I'd like a new way to make coffee

[SP120K]

Coffee drinkers! I like to drink Coffee each morning and some days my girlfriend will ask me to make her a cup as well. Show me your devices/methods for brewing a couple, quick good cups of joe. Simplicity and low-cost are a plus!

[mmack66]

A French Press is pretty simple and will yield 2 or 3 good cups of coffee.

[Jim]

You have great fresh roasted beans right?
If so...



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[SiBurning]

Get a coffee sock for a buck, or raid your dresser. Fill, dunk, let it soak for four and a half minutes, and lift.

[Jim]

Not the sock again?

Found it!

[SP120K]

Seems a French Press is what I'm looking for. How important are grinders?

[Brian44t]

Try a Keurig coffee maker. My wife and I use it daily. Good, fast, easy, many varieties of K-cups available.

[Jim]

Seems a French Press is what I'm looking for. How important are grinders?

They can be important more or less based on your brewing choice, French press is one that benefits from a good grinder.

With the cone or sock you can use a whirly bird to good effect.

It all goes back to high quality fresh roasted beans though.

[DFrancis]

A good quality burr grinder can cover your bases if you ever want to also make espresso or even turkish coffee.

[Shaving Panda]

Here's my equipment and method, it's exactly what's needed to make a couple of good cups of coffee, as I use it every weekend for my wife's and my breakfast coffee.

1. The beans. Really important you start with quality beans, either pre-ground or whole. Here's my top choice, Passalaqua from Napoli, Italy - more specifically their "Harem" blend (about 35€/kilo):



2. The grinder. Best coffee is freshly ground, plus it allows you to control the roughness of the grind for the type of coffee you are grinding (rough for filtered, very fine for espresso, something in between for a moka pot). I prefer a hand-grinder for the same reasons I prefer a straight razor - better end result and there's something "more" to it. Really important to have an anti-static surface in the grinder, otherwise it'll get clogged/messy real quick. Thus mine uses enameled metal up top and a wooden (beech) box on the bottom to collect the ground coffee. It's a fairly new Zassenhaus Espresso, and it's just the right size to fill my moka pot/make two-three shots of espresso with one fill. Cost 66€, if I remember right.



3. The "coffee-maker". The final piece of the puzzle. For your requirements, I'd have to suggest a moka-pot. Really easy to use and very quick. My pot takes three minutes on a gas burner after I've filled it to be ready with the coffee. I have an Alessi, which has some great features:
- all stainless: machine washable (unlike cheap aluminum ones), lasts as long as you live.
- quality silicone seal: important since it is subject to high temps. Cheaper pots use rubber, which does not take high temps as well, as well as decays a lot quicker.
- quick-lock mechanism: easy to open and close, even when hot. Cheaper constructions usually use a threaded design, really a pain to use + quite impossible to open while still warm for a refill, cleaning, etc.
- ability to make one cup with drop-in adapter.
- eye-pleasing design: it's good enough to be in the permanent collection at the MoMA in NYC.
Cost was about 80€.



4. The method - or how to put the puzzle together.
First, store the coffee in the fridge, it keeps it fresher.

Second, fill the top hopper of the grinder with beans and grind away with a medium grind setting. This can only be learned through experience, but if it's too coarse, the brew will be "watery" tasting, and if too fine, the residual water in the bottom part of the pot will be saturated with tiny coffee particles. You can also use pre-ground, espresso grind preferred to coffee-machine grind, if you can't have it in between.

Third, Fill the bottom of the moka-pot with cold water up to the relief valve (the small brass nut in the pic), put the strainer in the bottom part of the pot and the ground coffee in the strainer. Note: do not compress the coffee, as you would in an espresso! This can lead to dangerous overpressure in the pot & activation of the emergency relief valve (=no coffee). Make sure the sealing areas are clean (edge of strainer/bottom pot, the seal itself), pop the top on tightly, and set on the stove. When the pot starts to "burble" IMMEDIATELY cut the gas/take it off the burner - otherwise damage to the seal will result. Presto, your coffee can be found in the top part of the pot.

It's also really important to clean the pot well every once in a while. I pop the silicone seal off with a blunt metal instrument (table knife, spoon, etc.) and clean all the parts separately every week or two by soaking and scrubbing. The strainer and the "riser pipe" are the hardest, as they are rather inaccessible to a brush and thus you have to soak and rinse them a few times to get the gunk out. Most of the time, just a good rinse after brewing will be enough to keep everything nice.

Just like traditional wet-shaving, the initial cost is a little higher, but nowadays my only cost is the beans I'm using - and my wife and friends say I have the best coffee in town (of 1+ million).

btw, if you're ever into espresso, I suggest one of these - a La Pavoni Europiccola. No electric parts save for the heating element, perfect control of pressure. Only con is that the head heats up after one or two presses, which slightly affects taste, but the machine is perfect for two.

[Jasonian]

French press or pourover cone. You can pick up a #2 Melitta cone for a couple of bucks at many grocery stores. Don't forget the #2 filters.

In order, the hierarchy of importance:
1. Coffee quality and freshness (recently roasted, whole bean)
2. Grind quality (burr grinder is a must. Even grind particle size is the goal.)
3. Water temperature (it must be 195-205.. most counter-top drip brewers only get to about 180-185)
4. Dwell Time (the amount of time in which the coffee and water are in contact. Dependent on brew method and grind particle size.)
5. Filtration (this is more subjective than anything else)

That having been said, a French Press is excellent if you have a capable grinder. The coffee sock (though weird) is also a great method of execution.

[letterk]

Take a look at the Aeropress as well.

[brianw]

Chemex system here

[Rughi]

French Press.
The alpha and omega of great, simple coffee brewing.

But, if I were to put a paper glove between me and my coffee, I'd try this type of drip filter.

Roger

[LinuxMintyFresh]

Nobody out there is using a coffe siphon?

[Troggie]

I guess it depends on your definitions of inexpensive and fast. I will second the Keurig system as it is definitely fast and if you do not care for some of their pre-packaged coffees you can get an insert to put your own grounds in. Machines start at about 100 bucks and go up. You can find the pre-packaged stuff for 10 bucks a box which holds 18 cups of joe so it averages about 60 cents a cup which for an everyday drinker may be a little steep for some.

[Luc]

I also use the Moka coffee pot (Italian Espresso maker). I had mine as a gift years ago and I just need to change the gasket every 6-8 months. I use it daily. I have a 2 espresso cup coffee maker, perfect in the morning before I go to work. There are no mechanics into this, all you need is something to heat up the bottom of the coffee maker (i.e. stovetop).

Each gasket run for ~$0.25

[SP120K]

what about Stove-top percolators? Aren't those similar to French Presses? Reason I ask is a co-worker is ready to donate a stainless one to me if I give him the word. Anyone have good experiences with these?

[Jim]

what about Stove-top percolators? Aren't those similar to French Presses? Reason I ask is a co-worker is ready to donate a stainless one to me if I give him the word. Anyone have good experiences with these?

Boiled coffee = Bad

[SP120K]

Boiled coffee = Bad

Probably why he'd donate it to me!