So I have drank coffee on and off since I was a teenager, and I recently took probably a 2 year break from it. When I was drinking coffee, it was usually because they had a pod system at work, and it was an excuse to get up from my desk and take a break. With that said, I have been watching this Netflix show Resident Alien recently, and there is a lot of coffee drinking in it, and I started craving a hot cup. On my way home from dropping my daughter off at daycare, I stopped at the local gas station\market and got a cup and was like “Man, I miss coffee, and this coffee is pretty terrible.”
So this got me thinking that I want to get back into morning coffee tradition, but I no longer work in an office, I work from home. I don’t want to go pod system because they are wasteful, weak, and a pain in the but to clean\maintain. My wife doesn’t drink coffee, so I don’t need to make a whole pot. So I was thinking of going French press, as that seems to be suggested in a lot of places for single-serve.
Do you folks have a suggestion on French press brands? I know it’s a pretty simple mechanism, but I’m not against spending a couple extra bucks to get something that will enhance my coffee making\drinking experience. Additionally, I am looking for something that will filter out as many grounds as possible. Are you guys for\against paper filters? Should I get a metal one? Do I need one of those things that goes on top of my mug to hold the filter? Where do I start?
I know coffee can get really mad scientist really quick, and I’m not trying to go that route (yet). My brother-in-law has one of those electric kettles that gets to an exact temperature, and he grinds his own beans and weights them, and does the whole swirly pour to get “the perfect cup” and while that seems cool, I am not ready to take it to that level.
So what is your suggestion on “starter builds”?
Also, what about beans? Do I grind my own? Do I start with store bought stuff (I always liked Cafe Bustelo)?
Any and all advice is welcome.
Edit: I also forgot to add - I have read about cold brewing being really smooth. How do I cold brew and heat it back up? Do people do that? Would love to hear more about it.
Edit2: Oh man, this community is awesome! I didn’t expect so many great responses. Pulling the trigger on an Aeropress after reading all the comments here and watching some James Hoffman videos about it. It definitely looks like the right fit for me. I’m not going to get a grinder quite yet, as I feel like I am just beginning my journey and I don’t want to go balls to the wall right out the gate. There is a coffee shop right down the street from me that sells\grinds beans, so that sounds like the best bet for trying different things.
Sxan mentioned the Toddy’s kit, and that also has my interest. Maybe that’s next after a grinder. I have a feeling I am about to go down an expensive caffeine fueled rabbit hole. Wish me luck. I will report back.
You are the perfect fit for an Aeropress. Paper filter, dead easy to clean, super versatile (can make strong coffee, normal coffee, can have a ton of variance or be stupid simple), and a single cup with no huge space requirements.
I recommend not grinding coffee yet. See if you like using the aeropress! If you do, consider purchasing a 1zpresso ZP6, which is your best bang for buck hand grinder.
Blade grinders are going to be worse than just buying pre-ground, but freshly ground coffee is an amazing treat. That said, getting an entry-level burr grinder is far more than an aeropress, so that’s why I recommend testing the water first.
Aeropress, but be sure you understand how much coffee it makes. You might want the XL version or not.
I really agree with this. Aeropress is super easy, allows you to experiment, relatively affordable and bulletproof. You can do drip coffee type drinks, or espresso style drinks.
I also agree about grinding. It’s unfortunate cause it’s such a step up in taste, but cheap grinders are all so awful.
OP, if you want to get a grinder eventually, come back to this community for some recommendations. Depending on what kind of coffee you like (and if you mind hand grinding), there’s a bunch of options, but they cost more than you’d think, and I’m assuming you don’t want to drop $150 on something.
For what coffee to use, I’d say to get a small bag once at a time from a local roaster and have them grind it. Keep it airtight; lots of coffee roasters use bags that are airtight and resealable. Air is the enemy of flavor. Avoid supermarket coffee because it is often months old. That’s bad for whole beans, and really bad for preground coffee. Try to only buy from places that include a “roasted on” date.
You said you liked bustelo. If I remember right, that’s preground espresso thats roasted dark. Most of us here are going to steer you towards lighter roasts, but if that’s something you really liked, there’s no reason you can’t get darker roasted coffee.
Watch some James Hoffman videos on YouTube about the basics. Then progress to everything else.
