Selecting a brewing method:

Now that we've covered the basics of where to get your coffee, using filtered water, and getting a grinder (something I'll revisit with more detail shortly) let's talk about brew methods. A few posts back, I linked to BrewMethods.com which is a fantastic resource for covering all different types of instructions for a wealth of different methods. One thing that the site does not do however is talk about which method is right for you.

Now, you may be the type of person who likes their coffee more than one way, and that's normal. But when you're first starting out it's best in my opinion to focus on one method of brewing so you can discover great coffee via that method faster. As you can see when perusing devices, most coffee brewers come in one of two varieties, either a pour-over/drip variety or the immersion variety. There are also a few stand-alone products that don't quite fit into either of these.

Immersion

Immersion brewing is essentially the act of combining ground coffee and water, letting it steep, and then separating the liquid from the grounds. Popular immersion brewers include the French Press and Eva Solo. These are typically what I recommend to people getting started with brewing coffee at home for one simple reason: they are super easy to use. Coffee goes in, you may or may not stir it, you leave it alone for a few minutes and then your coffee is ready. There are no fancy techniques that go into it, there aren't a lot of issues with temperature loss and it is easy. Nine times out of ten if you are starting out brewing coffee at home, I'll place a Bodum press in your hand.

Pour-over

The trendiest thing in coffee today is pour-over coffee. This includes Melitta cones, Bee House drippers, Hario V60s, and the ever popular Chemex. Now, you can get good coffee from each of these products. However, sometimes doing so is a huge pain in the neck. The simple fact of the matter is, each one of these devices requires a different type of technique to get the most out of the brew and even then most baristas cannot come to a consensus on which technique works best. And while professionals in the industry may enjoy the process of "dialing in" their technique, the average consumer is likely to get fed up and pull out the Mr. Coffee. I think these brew methods are awesome in cafés but if I were a newbie I'd wait to see how serious I want to get about coffee before investing in one of these methods.

In the next post I'll talk about brew methods that are a hybrid of these, or that don't quite fit into either category. As always questions and comments are always welcome!

*Apologies for the delay in posting, last night was OKC's first ever Latté Art Throwdown, and this week has been filled by promoting it everywhere I could.