So, this looks like the start of a relatively new community (at least for me), and we surely have some new people coming over from the coffee subreddit, so let’s get some conversation going!
What’s your current favorite brew method? I’ve been really getting into my flat bottom brew lately, with the Stagg XF. I just feel it’s been a bit more forgiving than my v60, and it’s been pulling out some pretty solid tasting notes in my latest beans.
What’re y’all brewing with?
EDIT: I absolutely love the traction this post got! And I love seeing all the methods everyone is using daily. Thank you all
Nothing too fancy. Kettle and a french press.
My daily method. Cheap, easy and good coffee.
This is the way
I recently started using my French press for cold brew and lovvve it. The cheap Amazon cold brewer I have gets so much sediment since I don’t grind my own beans, but the french press is perfect. Downside is the one I have only brews half a gallon so I’m saving/looking for a bigger one
That’s what I have done for decades.
I’ve got a stupidly expensive espresso machine and several stupidly expansive grinders. I used my machine every day for about 5 years. But lately I’ve been pouring water from my kettle into a plastic cone like my dad did in the 80s. Haha. Full circle. I’ve upped my bean quality though.
Hey, pour over is just a good old classic. You can’t really repeat the ritual or flavors you get with it anywhere else. And sometimes the most simple is the most enjoyable.
Just an old school Bonavita with Melitta style filters. I can’t appreciate the added subtleties of pre-infusion or even pour-over over a good drip.
Back when I did cold brew, I just used a French Press, which works pretty well.
Very much understandable. I just love the morning ritual of making a good cup of coffee, and after tons of practice and hundreds of different beans, it’s fun to mix it up with different brew styles and recipes!
Every morning is a pour over. V60 or chemex depending on how many cups I’m making.
V60 is definitely my favorite, but as I continue to collect more gear, I almost feel guilty if I dont go back and use some for a little bit. So I’ll go on binges with my French press, the Stagg, chemex, aeropress, aeropress with prismo.
And if either James Hoffman or Lance Hedrick drop a new video highlighting a piece I already have, you better believe I am gonna go back and try what they are suggesting.
Same. I have a gaggia classic I use for afternoon espresso a few times a week, but the French press, aeropress, moka pot all sit there silently judging me for their neglect.
Majority of the time the Aeropress gets used, but I have a French Press I will break out a couple time a month.
French press is just so consistently awesome. It really only makes a bad cup when the beans themselves aren’t all that great.
My wife loves the aeropress for her iced lattes. I just use the aeropress with the prismo attachment.
Bialetti Moka pot. I switched from espresso to the moka pot over a year ago and it is my favorite brew now.
I’ve been loving light roasts for a while now so I haven’t been going near my Moka, but I suppose I should explore what it can do with lighter roasts?
Great idea! I use a La Pavoni Europiccola (lever espresso machine) when I have time, Bialetti Moka pot or pour over when I don’t.
I’ve wanted a Europiccola for so long but I’ve currently had a Cafelat Robot for the last year and a half. Did you get a new one or vintage?
I like to think I know a little about coffee, but this thread shows that I don’t really know anything. My brew method? I have a shitty little $50 espresso maker I got as a birthday gift a while ago, and use that to make the best damn lattes I’ve ever had.
use that to make the best damn lattes I’ve ever had.
Hey man, that’s all that matters
At home, it’s a cheap pour over setup. In the summer I’ll sometimes do a Japanese iced coffee pour over if it’s hot. (Just adjust the ratio and start with ice in the pot.)
At work it’s a flair 58.
Camping it’s a moka pot.
I’ve been looking at the flair 58 as a potential entry into espresso. I have a JX Pro, which I have read should be serviceable to grind for espresso.
How have the shots been on your 58? Only complaints I’ve heard are in relation to preheating, anything else that you love/dislike?
I use a flair signature and love it. The 58, IIRC, heats the brew head for you. It takes some trial and error, but I love using my flair. I’ve noticed different beans require different quantities and grinds to get the right flavor. I can take two bags of different beans, use the same grind setting, same amount of grounds, and have one shot pull in 15 seconds, while the other pulls in a minute. You won’t see this with the auto espresso machines so you won’t get the quality.
