How to Make Truly Good Coffee at Home

"How much worse can things in the world really get, as long as there is such a thing as coffee?"

– Cassandra Clare

At a time when the news talks about corona and a falling or bear market, we're talking about coffee instead. Sometimes it's good to turn off the news channels and social media and enjoy a good hot coffee in silence. But how do you make coffee at home so that its quality doesn't fall short of a café's or is even better than some?

There are many options for this – let's go through some of them right now. Perhaps you'll discover a new coffee-making method for yourself that you haven't tried yet and that you'll really enjoy.

But before we start choosing coffee-making equipment, you need to arm yourself with very good and quality coffee. If you use bad coffee, you can have the world's coolest coffee machine, but you still won't get good coffee.

Aeropress

Let's start with our favorite, which simply makes incredibly good coffee! Aeropress is a fairly new invention, but despite that it has won the hearts of many coffee lovers. It consists of two plastic cylinders and a coffee holder, with a small round filter placed at the bottom.

Coffee is made using pressure created by pushing one cylinder into the other. Watch this short video to see how it works.

Due to its lightness and small size, it's possible to carry it anywhere and cleaning the aeropress is very simple. If you really want to find downsides, perhaps the downside is that with an aeropress you can only make one cup of coffee at a time. But since making one cup takes only a couple of minutes, that's probably not a real problem.

With an aeropress you can make coffee as strong or mild as you wish.

Moka Pot

This is a very popular coffee-making method elsewhere in the world, but it hasn't achieved the same popularity among Estonians. The moka pot is probably familiar to many from films set in Italy. It is indeed an invention of Italian origin.

The moka pot is good for those who want a more serious and darker, espresso-like coffee. It's a metal pot that is placed directly on the stove and when the water boils, it pushes itself through the coffee grounds from the lower vessel into the upper vessel.

Making coffee with this method takes about 5-6 minutes.

Chemex and similar pots

This is one of the most stylish ways to make coffee. Chemex and other similar coffee makers consist of a beautiful glass container and a filter that goes on top of it. The Chemex pot uses a special paper filter from the same company. Bodum comes with a metal filter that will probably last longer than the pot itself.

Let the water boil and let it sit for 30 seconds (because boiling water is too hot for the glass pot). Pour enough water onto the coffee grounds to cover it. Now wait about 45 seconds and pour the remaining water very slowly onto the coffee in circular motions. This video shows exactly how it's done.

Hario V60

Similar to the previous one, with the Hario V60 water drips through a filter that is placed in a cone-shaped glass container. The container itself is placed on top of a cup and the coffee is allowed to drip directly into the cup. To get the best taste, however, you need to pour water onto the coffee little by little and wait about 45 seconds between pours.

Recommendation: for all paper filter methods, rinse the filter with hot water before filling it with coffee.

Coffee made with the Hario V60 is mild and pleasant.

Espresso Machine

If you have plenty of space on your kitchen counter and you have a few hundred euros in your back pocket, you can get yourself an espresso machine. Its inventors were, of course, Italians again, and if you learn to understand the machine's soul and get the hang of making coffee, this appliance will make you divine Italian-style espresso.

But if you don't want to deal with cleaning the machine and your favorite is americano-style coffee, then leave the espresso machine in the store.

French Press

The good old French press, which is probably in every Estonian home. Italians and French people passionately argue over its invention, but the French have won at least one victory – in English, this pot is called a french press. However, the product was first patented by Italian Attilio Calimani in 1929.

French press coffee is mild and pleasant and allows the coffee's aroma and taste to come through nicely.

If you'd like to enjoy a pleasant coffee in a new home, check out the offers here>>