More than perhaps any other beverage, coffee is America’s drink. We start our mornings with it, use it as an afternoon pick-me-up, finish our dinners with it, and use it to both welcome and politely dismiss guests from our home. And in recent years, we have started looking at coffee as more than just a utilitarian way to get a caffeine fix, but as an art form of its own.
It makes sense, then, that more and more people would start exploring different ways to brew coffee at home. And we have found them – from basic drip coffee to full-out moka pots and vacuum brewers, there are a dozen different ways to brew a cup of joe. Read on to discover some of these different methods and the coffee flavor profiles they produce.
1. Drip Coffee
The most common way to brew coffee at home is to use a basic drip coffee maker. These machines are loved for their convenience, and we can definitely understand the appeal. Being able to wake up every morning to a fresh pot of coffee is one of the best perks of living in the modern world. But the thing that drip coffee makers lack is control. You can brew the same cup of coffee day after day, but if you want to vary the strength or steeping time of that coffee, there’s not a great way to do that. You can still get a somewhat customized brew, though, by changing how much and what type of coffee you put in the pot.
2. Keurig
Keurigs have taken another step in making coffee convenient, fresh, and on-demand. Whereas before you might have to wait several minutes for a whole pot of coffee to brew and then doctor it up yourself, a Keurig can brew your perfect cup in a couple of minutes. Keurigs still lack the customizable brewing cycle of other kinds of coffee brewing options. But they do come in every flavor from plain black coffee to fancy sweetened lattes to teas and hot chocolate. And if you’re concerned about the environmental impact of all those individual plastic cups, you can get refillable K-cups that you can fill with your personal favorite blend.
3. French Press
If you’re wanting to dip your toe into the world of custom-brewed coffee, a French press is a good place to start. This method allows you to let the coffee steep for however long you like, letting you more closely control the final flavor. In general, it also produces less bitter coffee than some of the other brewing methods. To make coffee in a French press, you start by using relatively large-ground beans in the bottom of a glass or metal container. You pour near-boiling water over the grounds and let the coffee steep for however long you prefer. Then you can filter the grounds out using a plunger and pour the coffee off the top.
4. Pour Over
If you like the general taste of drip coffee but you want more control over the brewing process, pour-over coffee may be a good option for you. This method involves the same coffee filters as a drip coffee maker and uses the same method of pouring water through the coffee to steep it. This can produce a lighter brew than the French press, where the water sits on the beans for several minutes. When you’re making pour-over coffee, you want to pour water over in three stages. In the first stage, you’re just dampening the coffee beans and letting the flavors start to bloom out of them. Then you pour another stage of water through to extract all those flavors, and last you pour water over to get the last remnants of the flavor into the coffee.
5. Cold Brew
If you want coffee that’s ready to go, easy to make, and less bitter, it’s hard to beat cold brew. This method relies on time, rather than heat, to extract the coffee flavors. That lack of heat results in a gentler brew with less acidity being stripped out into the water when the heat hits it. Brewing cold brew coffee could not be simpler; all you need is coffee, a large pitcher or carafe, and a strainer. Pour your coffee in, pour your water in, and put your coffee in the fridge overnight. In the morning, you’ll have coffee ready and waiting to have sweetened condensed milk stirred into it or simply to be enjoyed straight.
6. Moka Pot
If you’re an espresso sort of person but you don’t want the hassle and expense of an espresso machine, a moka pot can be a great option. These little devices use the same steam power that an espresso machine does to produce extra-concentrated coffee. But they do so on a stovetop and in a few minutes without the hassle of a full-out espresso maker. To use a moka pot, you start by filling the bottom chamber full of water and putting finely ground coffee in the basket above the water. Add your second filter, put the whole pot together, and put it on the stove. You’ll hear the steam start to hiss up through the pot, and in a few minutes, you’ll have a perfect shot of espresso.
7. Vacuum Brewers
There are some people who blame the acidity of most coffee on the metal that’s part of most brewing processes. They say that the acidity of the coffee strips ions out of the metal and makes it more acidic. The solution, of course, is to use a brewer that is made entirely of glass. Vacuum brewers do exactly that, and make amazing display pieces You put the water in the bottom and the coffee in the top and then heat the water until it boils up through the grounds. The boiling creates a vacuum, which helps to pull the coffee down into the lower bulb again.
Discover Different Ways to Brew Coffee
If you’re interested in brewing coffee at home, there are a ton of amazing ways to do it. Whether you like strong, bold coffee or a lighter, less bitter brew, there are lots of different ways to brew coffee. Start experimenting with cold brew and French press, or if you’re already a coffee aficionado, check out the vacuum brewers or a moka pot.
If you’d like to find the best coffee for your brewing method, check out the rest of our site at International Coffee Trading. We are specialty importers of fine green coffee that take your beans from farm to friends with no BS in between. Check out our coffees and start brewing a better morning today.