074KHPS7F/
  
  
• For a cheaper kettle option you'd have to go stovetop. Hario Buono is a good one for that.
  
  
• A desirable kettle if you can afford it is the Fellow Stagg EKG.
  
  
  Prioritize the grinder and make that the most expensive part of your setup. You can easily deal with a $10 scale, $5 pour over cone, $35 kettle, but a grinder that is $25 vs $50 vs $150 will make a huge difference in not just the taste quality of your coffee but the more expensive grinders will also reduce your frustration level by giving you less fines and more even grinds so it will be easier to hit the brew times, taste notes, and reduce the bitterness.

I think to best answer this request, we'll need a bit more info. Are you ok with a manual grinder, or do you prefer an electric grinder? Do you want a drip brewer or a pour over set up? Are you looking to get into espresso? And, what is your actual budget in your local currency?

And now for a guess at what might work for you...

A [Melitta Plastic Pour Over Dripper](https://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Ready-Single-Coffee-Brewer/dp/B0014CVEH6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527536804&sr=8-1&keywords=mellita) $5 to $6 (a lot of grocery stores carry these in stock)

A box of #2 Cone filters at your local grocery store $2

If you want an automatic drip brewer, and you are making smaller amounts for just you, the [Bonavita 5 cup](https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV1500TS-Carafe-Coffee-Stainless/dp/B00SK5IXPQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1527537674&sr=8-4&keywords=bonavita+brewer) is wroth a look. it runs about $66. I have the 8 cup for the wife and I and we love it.

Filters can be purchased, again, at your local grocery store for about $2.

[Brewista SmartPour Kettle w. Thermometer](https://www.amazon.com/Brewista-Variable-Temperature-Kettle-BKV12S02NA/dp/B01CFBBUVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527537033&sr=8-1&keywords=brewista%2Bsmart%2Bpour&th=1) $40. There are cheaper ones, but I personally have this one and have loved it.

[Scale](https://www.amazon.com/Jennings-CJ-4000-Compact-Digital-Adapter/dp/B004C3CAB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527537139&sr=8-1&keywords=Jennings+CJ4000) This is a must. $30

[Bratza Encore](https://www.amazon.com/Baratza-Encore-Conical-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B007F183LK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1527537371&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=baratza+encore&psc=1&smid=A302OQK4GZWXCC) Grinder is the default recommendation around here, and for good reason. It's high quality, and easily serviceable. New they run $139, but you can save $40 and pick up a [refurb](https://www.baratza.com/product/encore-refurb/) (still with the 1 year warrantee) for $99 direct from Baratza.

If you want a cheaper option, and don't mind a manual hand grinder, there are a few options, but the [Hario Skerton Pro](https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Skerton-Ceramic-Grinder-MMCS-2B/dp/B01MXJI90S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527537536&sr=8-1&keywords=hario+skerton+pro) is about the lowest cost / still decent quality grinders, grinder that most would recommend. It runs about $60, and personally, I'd spend the extra $30 on an Encore refurb.

Happy Mug Beans are a pretty great option. I really enjoy the Big Foot Espresso blend (despite it's name) as a pour over, and even like it in my drip brewer. The Inspirational Artist Blend is a great option too. But really just try them out and see what you like. Their bags (for 1lbs of whole beans) run $11 - $13

Hope that helps.

To answer your question, the strength of your coffee is mostly influenced by how much coffee you're using versus how much water. For a strong cup with your Keurig, go with the setting with the smallest amount of water. The Keurig is by no means the "best" method to make coffee, but it will make coffee. If you decide to get a manual brewer (French press, Aeropress, Kalita Wave, etc.) the brew time has some leeway, but I'd recommend just using more coffee than trying to push the recommended brew time too far. Coffee can/should be strong without being bitter, and keeping the water and coffee together too long will create bitterness.


What follows is everything you need to know about making great coffee. Warning, this may be overwhelming:

1. Freshly ground coffee is going to taste better. Consider coffee like bread. A loaf left on the counter will get stale faster if you slice it up. Freshly roasted is better, but it might be more expensive/harder for you to find and you might not want to dive that deep yet.
   
2. Conical burr grinders are better than blade grinders. The problem is that a decent automatic burr grinder is going to be ~$100 and that's a steep price for someone just getting into coffee. Many people will recommend the mini mill, Skerton, or something along those lines that is hand-crank. (Good non-name brand options: 1 and 2) Those are your best bet. Although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, you can get an automatic blade grinder if you might have an issue with manual grinding/don't want to drop a lot of money. I will mention that darker roasts are easier to grind manually so there's less worry for your wrist. The problem with blade grinders is you get a bunch of differently sized bits, which makes it more difficult to get consistency and figure out a grind size/brew time you like.
   
3. Each method of brewing calls for a differently sized grind. This is pretty important. If it's too small, you'll get a bitter cup. If it's too big, you'll get a sour cup. The same goes for brew time. Too long will make a bitter cup, and too short will make a sour cup. However, there's some leeway on both of these to your taste.
   
4. There are a bunch of ways to make coffee that change how it tastes. Methods that involve filtering through paper make a cleaner cup, but you lose most of the oils in the coffee. Metal filters leave in these oils, but can also leave a lot of sediment/mud in the bottom of your cup. You might drink this if you drink that last sip, and it isn't really nice.
   
5. Weighing your coffee is much more accurate if you want to make a consistent cup. A tablespoon of a darker roast might be 5 grams while a tablespoon of a lighter roast might be 7 grams.
   
6. You'll need something to boil water in. If you have a kettle, great. If you don't, you can use a pan or you can buy a kettle. It doesn't need to be a fancy/expensive gooseneck-style one (1 and 2), but you might want one of those if you get into pourover methods.
   
   I would recommend a French press (1 2 3 4) or Aeropress for someone just getting into coffee. They're much more forgiving than pour-over methods, meaning you're less likely to make a bitter cup. They each have their own drawbacks, too. An Aeropress is easier to clean up, but can only make one cup at a time. A French press takes more time to clean, but can make about 3 cups at a time. (By cups I mean a standard 12-ounce mug.) Definitely get a grinder, too (see above). A scale (1 and 2) is optional but recommended. For beans, seek out a local roaster/coffee shop, but there are tons of online options available, too.
   
   Welcome to the wonderful (and sometimes crazy) world of coffee!

I like a good hand-crank one. My Porlex Mini is ceramic burr and perfectly fits 26g of beans so it's ideal for me and getting the one shot. I bought it for camping but now I use it daily because it's actually a pretty great feeling to grind it yourself. Been using it every day for almost a year with only good things to say about it. It was $50 on Amazon, plus shipping. There's also a larger variety.

As for electric ones, I think you'll be looking at one in the $100-150 range like the Baratza Encore to get something that will be consistent as well as not wear out in a year like many other grinders do after the first few hundred uses.There are better versions of the Baratza that are good enough to be used in small Cafes that may better suit your needs. Do some searches in r/Coffee and there's probably some good choices there. I found for my use (Moka pot/Aeropress) that my hand crank works best and that I don't need a big grinder. The few sub $100 that I have owned never lasted longer than a year, and were inconsistent and eventually simply unable to work at all due to the lower quality grinders cutting the beans rather than truly grinding them.

I will also put in my +1 for Caffe Fantastico beans. The Ethiopia Kaffa Forest beans are wonderful.

Grocery stores I'd say

• Kicking Horse
  
• Level Ground
  
• Saltspring Island

Hi David! Huge fan of your show, btw.

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If you want something simple, go with a Rancilio Silvia, which you can find here. https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/rancilio-silvia-espresso-machine-version-m. It’s not as high tech as something that Saeco or La Marzocco would put out but when paired with a Rancilio Rocky grinder they are a great duo worth their price.

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On the higher end of the price range, the Saeco Superautomatic Xelsis is literally all you will ever need. Anecdata here: a close friend of mine uses it, and it's great. It's fully digitized, it's smaller, it looks great, and the performance is second to none for home espresso IMO. https://www.amazon.com/Saeco-SM7684-04-Automatic-Espresso/dp/B07G3XYR3R. ($2,399)

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My personal espresso machine I have used for the past 5 years is a Gaggia Classic Semi-auto espresso maker. I can't find it on amazon, however the Gaggia Anima is very similar and actually a bit better than mine. https://www.amazon.com/Gaggia-Automatic-Macchiato-Cappuccino-Programmable/dp/B016RYODRS/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=gaggia+classic&qid=1558640715&s=home-garden&sr=1-4 ($899)

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As for grinders, I would definitely recommend getting an automated burr grinder. I personally hand grind my coffee just because I like the control it gives you, but it is time consuming. If you want a good hand grinder, start with the Hario Skerton. https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Skerton-Ceramic-Coffee-Mill/dp/B001802PIQ/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=hario+skerton&qid=1558640805&s=home-garden&sr=1-2 ($40)

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For an automated grinder, I would start with the Baratza Virtuoso. It's roughly $250 USD and the quality is up there

Lots of good advice here already but I'll throw in my two cents.

I use a Rhinoware hand grinder for my aeropress. It's small, lightweight and stainless steel. I bought it primarily because I needed it for travel, taking to work etc. It's very affordable (https://www.amazon.com/BrewGlobal-Rhinoware-Coffee-Stainless-RWHANDGRINDER/dp/B00M0NS8A4) and from the research I did at the time was equivalent to the Porlex which others have mentioned. If I recall it was a toss up between the two but I picked up the Rhinoware on a good deal at a local coffeeshop. Anyway, I've had it for over 2 years and it is still working fine with daily use. I think for your use something like this or the Porlex would be the way to go. It should be pretty clear from other commentators that these grinders are entry level - you can make a decent cup with them but you're not going to be entering competitions or anything.

It sounds like you're at a point where you want to improve your coffee game and I think gradual steps is the way it works with most people. I'm the same - I started messing around with an aeropress using preground supermarket beans, then using better beans and a home grinder, then a burr grinder with scales etc. I'm now at the point where I'm ready to invest in a better grinder and some more equipment to refine things. I'm happy at this pace. Plus my wife would slap me around the head if I dropped a car payment on a hand grinder 😀. Do some research and go with what you're comfortable with.

Thanks for the update. That's plenty of money to start.

The two big things you can do to drastically improve your cup is 1.) fresh WHOLE coffee beans (check the roast date); none of that pre-ground stuff. If you are looking for speed and cheap this is a decent grinder that will meet your needs, however if you have the time, (effort) and want to do it right. I would strongly recommend something like this. It is a burr grinder and will give you MUCH better results (rather than chopping beans you are actually grinding them. Burr grinder = squeezing out the best aromas and flavor into your coffee). You can buy one for ~$40 (along with ~$30 for a decent french press).. Get the beans whole and grind them before each use (two scoops of coffee per 6 ounces of water); don't let the beans sit for more than a month. They lose freshness and aroma/taste each day after it's been opened. 2.) use good water. You don't have to use bottled, Brita is fine or tap if you have good water.

and that's it. From there you can explore the types of roast you like, the different regions, blends, etc since you will be making consistent coffee each time this way (very few variables unlike many of the methods of brewing- but hey, isn't that half the fun? Although most would suggest getting a scale right away, I would recommend holding off. A scale can then help you fine tune your technique, but is IMHO a bit too complicated to start with. Instead, I would take the money saved and check out some good coffee shops in your area, particularly ones that roast their own coffee. You'll quickly learn what you like and what you don't.

Good luck, have fun and feel free to msg me if you have anymore questions.

Also: you can try to adjust the grind for the strength of your coffee (to taste). More fine = stronger. More coarse = less strong. That will affect not just the strength, but also the body and "mouth feel" of the coffee (if you do go with a french press, you want a "coarse" grind).

If you're in Salt Lake, there are a lot of good coffee shops up there! My favorites are Publik, Coffee Garden, and Raw Bean Coffee. All three of those shops have some very good coffee. Google is your best friend, if you do some searching you'll come across a lot of super good coffee shops.

I haven't personally tried any local beans, but I know Publik has some great stuff. As far as making your own coffee - I'm partial to the Hario V60, but a French Press or Aeropress are also great. If you want something that makes more coffee, you could pick up a chemex. I've owned all four of those, they're fairly simple and they all make great coffee. I personally use a hand burr grinder that cost $24, here's a link for you. It's nothing super special, but it works for what I use it for. You probably wouldn't want to use it for espresso, but I find that it works great for pourover/french press coffee. The grind is a little inconsistent, but I've still been able to get great results.

As far as ordering beans, I always go through Happy Mug. I've ordered a lot through them, and their stuff has never let me down. Their prices are great, and they have $3 flat rate shipping that takes 2-3 days to get to me. I usually order 3 half-pound bags at a time, those will last me about a month personally. I haven't really branched out past Happy Mug because I've been so happy with what I've received from them, but I know there are plenty of other places to buy from. If you do some searching on this sub you can find a lot of info about online vendors.

Honestly, the easiest way to start is probably an Aeropress and a decent kettle. Get a gooseneck early, then you won't have to buy a second kettle later if you decide to start playing with pour-overs. If you want to make boiling water a little more passive, get an electric one. I have this one and it works like a charm.

Another cheap starter option for brewing is the V60 and its various clones. The original is plastic, but this one is ceramic and only $20. It takes some practice to get pour-overs just right, but it's worth it. And for $20, it's not a bad way to give it a shot or just to have in your collection.

Grinders are a whole discussion. I have a Baratza Encore that I really like. It's easy to maintain and Baratza's support was pretty good to me when I needed them. If you want to go a little cheaper, you might consider a Skerton or Mini Mill.

For beans, have fun. There are a ton of places to get decent beans, and part of the fun is finding new places. There are a number of redditors that roast and will probably sell beans to you if you like. (Including me!) I would suggest some, but I actually skipped this part and went straight to roasting.

EDIT: Oh, and good luck. You're opening a door to a rabbit hole, now.

After much experimentation, you have a few options:

1. On-campus
   

• EngSoc C&D: Though not world-class, the coffee is very inexpensive. It runs at about $1 per cup. It's less if you bring your own mug. A++ would recommend if caffeine boost is all you need. Cash only. Profits go to Engsoc.
  
• Mathsoc C&D: Similar quality to the EngSoc C&D, and around the same price as the EngSoc C&D. Cash, Debit, and Visa. Profits go toward C&D improvements (furniture & appliances).
  
• Science C&D: I've only stopped by once while it was open, and didn't buy coffee :(. Cash only. I assume profits fund SciSoc.
  
• ENV C&D: I've heard amazing things about the C&D, and it seems like it's run very well. Similar to Science, I've never had a chance to stop by, but will try to this term. They seem to be very entrepreneurial, and are one of the few non-school-run places on campus to offer catering (of limited size). Unsurprisingly, things are green/fair trade. Cash only. Profits go to improving the C&D.
  
• Arts C&D: I've never seen it open. ¯\(ツ)/¯
  
• UW Food Services (Various Locations): Coffee is consistent, both in high-prices and low-quality. Cash & Watcard everywhere, debit in some places. Profits go to the school.
  
• Williams, EV3: I've never ordered a latte, but they probably serve them here. Expect worse service & selection than the off-campus Williams, with prices ≥ off-campus. If you're choosing this, just walk to the plaza for less expensive food and improved service. They take cash, watcard, (and probably debit).
  
• 24H News, SLC: "Emergency Coffee" - don't bother, unless it's really necessary, and everywhere else is closed.
  
• Turnkey Desk, SLC: This is "Emergency Coffee" - don't bother, unless it's an emergency. Choose 24H News over Turnkey.
  
• Tim Hortons (Various Locations): Going to skip this, since it's probably well known to you.
  
  

2. Selected off-campus locations:
   

• Sweet Dreams: Despite being a tea shop, they have well-priced coffee, and awesome employees. Expect to wait a bit longer, since there's usually a line, and they use a french-press to brew the coffee after you order :'). They take cash/visa, and probably watcard.
  
• Williams, Plaza: Miles better than the one in EV3. They have better food selection than the on-campus location. Cash/visa/watcard are all accepted.
  
• Mel's Diner: Their coffee is ok, but they refill it as long as you continue to eat.
  
• DVLB: I've only been for scotch, but something tells me that I'll be holed up at DVLB for a few afternoons this term. It's a nice place to be, and they (apparently) have wifi.
  
• Second Cup: There's a second cup in the plaza. A friend worked there once, and swore to never go back. They may have what you want, but idk.
  
• Starbucks: There's a starbucks at Uni & King. Starbucks is Starbucks is Starbucks.
  
  Many places off-campus & within a reasonable walk serve coffee, but I don't know of any other notable options.
  
  At home, I use an incredibly inexpensive coffee maker: Aerobie Aeropress, with a Hario Hand Mill, both of which are highly-recommended by /r/coffee. I haven't been able to find an amazing place to buy unground coffee beans near campus yet, and I tend to buy beans when in Toronto.
  
  Hope this helps.

I would advice against buying that electric grinder. It won't be very good and pretty hard to make consistent tasting coffee with.

This one uses blades. Blades to grind coffee is like using a rock to cut vegetables. Yes it gets "the job done" but with a lot of compromise.

Blade grinders (as opposed to burr grinders) are unable to grind coffee in consistent size particles. Meaning hot water won't extract your coffee evenly. Which makes a huge difference.