It is a bit more work, but having control over the entire process means that once you get good, you will make really good espresso with it.
I’ve done it enough where I can eyeball bean amounts, don’t have to time the pulls, and can tell the water temp by how much is in the pot I use and how long it has been off boil, so it only takes me 5ish minutes from grind to pull. When I first started, it would take me 15 or so minutes.
As far as lattes and such, you will need to get a steamer, frother, whatever for that, but I have learned to love cortado since it is just microwaving some milk.
See my other comment about preheating.
Right now it’s aeropress and it will remain aeropress until I make a shit cup or have a bad morning, then it’ll switch to v60 and repeat the same process until I switch to chemex. Then, eventually we will come full circle back to aeropress and start everything all over again. The circle of life. The ouroboros of my morning coffee, if you will.
My second cup of the day is and will always be an espresso.
This thread is demonstrating one of my favorite things about the coffee community: There is a fundamental semi-seriousness, acknowledgement of diminishing returns, and awareness of varying tastes in (almost) all quarters. A lot of gear-heavy hobbies take themselves way too seriously, but the coffee folk with an $8000 La Marzocco espresso setup, with a $7 plastic cone and a kettle, and waiting in front of the microwave with a bottle of instant and a spoon are all just trying to have a pleasing coffee experience.
My fancy, ritualistic coffee is a shot of espresso in the morning, usually prepared like a Brauner with a dash of milk inversely proportionate to how well I did at making the espresso that day.
A few weeks ago I upgraded from my old (ca. 2010) Lello Arite 1375 Chinese thermoblock pressurized basket “espresso” machine and Capresso Infinity grinder combo ($140+90+accessories) that were kind of mediocre to start with and literally falling apart by the end, to a Brevelle Bambino and Turin SK40 ($350+200+accessories) and have been delighted by the additional ability to play with parameters (and occasionally revolted by the results while I was getting my bearings). The old set up produced a long-tuned pleasing thing that may or may not technically count as espresso, but in retrospect may have been a relative of the extraction optimum from that “Systematically Improving Espresso” paper from a few years ago. The new one is full grind-controls-infusion espresso experience. The bambino is “nice for the price” and has a delightfully fast heat up and surprisingly good steam wand for when I’m feeling foamy, but slightly annoying manual shot controls. The SK40 is just great so far, my only tiny complaint is that every now and then I have to give it a little rock to get the last of a dose of beans out of the feed cone.
I also really enjoy how this setup is sitting in superposition of ($600 is an absurdly expensive way to make coffee | $600 is absurdly cheap to make real espresso).
Home espresso is never really practical, but I find the ritual of preparation deeply pleasing (weights and ratios and times and gadgets! Instant feedback! Total focus!), and enjoy the experience of varying parameters.
I also drink a fair amount of Instant when I’m out during the day, I’ve been recommending Mount Hagen to everyone who will listen lately because it’s like $10 a jar and so much better than any of the other instants I’ve tried.
…and I have a coworker with an office aeropress that I sometimes play with, and I want but have no real reason to have one for home. The super clean immersion brew is a really interesting way to experience a coffee, and of course one never has enough coffee paraphernalia.
This is easily my favorite response, and a clear representation of just loving coffee for coffee. From the extreme scientific end of it, to just needing that caffeine fix in the middle of a long day, to the intrigue of trying something new.
Thanks for the response and a walk through your day in caffeine.
My Cafelat Robot is my daily driver and on the weekends I add in a couple of brews from my Chemex. At this point in my 20-year coffee journey those are all I need.
French press. Pre-heat with boiling water before adding freshly ground coffee. Slowly pour water at 95 degrees over the coffee. Stir with wooden spoon, insert lid and let stand 5-10 minutes. Slowly press plunger to bottom. Serve and enjoy.
Manual brew? V60 and flat bottom if at home (use them alternately), Aeropress if on the road.
Cold or hot, V60 is my jam.
