2018 Gift Guide for the Coffee Lover – Quartzy



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The first sips of my morning cup of coffee are like adding an Instagram filter to an under-lit photo: all of a sudden, everything is a little warmer and brighter. There are not only the benefits of a flush of caffeine, which enhance the mood. Even though coffee is a daily necessity, a hot, aromatic cup gives your taste a feeling of indulgent little luxury.

With roasters and high-end and independent coffees growing worldwide, truly delicious coffee beans are more widely available than ever before. Our way of making coffee is very different from the taste of each cup. Even if we buy good roasted and savored coffee of good quality, the promise of an exceptional flavor can easily be lost if the equipment grinding and brewing coffee is not up to par. work.

But there is no perfect cup of coffee. And upgrading your coffee manufacturing facility can lead you to a deep and deep rabbit hole. There are dozens of ways to prepare a good cup of coffee and enthusiasts are ready to explain why their method is the best at every turn and denigrate systems that others prefer.

So there are several ways to further improve your morning cup, depending on the type of coffee drinker and the recommendations of coffee professionals. It is not about espresso, which is exceptionally difficult and expensive, to succeed at home, but for the preparation of an excellent cup of filter coffee that all these facilities will produce.

I want an inexpensive and friendly setup for a delicious coffee

The brew: The easiest and most elegant way to upgrade your cup of coffee in the morning is to buy a Chemex. Invented in 1941 by an eccentric chemist, the hourglass shaped vase is a classic of domestic design, inspired by the Bauhaus movement. Beautiful and easy to use, it makes an incredibly good cup of coffee without cluttering your counter, all for about $ 40.

Lincoln Fowler, co-founder of Colectivo Coffee in Milwaukee, swears in front of his Chemex: "It's probably cheaper than most automatic coffee machines, and it's not just a cheap product, it's also a great device. for the preparation of coffee. "

An even cheaper option is any basic one cup system. It may lack some glamorous design, but it's also a great cup.

Whatever the case may be, buy a gooseneck kettle with an integrated thermometer. The long gooseneck beak facilitates the even saturation of your soil and the "blooming" of the coffee, as it is known commercially, and the thermometer will help you maintain the temperature between 90 ° C (205 ° F) and 205 ° C. ° F (195 ° F). 96 ° C) – ideal for maximum extraction of aromas and mellowness.

Milling: A $ 30 hand grinder is a high-quality, low-tech accessory for a Chemex. Although Fowler says another advantage of this brewing method is that it is more tolerant of a wider variety of grinds than other coffee machines. "Even with the blade grinder, you can get pretty decent results with Chemex," he says.

The mornings are busy. I need a good cup of coffee and I need it now

The brew: I have a child of 1 year, almost 4 years and a full time job. I like the idea of ​​a Chemex or a single cup, but I just can not bear the hassle for now, not to mention holding a wiggling baby in an arm and kettle of boiling water in the other.

The coffee machine in my house must wake up before me so that the morning works well. A timer that can be prepared before going to bed is a must.

Wirecutter's first choice for coffee makers is a $ 200 model, OXO's On Model. "Over the years, we have tested almost all possible coffee preparation methods, from Chemex to cold brewing, and we believe that OXO offers the best flavor-effort ratio," test New York Times products. written review site. This metric ratio, report taste / effort, is actually a very useful way to think about your coffee configuration. Although $ 200 is a significant investment, the cost per use decreases considerably if you brew coffee every day. . Another interesting feature is that it has a thermal carafe that keeps the coffee warm, instead of relying on a heating element placed under the coffee maker, which can overheat and burn your coffee.

For a cheaper model, Wirecutter also gave good ratings to this Hamilton Beach machine, which costs less than $ 40. The water tank slides to facilitate cleaning and filling. There are several brewing settings, including "fat", "normal" and one for smaller amounts of coffee. The timer is very important and serves a solid cup of coffee – which I know because there is one in my kitchen right now.

Milling: Just buy your pre-ground coffee in small quantities. This saves time and the great professional grinders of your favorite coffee shop, or even the grocery store, are far superior to the inexpensive blade grinders that many people use at home. "If the choice is between the two, do I have to pre-grind the coffee and have a coffee pre-ground coffee for a few days, or should I use this rotten mill?" Says Jordan Michelman, co-founder of the coffee group company Sprudge media. "Pre-ground coffee, every time."

Money is not an object when it comes to perfect beer

The brew: The Cadillac of coffee makers is a Dutch beauty called Techni Vorm Moccamaster. She does everything that a standard coffee maker does – provides a pot of coffee in four to six minutes, by simply pressing a button – but getting better. The big difference with high-end drip coffee makers is temperature stability. The Moccamaster has a copper heating element that holds water between 91 ° C (201 ° F) and 94 ° C (201 ° F), the optimal window for making coffee. The dispersion of water on the coffee is also more uniform and the heating element located under the carafe has been designed to retain heat evenly, instead of burning the bottom of the pan.

The Moccamaster, fainting.

Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen, founders of Sprudge, are obsessed with the Moccamaster. "These are the machines we have at home. We also have one in our office, "Michelman told Quartzy about the Moccamaster. "We sort of had this un-shared crush for years. We have never even been able to visit their factory. They do not care. But they really make these great mid – century products and they look cool and work well. "

Moccamasters are available in a wide range of vibrant colors and metallic finishes. Their design is much cooler than your average coffee. They cost around $ 300, depending on the size and color, but the refurbished models cost $ 200. Consider me obsessed now too.

Milling: "Buy a mill that uses burrs – two small pieces of abrasive metal, set an adjustable distance that crushes coffee beans together – rather than one with blades cutting the beans," write Michelman and Carlsen, The new rules of coffee. They suggest the $ 100 Baratza Encore, and Fowler favors the Virtuoso model at $ 230 for his house beer.

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