Kevin's Picks
Home Coffee Brewing Gear Recommendations
These are the products I personally use and recommend to customers every day. Invest in good gear, keep it clean, and your home coffee will rival anything you get at a shop.
The Foundation
Baratza Virtuoso+ Grinder
The absolute first thing you should invest in for your home coffee brewing setup is a top-notch Burr Coffee Grinder. It will make a bigger difference in your cup than any other single upgrade.
Bypass the whirly blade coffee grinders. While they might be adequate for grinding spices, they are far from ideal for coffee. They tend to be messy, inconsistent, and consume too much time, leading to them being underutilized or entirely neglected.
The Baratza Virtuoso+ is the one I recommend to customers, and I hear back about it constantly. People tell me years later they still use it every morning and their coffee has never been better.
The Virtuoso+ is heavy and has a metal body. It looks good on your counter and it's noticeably quieter than plastic models. Setup is simple. Beans are stored in the top compartment, and you just need to set your preferred grind size once. The grinder runs on a timer. So as soon as you know how many seconds it takes for your brew method you're done. Then it's a one button push in the morning for the perfect amount of coffee.
As authorized Baratza dealers, we offer the entire range of their grinders. If you want to see the full Baratza lineup, reach out. I can walk you through the differences and help you pick the right one.
A good grinder makes your morning easier and your coffee better. The Virtuoso+ does both without making you think about it.
Buy on Amazon
The Coffee Pot
Moccamaster Technivorm
Ok so you've got your grinder and you're ready for a better coffee pot. I absolutely without a doubt recommend the Moccamaster Technivorm. And while this coffee pot might sticker shock you a bit it is absolutely worth the premium for three main reasons.
One, this coffee pot, unlike a vast majority of pots on the market gets the water hot enough for a brew. When I hear customers say they always like the taste of coffee out, but not at home, this is usually the culprit. Water needs to be hot for a proper non bitter brew. This brewer does it.
Two, this coffee pot, unlike a vast majority of coffee pots on the market is easy to clean. Everything comes apart easily and can be cleaned. Most coffee pots are all one piece and funky coffee gook gets all up in them and results in a bad cup. You won't have this problem at all if you keep this one clean.
Three, this coffee pot, unlike a vast majority of coffee pots on the market has stood the test of time. This coffee pot has been in production virtually unchanged since the 70s. It's a well-built water heater. It's just a simple switch. So this could be the last coffee pot you ever buy. There is no fancy electronics to break.
If you're making a pot of coffee every day for you and others in your household (or if you drink a pot yourself) this easy to justify the expense of this coffee pot. It's the best. You'll love it everyday. Eventually it's cost per use will be hardly anything.
There's a couple of different styles, but I like the one listed because it brews it in a thermal pot. Their other models brew into a glass pot with a heater, and if you're not drinking it right away that heater will make the coffee a bit more funky.
Now, do you live alone and just make a single cup? Take a look at my next suggestion....
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Single Cup
Clever Coffee Brewer
If you want to make a single cup pour over style I am in love with the Clever Coffee brewer. Don't be intimidated by the term "pour over". Basically you're the Mr. Coffee in this scenario. You're heating the water and putting it on top of coffee grinds.
If you look at it and the coffee pot I recommended earlier you'll notice the funnel part is pretty similar. So basically you are heating the water in a kettle (stay tuned for a future recommendation) and pouring the water on the clever. What makes the clever unique is it has a valve. So the water stays in the funnel unless you put it on a cup on which time it releases the valve and the water drains.
I just like it's flexibility. I feel like for just a single cup you can have the water be in contact with the coffee grind for the full 4 min and then dump quickly out the cup. Since it holds water till you drain it, it's also the perfect tea steeper. So this device is a great multi tasker.
You won't have to learn to be a pour over coffee artist to make a great cup every time. The brew time with the clever is easily controlled and you can play with and find your personal style very easily.
Buy on Amazon
Keep It Clean
Maintenance is Key
With any equipment, coffee included, maintenance is key. In my previous coffee pot recommendation I mentioned how easy that pot was to clean. You should be doing monthly cleaning to your coffee pot for the optimal brew. If you've never cleaned you're home pot you have right now you'll be in for a treat if you follow my guidelines below. You've got two steps:
One you've got to descale your coffee pot. Here in New Orleans we have hard water. You want to use that hard water to brew coffee, it makes a great cup. That's a whole different recommendation though. For this time just know you need to get that hard water buildup off of the insides of your coffee pot. Get some of this descal scaler and follow the directions.
Buy Descaler on Amazon
Keep It Clean
Cafiza Coffee Cleaner
Two, coffee has oils. It's not just water based. You know it stains things. Coffee professionals use a product called Cafiza. This stuff melts coffee residue off of everything. You'll be shocked at how much comes off what you think is your clean coffee pot.
Buy Cafiza on Amazon
The Classic
Chemex Brewer
The Chemex is a beautiful, classic, pour over device. Its beauty is in its simplicity. It makes fantastic coffee and looks great doing it. It was invented in 1941 and its design hasn't changed. It has been called the greatest designed product of modern times, and is even included in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. It's functional and beautiful.
The special folded Chemex filter goes in the top. Be sure to put the double folded side towards the pour spout to give it structure and allow air to escape the bottom as you brew the coffee. Second you'll want to rinse the paper quickly with hot water and pour it out. Then I like to add slightly coarser ground coffee than a regular pour over to help speed up the brew. So somewhere between a French press grind and a hot drip grind.
Even if the person hates brewing coffee on it, it's a great item for a kitchen shelf. Currently we have one collecting dust on the shelf in the coffee shop. Maybe one day after the pandemic we can put it back on the menu and you'll be again able to order one to split with friends.
Now that you've seen one, you'll notice it everywhere. It's in the background of lots of TV and movies.
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