Cheapest "good" hand grinder is the Hario Skerton or Hario Mini Mill. A step up from that is the Porlex Mini which offers a bit better grind quality, alluminium instead of plastic, and fits inside the aeropress.

If you want to go electric the cheapest good option is this Bodum grinder but at that point you might as well go with the Baratza Encore which is a great iconic grinder that is a great grinder for everything up to espresso.

Manual grinding isn't too bad. If you enjoy "the ritual". Grinding for the Aeropress takes about 1 minute. The thing is, if you want to start brewing more, for say French Press or V60, you really want to invest in an electric grinder. Because grinding for 4 cups of coffee by hand suuuucks! Also, early in the morning, you really appreciate an electric grinder.

Ideal is to have both. But I know that's kinda crazy. Electric at home, manual for at work/while travelling.

Hey there! I am also from Ohio! I'll give you two answers.

Cheapest possible way to get into it is a whirly blade grinder and a french press. No filters needed, just fresh ground coffee made rather quickly and easily. This was my first ever coffee set up, and really got me into drinking better coffee. If you tell me what city in Ohio you are closest to I will give you a recommendation on a local roaster to get beans from. Buying locally from a reputable roaster will be the best option for quality beans for a good price.

​

The other answer, is to buy nice or buy twice. After using the above set up for a few months I was hooked and decided to upgrade everything. So I will send you some options for the cheapest way to make specialty level coffee. For this I would look at a nicer grinder and a pour over. While hand grinders are great, almost everyone upgrades to an electric one. The linked options there are my favorite for the money. The electric model from baratza can be found refurbished on their website from time to time for addtional savings.

The next thing you'll need is a pour over and a kettle to pour with. I recommend a Chemexhere as they are good for serving one to three cups comfortably. I recommended a glass handle chemex because they are beautiful, but wood necked models are a little cheaper. I would get the white square filters with it as they impart less papery flavor. As for a kettle you have a ton of options. I am going to link a budget electric kettle as I find the stovetop models to be more of a hassle.

​

As for healthy sweeteners, brewing it well I hope you won't need them as much, which would be the healthiest. But whole milk and stevia in the raw are your best healthy fixins.

​

Hope this is helpful! Happy brewing and welcome to the fam!

Better coffee helps. I've been drinking my coffee like a cowboy for quite a while now, and don't ever think twice about it anymore. But if I'm stuck with shit (like the crap you find in hotels) I'll throw a bit of sugar in there.

If you haven't already, start making your coffee at home. You'll not only save money, but your coffee can be exponentially better than what you can get at Starbucks (Who overroasts the shit out of their beans, resulting in cups that taste burnt.)

Buy a hand burr grinder and a French Press, and start buying fresh roasted beans from a local shop.

I own this grinder, and love it.

If you don't have an independent shop around, online companies like Intelligentsia ship amazing coffee out at what can be called reasonable prices. I never buy more than a pound at a time. Keep your beans airtight and in a dark, cool place.

Never grind your beans until right before brewing, as grounds begin to go stale after twenty minutes. For French Press, you'll want to use a coarser grind.

Try out different blends until you find something tasty, and gradually subtract creamers and sweeteners until you're in the black. I've converted more friends than I can count to black coffee simply by giving them something truly fresh.

I don't know about that manufacturer for the grinder, but most people haven't had great luck with similar types. There are lots of reports of them breaking or being of inconsistent build quality. Almost universally on this sub, people recommend hario for introductory grinders (sub 30$) and nothing else. It should be noted that non-coffee enthusiasts may quickly tire of manually grinding their coffee. And imo, while freshly grounded is superior, many may feel that increase in quality not worth the extra effort. you know your dad. he may be one of these people. in which case, a manual grinder might only just take up space.

french press seems good. it's pretty! It'll be a full bodied murky coffee because there isn't a paper filter. A cleaner coffee can be achieved via a v60 cone or aeropress like you were thinking about. This is all up for preference and i will note that the cost of filters is near negligible. It comes down to like a nickle per brew. As for cleaning, the aeropress is slightly more annoying to clean and dry than a cone, but it's not that troublesome.

As for the beans, i have no idea. i'm a part of the camp that believes the process is superior to the materials. So, so long as it isn't bad, then it should be good. And accordingly, I buy bargain bin beans because i don't care. They taste good enough for me. But some of my friends believe in only single origin beans from an expensive and artisan roaster like blue bottle. I don't think either of us is wrong. again: just preference.

all in all, looks decent. hope he enjoys the gifts!

When buying new gear like this, I often find it worthwhile to buy the good stuff from the beginning. It'll cost more upfront, but in the long run you save money by not sinking it into gear that you're just going to upgrade away from. I know you're looking for a starter kit, so I'll outline some entry level stuff and then some recommended upgrades.

For a burr grinder, a decent entry level manual grinder is the Hario Skerton. One complaint with this is inconsistent coarse grind size, which is what you'll be using with a French Press. Orphan Espresso makes an upgrade kit that fixes this problem, but personally I feel that if you're going to spend $40 on the Skerton and $15 on the upgrade kit, you should just spend a few more bucks and get something like the Capresso Infinity. This grinder is going to be way more convenient, versatile, and consistent than the hand grinder. For one last option, there's the Baratza Encore. This is probably the best grinder you'd want for French Press, because anything better / more expensive would just be overkill as they're primarily aimed at espresso.

The Press itself isn't too important. Bodum is usually the recommended brand.

You'll also need a way to heat water. You could go with a stovetop kettle, but I think electric kettles are more convenient, and are roughly the same price anyway. You can get a pretty standard one for less than $25. But getting a gooseneck kettle is going to help control your pour better and ensure the coffee grounds are completely saturated. If you don't want to worry about getting the perfect temperature for brewing, a variable temperature kettle will take care of it for you.

Other than that, you might want a kitchen scale to get the right coffee-to-water ratio, and a thermometer to check your water temperature.

Gooseneck kettle is a must for pour overs if that's what you see in your future! I have the Bonavita 1L electric kettle. Looking back, I would have invested in the more expensive version that lets you vary temperature, but I've had great results with mine regardless.

I started out with a v60, then a Chemex, then the Aeropress. Of the 3, I use the Chemex the most often; it gives the best quality brew with the highest quantity (37g @ ~600mL of water). It took me quite a while master the pour, but it was definitely worth it!

Hope this helps and good luck on your coffee journey!

EDIT: For grinders, I have the Hario skerton. It takes a while to grind the beans, but was marvelous for my budget at the time. Once I have the money though, I'm going for the Baratza Encore. It's cheaper than the Virtuoso, but an old roommate had the Encore and I LOVED having all my beans ground in such a short amount of time.

Just some food for thought!

A tablet + a server running plex.

Replaces a TV, DVD player, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon et al accounts. Provides tons of entertainment when at home and when traveling.

Sleep Stuff

Personally I think there's really no proper way to value a good night's sleep. After years of dealing with poor sleep due to breathing problems in a dry climate and living with obnoxious neighbors whose religion prohibits using headphones figuring out some cheap solutions to my sleep issues has yielded immeasurable quality of life improvements.

Nasal dialaters.

I was having a lot of problems sleeping due to narrow nasal pathways + seasonal changes and my BP was off the charts. The quality of life improvement from quality sleep is hard to quantify as a value.

[Really comfy sleep masks.] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FJQFJX8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1)
The inner lining on these ones reliably peels off for me but I still use mine and I think I could put these on 1 mile from the sun and not see light.

Super comfortable noise canceling ear buds
I have a ridiculously loud 300lb stomping upstairs neighbor who enjoys putting together furniture at 3am due to either meth or sleep apnea or both. He also really enjoys his shitty 1990s R&B. I've had several confrontations and he's changed some of it but you can't request someone not walk around their apartment when they want. I think he has knee problems so his steps are really heavy. These things are the best answer I could find. If I put these on + a TV show it drowns him out. It sucks to rely on noise to cancel out other noise but I love these things, they're super comfortable and they do the job I need.

Coffee Stuff

GeneCafe Coffee Roaster

So I'm the sort of person who is willing to spend the right amount of money when there's value. For me roasting my own coffee provides tons of value. For starters you can order green beans online for $3-5 a lb. I order 6+ months worth of coffee at a time for around $100, give or take. This roaster has now paid for itself compared to buying coffee at my favorite roaster and is in line with the stale, burnt tasting shit you can buy in giant vats at the grocery store.

But beyond just that I get the supreme joy of truly fresh roasted coffee roasted to a level I like which is a lot different than the black and greasy shit you'll get at Kroger's or whatever. I also love that I can bring this is going to be useful if/when I'm living on a homestead somewhere.

Stainless Steel French Press

Goes with the above. I used to buy glass ones and break them, but this $40 french press will probably last for a very long time with only the screen to worry about replacing and god only knows how long that will take.

[Rough Bur Grinder] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001804CLY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
I really enjoy replacing electronic equipment with stuff I can power with elbow grease. It's not much of a workout, but it's quieter and still does the same job as the electric one I had purchased and unless other electric ones I'm not sure this one will ever break. My previous ones would break/clog constantly, this one has been trucking without issue for a year and I suspect will last several.

I'd go for an aeropress. It's what got myself, and later on my girlfriend, into coffee, and it's pretty cheap. It will make a strong, small batch of coffee each time, somewhere between an espresso and a french press (in my opinion).

I'm guessing the macchiatos your fiance is talking about is the Starbucks variety. Macchiatos are supposed to be an espresso shot with very little milk added.

Anyway, continuing on the assumption that the drink she likes is 1-2 shots of espresso and a mug of foamed milk (and flavoring), I would start by making a copy of that at home with the aeropress.

The way I did that is I'd warm up a mug of milk while I'm boiling the water, and use a handheld frother to froth the heated milk. (This won't create the same caliber of foamed milk as you'd get from an espresso machine/steamer but I'm guessing you don't want to drop the cash on one quite yet)... Once the milk is frothed and the water is heated I'd add freshly ground beans(important that they're fresh!) to to the aeropress, and then water, and brew the coffee right into the mug of frothed milk.

At this point you have a pretty close replica to a latte. Since you are newcomers to coffee, you might want to add some sort of flavoring to it. I rarely do, but when I did, I'd just add a little vanilla extract and sugar.

Tips:

• 
  You're going to want to grind your beans at home. Buying preground beans almost guarantees they're going to be stale.
  
• Following what I said above, freshness is key. Try to buy freshly roasted beans.
  
• A lot of the process of coffee making is tinkering to your own taste. If you make a cup of coffee and it's way too strong, don't give up. Try something else untill it's good for you!
  
• Once you get used to the milk-laden coffees, try to broaden your horizons. There are a wide range of coffee types, and they all have their bonuses.
  
  Gear:
  
  
• Aeropress $25.95
  
• Milk frother $2.00
  
• Hario Skerton Hand Grinder $48.50 (Ceramic burr grinders are the best type of coffee grinders, but they run around $300 on average, this one, however is $50.00 but requires some work. I own one and it's worth the effort in my opinion)
  
  Beans: (Places I've tried)
  
  
• Intelligentsia
  
• The Roasterie
  
• Klatch Coffee
  
  Mugs:
  
  
• Great mug
  
• Also great mug, but pretty large
  
  If you have any questions, or if I'm wrong about something let me know! I think this is all for now.

Coffee has a lot of interesting natural flavors, and you can easily and inexpensively step up your coffee game for even better coffee that has it's own nutty or caramel notes, that will be even tastier than Starbucks or Duncan Donuts. :)

• Brewing: There are a couple easy, inexpensive brewing options. I think the most universally favored for beginners and pro's alike is a weird device called an Aeropress. Another option is a pour-over coffee cone, like this Hario V6. Or what I use: a French Press. What I like about the French Press is that you can almost always find one at a thrift store or yard sale for like $2.
  
  
• Grinding: Coffee starts to get stale once it's ground. Ideally you can grind it before you make it. A quality inexpensive grinder is the Hario Skerton But here's what I do: I get my coffee ground in the store and put it in an air-tight container. I put 1 weeks worth in a separate bag.
  
  
• Grind size is important too, if you use a French Press you want "course" grind. Which you can get in pre-ground coffee.
  
  
• Water: use filtered water.
  
  
• The coffee itself: Starbucks heavily roasts their coffee, but would still be better quality than Dunkin Donuts. Entry-level good coffee can be had at Costco or Trader Joes. Even better coffee comes from 3rd wave coffee shops, or ordering online. Those are higher priced but you get what you pay for.
  
  Honestly though the great thing is you can pick ONE of these things and have better coffee, and each thing you do will improve your cup. And then you can go to /r/coffee and go down the rabbit hole of "the perfect cup". I'm kind of a coffee-snob poser: I get my beans from Trader Joe's and don't own a grinder. But what I get from my French Press is miles ahead of what I used to drink, it allowed me to cut out sugar or sweeteners.

What is your budget?

The aergrind is possibly the best valued grinder, but it is a manual grinder. This guy can grind espresso quality and will greatly improve your mokapot and aeropress. Their Feld2 is also great but less portable. These expensive manual grinders are much easier to grind than the cheaper ones, you dont need nearly as much force. They grind as good as electrics 4x the cost.

If thats out of your budget you could go for this porlex or mini mill but these produce far less consistent grinds, harder to turn, and cant grind as fine.

If you want electric, the baratza encore is a popular recommendation. This is good enough for everything thats not espresso. This is very easily repairable, so it can last longer than other options.

But honestly the price difference to the bodum bistro isn't worth it. Id go for this if you wanted a cheap electric. Also wont grind espresso, but good enough for just about everything else.

Hope that answers your questions!

Mmk.

Let's ignore the espresso machine route, and go for something that will give you strong coffee. Either a moka pot, or maybe an aeropress. (I personally recommend the aeropress.)

As for the milk, the cheaper route would be to heat it up (microwave?) and then use a milk frother to blend air into it. You'll get these big bubbles as opposed to microfoam like you'd get at an actual coffee shop. OR. You can go for a stovetop steam wand like this. You'll need to invest some time/money into this to learn how to make microfoam, but the results will be worth it. I'm actually about to embark on this step :/ (Note, you don't HAVE to foam/froth your milk. It just makes it a little tastier.)

NOW. Back onto the coffee. So we have your "machine/maker" figured out. Let's talk about the ACTUAL coffee. Depending on what you've picked from above, you're in $30-$100+ deep. If you have a local roaster, that's great! Buy beans freshly roasted from them. Learn from them. Ask them to make recommendations. If not, there are a few online sources good for buying roasted coffee. Remember, buy what you can use in about 1-2 weeks. Longer than that and you'll have stale coffee.

If you can, you should buy whole coffee beans, and grind them yourself. The cheaper method is to buy a hand grinder. The Hario Skeleton/Skerton is always highly recommended. A few drawbacks to this, but you'll learn about them on your coffee journey. (Don't want to bombard you with too much information for now.) The Hario Mini Mill is also a great option, especially for travelling, but grinds less.

As for electric grinders, the Baratza Maestro is a good entry level burr grinder, but at a pretty steep price :/ Note: always buy a burr grinder, and note a blade grinder. Bear in mind that using the hand grinders is actually quite a lot of work, especially if you're not a morning type of person. The entire Baratza line of grinders are all highly recommended, but as always, the better the grinder, the higher the cost.

AeroPress, for sure. Here is probably the cheapest setup you can do, and still get the best flavour/experience.

Aerobie AeroPress + Able DISK Fine - $40 (I strongly suggest the DISK Fine over paper filters, but the AeroPress does come with a bunch of filters.)

Pocket Scale - $7

Carafe - $7 (so you press straight into this, and measure yield, as most mugs will not fit on the scale; also great for serving two)

Hario Slim burr grinder - $34 (if you'd rather go electric, the Bodum Bistro burr is a great buy and can be had for $120 new or under $100 used/refurbished)

Bonavita Gooseneck kettle - $50 (You do not need a gooseneck for the AeroPress, but you do for any type of pour over, so why not?)

Good luck, and have fun! Give my video a gander to see how to prepare with the AeroPress. It is fun! Almost as fun as an espresso machine. Ha! Yeah, right! But definitely worth the small coin.

The blade you have will be easier to use, but you should find you get better coffee using the burr grinder. I started out with this guy because they had it at Kitchen Kapers, and I needed something quiet (manual-only) and burr.

I wouldn't recommend that one. The Kyocera doesn't have a lid, so you have to be careful to keep it upright and not grind too fast or beans fly out. Looks like the Hario version of the one I bought has a lid so it would do better, but I see the one you linked as many people's preference, so I'm sure that'll be great.

I stopped using my hand grinder because I'm lazy, and I just ordered my coffee ground for the last couple years, but then last month I bought an Baratza Encore and have been quite happy with that so far and think that will keep me satisfied for as long as it lives.

If you're like me and having to hand grind your coffee results in you not making coffee when you would have otherwise, then just buy it pre-ground and save up for a nicer electric burr grinder.

Little late to this thread and new to the sub, but hopefully someone can still answer my questions! Before I start I'd like to say that I don't have $300 to spend on a good coffee set with a grinder, kettle and etc.

