- This is just too much,
too much coffee here.
There are so many ways
to brew coffee out there.
as a certified coffee nerd snob.
I've tried nearly all of them,
but for people who
aren't coffee obsessives,
it can be really confusing.
I'm gonna walk you through
some of the most common
coffee brewing methods
the pros and cons
and who I think each one is best for.
(soft drumbeats)
The first method is a pour-over.
A pour-over requires a brewing cone
with a paper filter
that you pour water over
and it funnels through into
a decanter or a corral.
There are a number of different
pour-over brewers out there.
This is the Hario V60.
Some other popular ones
are the Kalita wave
and the Bee house brewer.
Another kind of pour-over is the Chemex.
has a similar method of making the coffee
with a cone and a paper filter.
With the Chemex you're doing
a very similar technique
to other kinds of pour-overs,
but you have one single
piece of equipment,
which makes it a little
bit more difficult to clean
to get in there and wash out the glass.
Some people absolutely love Chemexs,
some people it's just a
little bit too much of a pain.
The pros of a pour-over are that
you can really extract some
very high quality coffee
out of your beans if you
know what you're doing.
That's why coffee nerds love it so much.
You have a lot of control
over all the variables.
So if you like to fiddle around
and find exactly what works for you,
the pour over is great.
And another pro is just that
it's a very gratifying ritual.
Doing a pour over every
morning kind of lets you focus.
It's very meditative and
people kind of love that.
The cons of a pour-over are that
it really takes a lot of practice.
It's not super easy.
It's just hard to get a consistent,
perfect cup every single time.
Another con is that doing
a pour over might involve
a little investment in some extra gear,
such as a digital scale.
So you can get the dose and
the ratio of coffee to water
exactly right.
Also a gooseneck pouring kettle like this,
which lets you pour a
really even consistent flow
of water over your coffee bed.
Some people don't think a gooseneck kettle
is absolutely necessary,
but it does make things
easier and more consistent.
So who is the pour-over for?
Well it's for coffee
nerds first and foremost,
you're obsessed with the
quality of your coffee.
If you wanna learn and experiment,
pour-over is a great method.
Next way to brew coffee is
the classic French press
With a French press,
you put your coffee into this glass carafe
but it's steep,
which is what's called
a full immersion style
of brewing coffee.
And then you simply press
down on this metal filter,
which strains out the grounds
and gives you your coffee.
That you can just pour it into a mug.
Pros of a French press are
that it's very easy to do.
It doesn't require a whole
lot of special knowledge.
Just a bit of timing.
There's also no paper waste.
It does not involve any paper filters.
So if being environmentally
friendly is important to you,
the French press is a great way to go.
The other pro about a French press is that
it's fairly cheap.
French press brewers cost
between maybe 20 to $40.
They're really not expensive.
And that's really all
you need to get going
and you don't have to
buy any other extra gear.
Cons of a French press are the type coffee
that it really is suited to brew.
Which are more rich, heavy body copies.
It's not great for brewing
lighter tea, light coffees.
And that's because you're
using this metal mesh filter
instead of paper.
And the mesh filter does tend
to leave a little bit of sand
or sediment at the bottom
of your coffee cup.
Some people really hate that.
Some people don't mind it.
The last con is that it is a
little bit of a pain to clean.
You can't just dump a paper
filter with your grounds.
You have to dump the grounds
out of your French press,
clean it out each time.
It's not a huge deal,
but it is a definite con.
So who is the French press for?
Well it's for people who want convenience
without a plugin machine on their counter.
It's also for people who really like
those rich heavy body coffees.
Let's talk about espresso.
Espresso is kind of its own beast.
It requires a lot of equipment.
It's very different than brewed coffee.
Pros of espresso is that
it's very versatile.
You can make a lot of different drinks
with an espresso base.
Especially milk drinks
like lattes or cappuccino.
Espresso just also has that
unique espresso flavor.
Super concentrated, super rich.
It really feels like
something totally different
than regular brewed coffee.
The cons of espresso are
that it's very expensive.
Great espresso machines can cost hundreds
if not thousands of dollars
and you need a very good grinder.
You need a lot of accessories.
So it's not a cheap thing to get into.
It's also pretty difficult
to get really great,
consistent results with
an espresso machine.
People devote hours and
hours and years of their life
to mastering espresso.
So if you really wanna
go down that rabbit hole,
just be forewarned.
It's not easy.
And the last con of espresso is that
you only really get a
single serving at a time.
You can't brew a whole pot of
espresso to serve at a party.
Each serving requires its own process.
And it just takes a bit of time.
Who is espresso for?
It's for coffee fanatics who
love the purity of espresso,
who love experimenting and getting down
to the highest quality
espresso you can get.
It's also for people who love milk drinks.
If lattes and cappuccinos and
macchiatos are your thing,
espresso might be the way to go.
Then you have the ubiquitous
drip machine like this one.
Drip machines are one
of the easiest methods
because it's all automated.
You just set it and forget
it and let it do its thing.
Believe it or not
if you invest in a good
drip brewing machine,
you can get really high quality results.
Companies like Bonavita
and OXO and many others
are making really high
quality drip machines.
So you can get great quality coffee
without having to resort
to a manual method.
Cons of a drip machine are that
you kinda give up the control.
You're at the mercy of the machine.
