Tired of subjecting yourself to the over-roasted and bitter-tasting 3-month-old coffee at the office? Maybe you’ve bought yourself a french press coffee maker for the house (a ticket out of the world of bitter beans), but you secretly long to make the next step forward. You love coffee! It’s something you have every. single. day. Why not become a coffee alchemist? Why not turn your coffee into GOLD with the right coffee gear. Arm yourself with these 5 pieces of coffee gear and you’ll be well on your way: ————————————- #1 A PROPER GRINDER ————————————- On the surface it sounds trivial – does a grinder really make that much of a difference? Surprisingly, the consistency of your coffee grind is actually one of the most important factors of extracting the coffee’s natural flavors. Each brewing method lends itself to different grind types for proper extraction of flavor and body. Methods like French Press & Aeropress work well with a a coarser grind, where as pour-over methods work better with finer levels of grinds. Our Recommendation: The best type grinder you can buy is a Burr grinder – Burr grinders use 2 blades to ensure that the coffee beans are all cut with the same consistency. For those not wanting to spend over $100 – here’s a well-reviewed burr grinder for $99. ——————- #2 A SCALE ——————- Brewing the perfect cup of coffee is as much a science as it is an art. One of the biggest mistakes people make when brewing coffee is using too much or too little coffee relative to amount of water they use to brew. A scale takes the guess work out of the equation and is key for a creating a consistent and quality cup. You can’t become a coffee alchemist with guess work! Level-up, Scale-up. Our Recommendation: Here’s one of our favorites – although there a several acceptable options out there. ————————————— #3 A GOOSENECK KETTLE ————————————— The gooseneck kettle is a must-have for anyone looking to venture into the pour-over coffee brewing method. It’s the most effective way to control how and where you connect the only 2 ingredients you need for the perfect cup; coffee and water. A controlled pour is crucial for the correct extraction of the natural flavors of the coffee. Our Recommendation: You can get these online for a reasonable price – this one costs less than $40. You can also spend a bit more and buy one that boils instantly. ——————————————————————– #4 THE COFFEE BREWING HARDWARE ITSELF ——————————————————————– You’ve graduated from the drip coffee maker and the k-cups of the world and now you’re looking out on the horizon to all of the possibilities – French Press, Pour-over (Chemex, V60), AeroPress, Cold Brew… etc. Each brew method has it’s own pros and cons, but our favorite is the pour-over method. The pour-over is the best method for releasing some of the more nuanced flavors in coffee and is the coffee enthusiast’s brewing method of choice. Here are some instructions for how to brew coffee with some of the various methods listed above: Coffee Brewing Method Instructions. Our Recommendation: Our 2 favorite types of pour-over methods are the Hario v60 and the Chemex. ——————————————————— #5 FRESHLY ROASTED COFFEE BEANS ——————————————————— None of the coffee gear listed above can make up for poor quality coffee and one of the keys to coffee quality is how freshly roasted coffee beans are (there’s also something to be said for where you get your beans from of course!). There a lots of freshly roasted coffee subscriptions companies out there that will roast coffee fresh and ship it right to your door. Our Recommendation: Make sure that you buy your coffee beans fresh and grind them only before your brew. Also keep your coffee beans in a cool, dry place! Do not store your coffee in the fridge / freezer! This is one of the 5 biggest mistakes that people make when brewing coffee. Atlas Coffee Club (at no cost to you!) earns a commission when you click through and make a qualifying purchase. We take coffee seriously and thoroughly research and/or test products before recommending them to our community of fellow coffee-lovers.