I've never been a huge coffee drinker but I'm really interested in going for it now. I've only ever had regular coffee brands made in an electric coffee maker and I always ended up adding a lot of sugar and milk because it was too strong. This being the case, my research has showed pour over coffee having a smoother taste than something like a french press, although french press is considerably cheaper!

My biggest question is, should I splurge a little for a decent kettle, grinder and pour over coffee maker to achieve what I think to be my preferred taste? Alternatively, I could easily grab a french press from Starbucks via a friend working there for fairly cheap.

That being said, I'm very interested in the art that is pour over coffee and fine tuning it to achieve better taste. The only problem is, everything I've looked at so far is incredibly expensive to start out and I'm not ready to spend that kind of money into this endeavor just yet. The $20-$30 for the coffee maker isn't the problem, it's the $50 hand grinder and $50 kettle that get me thinking that I shouldn't go down that rabbit hole.

Edit: I found a cheap and highly rated Grinder, an easy to use coffee dripper and a decent sized server but I'm unsure of if I'd need one if I'm only making 1-2 cups at a time. Thoughts on these selections and any recommendations for a kettle?

Unfortunately the cost is slowly racking up past the point of me being comfortable spending it all at once.

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.

What kind of grinder do you have? A good grinder goes a long ways. I would recommend at least a Baratza Encore it’s like between 100-200 bucks totally worth the money. But I will probably upgrade to a virtuoso + in time. If you want something more low budget to dip your toes in I recommend a Hario MiniMill.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007F183LK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523307658&sr=8-1-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=baratza+encore+grinder&psc=1&smid=A302OQK4GZWXCC


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01GPMH590/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523307695&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=hario+mini+mill+plus&dpPl=1&dpID=31BVJId0wqL&ref=plSrch

Then as others mentioned combined with a scale is where I would start. My girlfriend got me one from Walmart, most recipes are measured in grams; so you want something that can do that.

If you begin to treat it like a science expirement as I do I recommend a V60 or a chemex. The chemex was much easier to use IMO. It’s not as versatile as the aero but you once you get dialed in it makes a nice cup. But I also recommend a goose neck kettle.


Also if you’re interested you can try and find different aero recipes here to refine what you like the best.

http://www.worldaeropresschampionship.com/recipes/#/lukas-zahradnik/

As far as beans go, I’m a recent convert to HappyMug.com. But Counter Culture and S & W roasters are on the to try list also. The importance is freshness. If you go the way of a local roaster I would ask about when they were roasted if the bags aren’t dated. I was bamboozled into buying a little less than fresher beans than I get from happy mug recently.

I’m still fairly new I creeped for a long time took the plunge in November. I’ll never go back, hopefully you too join the cult.

GL HF mate. Let us know how you’re journey goes.

First off, there are guides for this already which is why people are not responding. They are in the side bar and I linked them again here:

How To Coffee: A Primer

Coffee Gear Suggestions by Price

Now on to my own advice. I am also relatively new to coffee so my advice is based on researching how to get started over the last couple of months

Give us a budget, but under $100 puts you here:

1. Grinder: The Hario Mini Mill ($27) is fairly highly recommended here
   
2. Scale: American Weigh Scales SC-2KGA ($25). The AC-adapter version of a fairly popular scale here. It should work for a long time and work well for most types of brewing. The Jennings CJ4000 ($27) is also very popular and is worth a look. The difference is the Jennings responds way faster - which is useful for pour over - but is less precise (increments of .5 grams instead of .1 grams, though this is not as big of a deal)
   
3. Brew device: Aeropress ($22), French Press ($25), or Pour Over (Melitta Cone or Beehouse) There is only one Aeropress version but there are lots of French Presses, I linked to a Bodum Chambord which is the favorite here. You can decide which one of these will work better for you based on the other responses on this thread or by searching in /r/Coffee.
   
4. Cheap water thermometer or an electric kettle that can set temperatures. If you go with a Pour Over method you need a gooseneck kettle which sets you back another $35-65 depending on how nice. A lot of people go with the Bonavita Variable Temperature Digital Electric Gooseneck Kettle ($63).
   
5. The coffee! Try to get freshly roasted (look for a "Roasted On" date instead of an expiry or packaged/binned on date) coffee. Try and buy stuff that is roasted less than 5 days ago and use it before 3 weeks from the roasted on date (some people say 2). You can try to find local roasters and coffee houses that sell fresh whole bean coffee using the /r/Coffee search or Yelp. Be careful with darkly roasted (ie French roast) coffee because a lot of the dark roasts at Grocery Stores and even shops (Starbucks) is considered over roasted and basically burnt. If you want suggestions for brands search /r/Coffee, though really popular and expensive stuff would be Intelligentsia and Stumptown.

Take a look at Aeropress. It isn't true expresso, but it is really excellent coffee and only costs $35. My setup:

Aeropress

An electric kettle with temperature options like this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HT3FXCY

A simple manual coffee grinder like this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B010UJZ5XW

A manual and fun-to-use milk frother like this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B010E1ZQVC

Buy coffee from a local or mail-order coffee roaster: I like Dunn Bros. best in our neighborhood.

Actually, my setup isn't like these, it is these. My SO and I are enjoying latte's, Americanos, and mochas. It is fun to make, really delicious, and cheap.

i'd say at that price try to find something used. this way:


1.)if you get a cheap pump-driven pressurized portafilter machine, you're not going to regret it after moving up and realizing you spent so much on something that would have little value later (for resale, or just keep as a "backup")


2.)you may be able to find a decent used machine. not sure what the UK market is like but here (vancouver, canada) you can find stuff like the old starbucks machines (with the non-pressurized PF) comfortably in that price range.


either way, if you get used make sure the owner can show you how to pull a shot on the machine. the reason is it can be quite involved (especially for better machines), and it also shows if machine is in good shape (the gaskets, especially). on cheaper machines it may be close to impossible to replace. (i picked up a bar32 for $5 at a thrift sale to play with, and it leaks like crazy. =)

as to the grinder, this article is making more and more sense the more i'm getting into espresso. there is a minor loophole: the hario hand grinders here and here can actually get you to pretty close to the grind that works on most machines.

TL;DR- machine: try get used. grinder: hario hand grinders

For ease and lower cost, I'd recommend getting a hand grinder like a Hario Skerton and a Clever Dripper. If you have a little extra cash, step up to an electric burr grinder like the Baratza Encore. Any kind of electric kettle will be your best way of boiling water.

In a basic coffee system, grinding fresh before you brew is likely to make the greatest positive impact and electric is super easy. A hand grinder might take 30-45 seconds to grind for a batch of coffee, but that's a small time investment for a large return. In terms of brewers, lots of folks like the Aeropress for its portability and its ability to produce fantastic coffee, but I like the Clever because it's also very easy and tends to produce a normal cup of coffee rather than a more intense and concentrated cup that you get from the Aeropress.

Alright, I'll lay out two set ups for two different price points.


Cheap Set Up

Hario Skerton This is the most basic entry level grinder possible, grinds enough for one person pretty easily, and gets "good enough results for a poor college student

Aeropress You can make full cups of coffee or pseudo-espresso that you can mix with milk for a pseudo, its easy to clean, and probably the most forgiving coffee making tool.

And then any kettle and any scale. Look for cheap on both, were going for cheap here, and were not doing rocket science, should be another 25-30 total for both of these, which lands you just under $100 total for this set up. You don't need to bother roasting beans yourselves, and if you're in a college town theres probably a local roaster around that you can get good quality roasted beans from and be happy with. For cold brew just throw grounds and water in jar in you fridge for a day in a 8:1 ratio, then strain the goop the next day for a solid cold brew concentrate



The pricier beginner college set up


Baratza Encore. If you can afford this, then get it. The things great, does everything but espresso grind really well, and because its not manual its doesn't take that long and it doesn't require any real effort on your part. I love mine, but the $140 price tag could be steep (I wouldn't have bought it when I was in college, I was poor as shit).


Brew Methods: I still recommend at least an Aeropress, but pair it with a 1LFrench press too for when you want to make a lot of coffee at once, or coffee for friends. you can also make cold brew in a French press instead of a jar, and you can use it to strain it out. Also, if you really want to make the closest thing to espresso that you can without blowing $300 dollars, get a 3-cup moka pot. You can find a cheap one at your Ross or Home Goods equivalent.



For kettle, you can get a variable temp one if you want to spend the money, people recommend the Bonavita Variable Temp Gooseneck but I still just use my cheap 15 dollar kettle and am doing fine.


As far as scales go, I still just say find a cheap scale that works well enough.



Bits and Bobs


Hand held Milk Frother for frother hot milk for lattes. Sounds like something you would like.

My points are specific to loose leaf tea...

>How to get started

You don't need much to get started. Get a simple all purpose teapot to brew your tea. Or you could get one of these. Or even a simple metal infuser. Basically, anything that lets loose leaves expand.

>What teas are the best and why?

I personally don't subscribe to the notion of a "best" tea. It will ultimately depend on your preferred taste profile. Perhaps others will give you their personal opinions, but to me, the way to go about it is to try a large variety of teas to determine which ones appeal to you. A cost effective way to do this is through samplers.

Seek out vendors representing different regions and purchase samplers. For example, we focus on Indian and Nepali teas. Others may focus on teas grown in China and Taiwan, yet others on Japanese teas.

>things I should look out for

Its very easy to get carried away and spend a lot initially. I would not invest in a lot of equipment right away. Save your money for good quality tea instead. If you use r/tea as a resource, you will find vendors post sales frequently (r/Teasales). Buy from reputable vendors. Buy small amounts initially (see point about samplers).

>what mistakes I might make and how to prevent them, etc...

Tea is all about experimentation. The biggest mistake you can make is trying a tea once with certain brewing parameters, deciding you don't like it, and never giving it another chance. Today I love drinking green teas, but when I first prepared it, I thought it was a vile tasting beverage. My brewing parameters were way off.

Common mistakes people making brewing tea - using too much/too little leaf (leaf to water ratio), using too hot or too cool water (temperature issues), and steeping for too long or too little (time). Many vendors will provide suggested steeping guidelines, but these are merely suggestions, which is why you need to experiment.

Other mistakes you may make are not buying from a reputable vendor, buying too much of a tea without sampling and then realizing this isn't for you - that variety.

Hope this helps - feel free to ask more questions of me and others here - you will find that this is a very good resource for all things tea! Good luck on your tea voyage!

I'm a mild coffee snob. So what is key: filtered water, temperature and grinding the beans the moment you make it. Straight tap is okay but check your municipality on how they process the water. If they put add weird stuff to reprocess... don't use. I can taste that stuff and then it makes my coffee taste sad, lol. So if not filtered at home then store bought.

I also use a french press. To get the full taste of coffee you don't want to use a coffee filter. The filter pulls some of the nom nom oils from the coffee. Also, more oils means more caffeine in your system. :)

But I had one of those master baristas tell me that they only keep their coffee (once bag is opened) for a week. Gawh! If I tossed out my coffee every week...nope I don't drink coffee that fast and not gonna waste money like that.

I prefer mostly dark roasts. But the most memorable cup of coffee I made for myself was one I bought from a local store and it was an Organic Italian Dark roast. OMG, that was just superb! So I recommend supporting your local stores.

Therefore, get a hand grinder and french press. Also, this may seem like a lot of work but it's a five to seven minute process and really I love it. Once I did it, I gave away my Breville Coffee maker and have never purchased another one since.

I love coffee!

This Krups (I know, I was surprised too) is used by several of my coffee-loving friends at their offices, and gets pretty good reviews. It's not SCAA certified, but at $25-30 used... a pretty cheap choice that actually gets hot enough and takes Melitta filters.

However, if you're really on a budget, you might want to consider even-cheaper alternatives:

• A Clever Dripper is cheap and as easy to use as an auto-drip (you can heat your water in the microwave, but an electric kettle is dead useful in a dorm or small apartment)
  
  
• Cold-press. All you need is a mason jar and some cheese cloth; these are essentially free. Downside: you have to think ahead, because it takes at least 8 hours to "brew". Upside: you don't even need hot water (though you can mix the concentrate it makes with hot water if you prefer hot coffee).
  
  Any of those three choices should keep you well below your $100 budget. Use the rest to buy a good burr grinder (I like the Hario Mini Mill Slim, but there are other good choices); regardless of method, a good way to freshly grind your beans (without smacking them like the cheap blade grinders do) will noticeably improve your coffee!

Hey there! I used to be a coffee heretic and then I started roasting. You can't stick with your old ways and expect consistently incredible results when you're trying to produce something incredible.

With that said, you aren't really a heretic. You just have your preference, and it is different than the rest of us. Sure, buzz words like Starbucks and $20 krups grinder are like poison to some ears, but that's not an issue. At least, if you are happy with it then it isn't.

But if you are wanting to stretch yourself in terms of coffee you'll need to look into different options. I don't know what your budget is, so I'm not going to push the $150 grinder on you. But many people around here like the Hario Slim for being small and effective. You may also see the Aeropress promoted around here. It is a popular item around here as well.

Now, in terms of coffee, there are options for you to get quality coffee online. Roasters like Chromatic Coffee offer free shipping to US customers. They are one of my personal favorites. And you may be surprised what a quick google search of your area can find. I'm in a big city that wasn't exactly known for its coffee, but when I searched on Google I found that there are 6 roasters within an hour of my house.

So what you are going to gather here is that you aren't going to be able to obtain "espresso" for that price range. However, if your girlfriend likes strong coffee in milk there are other options that would get you there without breaking the bank.

For the coffee:

1. Aeropress: This is a very versatile tool that can be used to make a number of coffee styles including strong shots of concentrate to be added to milk. Lots of room to grow and try other styles as well as time goes on.
   
   
2. Moka Pot: Can be either stovetop or electric depending on what works best. These are super popular in europe and have been around for ages so they are generally time-tested. They also make strong, pressurized percolated coffee that can be added to milk drinks.
   
   For the grinder:
   
   Hand burr grinders from Hario or Porlex are great and have a good following. You can get a knockoff on amazon for a lot less but it may fall apart after a while. Depends on your estimated use.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Skerton-Ceramic-Coffee-Mill/dp/B001802PIQ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1480362440&sr=8-6&keywords=porlex
   
   For the milk:
   
   Frothing Pitcher: https://www.amazon.com/Gourmia-GMF215-Detachable-Stainless-Non-Stick/dp/B01MD0AAVJ/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1480362139&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=frother&psc=1
   
   Frothing wand: https://www.amazon.com/Ikea-Milk-Frother-303-011-67-Black/dp/B013S27CLQ/ref=sr_1_9?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1480362139&sr=1-9&keywords=frother
   
   
   
   Both of these together should get you where you need to go and make a nice gift bundle (maybe with some beans if you have a few bucks left over.
   
   I hear that the nespresso are ok but I really have to take a stand against the waste and concept. Putting together a bundle gives you a ton of flexibility and is a more thoughtful gift in my opinion.
   

Sorry people are being jerks. It's definitely not good to reuse the grounds, especially if you're going to drink it black. I would recommend maybe getting a metal filter, so you can just rinse it out after each use and you should use fresh grounds every time. If you want to step up your game a little, you could get a grinder and use whole beans (they taste way fresher). You can either get an electric one like this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JFHHMN2/ref=s9_topr_hm_b1DNO_g79_i1

Or you could get a hand grinder like this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001802PIQ/ref=s9_topr_hm_b1DNO_g79_i8

The electric one is more convenient, but the hand grinder will give better results (and it really isn't that time consuming). Beyond that, there's an entire world of stuff to look at - chemex, aeropress, moka pots, hario pourovers, better beans, better grinders, a hot water kettle... It's all just a matter of how much time / money you want to put in. Good luck and I hope this helps!!

This is a totally wide-open question, depending on budget and time commitments, as well as personal tastes.


I hate to sound like a /r/coffee cliche, but Aeropress is probably the most flexible, especially for milk drinks. You can brew a concentrated batch with an espresso blend, or a lighter cup with a more standard recipe and whatever beans you prefer. You can kinda texture milk with a french press. It's not going to be cafe-quality but it should be pretty good. If you don't want to get the french press you can honestly just use warmed milk and make a cortado.

Check out this video for some ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_J6Q4oAvLM.

You could probably get away with doing everything with a french press, but it's harder to brew smaller batches with one. You could also consider a Moka Pot instead of an aeropress, but it's more of a one-trick pony, and can be finicky to get consistent results.

I suggest picking up a grinder, a Hario Mini Mill is the best value in the low end. This way you can use fresh beans and get the best flavor. If you're not concerned with all that, the method I described above should work fine with Cafe Bustelo or Lavazza pre-ground coffee.

Never used the Bonavita, but a conical burr grinder is great!

One thing is you can also jump in making great coffee for a lot cheaper than this. This Hario hand grinder and an Aeropress/Hario V60 pour over are a great way to get amazing coffee for half the cost.

Although don't let that persuade you if you have done your research and that's what you want! To a better brew!

I have a Hario Mini Mill which I like and it gets the job done, but I'm really looking for something electric. If you're doing french press, it doesnt take much time to grind beans but if you're doing anything finer than that it probably takes me 5 minutes to grind 45-50g of beans which just isn't what I wanna do right after I wake up. I've heard good things about the Hario Skerton as well.

