How to Choose the Right Brew Method for You
From Straightforward to Geeky, 6 Ways to Make Coffee at Home
“If you buy good coffee and want to prepare it well, you have to choose a method that lets you express your dedication, skill, and enthusiasm.”
These days, with so many different ways to make coffee at home, you can feel overwhelmed even before you begin. We’re here to make it simpler for you. From our mainstay, the pour over, to the esoteric siphon pot, we’ll break down the different ways to make coffee, highlighting the qualities in each finished cup and the technical chops each method requires. By identifying the kind of coffee that you’re after and how much work you’re willing to do, you’ll be able to navigate your way to your preferred brew method.
The Differences Among Coffee Brewing Methods
All you need to make coffee is ground coffee, water, and a filter. But to understand the differences among coffee brewing methods, from start to finish, we’ll look at the following variables: the texture or mouthfeel of the finished drink (or “why we like it”); the filter material, brewing process, and tips for grind size (or “how it works”); and the ideal mind-set and prior experience of the home brewer (or “who’s it for”).
Pour Over Method
Why We Like Pour Over Coffee
The pour over method produces coffee with a delicate and smooth texture that resides somewhere between juicy and tea-like. A pour over coffee’s flavor is often at its most expressive, partly due to the filtration, which adds polish and clarity to the cup, and partly due to the amount of water used in relation to the ground coffee.
How It Works
A paper filter that fits into some sort of dripper is all you need for pour over coffee. The paper filter results in a clarified mouthfeel as it holds back oils and undissolved coffee particles from the final cup.
While there are countless drippers on the market, we’re partial to our version, the Blue Bottle dripper. Engineered to take the guesswork out of brewing pour over coffee, its conical shape cuts a similar profile to other ceramic drippers, but its very design—a flat bed with 40 interior ridges—promotes more even extraction, bringing out the best flavors of the coffee.
If the pour over brew method appeals, but you’re eager to brew more than one cup at a time, the classic Chemex carafe can brew up to 8 cups of coffee at time.
Tips on Grind
For single-cup drippers, a medium grind size about the coarseness of sea salt is optimal. The extraction time—the span of time from the first pour to the last—should take fewer than 3 minutes to achieve the most balanced flavors. For Chemex, the grind size will depend on the amount of coffee you use; if making more than a couple of servings, you’ll want the grind size to be slightly coarser than for a single-cup dripper, otherwise, the water will overextract the coffee, resulting in bitterness.
Who's It For?
Pour overs are for anyone who appreciates a short but focused morning ritual and isn’t afraid to experiment. While drippers are considered an “entry level” manual brew tool, using one does require focus and care. The biggest challenge for the pour over method is the pour technique, a series of four pours in which the stream of water leaving the kettle gently saturates the coffee grounds. Since it’s the method we use in our cafes most, we have our pour over method down to a science. Learn more about it in our brew guide. Throw in a scale, grinder, and swan neck kettle and you’ll be well on your way to coffee perfection.
Coffeemaker Method
The enduring appeal of a good coffeemaker is its convenience: decent drip coffee with the flick of a switch.
How It Works
Depends on the machine, but its anatomy is similar to a pour over dripper. A conical filter sits above a pot. Place a paper filter (unless the device has a built-in reusable filter), fill it with ground coffee, and press “start.” Like a pour over, the paper filter results in a clarified mouthfeel.
We favor machines like the Bonavita Connoisseur that have sophisticated functions mimicking the technique of the analog pour over method.
Tips on Grind
A medium grind size about the coarseness of sea salt is optimal. If making more than a couple of servings, you’ll want the grind size to be slightly coarser.
Who's It For?
For some, the morning is not a time of ritual. If you prize ease above all, a decent drip coffeemaker is for you. To optimize your coffee beans, we do recommend using a scale to weigh your fresh coffee and a decent grinder to get the right grind size.
French Press Method
Why We Like French Press
We love the full-bodied coffee that comes from the French press method. The texture is heavier and denser than a pour over. For this reason, though French press coffee is delicious black, it thrives with milk or cream.
How It Works
French press is an immersion brew method, meaning coffee grounds are fully immersed in water and then strained using a metal filter. Metal filters allow oils and undissolved coffee particles to pass into the cup.
Tips on Grind
A medium grind size that’s slightly coarser than for a pour over is optimal, like very coarse black pepper.
Who's It For?
French Press is accessible to anyone, and works particularly well for people who love their coffee with breakfast, as the French Press doubles as a serving carafe and comes in a variety of sizes.
The technique is straightforward, though we have a fun variation that takes 15 minutes or so.
AeroPress Method
Why We Like Aeropress
AeroPress is the Swiss army knife of brew methods. We love it for its versatility—this is a method that welcomes improvisation—and its mouthfeel, which is delicate and silky. AeroPress coffee can be quite concentrated and espresso-like in its intensity, or you can finish it with boiled water, to approximate a pour over.
How It Works
AeroPress combines immersion (where water and coffee grounds steep, like French press) and filtration (like pour over, because it uses paper filters). The plastic device was invented by engineer and physicist Alan Adler, who wanted a faster brew method than typical drip coffee. To make it, you wet a paper filter, fit it into the device, assemble the two plastic components, add coffee and water, and then plunge. Out comes concentrated coffee that lends itself to dilution with hot water. Learn one (of many) methods here.
Tips on Grind
The grind size needs to be finer, approaching espresso fineness.
Who's It For?
AeroPress is for the traveler, the minimalist, or just a coffee enthusiast. It’s built-in features, like numbers on the device, mean that you don’t need a scale or a special kettle. Though once you get the hang of it, it’s a breeze, brewing in about 1 minute, the AeroPress technique takes initial investment.
Siphon Method
Why We Like Siphon
Looking like a mad scientist’s secret invention, the siphon brew method is beautiful, intricate, and theatrical, and it produces a delicate, tea-like cup of coffee. The technique can be quite persnickety, but it is, for our money, one of the coolest brew methods available.
How It Works
The siphon brew method uses immersion, vacuum pressure, and fire. The way the all-glass contraption works is this: water is placed into the bottom part of the siphon machine, a glass bulb. A flame heats the water to boiling until the water percolates upwards to the upper part of the device, called the hopper. Once the water reaches the right temperature, coffee grounds are added to the hot water. After an initial stir, remove the siphon from the heat source. The change of pressure and force of gravity will draw the coffee down, through the filter to the bulb. For more details, read our brew guide.
Tips on Grind
Grind size should be medium, like table salt. Even more important than grind size are aspects of the technique, like water temperature stability and agitation of the grounds.
Who's It For?
Siphon-making is as esoteric as brew methods come, and probably best suited for the experienced enthusiast, the craft hobbyist, or for someone who enjoys showing off to her friends.
Cold Brew Method
Why We Like Cold Brew
Cold brew coffee is crisp and refreshing. The mouthfeel is silky and light. Depending on the kind of coffee you choose to use, profiles can be gorgeously fruity or tart, or chocolaty and rich.
How It Works
Cold brew is quite simple, immersing ground coffee in room temperature water for 8 to 12 hours and then poured out through a filter. While you can use any number of devices, we favor the Hario Cold Brew Bottle, which makes the process as simple as can be and does double time as both the brewing device and serving carafe.
Tips on Grind
Grind size should be medium-fine, like granulated sugar.
Who's It For?
Cold brew coffee, long a staple in our cafes, has more recently become a favored brew method in our guests’ homes. It’s for everyone who wants a refreshing brew come summertime, or any other time of year. The technique is easy, and the results are sparkling.