A Review of Coffee Brewing Methods: Which Is Right For You?

Everyone enjoys that first cup of coffee in the morning, but what brewing method gives you your perfect cup? There are many different brewing methods to try before finding this out. But what are the advantages to each unique method? Consider this your brewing guide and use it to lead you to that ideal cup of coffee you have been after for years.

1. French Press: This brewing method has been around for quite some time, making it a very conventional method. There's a vessel for the ground coffee beans and water and a mesh plunger that presses the grounds to the bottom of the vessel once the grounds have bloomed. This brewing method takes about 4 minutes. The taste that results is a more full-bodied coffee with a good balance of acidity, sweetness, aroma, and flavor. We recommend the Espro French Press if you are looking to try out this brewing method. SHOP FRENCH PRESS

2. AeroPress: This brewing method is relatively new and also very similar to the French Press, but it is considered the most portable and durable method for brewing quality coffee out of all that we have mentioned. AeroPress calls for a very fine grind, a little bit more so than drip coffee. It uses a combination of heat and air pressure to extract flavor from the beans, and its brewing time is about 30-90 seconds. It uses a paper filter so you’ll find less of the harsher oils and chemicals in an Aeropress coffee that you'd get from a French Press. It produces a thick and focused coffee that is highly concentrated, tasting almost more like espresso than coffee. SHOP AEROPRESS

3. Pour Over: This is one of the most popular brewing methods in the U.S. right now. The pour over method is when you pour water over the grounds in the filter in order to extract all the flavors of the coffee. If you want to get an automated machine for this, you can get an electric drip coffee maker that drips hot water over the grounds. The coffee that results from the pour over method is clear and smooth, and the strength can be adjusted by changing the coffee grind to water ratio. Coarse to medium grind is preferred for the pour over method.  SHOP POUR OVER

4. Chemex: Coffee from Chemex is very similar to that which drip coffee produces. The grounds should be a little more coarse than the grounds used for drip coffee, more similar to grounds you would use for a French Press. After placing the grounds in the filter, the idea is that you gently pour twice the amount of hot water than coffee over them, but allow the coffee to expand for between 30 and 45 seconds to ensure even water dispersion. Continue pouring the water, at a pace that results in about 4 minutes overall for brewing. The coffee that results is much cleaner due to the paper filters used, and it reduces the likelihood of getting a bitter cup of coffee. SHOP CHEMEX

5. Espresso: Making the perfect espresso shot at home can be difficult and expensive, but worth it at the end of the journey. You will need a proper espresso machine to guarantee the best results, and a quality burr grinder to grind the beans. In this method, nearly boiling water is forced through the brew chamber into the portafilter basket under pressure. The pressure can be applied either manually in a manual/piston type of machine, by a motor-driven pump, or by steam from heated water. This is considered the best method to pull out all the flavor and freshness from the beans, but trial and error are necessary to become an espresso connoisseur. SHOP ESPRESSO MACHINES

Now that you know a little bit about each brewing method you can decide which ones to experiment with, bringing you one step closer to your ideal coffee!