For electric grinders, I've heard that the Baratza Encore is the best bang for your buck. Also, I would get an adjustable temperature kettle (people perfer goosenecks but I just have a regular one) and a kitchen scale! The scale is super useful for cooking in general and I think they're good to have, especially for coffee.

Also, I have a Chemex and love it. I don't think I could live without it.

For starters, get a grinder (here's a cheap but decent manual one) and an Aeropress. It's cheap, takes the last amount of time to brew (~3 minutes), lasts forever, requires the least amount of extra equipment, produces a great balanced cup, is super forgiving with regards to methods, beans, and grinders, you can experiment with its variables (brew recipes, steep time, press duration, etc) endlessly, and the cleanup is super simple (eject the puck, rinse under the tap). You don't need a scale or a kettle; just use the included scoop and fill the chamber.

The Aeropress is the device that got me through college. I used to buy coffee, grind it in-store, heat water in a mug, brew using the inverted method, and then press into the same mug. 8 years later and I still use it (though now I have a grinder, scale, and kettle, and I use a metal filter cuz it tastes better and saves money in the long run).

I would personally recommend against a pourover for your first brewer, as it requires more equipment and is less flexible and more finicky.

If you're having trouble finding good beans around the area, there's a huge variety of online vendors. Craft Coffee is the cheapest I've found ($10-14/12oz bag).

I'm in my 20s. I like the headphone idea. Someone suggested Sennheisers and I totally second that motion. I went with a more expensive model (http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-280-Pro-Headphones/dp/B000065BPB/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1323964715&sr=1-3) and I LOVE them. If he's into music and gaming, these are a godsend.

Not sure exactly your son's living situation, but I live on my own and I tend to err on the side of lazy. Because of this, I'm almost always running low on basic bathroom supplies. New toothbrushes, new razors, shampoo, soap, extra bath towels, those kinds of things. Heck, when I first moved out, I went without a shower mat for almost a year. And ceramic tiles are freaking cold.

As I hit my 20's I discovered coffee and all it's amazing wonder. If your son did too, he may like getting a legitimate coffee making kit. I'm talking a decent french press, a ceramic burr grinder, and a kettle (I just use a pot for now, so I don't have any specific suggestions yet). If you really wanna get fancy and you have the money, you could even get him an electric kettle so he has complete temperature control. And if you're ordering that stuff on amazon, I would get a bag of some well reviewed whole beans. I like the Kicking Horse roasting company, but that's just me.


I also wanted to take a moment and suggest basic kitchen supplies. Like the bathroom supplies, these things tend to go unstocked or simply ignored in my house. Things like a good frying pan or a nice sized pot for making pasta. A brita filter with a few extra cartridges. Extra dish soap. Extra sponges. Even kitchen towels for drying hands/dishes (I currently use an old shirt :/ ). I also would suggest things that make cheap food taste better. I'm talking a pepper mill, some garlic salt, onion salt, basic herbs, and a good hot sauce. My brother was always partial to Chulula, but I tend to just go with whatever Trader Joe's has.

Hope this helps!

In my opinion, it just simply does not allow you the control over the quality of the grind that is necessary for a consistent pour over (I only do pour over as of now.). I actually own a hario ceramic grinder. I bought it cause it looks super nice and people gave it good reviews on amazon. But I found that it left behind an unacceptable amount of large chunks and fines for the kind of coffee quality I want. If you truly only care about how your final cup tastes, you probably wouldn't hate a hand grinder. I have yet to do a side by side comparison of my hario grinder and my baratza vario, but getting the vario certainly hasn't revolutionized my end result. But I warn you, I thought I wouldn't mind the manual grinding, and it became something I dreaded doing when I wanted to make coffee. Don't get me wrong, any hand grinder is infinitely better than pre-ground or a blade grinder. I just wanted something that gave me more grind options and better quality. And I wanted to enjoy the process of making coffee and not have to dread grinding my coffee. For me, buying a nice electric burr grinder was completely worth it to actually enjoy making my coffee and to have at least one of the many variables in the process finally under control.

I do cold brew for my weekend coffee, and it's wonderful. Less acidic, smooth, and rich. I use a Hario 1000ml pot and use a coffee mill to medium grind my beans (~100g). Espresso blends are a good place to start, flavor-wise. Slowly pour filtered cold water over your grounds. Refrigerate for 18-24 hours. Discard the grounds and enjoy.

My typical cold toddy is:

• 3/4 C cold brew coffee
  
• 1/4 C cold water
  
• 2 Tb half & half
  
• 1-2 Tb simple syrup
  
  Simple syrup is crucial if you want sweetness. Even castor sugar doesn't dissolve enough. Simple syrup is... Simple. Bring equal parts (by weight) of water and sugar to a boil, stirring until fully dissolved. If you want flavors, just simmer for a while with either vanilla bean, lemon peel, cinnamon sticks, honey, lavender, or whatever. Cool and then store. You can even do fancy stuff like buy caramel or chocolate sauces.
  
  Good luck!
  
  Edit: The Hario pot is about $20,and a coffee mill can be had for $20-40. Get some Mason jars or spring-top jars from Goodwill/SA. Get good beans and make your own syrups. Cheap investment for the best coffee you've ever had.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001VPXEBU?cache=4ea5976e2c9e936ae8b097d6c5d0065c&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1411452831&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1
  
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001802PIQ?cache=4ea5976e2c9e936ae8b097d6c5d0065c&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1411453722&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1

The Hario Slim is the grinder I use every day. And the Aeropress that I brew my coffee in. Amazon even links them all together in the "commonly bought together" thingus for $65.

Admittedly, $65 sounds like a lot to lay out for anything new. That said, it's very hard to screw up and the Hario/Aeropress duo are, I've found, quite reliable. Mine gets daily use.

A French Press, while terribly fancy, may be more work than you're willing to invest to start yourself off. The Aeropress, conversely, is simple to use, simple to clean up, and well supported by we coffee snobs.

The next thing you'd need are beans. Beans you can get lots of places. Something to be aware of, the reason we prefer going from the bean directly rather than just buying pre-ground is because once you grind the bean you really ought to use it with in a day or two. That tub of Maxwell House was ground up months before you ever opened it. It suffocated long ago and died.

There are numerous roasters that you can order from online with a pound of beans ranging from $13-17 or thereabouts. This is for beans that were usually roasted two or three days before they arrive at your house.

Personally, and not to seem like a shill, but I get my beans from SW Roasting, a fellow redditor. Their sampler pack of beans from multiple continents can be a great introduction and they offer a truly personal service.

If even that seems like a little much for a beginner, I've found the single origin beans on offer from Target's Archer Farms brand aren't terrible. They're cheap, around $9. They're not as freshly roasted as you'd get from one of the online roasters but they're still good.

Admittedly, the initial outlay might seem daunting but you will have set yourself well on your way to coffee snobbery with the rest of us. After that, it's just $15-20 a month for beans depending on how much you drink.

And, really, worlds beyond instant. Go ahead, get the things I mentioned or any of the other options my fellows have suggested. Then, make that instant coffee in a mug you threw in the microwave. Drink it black. Spit it out because you love your tastebuds and wish to apologize to them. Brew some good beans you ground yourself and taste a significant, staggering difference.

Well, if this a regular grinder to you, then this is a blade grinder. Cheap and gets the job done, but the grind size is inconsistent as the grinder is slicing and smacking the beans: as such, you'll get large particles in the grind to very small fine grinds at the same time. It's 10x better than buying pre-ground, but if you want consistent coffee, then you'll need a burr grinder. With the Clever, a blade grinder should be fine as it's a forgiving coffee brewing method. Burr grinders crush (for lack of a better word) the grinds between two metal or ceramic burrs and you get a consistent sized grind which is optimal for brewing. This is a hand cranked burr grinder which will give you that consistent grind but since it's manual, takes a bit of effort. If you have $100, then get a refurbed Baratza Encore (or if you're in a big urban area, just do daily searches on Craigslist, and you should be able to find a Baratza for about $50). These are great entry level burr grinders. When you get out into the world and make some money, that's when you can graduate to stepless or the top-level burr grinders.

Yes. Most people in this sub will tell you to get a burr grinder.

If you're on a budget they'll tell you to get a hand grinder (that uses ceramic burrs) and such.

It depends on how much time you'll have and how much you're going to enjoy the process and how deep you wanna get into coffee. My advice is find the best burr grinder for however much you're willing to pay. (they go as cheap as $30 all the way up to $200-300+, then they go way way higher if they are supposed to be able to grind for espresso). Keep it simple for now. get whatever makes sense for you but most would steer you away from blade grinders, they just do a poor job and the grind is an important part of the process.

For automatic grinders that aren't too crazy expensive, many prefer this one.

Once you get the grinder, you gotta find some good coffee to go with it. Try not to cheap out and buy the stuff at the super market unless it has a "roasted on" date that is fairly recent. Look for craft coffee in your area or some online roasters that will ship coffee to you. coffee subscriptions can be nice but maybe just start slow and look around for a 3rd wave coffee joint that can sell you their recently roasted stuff.

It'll be much better than anything you can get in the store and it will probably even be cheaper than they sell it in the store. There's always places like Blue Bottle, Stumptown, Intelligentsia, etc. that will sell their coffee to you online but you'll get it a bit cheaper if you can go to a local cafe to buy their stuff.

Have fun and don't be afraid to ask more questions in /r/Coffee everyone here is really nice... usually.

Well in that case I would save and do the grinder first honestly. If you're spending ~25$ for an aeropress, I might do this hand burr grinder first.

http://www.amazon.com/Hario-MSS-1B-Mini-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334215615&sr=8-1

It's gotten some pretty good reviews from other people on coffeegeeks.com and reddit. I own the big brother Hario Skerton and it's served me quite well. I've also heard that the mini-mill is much better with coarse grounds than a Skerton, so that probably suits your needs pretty well. It's also nice because then if you ever upgrade to a nice electronic burr grinder you'll have a great travel grinder/backup/spare.

I've got a pretty high quality dorm setup that is approved. Here are your options:

Option 1:

Hario ETL Certified Kettle

Hario V60

Filters

Hario Skim Grinder

Total: $119

Option 2:

Aeropress

Proctor-Silex Water Kettle

Hario Skim Grinder

Total: $66


Currently, I'm using the first setup. The v60 is a great pourover method. You'll be having the best coffee on campus. However, since it requires the gooseneck kettle it runs a greater price. Last year, I had option. The aeropress is a kick-ass coffee maker, and you can get by with the way cheaper water heater since pour method has no factor on the brew. Either way, you'd have the small hand grinder which is cheap, easy to clean, and does a fantastic job.

Either of these will make a solid cup, better than anything you'll find in a keurig.

Consider getting a small french press as well. I tend to use the aeropress a lot more for convenience, but I really enjoy a good cup of french press coffee, especially in the morning in lieu of food... nice and thick.

They produce two very different cups of coffee, so it's worth having both.

I use a small hand grinder, which is fantastic, the only downside is the lack of measurements for grind size. It's cheaper than an electric burr grinder, and easier to clean. You wouldn't want to use it to make more than a single cup for yourself though.

Edit: also consider a Chemex or similar pour-over for making large batches... but then you'd want an electric burr grinder.... oh my, the stuff to buy.... and I haven't even talked about home roasting yet :)

Welcome to the coffee world! It can be fun acquiring a taste for it and exploring what you like. Since this is important for your diet I recommend gaining a better understanding of coffee to the point where you can enjoy it vs. starting out with crappy coffee.

Visit some local shops and taste variety of drip coffees. They'll range from $2-3 for a 12oz cup. If you don't know what you're ordering there's no shame in asking the baristas about coffee. If they're good they'll be thrilled to talk coffee with you. I'm also happy to tell you my favorite shops across the valley.

There are many different brew methods that influence the flavor and amount of coffee you can make. Since you're new I recommend using an auto drip machine to keep things easy. I began this way, moved to french press and now use the Aeropress and love it. Start simple and get more complex as you go if you would like.

Here are some items you'll need to start:

- Coffee machine

- Coffee grinder

- Bag of beans

Check amazon and read reviews for your coffee machine. There are quite a few out there. As for your grinder I recommend getting what's called a burr grinder. It gives your beans a better grind which will affect the taste/flavor. There are hand grinders, auto grinders, etc. I use this one from Amazon because I wanted one I could camp/travel with.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013R3Q7B2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Beans are going to vary. I recommend buying whole bean and grinding yourself just before brewing so they stay fresh longer. Store them in an airtight container. You can buy beans locally, online, from the grocery store, coffee shops, etc. I'm fussy and don't recommend purchasing generic beans from Starbucks, folgers, grocery stores, etc. Harmons Grocery sells great local beans sometimes at a discount. My favorite local roaster is La Barba Coffee. They cost a bit more but the flavor is great. They also have a bag punch card you can pick up from their Downtown SLC or Draper store. Daily Rise is a little cheaper and also local.

Watch youtube videos on grinding and brewing and go from there. If you dislike black coffee you can always add milk, flavored creamer, sugar, honey, etc.

The aeropress and french press are the easiest way to get a good cup of coffee. Check out these brew guides to see which one you think would be best for you.

1. Aeropress
   
2. french press
   
   Both are pretty easy to clean, but I think the aeropress is a bit easier. However, a good cup of french press is hard to beat with any manual brewing technique, imo. Aeropress only brews a single cup, whereas a larger french press can brew however much you want it to up to its limit. The big downside for french press is that it uses a coarse grind and you have to drop some money on a good grinder if you want a consistent coarse grind - grind consistency is key. (You could also buy beans and have them ground coarse wherever you buy them if you don't want to grind fresh.) With the Aeropress, you use a medium-fine to fine grind which can be achieved with a relatively inexpensive grinder such as the [hario mini mill.] (http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Coffee-Mill-Slim-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451402224&sr=8-1&keywords=hario+mini+mill) I frequently use both. Aeropress is great for travel and work, whereas french press is great for weekend mornings.

Wow, props to Gawdor for writing all those up! I think they are awesome and personally don't think they are a bit long in the tooth. The extra info is really good and having details is nice for people like me who like to delve a little deeper into things.

What I'd like to see in addition to the guides though is a list of equipment recommendations in certain price ranges, with very brief descriptions and links to Amazon or something where people can see the products there and buy them if they choose to. For example:

>Grinder Under $50
>
>Hario Hand Grinder - ~$33 - Cheap alternative to an electric burr grinder. Good for people on a budge who still want the quality of burrs.

However, no Amazon affiliate links where people make money, they should all be straight/direct links like the one in the example.

EDIT: I'm setting up a new section for that right now.

I store my beans in an Airscape and really like it. Keeps the beans fresh, protected from air, temperature, light, and moisture, looks good, and I think it's reasonably priced. I would assume that it does a similar job of storing ground coffee, but I just don't really see the point.

Once you grind the coffee, it begins to go stale much quicker than it does in whole bean form. I totally understand your desire to not wake up your girlfriend by grinding each morning, but grinding the night before is going to drastically reduce the quality of your morning brews, regardless of what you store it in. I would suggest a hand grinder like the skerton or LIDO for grinding fresh each morning without making noise. Actually, the skerton comes out to roughly the same price as the container, so if you already have some way of storing beans (really anything works as long as you're putting it in something airtight and in a dark place), I think buying a hand grinder is the better solution.

We can help you out a little better if you had some sort of budget. When I was 13 I got about $5-10 a week from my parents but I knew others that received more or even nothing at all. I'll try to aim for what a typical intro to coffee setup would look like.

So with any method you use the first and most important step is the beans. They should ideally be whole bean and roasted semi-recently (a couple days to weeks ago). This is going to be a reoccurring purchase for you/your parents depending on how often you drink coffee. Price could be anywhere from $7/lb to $15/lb.

Setup 1: You can buy the $8 reusable keurig pod and grind your own coffee. With this method you could get away with using a regular bladed grinder probably. Or you can step it up a bit and buy $25 this hand grinder that gets recommended on here a lot. I have it, it worked pretty well when I was first getting into coffee. You just grinder your beans, fill the pod, and use as normal. Cost for parts: $8-$34

Setup 2: If you get the same $25 hand grinder you can then get either a $24 french press (give a more oily cup, there will always be particulates in your mug, you can also make ~8 cups of coffee with this method) or you can go with the very often recommended, and my current favorite way to make a quick cup, the $26 aeropress. This only makes 1-2 cups at a time but it's hard to make a bad cup with it. Cost of parts: ~$50

You should look of reviews for both the french press and aeropress methods on here or online to figure out what meets your needs better. If these are still to expensive then you can try goodwills or garage sells.

My best tips:

Fresh beans + fresh grind + good water = great coffee pretty much regardless of your brewing method.

The 4 ways you can increase the quality of your coffee is to focus on improving these things: beans, grind, water, brewing method.

This is my set-up:

Beans: I get whole beans sent to me in the mail every two weeks from Moustache Coffee Club. This ensures I always have fresh beans on hand.

Grind: I use this Porlex hand grinder and really like it. I used to use this Hario hand grinder, which was cheaper. I haven't yet splurged for an electric grinder. Maybe some day.

Water: I use a kitchen thermometer to make sure my water is between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the optimal range for brewing. I also use this Bonavita kettle for heating the water.

