While we all love our favorite coffee shop in town, it’s nice to be able to brew a high-quality cup of coffee at home. The internet is filled with well-lit photos and advertisements of high-end automatic coffee machines, but they can’t beat the taste of making your coffee from scratch. Even though these machines look cool and save you time and effort, you actually don’t need them.
Whether you’re trying to brew a delicious cup of coffee at home or in the office, all you really need is perfectly roasted beans and the right tools to take advantage of them. If you want to make cafe-style coffee at home, here's what you need to turn “just fine” coffee into “oh-so-amazing.”
Coffee Making Equipment That You Need
The Scale
The scale is undoubtedly one of the most important accessories in the coffee-making process. Whether you want to make espresso or prefer pour-overs, you need to weigh the amount of coffee to get the right coffee-to-water ratio and maintain accuracy.
The Coffee Grinder
One of the most misunderstood tools in the coffee brewing process is the coffee grinder. Believe it or not, the grinder is actually more important than the actual brewing device and is truly the secret to making cafe-style coffee at home. Brewing coffee comes down to the extraction of ground coffee beans, and the grinder alone controls the quality of the grounds. The brewing machine only works as an intermediary between the final cup of coffee and the grounds you've prepared.
When it comes to coffee bean grinders, grind size and evenness is equally important. You might have heard that you need finer or coarser grounds depending on the brewing method you plan to use, and you need a coffee grinder that offers the ability to adjust the grinding size to match.
The Coffee Brewer
Obviously, you need brewing equipment to brew the ground coffee from the grinder. There’s really no right or wrong way - it all comes down to personal preference. That said, it’s important to know that the flavor profile will differ depending on the brewer’s design and the type of filter used.
Because the filter is the main component of the brewing tool, its material and porosity have an impact on what we call the body in the cup. While it doesn’t affect the taste directly, it can filter the non-soluble ingredients to give you a bold cup of coffee, a clear cup, or anything in between. The next time you see soap-like substances on your coffee brewing filter, you'll realize that these are either coffee oils or other non-soluble components.
The Kettle (Optional)
If you want to use an espresso machine, you don’t actually need a kettle. If you prefer making coffee using the pour-over method, then you must have a kettle to pour water on the coffee grounds. We recommend a gooseneck kettle because it allows you to control the water flow better. Additionally, we recommend getting an electric kettle for a number of reasons, including sheer convenience and the ability to control the temperature of the water. The latter is especially important because water temperature can affect the coffee extraction process and the resulting flavor.
The Verdict
The tools listed above represent basic coffee brewing equipment you can use to obtain a consistent result with amazing extraction. You can find anything from high-end devices to more cost-efficient options to fit your budget. If you're looking for more convenient choices, try out different techniques and tricks to make perfectly brewed coffee.
