The Coffee Adventurer’s Guide to Brewing at Home

You can brew coffee at home. You can brew it using machines or manually. Every brewing depends on what product you’re looking for at the end of the day.

After tea, coffee is one of the most well-known hot beverages that’s consumed around the globe. With billions of people drinking it around the world, there are many ways that you can easily brew coffee.

But some people due to time constraints prefer getting their daily caffeine fix pre-made from coffee shops like Dunkin or Starbucks. It’s easy, convenient, and takes up less time than making your own coffee at home.

But in this article, we’ll read everything about brewing coffee at home. So it’s easy for you to decide whether you want to brew your own coffee at home or still continue to grab it from a coffee shop.

How Do I Start Brewing Coffee At Home?

There are some basic ways in which you can get started on brewing coffee at home. Firstly, it’s using a French press or Clever Dripper. Both of these methods serve delicious coffee in under 5 minutes without any hassles.

The thought of enjoying your favorite cup of coffee at home is very enticing. I mean grabbing your delicious cuppa from the café isn’t hard, but what if you can enjoy that same flavor at home? Well, you can but it can take a bit of time to perfect everything.

Also, since coffee is relatively new in the market if we compare it with tea, people around the globe are still discovering many new ways of brewing it.

But this doesn’t mean that you can’t brew café quality coffee at home. You can get started easily. And then with time, you will reach the epitome of your local barista.

But before we discuss that. Here are some pointers to keep in mind before getting started.

• Get your favorite ground coffee.
• Finer brew yields a stronger cup of coffee.
• Check the roast level of the coffee grounds.
• A scale to measure.
• Use only plain water (no sparkling or flavored).
• You can get pre-ground coffee or grind it at home using a grinder.
• Be clear on what type of coffee you want to enjoy at home.

So, to make things quick and easy for you. Here are three ways in which you can brew your coffee at home.

French Press

Brewing coffee using a French press is an excellent way to get started. The French press uses the immersion brew method. This means that the coffee grounds get submerged in hot water for a couple of minutes. Then, the plunging mechanism helps extract the coffee which you can enjoy.

Though typically, this kind of coffee isn’t filtered, but if you like you can place a filter paper on top of your cup and then pour in the coffee.  

Just remember that for 1 gram of coffee 15 grams of almost boiling water is required. This makes a balanced cup of coffee. I talked about this, the importance of coffee ratios, more in my other article that you can check out.

You can increase the coffee ground amount for a stronger cup or decrease it for an even weaker cup. It’s all up to you.

How To Use The French Press

• Preheat the base by pouring in hot water and swirling it around. Then discard this water. This makes the cold equipment be at the required temperature and doesn’t produce sub par quality results.
• Then add in your grounds. As mentioned earlier, it’s recommended you grind your own coffee beans using a coffee grinder, but if you like you can get pre-grinded coffee grounds.
• Depending on how strong or what size of cup of you want, just don’t forget the 1:15 ratio.
• Heat the water up to 195^O to 205^O F or 91^O to 96^OC.
• Then add in the coffee grounds into the base and then pour in the hot water. With a spoon, stir to make sure all the grounds are submerged in hot water.
• Place the lid back on and set the timer for 4 mins.
• Wait….
• Then, slowly press down the plunger. Make sure that the plunger is pressed down all the way otherwise over extraction can happen.
• Pour and drink up your freshly brewed hot coffee.

Clever Dripper

Another easy way to make a fresh brew at home is by using a clever dripper. This gadget is the best of both worlds. It combines the French press immersion brew with the pour-over filtration method all-in-one.

So, just like a French press, Clever Dripper is very easy to handle and makes a hot brew within minutes. You top the base of the pit with filter paper. Then add on the coffee grounds and slowly pour hot water.

Then brewed coffee starts dripping down the empty vase and within minutes fresh coffee is brewed.  The ratio here is the same which is 1:15.

Also, if you want, you can increase the amount of the coffee grounds if you want to enjoy a strong cup of coffee or if you want a weaker one you can decrease the number of coffee grounds.

How To Use The Clever Dripper

• Weigh your coffee grounds depending on how strong you like your coffee. Just remember the ratio that for every gram of coffee grounds, fifteen grams of water is required.
• Then, heat the water up to 195^O to 205^O F or 91^O to 96^OC.
• Place the paper filter on top of the flask and pour in some water. This will eliminate the dry paper flavor and prep it for filtering out the coffee.
• After this, then add in the coffee grounds on top of the paper filter.
• Now, pour in the hot water and let the coffee sit like this for a minute.
• Then stir it and set the timer for 2 – 2 ½ minutes. Place the lid on top of it to maintain the hot temperature.
• Once the timer goes off, it’s time to place this flask on top of the carafe.
• Let the coffee drip. It will take 45 seconds for this whole process.
• Pour in the cup and enjoy!

You can watch this video from Clever Dripper.

