Aeropress with local beans when I just want to make a single cup. If making more coffee for multiple people, the standard Bodum french press comes out. All water temperature coming from a water kettle/boiler with temp control usually set at 195.
Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
11–20 of 42 posts
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#12I've been using the cold brew method for a couple months now and prefer it to the traditional drip coffee method, at least. It's a more involved process for the initial brewing, but once you have a large batch of concentrate, you can have hot or iced coffee in seconds for a week or more. And I really enjoy the flavor I've gotten from this method: http://www.coldbrewingcoffee.net
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#13I've been wanting to get more control over my brewing. For now I just use my Keurig. I love it, and I know I'll probably get shit from coffee snobs (no offense), but it's good enough to have a quick cup in the morning.
Have you ever used one of the re-usable K-cups? I've yet to find one that works well, generally they end up dumping grounds into my cup. Brand name cups are too expensive for me to feel comfortable drinking every morning.
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#14I used to brew in aeropress but I switched to Chemex recently. You need like 30g of moderately-coarse grind coffee to make 0.5l coffee so it's good if you have some decent grinder (I use Ascaso i-2 mini). It's also good if you can pour water precisely - I use hario buono kettle.
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#15French press or Aeropress when I have time to spare, Keurig the rest of the time.
Aeropress at work (inverted method), at home in the morning I use a Nuova Simonelli MCF 50mm burr grinder and a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine (just turned 10 years old!) to make espresso or Americano, depending on my whim that day.
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#16Hack all the way: Dave Asprey's bulletproof coffee http://www.bulletproofexec.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulle... - I use whatever beans I can find so my coffee is probably not worthy of the "bulletproof" title, but the butter is such an unbelievable upgrade to your coffee.
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#17I used to just drink whatever's available, but I recently gave myself a Hario v60 pourover for my morning routine and now it's become a bit more of a ritual.
I brew everything from pre-ground supermarket coffee (which can actually be surprisingly good if you buy it at an upmarket UK supermarket such as Waitrose) to local freshly roasted whole beans ground on the spot. In my experience, the difference between fresh coffee and old coffee is much bigger than between expensive beans and supermarket coffee. Old fancy coffee tastes worse than fresh supermarket coffee, but fresh fancy coffee obviously tastes best.
Using a pourover is pretty straightforward. As long as you allow the water to cool down to just below boiling point to not burn the coffee and allow the coffee to bloom for a few seconds with just a little bit of water before pouring in the rest, there's not much to go wrong. You can become a coffee snob in 1:38 by watching this video: https://www.makedecentcoffee.com/film-library/how-to-films/v...
I do it in the morning when I'm still half asleep and it's kind of a nice activity to wake up to. I also like the v60 because it's a nice object, made of heavy porcelain. In the end, coffee is coffee though. Don't take it too seriously ;)
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#18Almost boiling water + eyeballed grounds + french press.
Usually I do 75/25 with almond milk only because I don't have the patience to let the coffee cool.
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#19Starbucks has an amazing machine which you can apparently lease free if you purchase 4 cases (24 pounds) of coffee a month. I use one of these at work.
http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communit...
An Albertsons near my house has one of these Redbox SBC machines:
http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kplu/files/styles/car...
Or I'll get those little packets, like the Starbucks VIA, but other brands are cheaper.
Re: Ask HN: Coffee Drinkers, How Do You Brew?
#20A couple of months ago, when my drip maker finally broke, I switched to using a french press (thermally insulated, so it keeps warm for hours rather than minutes!) - I just boil it in a glass kettle. The whole setup cost me maybe $35 from Amazon. (Link: http://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Nissan-34-Ounce-Insulated-Stai... )
This has two effects:
First, the coffee tastes better. No more "ugh, burnt" taste, and the process of pressing it seems to produce a rounder flavor than drip-brewing.
Second, I actually drink less coffee! Since a pot (which gets me ~3 large cups worth) takes about 15 minutes to make, I don't tend to slam through it as quickly, and I waste less. Given that I was hitting ~3 12-cup pots per day before, I don't think this is a bad thing.
Overall, it'd made my coffee-drinking experience a bit slower and more enjoyable. The morning ritual of boiling the water and pressing the coffee is a lot of fun.
(My wife has a k-cup maker which I use when I don't have time to make a press worth's of coffee. It does fine.)