Brewing method: I started off using a Melitta pour-over cone. I've since moved to the AeroPress. I also have a French press. The AeroPress is what I use almost exclusively. I also have a kitchen scale to measure out the water and beans. I use a 16:1 ratio of water to beans. For the AeroPress, 16g of beans and 256g of water fits perfectly. When I measure the water, I aim for between 256 and 260g. I'm not so obsessive that I make sure it's exactly 256 every time.

This sounds like a lot (and there's more, but this is a good start), but I built up to this over a period of a few years. Take your time. Keep learning and exploring and have fun.

I like dark roasts, and prefer African coffee beans if I get a choice in it, they have a nice deep and spicy flavor. I get them as whole roasted beans from a coffee shop in town, which roasts them fresh every couple of days. If you are looking to get into it, you can just search for coffee roasters in your area, and if there really aren't any I'd look for roasters who sell single origin beans online. In a pinch, Starbuck's single origin beans are good too, just really expensive for what they are.

I use a hand mill grinder, a gooseneck kettle, and a Chemex coffee maker and filters. It sounds like a lot, but all that together is still cheaper than a decent drip machine. You grind the beans with the grinder (I use 3 heaping tbps of grounds), bring the water to a boil and then let it sit for a minute (letting it come down just a little in temp keeps the coffee from being acidic, the gooseneck also helps with that). Pour a little on the grounds in the filter, and let it sit for about 30 seconds wet to bloom. Then pour the rest and just let it drip through.

The chemex makes the smoothest, best tasting coffee I've ever had, and I've tried quite a few different methods. If you like it stronger, a french press might be better for you.

Stuff:

Chemex Coffee Maker

Filters

Hand Mill Grinder

Goose Neck Kettle

this grinder fits very well into this brewer for one of the cheapest and easiest ways to make really good coffee at home.

The Hario Skerton is a better grinder, but the slim is cheaper and dumps the grounds into the aeropress very easily.

I second Tyler's recommendation to try to find a local roaster, both to buy good beans from and ask questions about coffee. Making really good coffee is a lifelong self improvement journey, not a $10 purchase at Safeway. You will need a mentor. If you're willing to say where you live I have a feeling we could help you find the best place.

The general consensus here seems to be to aim for a Gaggia machine as the absolute minimum. Preferably a Gaggia Classic (~$388).

I've heard people recommend the lower priced Gaggia New Baby (~$300) to try out espresso and to help decide whether "to get a real espresso machine".

A step up from that, the recommendation seems to be the Crossland CC1, but that's in the $600+ range.

To save some money, you might do better finding a used machine or see if they're on sale at different sites.

If you want to go cheaper than that, people have recommended the MyPressi ($170), but I have not seen that in stock anywhere recently. There's some buzz regarding the MiniPresso (Preorder at $39), but that won't be out until 2015. So there won't be any reviews regarding it for a while.

As for grinder, if you're looking for cheap, you might have to make do with a hand grinder, either Hario Skerton (~$35) or Mini (~$26) or Porlex (~$43). The cheapest acceptable electric grinder seems to be the Baratza Preciso at $300.

This is the information I've gathered anyway. I don't have any personal experience with an espresso machine, but I hope this helps. If you decide to go with something, post your experience and help some people out.

Personally, I'm thinking of saving up for the CC1 and Vario (~$1000) combo...

Everything you have here is going to take a lot of work moving back and forth. When I travel, I bring my Mini Mill, my scale, a collapsible pour over cone, and a small mason jar of beans. I would suggest just getting a cheap scale and a V60 (or similar) for work. You could honestly grind at home and put into plastic bags with the air out of them each morning. The beans will age a little bit, but will be close to fresh and will save you lugging a grinder, too. Also helps keep coworkers from staring at you funny while you crank the hand grinder.

Edit: Just realized I didn't really answer your question. I really like that bag you posted, but feel that a backpack would be easier to take on a bike. If you wrap everything really well, you should be able to avoid breaking anything.

I've been into this world for about 2 months now , what i can help you with are some suggestions for what i've been using lately

• The Hario Skerton ( you can get it off of amazon )
  
  
  
  
• The AeroPress which you can also get off of amazon
  
  
  
  And about the beans , im pretty sure you can find a local roaster here or there . I used to say the same and i was totally convinced that we have 0 roasters ( regardless of whether they're good or not ) but after some research and asking around i found 4 ! Its just a matter of asking the right people .
  
  
  Making good coffee i believe is a long process of trial and error , you'll get there eventually but first you have to have decent tools at your disposal. If you're able to spend a little bit over your limit and get those two pieces of equipment you're more than ready to get started with the process , you just have the other half to deal with , which is the coffee beans . Of course if you ever need help with recipes , techniques , tips , whatever . You can come to this subreddit , really filled with great people who have a lot to say so just ask !
  
  And finally, welcome to this beautiful world !

You should check out ceramic manual hand grinders! Basically a small, inexpensive, low investment, quick way to ensure fresh coffee!
I have a Beratza Encore now but I used a hand grinder for 18 months before I got it. The little hand grinders are honestly pretty amazing.

Brb with a link.



I am back.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B013R3Q7B2/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1517587258&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=hand+grinder+coffee&dpPl=1&dpID=31OfOtErjNL&ref=plSrch

Haha, yeah this sub might seem really elitist at times. It is actually pretty easy to get started; you can get a $3 Melitta plastic pourover at a grocery, fresh grind, and do a nice cup with an extremely small budget. The grinder is probably the most expensive purchase you'll make, so unless you plan on upgrading, it's worth it to get into it. I make due with a Hario Mini Mill for $26 and am perfectly happy :)

Hey man, saw you over in the P5 thread and wanted to help you out over here!

Like the other guys said, check the sidebar first. As for roasting, I wouldn't recommend roasting as a beginner. Roasting can be a trial in patience, and there are already a ton of variables you need to focus on when learning how to brew to your liking. A lot of the people on this sub sell roasted beans, and like you said, there are definitely lots of roasters in your area of the world if you can find them.

Since you're getting invested in this, I would definitely recommend an electric burr grinder -- hand grinding gets old quickly, and you definitely want it to be a burr grinder and not a blade grinder. If you can't purchase the electric grinder, this one is also highly recommended. I also recommend a kitchen scale. Even though I don't really use a scale anymore, it helped when learning to understand about how much coffee and water I preferred when brewing. As far as the brew method goes, I usually tell my friends to start with an Aeropress, but since you've been playing P5, I think a V60 or Kalita Wave might fit your fancy. You can check out more information on how to brew each of these here. If you're going to use this method, just know that a gooseneck kettle will be preferable to a kettle with a small spout.

Good luck!

Oh oh I love coffee! Some cool products to check out on the cheap:

Hario Mini Mill Slim Hand Coffee Grinder: It's a hand crank grinder, but it's a burr grinder so it produces a more consistent grind which in turn produces a better cup of coffee.

Chemex 3-Cup Classic Glass Coffee Maker: Not as cheap as the french press, but since it uses a paper filter so there isn't as much sediment in the cup. I find that I prefer it over the french press.

Bodum Brazil 8-Cup French Press Coffee Maker: Classic french press.

Optional:

Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale: Scales are helpful in getting a consistent cup every time. You can measure out the water and coffee and dial in the perfect ratio.

Also check out Pinewood Roaster's coffee. I think they're on Franklin and 11th in the same building as Alpha Omega. Grab a bag of Ethiopian Beriti and enjoy!

Head over here if you want more responses!

1. I'm going to reccomend two types of coffee brewing equipment to you: the Aeropress ($26) and the Chemex (6 cup for $41.50). To start out, I'd get a hand grinder like the Hario Mini Mill($25). So there you go, get the Aeropress and the Mini Mill and you're barely over $50. There are tons of Aeropress brew methods out there, so I'll plug my own blog here. I use 18g of ground coffee. You can use any standard kitchen scale that is accurate to the tenth decimal place to measure out your beans, but this one seems to be a popular pick.
   
2. The longer you leave your ground coffee laying around, the less delicious it will taste. If I'm going to spend money on quality beans, I want to make sure I get the best possible cup out of them. This means grinding right before I brew.
   
3. For the Aeropress method I have listed above, you'll be making one cup at a time. If you want to brew multiple cups at once, you'll want to pick up the Chemex.
   
   For beans, please support your local coffee shop or roaster rather than buying Caribou or Starbucks. A lot of folks work their butts off selecting and roasting the best possible beans, and it's really special to be a part of that process as the consumer in my opinion. I do understand that it can be hard if you're from a town with limited options.
   
   I know this can all be a bit confusing if you're used to brewing pots of coffee at a time. If you have any other questions, hit me up!
   
   

I almost missed it! I've got a few upgrade from my last post! Here is my gear.

From left to right:

• Bodum Bistro - Got this guy at the famous JCP Bodum Sale. For the price, I've been very happy. I'd like to upgrade but can't justify the purchase at the moment.
  
• Hario Skerton
  
• Aeropress
  
• Bialetti Moka Pot - 3 cup
  
• Melitta pour over
  
• Grosche York 350 ml french press
  
• 2 Oxo pop airtight containers - I love these and recommend them highly
  
  What's next you ask? Well with my neck paycheck, I'm buying the following:
  
  
• Bonavita Variable Temp Gooseneck
  
• Chemex
  
• This Digital Scale
  
• Clever Dripper (maybe)
  
  Any recommendations for other gear? Specifically, scale recs?
  
  Edit: Added Amazon links for anyone interested.

Whoops, just assumed you were American haha. Are you referring to the Skerton? If so, the Skerton has a slight edge on the Mini Mill, but they're roughly comparable. In that case it may very well be the grinder that's holding you back. If you can, I'd spring for a Baratza Virtuoso (electric) or LIDO 3/E/E-T (manual). The Virtuoso is a significant upgrade from the Hario and also noticeably better than the cheaper Baratza Encore. It has the same burrs as the more expensive Preciso. The LIDO is better than all of these, but can take quite a bit of force to turn compared to your current grinder, so do your research and watch some videos before you make a commitment to 20-second arm workouts every morning...

Well, knowing your budget would be important, but trying to be cost sensitive, I found a refurbished Baratza Encore for $99, and the brew method many suggest for entry level is the aeropress which is on amazon for about $30. If that's still too steep a price, you can always start off with a decent hand grinder like the Hario Mini Mill which is also about $30 on amazon. The hand grinder is more cost effective, but obviously takes more time and effort than the electric. All of this is fairly good entry level equipment, and you can always trade up grinders, and try new brew methods further down the road if you so desire.

Moka Pot

[Hario Grinder] (http://www.amazon.com/Hario-MSS-1B-Mini-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1368467219&sr=1-1&keywords=hario+grinder)

Milk Frother

It won't be perfect, but at 100 bucks that's the best you are going to do. If you are looking for a machine, expect to spend ~250 bucks to get good shots, more than that if you want to do it easily.

I'm waiting with baited breath to see if http://zpmespresso.myshopify.com/ is going to change the whole home espresso game, but for now I'm rocking the Moka Pot and it honestly works pretty well for me.

I would say go with the clever coffee dripper, a hario hand grinder, and an electric kettle.

The Clever Coffee Maker is great and easy to use and clean. Also less than $20
Here is a guide on how to use it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_-wyjaCPj8
http://amzn.com/B0047W70GY

The clever is an immersion coffee maker not a drip so it doesn't require complicated pouring methods like a Hario V60 or a Beehouse.

Nothing beats the Hario Hand grinder for a cheap burr grinder. But a motorized grinder will save your wrist. Also pre ground coffee is blasphemy here but it might be worth keeping it around if you're in a rush.
http://amzn.com/B001804CLY

If you have access to hot water, some common rooms have microwaves and/or hot water bubbler taps, You can skip the kettle. Also Some dorms forbid electric kettle and will throw it out if found.

If you don't have access to hot water and dont want to shell out the $50 for a high end one like the bona-vita kettle you can use the clever with any hot water source. So a $15 kettle from amazon works fine. Check out the cheap ones on amazon and read the reviews. Some don't last very longs so be aware that you might have to buy another in a few years.

I am probably going to get downvoted for this, but this is what I started my pour over adventures with.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F8U2SCO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What's nice, is the kettle has a built in thermometer, with a green highlighted section for optimum temp.

As for Colombian bean, if you aren't hardcore into buying 15-20 dollar 12 oz bags, check out 8 o'clock. Their Colombian is my go to daily drinker for a quick cup (I have a local roaster that I use for my days off of work)


With all that said, like the one dude said, an Aeropress would work pretty good too, and wouldn't require the precision of pouring that the pour over does. And for a cheap, decent-ish grinder, get a manual Hario knock off (if money is an issue). I currently use the following, and am more than happy with it for my pour overs and French presses.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013RGGFZM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Totally understandable, can't just dispose of a gift. I hope you enjoy the coffee "hobby". I can say my first upgrade when I started was to get a [Hario Mini](Hario Mini Mill Slim Hand Coffee Grinder https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B001804CLY/) to use at my office so I could stop drinking the Keurig garbage haha. It's small, but pretty good for what it is, and the results are good for the money, plus it's portable! Enjoy!

You're not going to find any good electric grinders for under $100. Hand grinders are still great as long as you aren't doing espresso.

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Ceramic-Coffee-Mill-Skerton/dp/B001802PIQ

I bought a Hario Skerton about 2 years ago before moving onto an electric one and it's great! Every time hand grinders come up on the subreddit, the Hario Skerton is always recommended for beginners.

Hope you enjoy!

Your steam machine makes moka style coffee, more akin to that you would get from a Bialetti than an espresso machine. It produces coffee by pushing water at moderate pressure of 1-2 bar through your coffee grounds.

An espresso machine pushes water through coffee at 9-11 bar - a much higher pressure which produces a drink which has an entirely different extraction profile and character.

To make decent espresso coffee takes a high quality grinder, able to grind finely, uniformly and with a lot of control, which on its own typically costs around 3-4 times your budget for entry level options, and an espresso machine capable of controlling pressure and temperature of the water flow at a similar level that costs much the same. Sadly, $100 is not a realistic budget to achieve this.

If you want to learn more about what distinguishes espresso machines from one another and why they cost what they do, read this; if - in time - you decide you want to start to explore espresso making at home, this post may help you plan out the most cost effective way to do so.

In the meantime, there is nothing wrong with making and enjoying great moka-style coffee - aim to maximise the quality of what comes out of your steam machine by using the best quality beans you can find, and - ideally - by investing in a grinder to grind your beans fresh before using them. A small hand-grinder like the Hario Mini-Mill is a great reasonably affordable option to start with.

Great, thank you very much!

Admittedly, this wasn't my first option but it seemed like an OK compromise... I was looking to get this one initially. But it is double the price of that other one, and I am currently in a position where saving money would be wiser. How much of an improvement would you say that would be? Or would it be acceptable to buy this one for now? I do expect my financial situation to get better eventually, probably soon.

Chemex, Bonavita kettle, skerton grinder, knock off scale

So you def pay a little bit for the Chemex aesthetic, but I think it makes a pretty smooth cup and is somewhat forgiving to beginners.

The skerton pro is an excellent hand grinder, when my electric broke I used the hand grinder every day for a semester and had absolutely no problem (I honestly enjoyed the process for a while).

The scale will feel like a knockoff because it is, I got a very similar one (but payed extra for a reseller to put a fancy label on it because I’m not the brightest) and while it works, you’ll def want to invest in something more if you catch the coffee bug

https://www.amazon.com/-/es/gp/aw/d/B074TB9L2D/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/Chemex-Classic-Pour-over-Glass-Coffeemaker/dp/B0000YWF5E?th=1&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Skerton-Manual-Grinder-Ceramic/dp/B01MXJI90S

https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV382510V-Variable-Temperature-Gooseneck/dp/B005YR0F40

The Hario Mini is pretty good for grinding enough beans for 1 or 2 cups:

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Mini-Mill-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY/

or a Hario Skerton which is a bit bigger:

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Skerton-Ceramic-Coffee-Mill/dp/B001802PIQ/

They have nice ceramic burrs and a smooth motion. Additionally they are quite popular so it's easy to find a ballpark figure for what setting to use for different brew methods.

For brew method, I would probably say aeropress is your best bet. Other good budget options are Clever Dripper, Moka Pot, french press, Kalita Wave, Melitta. Most of these methods work reasonably well without any additional equipment.

These methods all produce different cups, so it depends what you like. Anything with a paper filter tends to lead to a smooth cup without much body, the thicker the filter the more tea-like the cup. French press uses a metal filter so lets a lot of particles into the final cup, which makes it a lot more thick and soupy.

I have not, but I can recommend this, the Hario Mini. It's an excellent little fella, whose extremely easy to clean, has adjustable grind settings (although they are just clicks), and is in the same price range as the one you posted. I've had mine for probably 2 years now, and it's still going strong. Just make sure you clean him (no water though).

Been using my Gaggia classic for about 2 months now, took a while to get it down but I love it now that I have my grinder dialed in.

Speaking of grinders, I never realized they were just as expensive as the brewers. I'm using a hand grinder my friend recommended years ago when I got my first french press, it seems to work really well for espresso. Eventually I'll be able to buy a real grinder.

Edit: Found my grinder on my amazon history. It has a few shortcomings (grind size is awkward to adjust because of the way the screw is set) but it works pretty consistently after dialing it in as I said above.