Oh man there are so many starting points! If I understand the goals you gave us, they are:
- Want good coffee
- No pour over
- Willing to do French Press
- Minimize grounds in the brew
- Single serve
- Brother-in-law is too intense about it for my current state
With that I would recommend an AeroPress. It is great for single serving, it extracts using immersion first (similar to French Press) then pressure, the paper filter ensures it will be a clean cup (no grounds), it is much easier to clean up than a French Press, and there a lot of different recipes to play with should you ever choose to. Plus it’s relatively cheap.
Cold brew is also nice, especially when made in batches. You can probably already do this with vessels you have at home. Toddy cold brew is a well-known system. I also have (and prefer) the Oxo cold brew system - I find it easier to handle and looks better on the counter.
If you are willing to get a burr grinder you will immediately make better coffee, regardless of the method you choose! There are many directions to go here, so you will need to research to find what makes most sense to you. Skip the blade grinder. Conical burr is fine for what you’re getting into. A safe bet that will work fine for French Press, AeroPress, and/or Cold Brew is the Oxo Brew Conical Burr Grinder that you can find for around $100 in the US.
There are so many deep rabbit holes from there. Maybe you’ll come join us someday…it’s a lot of fun and one of my favorite hobbies! Sounds like your brother-in-law is lost somewhere down here too. We all started asking the same questions as you!
After reading through some replies, I don’t think I’m going to rule out pour-over. It sounds like a lot of people like that method. It looks like I have some research to do, but I’ve been given some good starting points. Thanks!
I’d rule out pour over initially. The barrier to entry for pour over requires a good burr grinder, which can add several hundred dollars to your starting total.
If you start with an aeropress, and enjoy it and want fresher, more consistent coffee, then you can buy a burr grinder, and even a pour over setup (which will also include a gooseneck kettle), but you already know you want that.
Ahhh great! You’re starting to slide already! A pour over is my daily driver and my preferred method for light roasts. If you go this route you will additionally need a scale and will greatly benefit from a gooseneck kettle.
Folx have some great comments above. Personally, I think a plastic V60 is a great starting point to refine your technique without having to worry about the thermal impact of glass or porcelain on your slurry. A clever dripper is a good option too.
Also a good hand grinder (eg: 1zpresso) makes a world of difference for pour overs!
Highly recommend James Hoffman on YouTube. He’s a world class barista (literally the champ one year) and has a ton of fun informational videos. :)
Personally I’d probably get an aero press if I were starting up myself and a DF54/MeeCoffee grinding. I second the comments for looking at James Hoffman.
Hoffman is one of my favorite youtubers. Great presentation, lots of knowledge, straightforward. I know he is the most popular coffee youtuber and that may peeve some people off, but he is the most popular for a reason – because he’s the best.
His aeropress videos really helped me make the best cup of coffee I have ever made – every time – even though I don’t use his exact method. A couple hours watching his videos is well worth the time.
James Hoffman. Check his YouTube channel.
Go to good cafe’s. Search “specialty coffee” on Google maps. Find one that does various kinds/methods of filter coffee, like v60 aeropress etc. Try everything, find out what you like.
I just drink instant coffee, I like the flavour of it, if you don’t want to mess around with lots of stuff and you just want to enjoy some coffee, simple life, you only need to look for a brand you like, boil some water, mix it with the powder on a cup, you can optionally add sugar(alternative) or milk(alternative) and done, good luck and enjoy your coffee it doesn’t matter how you make it the best part it’s always drinking it and most important enjoying it. 👍👍
French press is always going to have some “mouth feel” because of the mesh filters.
I can highly, highly recommend the “Clever” dripper which James Hoffmann reviewed here. It’s very similar to French press in method, great for single serve, almost totally foolproof, and uses paper filters for a very clean cup. I use Hoffmann’s recipe and basically always have a good cup. There’s a similar device called the Hario Switch which some people like more but I haven’t tried it; the Clever has been great.
As for grinding your own, do it. Pre-ground coffee starts to go bad after a day, and just isn’t as good. Start with an inexpensive burr grinder if you don’t want to invest hundreds of dollars right away, but be aware that price/performance increases roughly linearly up to like $250, so spending more gets you a better result. Hand grinders like 1ZPresso can be even better for the price but are a little more work. The nice thing about immersion methods like the Clever though is that they’re more forgiving of bad grinds, so you won’t need to spend too much unless you want to use a drip method like V60.
You’ll also need a cheap scale for weighing beans if you want consistent results. I recommend getting one that goes to 0.1 grams for single serve, with a large enough surface to hold your cup. It shouldn’t cost more than about $20. I use this one.