Here’s a summarized table of French Press and Clever Dripper, with their respective time, taste, and coffee body.

Is Brewing Your Own Coffee Cheaper?

Though grabbing a coffee from a coffee shop is much easier than brewing at home, it does cost a lot more. Therefore, brewing coffee at home is cheaper and saves you money.

Saving money is a vast topic with many different agendas. It all depends upon your spending habits, your priorities, and most importantly your income. But whatever it may be, if we talk about coffee brewing there is a lot that you don’t realize.

Making anything at home always saves money, whether it’s a sandwich or coffee. You will always be saving a few cents to a couple of dollars per serving. Why?

Because when an edible item is produced commercially or on a large scale, it’s for the convenience that it’s readily available for you to just step in and pick it up, that you pay for.

Plus, the employee’s effort, the packaging, the raw material, and the electricity used for the appliances are what you’re paying for per serving. Also, don’t forget the sales tax. So, do you think if you would make your own coffee at home while calculating the total cost this all would be calculated? No, right?

You see, you’re making your own small batch of brewed coffee at home according to your convenience rather than producing it on a large industrial scale.

According to Insider’s article, the cost per serving when brewing coffee at home is around 16 cents to 18 cents. But when you buy it from coffee shops, the cost per serving is from $1 to $5. This when calculated means that you spend about $20 to $100 per month on coffee alone. Shocking… I know…

Therefore, brewing coffee at home is much cheaper than buying from coffee shops.  

I’ve made a list of coffee comparing how much it would cost to make at home vs Starbucks for a tall size (12 oz) per serving.

How Do I Brew Coffee Without A Coffee Maker?

There are plenty of ways in which you can brew coffee at home without a coffee maker. The most basic three ways to brew coffee are the microwave method, the tea bag method, and the stove-top method.

Sometimes you are not fully committed to purchasing any coffee equipment because it gets a bit overwhelming. Or maybe, your coffee maker is commissioned and you need a cup of coffee immediately but don’t know how to.

I’ve curated a few easy and fun ways to make coffee at home without a coffee maker. They only use basic kitchen staples and don’t need tons of prep.  

Here are they’re as follows:

Microwave

You can easily make coffee using a microwave.

All you need is:

• Microwave
• Coffee grounds
• Water
• Mug
• Strainer (optional)

Steps:

• Pour in the water in the mug that you normally add for making your brew.
• Microwave the water for about 2 minutes until its almost boiling hot.
• Then add-in your coffee ground. You might hear a sizzling sound which is normal.
• Let the grounds sit in the water for 4 minutes.
• Then pour it slowly into another mug, or drink it like this because the coffee grounds would be sitting at the bottom. Or, you can use the strainer to strain it in another mug to drink it.

Tea-Bag

Like a teabag, you can make a coffee bag and brew some delicious coffee without any coffee maker. Simply steep coffee!

All you need is:

• Coffee Filter Paper
• String
• Ground Coffee
• Mug
• Water

Steps:

• Place the coffee grounds (per usual amount) onto the paper filter. Then, tie the sides like a parcel using a string leaving a long end for removing it later.
• Tie it tightly making a pouch of coffee.
• Then heat up the water, either on a stove top in pan or in the mug in a microwave.
• If you heated the water in the saucepan, then place the coffee bag into the empty mug and pour in the hot water. If you microwaved the water then place the coffee bag into the mug with water.
• Now, let this steep for about 4 minutes.
• After the time is up, remove the coffee bag and enjoy!

Stove-Top

The stovetop method is an all-rounder when you don’t even have a microwave. Just make some coffee on your stove and get started with your day.

All you need is:

• Saucepan
• Coffee grounds
• Ladle or Spoon
• Water (little more than usual)
• Strainer
• Mug

Steps:

• Pour in the water in the sauce pan, but take a little more this time. Some water will get evaporated while boiling.
• Then add in the coffee grounds. Use the same amount as usual and stir with a ladle or spoon.
• On medium-high heat, stir occasionally and let it come to a boil.
• Then once it starts boiling, let it boil for 2 minutes more and then switch off the stove.
• Let this coffee concoction sit for about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Then strain the mix into a mug and enjoy!

So, What Are My Thoughts?

Many coffee connoisseurs love to brew coffee at home. But for a beginner, this can be intimidating. From knowing what kind of roast level, you prefer to understanding the equipment, it takes time to perfectly brew any type of coffee at home.

But brewing coffee at home does have some perks. Like you can control everything and anything. Plus, brewing coffee at home helps you save more money than you might imagine.

Also, investing in a high-tech coffee machine for brewing coffee at home can be an investment for someone. But thankfully, coffee is so versatile that you can brew coffee without any coffee machine just by using some simple kitchen staples.

But at the end of the day, it’s up to you, whatever you prefer, buying coffee from a local coffee shop or brewing it at home.

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