Going out to buy lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, and even just plain old cups of coffee adds up and it adds up quickly. If you are looking for ways to cut corners and save yourself a serious wad of cash, learning how to make coffee (that you love) at home is the answer to all of your problems. What surprises most people is that it isn’t difficult, it isn’t expensive, and it is a lot of fun.
Grind Your Coffee Properly
If you are going to be drinking the best coffee you can you will need to be grinding with the right type of equipment. What you need is a manual conical burr grinder. Why? Because conical burrs shave the coffee bean properly, allowing all of the flavor notes to reach their potential. The reason I recommend getting a manual grinder is that they are significantly less expensive.
When we started making great coffee at home we bought a Hario Skerton manual coffee mill – it cost us about $40 and has never let us down. It grinds phenomenal coffee and can grind for anything from French Press coffee to Turkish.
Try Out Some Cool Brew Methods
Are you using a drip coffee pot in your kitchen? Ah, well, that’s a big part of your problem. Drip coffee pots aren’t designed to extract coffee’s flavor very well – they’re exclusively designed for convenience.
But when you try some other methods of brewing you’ll find that drip pots aren’t even that convenient. Some other great methods that brew spectacular coffee are pour over devices and french presses. Neither of these are expensive to buy, they range from $15 to $40 and can be purchased on the internet.
If you want a good, strong cup of coffee that actually presents flavors from the roast these two methods are perfect for you. Buying whole bean coffee, grinding it with conical burrs, and brewing with either a pour over or a press pot will take a plain cup of coffee and make it incredible.
What About Milk Drinks? I Don’t Just Want Coffee
Fair enough. You want espresso. You want to froth milk and make lattes.
Who doesn’t?
There are two things you’ll need to buy to make all the lattes you can dream of.
Get a milk frother – Bodum makes an excellent one that costs $20, and they are a company with a very good reputation in the specialty coffee community. When shopping for coffee gadgets you really can’t go wrong with Bodum.
The other thing you will need is a stovetop espresso maker. I would suggest getting the Bialetti Moka Pot, because it’s the one I use personally and I know it to be a very solid device. It came highly recommended from a number of my peers, and I have been very pleased with its performance.
They are simple to use too. You put espresso in the top compartment, water in the bottom compartment, and you set it on the stove to brew. It makes great espresso and costs about $30.
It’s That Easy
Making awesome coffee at home isn’t difficult or complicated, the tools and gadgets that you use are easy to understand, easy to clean and won’t eat up lots of counter space.
Most importantly, they’re incredibly inexpensive. If you drink a few lattes a week these simple tools will pay for themselves within about a month and a half. At my blog, project vvlgar, we focus on making fantastic coffee at home and being a resource for others who would like to save money and drink better.