Hmm... if he just got a French Press for Christmas and is buying pre-ground then I would say to get him a burr grinder such as the Hario Mini Mill (amazon).

Basically, good coffee needs only a couple things and one of them is freshly ground and freshly roasted beans. It doesn't matter what coffee you brew if you didn't grind it freshly it won't be as good. The Mini Mill is also pretty affordable so you could pair that with a bag of freshly roasted coffee. If you don't mind buying things offline (ie, in the real world), then I would try and find a local roaster that you can drive to. Odds are if you're in/near a city you have one but may not know you do. You mentioned a particular place, they sound like a re-seller but likely they do get very fresh shipments (perhaps once a week since this is how my local shops work). If you would prefer to buy it online, then I can suggest Klatch Coffee Roasters in CA and Verve Coffee (also in CA). The former charges for shipping, but it's $5-$6 via USPS. The latter does not, which is fantastic if you're interested in ordering one bag of coffee. I wouldn't pay $5-$6 to ship one bag of coffee, but I would to ship two bags.

The important thing to remember with coffee beans is that you want it fresh. Ideally a couple days after being roasted, if not sooner, so you should be looking to buy this a few days before Valentine's.

For strong/bold coffee get a French Press or Clever for your office. They're super easy to use and you can choose how long you brew your coffee for to get the right level of boldness.

I actually got a friend the above mentioned Clever with a Hario Hand Grinder for the office and he loves it.

Oh and here is a good site to learn about different brew methods: http://brewmethods.com/

Yeah definitely worth considering! Personally I use my roommate's Keurig K10 Mini Plus with this reusable filter, grinding whole beans with this manual burr grinder. That all adds up to pretty close to $150. Now I can't guarantee that the coffee strength will be great if brewing a larger quantity of coffee using a larger-sized Keurig machine (the mini really only works for up to 10 oz of fluid). But for now I am pretty happy with this setup until I decide to go for an upgrade.

EDIT: A lot of people also recommended an Aeropress or French press. I haven't tried an Aeropress myself, but I think both might be really great options for you too (and much cheaper), only real downside is that both take more steps and manual work than using a machine like a Keurig or standard drip machine. If the idea of just pressing a button and getting your coffee appeals to you strongly, maybe avoid the mechanical options in favor of the electronic ones. But you would be well-off with any of these tools, I think.

I would find it drinkable, but somewhere in between bad and mediocre. Honestly the last 3 terrible no good totally rotten cups ive had have been 2 from starbucks (dark and medium roasts) and random crap from a keurig.

this grinder is one I have... works like a charm and is cheap. Its a burr grinder which is absolutely necessary for good homebrewed coffee.

You already have a french press so you are off to a good start. I would try to convince you to spend 12-20 per pound of coffee but it would only be worth it if you ground it fresh, so you need a grinder. I could go on and on about how good the coffee is that I drink, but its hard to explain taste in a few sentences online. You have to drink it and be won over. first you'll be hit with a fruity aroma that you've never smelled in your cup of coffee before. Then the cup will be sweet, not bitter, and the taste will match the smell. And after that you'll never look back.

Grinder

>Capresso Infinity - $89
>
>or
>
>Hario Mini Mill Slim - $30 - If you don't mind hand-grinding your beans


Coffee Maker

>Aeropress - $23 - Balanced flavour, easy cleanup
>
>or
>
>Hario v60 - $19 - If you enjoy the process of preparing your coffee, and enjoy a brighter (more acidity) cup of coffee.
>
>or
>
>A french press - $20 and up - If you want to make more coffee at a time than the Aeropress, don't mind a "thicker" (more coffee particulate and oils in the cup) coffee, and are not opposed to having a little bit more clean-up.

You'll need a kettle for any of these brew methods; a programmable/temperature controlled kettle like this one ($95) is ideal for manual brew methods, but any kettle (and a thermometer if you'd like to get fussy) will do just fine.

Personally I would get the Capresso and the Aeropress if I were you. It's a very balanced and forgiving brew method that can make coffee a few different ways (eg. paper filter for a "brighter" cup, metal for a thicker one). Set aside the rest of your budget and find a good coffee roaster near you!

I'm going to assume you typo'd or autocorrected pretty hard and are using an auto-drip machine. If you're not using one of the SCAA certified machines, it's probably pretty poor in terms of reaching adequate temperature and evenly dispersing water.

While it is possible to find decent coffee at co-ops, the only tried-and-true way of ensuring fresh coffee is buying directly from the roaster. Almost all roasters sell online and ship either the day of or the day after roasting. But supporting local business is good, so look for roasteries. What city are you in? I, or someone else here, could probably make some suggestions for a good roaster near you.

"Cheap" depends on your budget. The bottom end for good electric grinders is about $80. But it is possible to get a coupon for Bed, Bath & Beyond and using it on one there to get it cheaper. If you don't mind a little work out with your morning coffee, a good entry-level hand grinder will run you ~$30.

If you'd like to stay fairly budget, I'd recommend one of the Hario hand grinders you can find on Amazon. I got one as a gift, it was maybe 30$ and is pretty darn good for what you pay for. I've had mine for a year now and it's doing very well still, and I rarely clean it (when I do it's with a dry brush). It's doesn't product quite as consistent a grind as something like the Lido (I've only seen YouTube demonstrations of the Lido, not first hand) but it is good. It'll still get you miles better tasting coffee than pre ground and would be a good starting point. I'm not planning on replacing my Hario until it breaks.

Edit: Canadian Amazon has it for 40$ https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B001804CLY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1484841823&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=hario+coffee+grinder

>Trying to get into coffee at home, looking for shops that offer gear, like a grinder, French press, and kettles, stuff like that.

You're better off ordering online. Get a burr hand grinder. Electric grinders can burn the beans and you can control how course the grinds are with the hand grinder.

Get an Aeropress for espresso. Or can also be used to make regular coffee. This is better than a french press, imo.

By hand grinding fresh beans and perfecting using the aeropress, you can't achieve a better cup of coffee at home.

Sounds like you are in your way to making some quality coffee very soon! A good manual burr grinder should do the trick for you, depends on how much you want to spend. I suggest this something like this but you could do one that is a bit cheaper and be ok.

I also suggest getting an app to help you with getting your ratios and timing correct. A couple that I use on iOS are Filtru and coffee.guru.

Make sure you get good quality freshly roasted beans, local roasters are the way to go, I avoid grocery stores for my beans because they are typically pretty outdated and your local coffee shops roast weekly.

Enjoy your journey!

This goes two ways depending on whether you're lazy or willing to work for your coffee.

Are you a very lazy person?

Get some ready-made decoction from Amazon. Boil water, mix a little decoction. Done. It's much better than Nescafé.

Are you willing to put in some effort? You need to buy beans, grind them yourself and use an espresso machine.

Beans: Blue Tokai is very good, but expensive. I've heard Koinonia is good, too, but it is again expensive. Devans has good coffee and is cheaper, but are sometimes inconsistent on the roast. The Coffee Gatherer is probably the cheapest source of good beans, but they don't roast well at all. This may or may not matter very much to you.

Grinding mill: buy a dedicated burr grinder. Use it only for grinding coffee. I have this. It's good enough but you can buy bigger and more expensive ones.

Espresso machine: I have a Tecnora. It's cheap and very good, builds great pressure, makes great espresso. You can dilute the espresso to make Americano. Machines from other brands in the same price range don't build up enough pressure and make a very weak Espresso.

I also have an Aeropress which I used for years. People swear by it, as I did, but the espresso machine makes much better coffee. I also used a French press before. It makes gritty and bitter coffee, and leaves grounds in so it keeps brewing as it sits. If you tend to sip large cups over a long while French press coffee is the worst.

Found an Amazon review of the Hario Skerton suggesting a mod for French Press:

> I bought this for my husband, a coffee connoisseur. Buying a good quality electric burr grinder was well outside what I could afford, but he loves this one. Here's the key though, if you, like my husband, use a French press regularly: get the lower bearing modification from OrphanEspresso.com. On the coarse setting needed for a press, the Skerton, without the modification, will give you an inconsistent grind. Adding the lower bearing modification gives you an incredibly consistent very coarse grind. My husband says he's never been able to get a better coarse grind with any other grinder. And, even with the additional cost of buying the modification, this is still a very affordable option to please any connoisseur. One potential issue though is that, once you put in the modification, unless you remove it (which would be heart-breaking since it's a pain to install), you won't be able to get a super fine grind like you would need for espresso.
>
> Tip: The Skerton is pretty much exactly the same as the Kyocera CM-50 (only perceivable difference: one has slightly more opaque plastic). The price of each varies occasionally, so, if you want this grinder, check them both out to find the cheaper one (here's the Kyocera CM-50: http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-CM-50-CF-Ceramic-Grinder/dp/B003S9XF7K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357940693&sr=8-1&keywords=kyocera+coffee+mill).
>
> Check out these videos about the Hario Skerton, Kyocera CM-50, and the lower bearing modification for both:
> [...]
> [...]
>
> If you decide to buy the modification, a 10mm combination wrench works for installing it (they don't say in the video). It can be hard to install and Orphan Espresso's website is hard to navigate, but it's all worth it.

The most beginner friendly device in my opinion is either the french press or the clever dripper. The most interesting may very well be the aeropress since there's a lot of options available. But if you want no frills, very good coffee consistently, pick either the french press or clever. Clever will produce a cleaner cup, where the french press makes a bolder cup (with a bit of grit due to some grounds getting into the cup).

One caveat on the Clever. It can make up to 15oz at a time. If you are the type to brew a huge mug of coffee (>20 ounces), then go for the french press. Aeropress makes even less. Some people argue you can make an 8oz cup of concentrate that you can add equal parts water to, but this is totally not worthwhile.

For grinder, get this instead:
https://www.amazon.com/Grinder-Original-EvenGrind-Stability-Guaranteed/dp/B013RGGFZM

Best bang for buck for starter manual grinders. Enjoy!

Can't comment on that grinder, but it looks like the Hario Skerton which I do have, and does a pretty good job. Not the greatest when it comes to course grind, so if you want a french press, look elsewhere, unless you do the mod, but then you can't get very good fine grinds.

I have to set aside a good 10min to do a V60 pourover, which includes boiling water on the stove, and grinding with my Skerton. I'm sure it could be done quicker with the right stuff.

For pourover look into a gooseneck, a scale, a grinder, and a pourover device (Kalita Wave/V60/Chemex).

Edit: And that grinder would be a good investment if you have the money.

In that case I'd recommend the following two:

Grinder: Hario Skerton

• Manual grinder, requires some elbow grease to grind your beans
  
• Well received and reviewed, considered a good value and one of the only ways to get consistent grind sub-100$
  
• Larger capacity than its little brother, the Hario Mini mill. More suitable for two people
  
  Brewer: Bodum Chambord French Press
  
  
• Overall a very simple brew method, VERY forgiving
  
• Large enough capacity for two people two have two cups each in the morning
  
• There's not too much difference between different French press pots, Bodum is known to be slightly higher quality than average and considered to be worth the price
  
  Of course, you'll need some beans to go with that! Subscription services are fun and allow you to try many different regions and roast profiles to help find the ones that you/your wife will like the best. Several popular ones are Tonx, Moustache Coffee, or Modest Coffee. For individual roasters Intelligentsia, Stumptown, Verve, and Blue Bottle are all held in high regard and ship throughout the US.
  
  And finally: If she wants the Chemex then get her the damn Chemex. Its a beautiful piece and currently my favorite brewing method, but I'm glad I waited until I had the proper accessories to do it right.

Replying to confirm that I make the best coffee I've ever had with a skerton and v60. Here's my entire set up. These aren't necessarily the best in their class, but they do me well.

-Digital scale (or anything that measures in grams)
-Gooseneck kettle (they make ones that are electric, as well)
-Flow restrictor for kettle (not required, it's just what I have)
-Hario skerton burr grinder
-OE mod for skerton (not required. again, it's just what I have)
-Hario v60 02 (I have the clear plastic one)
-Gerber Pure water (available at Walmart, any "spring water" is what I recommend. My tap water smells of chlorine, so even Britta water is gonna be a bit better than my tap water. You want water that's not too hard, nor too soft. So don't use distilled or RO water or "mineral" water.)
-Digital timer (not required, but I like to time things)
-Hario filters (there's a couple different kinds, try any you want. Mine are the white without the "tabs")
-I'm not linking my mugs/servers. But whatever one(s) you use, I recommend preheating them.

(Edit to add: I have other methods of making coffee. This is just my personal overall favorite.)

• Hario v60 $5 with $6 filters, if you have a gooseneck kettle, or a Ready, Set, Joe for $6 with $7 filters if you have a tea kettle/pouring from a pot
  
• Scale* $17 or $9
  
• Kettle
  
• Coffee
  
• Filtered water (I just always use Brita water...not sure if I can tell a difference, but I'm all about eliminating variables)
  
  Check here for information on kettles/scales/etc. A grinder is the most important part of your setup, but with your budget I would recommend simply visiting the store a little more often, buying smaller quantities of beans, and getting them ground there. Otherwise, the Hario Mini Mill for $28 is your best budget option for grinding at home, though they have trouble with coarser grinds (which means that the coffee grounds will extract at different times, potentially resulting in a bitter brew).
  
  
  Where you'll further run into "money issues" are with the kettle and coffee. A gooseneck is recommended for the v60 and is a little more expensive than a simple kettle. I suggest pouring hot water from a pot over the Joe. Quality beans can be a little pricey. But if you do the math, I think you'll find them worth it. $9 a pound at 12 grams per cup is about $.25 a cup. I'm buying some beans now that're $14 for 10oz (I think) and it's around $.60 a cup (I did the math awhile back, so I could be wrong). Point is — do the math for quality beans per cup and it'll put into perspective how (fairly) inexpensive quality beans can be. Especially when compared with store bought drinks or K-Cups.
  
  
  So, my overall recommendation: Joe, filters, scale, pour hot water from kettle/pot, grind at store for now. That's $22-$30 (depending on scale choice) for a good setup. Spend the other money on decent, hopefully freshly roasted and definitely freshly ground, beans. I suggest a 1:16.6 ratio of beans to water. I do 12g coffee per 200g water. Gets me about 6oz., which is how much I prefer to drink at once.
  
  Upgrade options: Hario v60, gooseneck kettle, grinder.
  
  *Scales aren't absolutely necessary, but they're very helpful. The $17 is my recommendation. Much larger base. But reviews for the smaller AWS scales show people using them for coffee. Likely only 1-2 cups at a time with the weight limitation, however, unless you do some smart tare work. A scale is really the only way to get consistent, repeatable results.
  

French press is my favorite (though I am by no means a well seasoned expert). It is pretty much a pitcher and a plunger so you cam make any amount of coffee as long as it fits just know your preferred ratio. I like 1:16 or 1:17.

As for a grinder most people here say plan to spend about $100 for a good one. I was looking at the hario skerton but found this one that looks pretty close to identical, it comes with the added upgrade stabilizer and it is just over $20. I figured I'd save my money to get a really good one later. I would also recommend a scale to weigh your coffee and water.

Premium Ceramic Burr Manual Coffee Grinder. Updated with installed Stabilizer Washer. Large 100g Capacity Coffee Mill. For Espresso, Pour Over, French Press, and Turkish Coffee Brewing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010UJZ5XW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_utFzDbAP4Q4N6

This decision mostly depends on what your limits are. I'm guessing price, space, and quality are the three most important variables. With those machines you would consistently get a pretty medium quality cup, at a mid-high price range, and it would take up a fair amount of space.

What I would do is consider using a more hands on brewing method, like a french press, aeropress, or pour-over. These three options would be cheaper, take up about the same amount of space, and produce a higher quality cup every time (when you get used to them). If you were to choose one of these you would also need a kettle.

I would also use whole bean coffee (meaning you need a grinder, I would just use this.

In the end it's all up to you, but my favorite brew method is the AeroPress, after a few months of using it I could really start to taste the coffee the way I believe it's meant to be tasted. You'll start to notice things like the natural sweetness, and hints of chocolate or caramel. With a Keurig or Starbucks single-cup I'm sure you would never really get this deep into your coffee.

TL;DR: I advise using a kettle+hand grinder+AeroPress or French Press, not an electric machine.

I started out with and highly recommend the Clever Coffee Dripper (I recommend getting the Large which makes about 14 oz and 28 oz if you use the bypass brew method) and a Hario Mini Mill hand grinder. The clean up and prep time for the Clever is just about the same as an Aeropress, but it yields a higher brew volume which is great if you have company.

As for beans, just do a search for a local coffee roaster and start experimenting with beans from various locations (Central/South America, Africa, Pacific Islands, etc). Good luck with your coffee journey!

I think you answered your own question. If you have been using and enjoying a french press then stick with it there is a whole range of size and price options and even places like Target sell them. As far as other inexpensive options there are a variety of pour over devices that use paper filters which may be easier to clean up. I have a Cilio #4 that I use at work with a Hario Skerton grinder and a cheap electric kettle. The Cilio is porcelain and has held up well but there are some stainless ones. There is also the Aeropress which is a fun little gizmo and makes great coffee. The Porlex grinder nests nicely inside the Aeropress plunger so it takes up very little space in a bag.