You’ll also want to experiment with beans. Modern coffee enthusiasts drift towards light to medium roasts instead of dark roasts, because you can extract more subtle interesting flavors and less bitterness. I have a penchant for very light, “natural” processed African coffees for their tart berry flavors. But it’s all personal preference. There’s way too much to get into in terms of processing, country of origin, blend vs single origin, etc. Try everything and see what you like. Coffee subscription services like Trade and Mistobox can be a convenient way to try a lot of things, or you can do what I do and just find a great local roaster to order from.
Btw, welcome! Check out James Hoffmann’s channel on YouTube, it’s my favorite coffee resource on the Internet. He has a ton of great advice in general. If you like print, he also has a small book called “How To Make The Best Coffee At Home” which is excellent and really all you need.
Since you mention wanting to filter really well, I would recommend you take a look at chemex. It’s a pour over type of brewer but their smaller model is for a single serving and will be more lenient with the pour method since the chemex filters are so dense. Other pour over brewers will require more of a setup to maintain consistency (but you can also tweak the brew to your exact liking in this regard!).
Water temp and grind size are somewhat critical for quality coffee but you don’t need it right off the bat of course. I would get a grinder before a kettle, tbh; fresh grounds make a bigger difference than a few degrees difference in water temp. Do work on “calibrating” your water temp in whatever method you use, though. If you microwave the water, figure out how long to let it cool before it reaches 200 or whichever temp you find brews best for your beans.
Search for local roasters and buy some beans from them. Keep searching until you find a brand you like. Grocery store beans are very mid. (There are many weekly “drop” style bean shippers that are pricey but let you discover online roasters that will ship you beans; it’s been invaluable for me to find really good roasts!)
As for cold brew, it’s a separate beast entirely and I wouldn’t explore it just yet. I used to make large batches for my nitro setup and did that in a bucket. Definitely super smooth but a bit more work. You can make smaller batches with a French press. I’ve always gotten my presses from IKEA because they’re cheap yet effective. Far from fancy. I would never consider heating up cold brew personally.
As a relative newb to coffee ….
- keep it simple to start. Save the overly technical details until you’re firmly hooked
- definitely buy whole beans and grind your own. Even when I don’t drink much coffee this made a huge difference just by keeping it fresher. I just use a cheap grinder, which is a noticeable improvement over stale pre ground coffee
- I use a French Press and highly recommend - simple, cheap, reliable, not too much extra effort although I also have a Keurig for workdays
- I just started making Cold Brew and it is amazing! It is much smoother and creamier than hot coffee. It never occurred to me to heat it though. It’s cold. There are tons of cheap cold brew pitchers, or you can make your own. Mine is just a filter basket in a water pitcher. I tend to only make this on weekends because I rarely think about coffee far enough ahead
My teen sometimes drinks coffee but needs to add creamer and sweetener, but he enjoys cold brew black (and cold). It’s much less bitter.
personally i like a electric peculator, they are cheap and make a strong cup. Takes a bit of trial and error to get it how you want it but once you figure out the grounds to water ratio you’re good. Just be sure to get one with the glass knob on too so you can see how dark it gets. Its all stainless steel so no waste. There can be some grounds typically at the bottom though.
If you get really into it go the espresso route as it uses much less grounds.
Confirming what others have mentioned about pour-over, but I’d also like to add that it can be really easy & quick. Here’s the dead-simple method I follow:
https://www.stumptowncoffee.com/pages/brew-guide-kalita-wave
If you don’t want to be poor, don’t do espresso lol. You’ll get some very fine grounds using a French press. Others have probably posted ideas on how to get a more filtered cup. I only used a basic Bodum and it made decent coffee.
I would agree that a burr grinder of any kind is going to be a superior experience vs blade grinder and far better than pre ground.
Once you get into grinding your own then you can try different beans which should give you different flavors. Loads of places ship roasted coffee. Two places I have tried and would suggest: Blk and Bold, and Red Bird Coffee. There are a gazillion other roasters, though.
You can also roast your own if you want to get more expensive. Check Sweet Maria’s if you want to take that plunge some day. They have advice, roasters, and green coffee beans.
If you don’t want to spend on a grinder, find a store that sells beans and see if they will grind for you. Get it in 6oz bags.
Don’t forget to play with different roast types.