You can't change up the variables.
You can't fine tune the
coffee if that's your thing.
And while drip machines are
great for making large brews,
they're not super great at
making single serving coffees.
So if you live by yourself,
if you're just making coffee
for you every morning,
the drip machine might
not be the best choice.
So who is a drip machine really for?
It's for people who want automation,
who don't wanna have to dote over
their coffee in the morning,
they just want an easy, quick cup.
Drip machines are also great
for people who are regularly
making large batches of coffee
for large groups of people.
Next we have the AeroPress.
AeroPress is a really unique,
interesting kind of coffee maker.
And it kind of has a cult following.
What you do is you put
your coffee in here.
There's a paper filter at the bottom.
And after your coffee brews,
you press down and squeeze the coffee
into a mug sitting below.
Pros of an AeroPress are that
it's really customizable.
There are hundreds of recipes you can try
each with their own
variables and variations
and it can be really fun to experiment
and get exactly the kind
of brew that you want.
It's also really portable.
AeroPress it's collapsed
down to a really small size.
So if you're traveling
and you wanna bring a
coffee brewer with you,
you really can't beat the
AeroPress for portability.
AeroPress is also a pretty fast way
of making a single serving of coffee.
It takes around two,
two and a half minutes
to brew your cup.
There are some cons about the AeroPress.
Number one, the difficulty
level I would say is medium.
It's not super easy.
You have to do a little bit of fiddling,
depending on the recipe you use.
It's not super hard,
but it's definitely not the
easiest way to brew coffee.
And the last con is that it
only brews one fairly small cup
at a time around 200 to 250 milliliters,
which is a little more
than an eight ounce cup.
So you can't use it for brewing
coffee for multiple people.
So the AeroPress is great for travelers
who wanna bring some
coffee here with them.
It's for people who
really only need to make
a single serving of coffee at a time.
And it's for people who love experimenting
with different recipes and variables.
Next up is the moka pot.
A lot of people think the
moka pot creates espresso
and that's not technically true,
but the coffee you get from a moka pot
is very espresso like.
It's a small quantity.
It's very rich and very strong.
The pros of a moka pot are
that it's the best method
for creating an espresso like coffee
without actually going down the road
of buying a giant espresso machine.
It's also really great for milk drinks
because you have that richness
that marries well with milk.
And it's a very unique method.
There's a romance to it of
putting it over an open flame
and seeing the coffee
kinda sputter out the top.
It's a fun process.
The cons of a moka pot only
makes a small quantity.
So it's not great for
large groups of people.
Another con is that
it's really only capable
of making that concentrated
rich type of brew.
So if you don't like that,
you're out of luck with the moka pot.
And lastly it does require
a stove or an open flame.
You can't just use boiling water,
you have to have a heat
source underneath it.
So that might limit you
in terms of where you
wanna use a moka pot.
Who is the moka pot for?
Well it's great for campers.
People who wanna make
coffee over an open flame
and is for people who really love
that richest espresso like flavor
and texture in their coffee.
Moving on to the clever driver.
The clever dripper is
a really unique device.
You place it over a cup of
coffee and it sort of combines
the French press and a pour-over.
Put the coffee into a paper
filter that sits in this cone.
You let it steep in a full
immersion style of brewing.
And then once you place the
clever dripper over a mug
automatically drains out.
The pros of the clever dripper
are that is pretty cheap.
Also an easier version of a pour-over.
It gets you almost the same quality,
but you don't have to worry
about technique as much.
The cons it doesn't create quite
as crisp and clean a flavor
as a pour-over.
So you're almost getting
to pour over territory,
but not quite.
It also only brews a single serving
or the amount of coffee
that can fit in this cone.
And the last con is that
for a single serving brewer,
it is on the slow side.
(sips)
Can I get a bit more coffee?
In this day and age we
can't talk about coffee
without talking about a
Keurig or in espresso.
These single serving pod-based coffees
have their pros and cons for sure.
Pros of both of these are that
it's the quickest, easiest,
fastest, most convenient way
to get coffee into your mouth.
And really that's the reason
you would buy a curator and espresso.
It's not great for good quality.
It's not great for freshness,
and it's not great for being
environmentally friendly.
But if speed is your primary concern,
and you just want a quick
fixe as fast as possible,
a Keurig or an espresso maybe for you.
Then we have a siphon
brewer or a vacuum pot.
These are really crazy contraptions
that not many people brew with,
but it's worth mentioning
because it is out there.
And a lot of people wonder about it.
Siphon brewing is known for creating
the absolute clearest cleanest,
most clarified kind of
coffee you can make.
Cons are that it is a
very involved process.
It's not easy to do right off the bat.
You really have to
learn about the science.
And the equipment is fairly expensive.
Ranging from 80 to a $100 and up.
Who's a siphon really for?
Well it's for science nerds.
People who love to make a
show of their coffee brewing,
people who are obsessed
with that really clean, crisp flavor.
Of course, there are many
other ways of brewing coffee.
There's cold brew, iced coffee,
there's Turkish coffee makers,
Vietnamese coffee makers, percolators.
But hopefully this gives you an overview
of what's popular,
what's accessible.
So you can make your own decision
and find the best cup of coffee for you.
If there's a coffee brewing method
that you're curious about,
let us know in the comments.
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tips and advice, please subscribe.