Wow, this is a great selection, thank you for sharing your collection of websites! After (quickly) combing through, I've already found some awesome looking roasts. I'm going to have to give a lot of these a try:

Sao Domingos

Maximilian Sentinel

Keystone Blend

French Roast

Thank you again for these recommendations.

On the subject of a grinder, I'm currently using a blade grinder. I've heard a lot of great things about burr grinders, and I'm thinking about getting a hand-operated burr grinder to not break the bank with the more expensive ones. So far the blade grinder has been working well, so upgrading isn't too critical for me right now.

1. There are a few basic brew methods, and many variations of each. I'm sure that once you get into it, you'll stumble into the variations. Pour-over/drip, steeping, pressure.
   
2. Espresso isn't something I'd rush into. I'd also avoid a generic drip machine because like the little espresso machine, it wont do a good job and it'll hinder your ability to improve when you realise you can do much, much better.
   
3. The coffee roaster looks good from the website. Assorted/Taster packs are good to start with and find one or two you might enjoy. Find a nice coffee then work with that for a while so you can see how you develop and how far you can go before you even change the coffee!
   
   I'd recommend an Aeropress for it's flexibility and popularity. Inexpensive, durable and has all sorts of aftermarket parts. For example, check out the Prismo for your curiosity on espresso. Its easy to use and easy to clean. There is a massive community of users on the internet who'll give you endless variations on how to use it.
   
   Assuming you have a kettle; an Aeropress, cheap jewellery scales, possibly a cheap meat thermometer and the biggest expense will be the best manual coffee grinder you are willing to spend on. Hario Mini Mill would be an OK starting option.
   
   Doing a price conversion, the Indian Amazon's Aeropress is nearly 2x that of the UK, but the Hario Mill is basically the same. I'd see if you can find the Aeropress for cheaper than Amazon.

Maybe this is too labor intense, but for insanely good espresso and americano, get an Aeropress and a Burr Grinder like this electric one or this hand one

The aeropress prevents over-pressing of the beans, which prevents the coffee from getting acidic, as I understand it. The aeropress requires a bit more work to use, but it's really easy to clean (you just pop the used grounds into the trash and then rinse off the end of the areopress). The burr grinder grinds the beans much better than your average slicing grinder can.

About a year and half ago I went from 0-60 with this setup:

http://www.amazon.com/Hario-VKB-120HSV-Buono-Drip-Kettle/dp/B000IGOXLS

http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Coffee-Dripper-V60-Clear/dp/B001RBTSMM/ref=pd_sim_k_6

http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Coffee-White-Filters-Brewer/dp/B001U7EOYA/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1349906139&sr=1-1&keywords=hario+v60+filters

http://www.amazon.com/Hario-MSS-1B-Mini-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1349906080&sr=1-2&keywords=hario+hand+grinder

http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen-Elegant/dp/B004164SRA/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1349906101&sr=1-5&keywords=kitchen+scale

Here is a video I found about how it all works:
http://vimeo.com/34182806

The big thing is to use FRESH roasted beans (we're talking ~3 weeks old or less). If you are buying beans that don't have a date on em, try again. Hopefully there is a coffee shop around you that will sell their own roast (usually comes in a 12oz package). If not you can try the grocery store or order online (http://ceremonycoffee.com/ is a good start), it really depends on the city you live in.

I had always liked the aroma and taste of coffee in other things (ice cream specifically) but it wasn't until I got into beer that I really started to appreciate it. Hopefully this finds you well, feel free to send a message my way if you have any specific questions!

Resources I used: /r/coffee and youtube (I particularly like the sumpcoffee channel).

Conclusions and setup I arrived at:

• Bodum french press - 8 cups is misleading because each cup is actually measured at 4oz, not 8. This is pretty good for one person. I found mine on CL for $15, you can probably find an equally good deal in your area. Especially now, post gift season.
  
  
• Hario Mini Mill - freshly ground coffee is amazing. I answered your post about using pre-ground coffee, so I won't repeat myself. Also consider the fact that as coffee is exposed to air it deteriorates. That's why pre-ground coffee is so derided by coffee community (more surface area exposed -> faster deterioration), and why people recommend you look at "roasted on" dates.
  
  
• A medium roast. For me, these have the perfect combination of fruity and chocolatey. I love the complexity, and I think that Private Selection whole beans (Kroger brand) are a good balance of affordable and tasty. The yirgacheffe beans are a good place to start.
  
  
• Next on the list of things to get (for me) is a scale. It's not a neccessity, but it makes certain things easier (measuring out can be tedious).
  
  
• This is a good article that will teach you a few things
  
  Also, in regards to cleaning the french press. You don't want to dump the grounds into the sink because it can cause clogging. This is what I do - rinse off the metal filter immediately after brewing. Some grounds will be stuck to it, but this shouldn't be a problem. Then, I just leave the glass beaker out on the counter to dry out. That night or next morning the grounds are mostly dry, I dump them into the trash and rinse out the glass beaker with hot water.

Ok, so if you want a consistent grind that you can dial in accurately, you're going to want a burr grinder. Really any should be sufficient for a moka pot, because the only problems might be on the extremes of the grind size. Stay away from those whirly-blade spice grinder type of grinders.

For your low-price options, you're going to be looking more at hand grinders. They're perfectly fine (and some think they actually give a more consistent grind than the electric counterparts), they just take a little more work. A good one at a low price point would be the Hario Skerton mill ($31.58).

If you have a bit more to throw around, you might want to try an electric grinder. Some of the better ones in the middle price point are the Bodum Bistro ($140, though you can sometimes find them on a good sale). Or, you could go with the Baratza Encore ($130).

If you're looking for something more than that, I'm probably not the one to ask. But, if you're just doing moka pot coffee, those should do just fine.

Others are more than welcome to weigh in here, though!

Absolutely. You can have top grade coffee for £50.00 total:

• Grinder
  
  
• Press
  
  And source some beans from a good local roaster to you. I have a few recipes I like but coffee is very subjective. Best to experiment with different beans, brew times etc. My go to recipe :
  
  
• Dark Roast Coffee Beans
  
• Filtered Water 30s off the boil
  
  
• Grind beans very fine, 18g
  
  
• Pinch of Himalayan Rock Salt (trust me)
  
  
• I use the inverted press method. Add salt and grind to press as shown.
  
  
• Pour in a finger of water. Agitate in the press with the handle end of a spoon for 15s.
  
  
• Fill up to brim of press, leave for 3min.
  
  
• Pre-wet filter and add filter/cap to press.
  
  
• Place cup on end upside down and revert back to normal orientation. Slowly less water through (should take around 30s) until just as air starts to come through the press.
  
  
• No milk
  
  Enjoy. It’s very strong, rich coffee though. Not a very delicate brew.

If you want true Espresso the first one you list isn't gonna do it.

I think one of the cheapest useable option is the Gaggia Classic. You can get it with a hand grinder and are all set to go. This one is pretty good.

Want to spend more? The Rancilio Silvia is beloved by many, from beginners to advanced. Here it is with a matching electrical grinder.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of those devices, because my kitchen is way to small for more than an AeroPress but I have friends who own this stuff and they make great coffee.

If you're looking to brew a single cup at a time then you might consider getting an Aeropress. They run like $30 on Amazon. They work kind of like a French press, but they're much easier to clean and maintain. They make excellent coffee, and you can get a steel filter if you don't like the disposable paper ones.

Being to cheap for $100+ for a grinder, I picked up a hand grinder. It does well enough for me, and I got the grinder, Aeropress, and steel filter for under a bill.

I ceramic hand grinder works well. This seems like a popular one. I have this one and it works pretty well. If you drink coffee pretty regularly, then you should probably go with an electric one. This Baratza is considered really good for the price.

Many folks concur that the grind can make or break a brew (with good beans, of course). For this purpose, burr grinders (which use two cones fitted together to break up the beans to evenly sized pieces) are much better than blade grinders (which just chop up the beans unevenly, like a blender).

For under $70, your best bet is likely the Hario Skerton hand grinder, or their Slim Mill grinder. This would leave you plenty of cash for a french press— most brands will be perfectly fine, Bodum included.

If you wanted to go a different route, the Aeropress is a popular option. Compared to a french press, there are less leftover coffee grinds in your cup and it tends to taste cleaner, but it's a little more finicky in the brewing process. People often dilute Aeropress brews, like an americano.

Check out the side bar for more recs. Cheers to the rabbit hole.

I just bought a hand grinder, makes a damn fine pot of coffee but it is a lot of work. I bought this one Amazon has it marked under review for some reason. Before that I had a blade grinder, which is much easier but your coffee won't be anywhere near as good. Pretty much the #1 rule I hear is that the grinder is the single most important piece of equipment for a good cup so it isn't something to skimp on.

Aeropress is ok, but you can get similar results with a simple single-cup pourover.

You can find one of these plastic filter holders for $3-6 at any big grocery store: https://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Ready-Single-Coffee-Brewer/dp/B0014CVEH6

Then get some #2 paper cone filters which are also very cheap.

The part that gets expensive (if you want it to be!) is a coffee grinder. I have a nice electric one at home that I paid about $300 for. But when I'm on the road I use a hand-grinder: https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Skerton-Ceramic-Coffee-Mill/dp/B001802PIQ. The Hario one is $35 but you can find similar ones for $20.

You could also just spend $10 on a shitty electric blade grinder. The fresh-ground coffee will still taste better than the pre-ground stuff but you might not get full flavor extraction if the grind is inconsistent.

To boil water I use an electric kettle, but you can also just use a propane stove or microwave or whatever you have available. I heat my water to anywhere between 190oF and 205oF, actually boiling water is too hot for coffee.

The most important single thing you can do for awesome coffee is simply grinding the beans fresh and then making the coffee. Everything else that coffee snobs do as part of their coffee ritual don't add too much more unless you have a really refined palate and are serious about coffee. Some people need to have their beans uniformly ground at the right diameter, use water at an exact temperature, and have a drip process that lasts for a precise amount of time. They aim for consistency so they spend a shitload on expensive grinders and kettles. They'll only use beans that were roasted within the past week.

But for me, as long as the beans were roasted within the past couple of months (pro-tip: don't buy a bag of coffee beans if it doesn't have the roasting date on it), I grind them fresh for coffee, and use water-that-isn't-boiling-yet, I get a cup I can really enjoy.

This suggestion will be totally not-ultralight... but for car camping I carry a Hario hand grinder along with an Aeropress. I've taken it on some day trips and easy overnighters though but definitely not when I'm really concerned about weight. http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Coffee-Mill-Slim-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY

I've used the same combination in the office at work almost every day for years -- well over 700 cups based on the number of aeropress filters I've used -- and they're both still going strong.

For backpacking I either carry instant, or pre-measure ground coffee and put it in a fillable filter bag designed for tea.

The Bonavita drip brewer ($140) is one of the very few SCAA certified home brewers out there. It will make excellent coffee.

A good cheap burr grinder is the Hario Mini Mill ($20). It's a hand grinder and that entails a bunch of extra effort and time, but it's a fraction of the cost of comparable electric burr grinders. If you want a decent electric grinder, a good place to start would be a refurbished Baratza Encore ($99).

The Encore + Bonavita combination will make really good coffee and won't really be much more work than a combo grinder/brewer. However these things are obviously expensive, probably more than anyone who isn't looking to get seriously into coffee should consider. Find what works best for you.

And is there a coffeeshop near you where you can go to buy coffee and let them grind it? :) Anyway, if you really want to get good coffee you'll need a grinder :) I have the Hario Skerton which is not great for FP although I like the results I get from it, you could also install this mod which will make the grinder better for coarse grinds like the french press, both together are not that expensive and will make a huge difference because your beans are freshly ground right before making the coffee :) (Personally I don't have the mod yet)

To add: get a good burr grinder; it releases more flavor oils by shaving the beans, rather than chopping them up. If you don't want to dish out the money for an electric (which can run well over $100), you can get a Hario-style hand grinder for $30-40. There is even a slim version for smaller hands.

Treat your awesome beans right with a good grinder and it will pay itself off in excellent coffee for years.

Honestly, take this from someone who has had cheaper machines, get an Aeropress and if you want to use beans, get a Hario MSS-1B 1-Piece Coffee Mini Mill Slim Grinder https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001804CLY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_hZaCybJYJWTPD or a Rhinowares Hand Coffee Grinder https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00M0NS8A4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_o0aCyb1WY52X2

I've owned both grinders and they're both great, though price prevails here and the rhino is better. Honestly get these, then a cheap milk frother... Its makes a mean coffee and latte! :)

For a french press, might I recommend this: Bodum french press?

As for a grinder, you want to grind coarse for french press. Blade grinders are extremely inconsistent with grind size. Like others have mentioned, burr grinders are better because they grind more consistently and will not heat up the beans as much during the grinding process. The issue with the Hario Skerton that you posted is that is known to be pretty inconsistent at coarse grinds (unless you make some modifications to it). The Hario Slim Mill may actually be better because there is a spring loaded that helps prevent the burr from wobbling.

Your total here would be around $40 which is pretty decent for a beginner setup.

A nutribullet probably uses blades like a spice grinder or blenders. You’ll get a huge difference in the consistency of the grind using a burr grinder. You can pretty easily get a manual burr grinder from amazon and even the cheap ones will be a lot better than a blade one. The Hario Skerton is on the less expensive side and will definitely be good enough for a french press starting out. Not sure what the price is like in Ireland though.

While on tour last summer, I had this little kit to keep my coffee habit happy in middle of nowhere America:

Hario Mini Mill

[Bonavita Bona Voyage 0.5-Liter Electric Travel Kettle] (http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-Voyage-0-5-Liter-Electric-Travel/dp/B008YQLZOW/ref=sr_1_10?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1404394599&sr=1-10&keywords=bonavita)

Clever Dripper

I went with this set up so I didn't have to worry about bringing a goose neck kettle with me and could just pour straight from the kettle to the clever. I weighed out the typical amount of beans I use for a full Clever and marked it on the mini mill so I wouldn't have to keep a scale with me. Worked great and saved me from buying daily coffees at Starbucks. I've seen others post more elaborate travel set ups around here, so hopefully they'll respond.

does anyone have any experience with this grinder, the EvenGrind?

It essentially seems like a Hario, but it has some added points that add stability to help with the wobble grinders like the Hario seem to have.

Would love to hear if it is a good buy.

No, it wouldn't get too stale. However, there are some nice hand grinders like the Hario that won't break the bank, is quiet and has a small profile.

I don't know what your situation is -- but if you can secure it in a locked drawer or hide it I would highly recommend it. You're quality of life at work will improve as well (not to mention the new friends you'll make if you share).

Aeropress

Mini Mill

You can also get a thermometer and scale, to help with consistency a little, but there are rules of thumb that make them unnecessary IMHO. At least for my humble pallet.

I started with that setup, and have since upgraded to an expensive electric grinder and expensive electric kettle, but they really only help with speed. $50 gets you everything you need, so to me it's a great place to start. Use the rest to buy great beans.

Nice work going with that kettle! I have the same one.

A couple things:

1- Yes, your grinder is an issue. I call the result of the grind by that style of blade "dust and boulders". Some coffe will be over extracted, other coffee will be under extracted.

2- What kind of water are you using? Does it taste good?

3- A hand operated burr grinder will run you about 30-40 dollars ([Hario] (http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Ceramic-Skerton-Storage-Capacity/dp/B001802PIQ)) , but I suggest you pinch a few extra dollars and go for a decent quality electric one. Your grinds will be much more uniform!

4- Have you tried properly ground coffee that's fresh? Have a local place grind a small amount before you take it home. Compare your grind and the other.

5- Do you know what kind of coffee:water ratio you prefer? How are the local places with their ratios? Ask your barista next time you get a pour over...

Good Luck!

I think your best bet is to get a burr grinder and some good beans. The beans and the grind you get is going to matter the most. I'd suggest getting an Aeropress, which will produce wayyy better coffee than a Keurig, and a Hario Mini Mill to start out. Get an electric kettle if you don't already own one. That combo will give you really amazing coffee if you do it right and use the right beans -- coffee shouldn't actually be that bitter at all. A well-made cup of coffee is akin to a well-made cup of tea: not bitter, nor weak or sour. S&W Roasting roast really good beans for very good prices, although Blue Bottle is my preferred place to order coffee from (albeit more expensive).

Definitely grind your own beans right before you brew them. It makes a huge difference in taste.

If you are using a drip coffee maker, I honestly don't think buying a burr grinder is worth it. But if you are using anything else such as a French press or moka pot, it will definitely be worth the investment. You could also buy a manual coffee grinder, which is a lot cheaper, but obviously more effort.

Porto Rico is great place for beans, there's a lot of variety and it's very cheap. Oren's Special Blends and Gimme Coffee are also worth checking out.

A hand grinder for french press is rough. You can get something like the Hario Skeron, but you wont get very consistent grinds at the french press level. I would recommend getting the Orphan Espresso mod to improve the grinder. Without overwhelming you with details, it provides more support for better consistency.

Part of making a good cup is repeatability--eliminating variation wherever possible. You'll want a burr grinder and a scale. It's tough, especially with an inconsistent grind, to correctly measure coffee by volume. Any idea on your general brew time? That might be a good indication of what's going on. Let's experiment with technique a bit!

It sounds like you're pouring all of the water in at once after letting it bloom; instead, why not pour about a cup at a time, let it drain for a bit--never letting it get completely dry--and then add the next cup. Rather than pouring in the center, continue pouring in circles the entire time to ensure an even extraction. These are all super minor, and I'm honestly unsure if they'll make any difference. Still, worth a shot!

Maybe try a finer grind, if you can. Shake the blade grinder, grind it for longer--whatever works! A finer grind will prolong the brew time.

> Yeah not 100% sure how to describe the flavor. It's kind of sour but also very "planty" tasting. Sorry if that's unhelpful.

Nah, don't worry about it! I have a tough time describing taste, too. It sounds underextracted to me. If ya have any spare money, a scale goes a long, long way. I use this scale. If you're interested in a grinder, my first--and I'm sure most people's first--was the skerton. I currently use a Baratza Encore, but that might be more than you're willing to invest in a grinder right now.

If you're interested, I can make a video of myself making coffee in my little Chemex.

I think a lot of people don't know what technology is readily available to them, and even more people don't take a long enough view of things to realize how much money the initial investment in equipment will ultimately save them. You can get a good hand grinder (http://amzn.to/OF5wp8) and french press for around $60 total and enjoy excellent coffee every morning. (Digital thermometer might be needed for some people as well.. after a while you can tell when the water is the right temperature by the sound of your kettle.)

Ultimately, you'll find a group of nerds who are into coffee. It takes a certain amount of energy to read up, refine your palate (my current struggle), and develop your skill. It is also easier (in my opinion) to experiment with coffee than with cooking, as it takes only a few minutes and little money to pull a shot. There are tons and tons of variables that effect coffee much more, depending on what you're cooking (humidity, pressure, temperature, beans, etc) but the variation in a lot of those variables can be minimized by pulling many shots in the same session with the same beans, in the same weather, with the same machine.

In the Boston area, it seems that the awareness of good coffee has been spreading and is becoming more popular.

I started using a cheap coffee grinder (they’re good for grinding your own dried chilies, but I don’t like the grind quality for spices), then a mortar and pestle (too much work for some spices).

Then I switched to a ceramic burr coffee grinder and love it! It’s great for small and large batches, and gives a very consistent grind. I double grind difficult spices like coriander, cloves, and cardamom, but it works through cumin, allspice, black pepper, and fennel with little effort.

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

Do you have any budget at all? You mention an Aeropress which wouldn't be free, so I'm going to assume you have $30-$75.

Key components to good coffee:

• quality, fresh, properly roasted beans
  
  You can manage quality of beans by finding a reliable coffee shop to go buy from. The beans should not be oily as this indicates they were poorly roasted. The should have been roasted in the past week.
  
  
• cleanliness of equipment
  
  You can manage this by cleaning your equipment and choosing equipment that can be thoroughly cleaned. Many cheap automatic drip brewers are damn near impossible to clean.
  
  
• proper water quality and temperature
  
  If your water quality sucks then you'll have to get it treated or go bottled. The temperature needs to be ~200 degrees F. Most automatic drip makers do not get the water hot enough.
  
  
• proper distribution of water on coffee
  
  With a french press or aeropress the water is in direct contact with the coffee. Most cheap automatic drip makers have a 'shower' head that frequently does a terrible job of water distribution. A Chemex give you complete control of this variable.
  
  
• proper infusion time of water in coffee
  
  You don't get much control over this with an automatic drip. You do get to control this with french press, aeropress, and chemex.
  
  
• proper volume of water to coffee
  
  You get to totally control this one...
  
  
• consistent grind of beans
  
  Here's the difficult one in your scenario. I'm from the camp that says the grinder is the single most important piece of equipment for brewing good coffee. That said, even a whirly-blade bean-whacker grinder with good, fresh beans will be better than folgers. Advice here is to buy the best grinder you can/will afford. If you can bring yourself to do it, buy a Baratza Encore. If you want to go cheaper and don't mind manually grinding your coffee then look at the JavaPresse Manual Coffee Grinder that can be found for as little as $24.
  
  An important question... are you wanting to make a single-serving or multiple at one time? If single serve, consider the aeropress. If multiple, then go with a Chemex or clone. You'll also need a source of hot water... that can be stove top in a pan or tea-kettle or you could get an electric kettle.
  
  JavaPresse manual grinder $24
  
  Chemex clone brewer - $14
  
  Cheap electric kettle $20
  
  Pound of good coffee - ~$15
  
  Total - $73
  
  With quality electric grinder instead: $179
  
  Total pieces of equipment: 3 (1 optional)
  
  

The Baratza would be great, but if you opted for a hand grinder, you'd spend $30 instead $100.

I've had a Hario mini mill for 3+ years now, it's great. Porlex (spelling may be off) makes a similar hand grinder.

https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Mini-Mill-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY

Orphan Espresso has an upgrade kit for the Hario Skerton (or Kyocera CM-50CF) which makes it suitable for press, but it also makes it more difficult to adjust to finer settings. The reason they have the upgrade kit is because otherwise the burrs rattle around on the spring mechanism when working with coarser grinds, resulting in unevenness (though definitely better than a blade grinder). The Skerton + the OE upgrade is likely the best bang for your buck in terms of hand grinders which perform well at coarser settings!

7 hours in and not a single link, huh? Anyway, not sure about the most useful but the one I'm most in love with at the moment is my new coffee grinder and it's getting quite a lot of use. This thing is really the best. A true quality grinder will set you back an embarrassing sum and this little thing outperforms electric grinders at 5 times the cost. Get it.

Not sure about availability and pricing in Germany so everything here is in US dollars. If pricing over there is a straight conversion from dollars to euros ( $100 = 105€) you'll be pretty close to 100€.

In terms of grinders, you'll be in the manual grinding arena with Hario Skerton, Hario Mini or the Porlex JP-3 if you want to spend a bit more. Just be aware these are good enough for a single person but if you're doing more, be prepared to grind in batches.

Since you're doing a pour over, you're going to need a gooseneck kettle to help control your pour. You're out of the range for electric kettles with temperature control, however you may be able to find electric goosenecks without temperature controls. Again, Hario is a popular option but I've heard mixed reviews about them, namely poor heat retention and debate over whether to use it directly on a stove top. The Stagg Kettle is well regarded and can fit into your budget if you choose a less expensive grinder.

I have a set up that i love that was only like 50 dollars and makes great coffee.
I have this french press
http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Brazil-French-Coffee-34-Ounce/dp/B005ADS5FO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1450216508&sr=8-5&keywords=french+press

and this grinder

http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Ceramic-Skerton-Storage-Capacity/dp/B001802PIQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450216551&sr=8-1&keywords=coffee+grinder+hario

It is sorta labor intensive but makes way better coffee than most machines that are way more pricey.

Also the key is to have good, fresh beans.

I also have a hario v60 for when i want to make coffee quick.

They do at my work as well, but it's my K-Cups.

The solution is lame, but it's effective, and produces a better cup IMO:

1.) I have a pourover coffee maker. http://www.chemexcoffeemaker.com/three-cup-classic-series-coffeemaker.html

2.) I bought a hand crank grinder. https://smile.amazon.com/Hario-Ceramic-Skerton-Storage-Capacity/dp/B001802PIQ?ie=UTF8&sa-no-redirect=1

3.) I have a gooseneck kettle.

I just make hot water in the keurig, have it drip into the gooseneck, grind up some beans, and do a pourover, slowly at my desk.

Everyone stopped taking my coffee. Plus with some locally-roasted beans, it beats the shit out of anything Keurig.

Grind up your shit as much as possible, saute at a low temperature in butter/Earth Balance/whatever for about 45 minutes, put it in a dish in the fridge to cool until it's solid again (preferably overnight), then use it like regular butter in whatever. You can even spread it as is on stuff. I've heard enough people say that the plant matter that's left after sauteing is thc-free, but if you grind it up fine enough you can leave it in without noticing it if you really want to be sure you're getting the most bang for your buck. I don't mean using one of those punk-ass little hand things that a lot of people use for weed, I mean using an electric coffee grinder like this guy. I got mine at a thrift store for around $3. Put the stems and seeds in there too; it'll take care of them.

I'm more of a novice than most of the users on this sub, but here is what I can recommend in terms of good ratio of quality to price (and keeping it below $100).

Grinder: Hario Mini Mill

Brew method: Hario V60

That's $50 right there, and it'll put you well past the quality of the Keurig once you do even a decent pour. You'll also need to blow ~20 bucks on a kettle, ~5 bucks on a pack of filters, and then you have to do your own research on finding beans that work for you.

Small edit: Definitely need to recommend getting kitchen scale so you can be measuring your grounds to water ratio more accurately.

I have owned the Hario Slim and the Hario Skerton grinders, they are both very recommendable products. Lots of adjustment and pretty fast. They each take around 300 turns to grind depending on your grind size. The slim is small and ideal for 1 cup, but I'd recommend the Skerton if you want to process more grounds at a time. I think the Skerton produces a better quality overall grind too. Both make delicious coffee.

I made a video on this with the almost exact same title a few months back, but it was more focused on the "lazy" aspect haha. But I don't think you need to spend $100 for personal (single cup) use, you can get an Aeropress for $25, a
Hario Skerton for ~$40 OR a Hario Mini Mill for ~$30, and
a scale that measures grams for $10 (American Weigh Systems makes cheap digital scales)

All on Amazon-- but the scale is really only important until you get enough practice, and you'll start to eyeball everything. That's basically all you need other than the coffee. Specialty coffee is tough to get under $20/bag, maybe cheaper with a subscription. With the coffee, it's less than $100, albeit not by much.

For what it's worth even if you don't use specialty/single origin coffee, you can still get better coffee out of an Aeropress and a Skerton using fresh ground whole bean bulk coffee from say, Wholefoods, than you could with a Mr. Coffee machine and some Folgers.

Completely agree with /u/milehighmischief 's comment though, if you're using old or burned coffee, you're gonna have a bad time.

It depends what you're looking for and what your budget is. Personally, I make my coffee with an AeroPress, which makes a beautiful, clean-tasting cup of coffee. I actually use a super fancy grain grinder leftover from the prepping days of Mormonism. Be sure that no matter what grinder you get that it's a burr grinder, not a blade grinder. A blade will give you inconsistent sizes which will lead to over- or under-extraction of the beans. If you want something relatively inexpensive but still good, you should get a manual grinder. The Hario Skerton or Mini Mill is a good place to start. But it really depends on your budget what you should get. Electric, you might go with the Baratza Encore. You might make your way over to /r/coffee for a better answer, but that's my advice.

Get one of [these](https://www.amazon.ca/Hario-Ceramic-Coffee-Mill-Mini-Slim/dp/B001804CLY/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=1UIODQHOKL90M&keywords=hario+hand+grinder&qid=1554493021&s=gateway&sprefix=hario+hand%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1](https://www.amazon.ca/Hario-Ceramic-Coffee-Mill-Mini-Slim/dp/B001804CLY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UIODQHOKL90M&keywords=hario+hand+grinder&qid=1554493021&s=gateway&sprefix=hario+hand%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1), $50, probably cheaper in USD if that's applicable. I've really enjoyed mine and it made a huge difference to my coffee.

Honestly regardless of what people tell you taste is subjective and unless you taste your home made coffee with a better grinder, there's like no way you're gonna know if it's worth it, there's also no way anyone else can either.

I would say go with the cheapest improvement you can and personally I think something like the hario mini mill is that.

Hario Mini Mill

Kettle

Scale

Brita Filter

Aeropress

Thermometer. The one I have is from a Culinary Arts class I took, but this looks to be the same. It's very useful, and to calibrate it, which you'll need to do every once in a while, fill a cup full of ice and then water and put the blue thing on so you can move it (I'm not sure how to explain it, but I'm sure you'll get it), and make sure the dimple is in the water and move it to 32 degrees.

Edit: Also, the mug was from the reddit Secret Santa exchange! It's a really fantastic mug.

Depends on where you're located. Peet's Major Dickason blend is well-regarded, and Trader Joe's has some nice selections. Get whole beans because the pre-ground stuff loses its flavor quickly. Burr grinders are ideal. You can get a good mechanical one for a reasonable price. Then you can prepare the fresh grounds with something like an Aeropress, though pour-over drippers have been gaining in popularity and are simpler to use.

The cheapest one worth buying at all is this as far as my research goes: https://www.amazon.com/JavaPresse-Grinder-Conical-Brushed-Stainless/dp/B013R3Q7B2

That's only available in the US and I'm based in Europe so I have no first hand experience, but it's well rated for the price.

As long as you're happy spending an extra 2-5 mins grinding coffee before brewing, it is worth it IMO. It will improve the flavour of your coffee quite a lot, unless you're buying freshly ground from a cafe and using it within a few days.

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!

Grab one of these. On sale for 27 bucks.
http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Ceramic-Skerton-Storage-Capacity/dp/B001802PIQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1415137856&sr=1-1&keywords=hario+grinder

Next step is good beans. Finding the best beans is of preference choice, you'll have to explore that on your own. I started with Stumptown, Intelligentsia, Counter Culture, and Collectivo and found my favorites from there.

My recommended way of making coffee would be the Aeropress for starters, and moving on to a Moka pot for some really good espresso if you can find a hot plate.

In my opinion, you notice the most difference with:

1. Grind your beans right before you brew.
   
2. Buy fresh-roasted beans.
   
3. Get a grinder with multiple settings.
   
4. Use different coffee brewers.
   
   I'd say the most important thing is a grinder. You can go for a cheap electric blade grinder, or you could go for a slightly more expensive adjustable hand grinder. The hand grinder is great quality for the price, with the tradeoff being it can take you 3-5 minutes to grind your beans.
   
   Start with a french press or an aeropress. Both are quick and easy, and you shouldn't have to spend more than £25 for one.
   
   

Get this and these filters for doing pourover.

You might also want this grinder, unless you want to have your local shop grind for you as well, which they will. Tell them you're grinding for pourover so they'll know how coarse.

If you decide to also get the presspot, you'll need to grind differently for that, which is why I recommend buying the grinder also. Not to mention, it's super helpful to be able to grind your own, so you can dial in your brews. Additionally, whole beans stay fresh longer than ground coffee. You'll definitely notice a difference between fresh ground and the very end of a bag of ground coffee.

All you need other than that is a way to heat water, and some beans. Do you have a kettle of some sort? Stovetop or electric will work. You want to avoid using your keurig to make hot water, as it doesn't get hot enough.

The French press (FP) is great, the grinder is not good. The grinder is what is known as a blade grinder which means that it kind of works like a blender where spinning blades will chop up the coffee. The problem is that it will chop up the coffee really inconsistently and you'll have big chunks, little chunks and dust all mixed together. If you keep it running, you will eventually have dust which is actually OK for Turkish coffee.

To brew a good cup of coffee, you want a relatively consistent particle size so that you can evenly extract the good stuff from the coffee without extracting the bad stuff. If you would use that grinder with an FP, you would end up with huge chunks that wouldn't really extract much coffee goodness and a lot of sludge in the cup.

I'm going to say that you'd probably be better off drinking stale preground coffee over using that grinder. The Hario Skerton is the cheapest grinder (here is a knockoff that appears to have identical burrs/mechanics and is currently cheaper) I'm aware of that is OK for FP although it is better for drip/Aeropress where a finer grind is required. You really want to look out for a burr grinder which is commonly thought to crush the beans but really cuts them into more consistent size.

The cheapest electric grinders that I'd recommend are significantly more expensive but you can sometimes find them cheaper. Capresso Infinity, Bodum Bistro and Baratza Encore are all good grinders but they all run significantly more.

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 can certainly make a French Press work, but I prefer it only as a cold brew method. When our reviews launch, you will see that the French Press is good for certain types of coffees, but more often than naught, the French Press simply does not present as good of a cup as, say, the Chemex, V60, or AeroPress.

I strongly recommend going with the AeroPress. Really hard to get a bad cup out of that. I suggest getting a $7 American Weigh scale (AeroPress fits on there) if you don't have a scale already. Also, try out the paper filters that come with it, but I recommend the Able DISK for $12.50.

If you do not have a burr grinder, pick up the Hario Mini. Awesome little grinder!

Not a pepper mill per se, but it works brilliantly as one. The Hario Coffee Hand Grinder Skerton uses a ceramic milling mechanism. I use it for coffee and other things that require grinding. Very adjustable/versatile/BI4L worthy.

Like others have mentioned, less than 10 minutes and I can be out the door

You need: good beans + way to grind + near boiling water + brewing method of choice

Hario Mini Mill - Good grinder to start with. You want a burr grinder. If money really isn't an issue, invest in an electric burr. Faster and more consistent grind. Baratza is great.

Aeropress is a solid option. I highly recommend it too. French presses are good too, but just be aware that cleaning it can take a while, so you might have to leave it around until you have time to clean it.

Clever Coffee Dripper - I recommend this. Really easy to use and cleaning it takes a minute at most. As fast as a french press to brew.

The Baratza Encore is one of the most recommended grinders over at r/coffee. $140 for a very reliable grinder with great customer service. If that's still expensive, then a hand grinder, like the Hario Skerton, is a great alternative at $40.