If you’ve just bought your new coffee machine or are thinking about getting one, you will typically need more instructions for achieving a perfect tasting espresso or cappuccino, than the basic ones which come in the box, or that you can read online.
So, you’ve come to the right place because we will enlighten you to all the different coffee brewing methods in this article and then you can read our article about coffee making tips to fine tune your chosen method.
For the ’non-connoisseurs’ of coffee, making a great tasting brew can appear as straight forward as pouring boiling water over some granules in a cup, or it can appear quite mystical with all the different blends and roasts, never mind the knobs and ’twirly’ dials or a coffee machine.
As all connoisseurs of coffee know, there is an art to coffee making and getting it right. You typically won’t achieve greatness with your first shot out of you new coffee machine, but after a bit of trial and error you can be rest assured that you will get it right.
So What is the Best Way to Brew Coffee?
If coffee is to live up to its aromatic promise it must be made with love and respect with each part of the process, from brewing to serving. And there are many methods and recipes for making coffee (if you were unaware), each having their own advocates.
Some are more traditional, while others brewing techniques have been introduced in more recent times and now get an array of liquids and powders added to them for extra flavor. Milk, whether it’s added right from the bottle or steamed is used to make cappuccino’s and latte’s.
And powders range from a dusting of chocolate or cinnamon, to nutmeg or just sugar.
Whether it is for the taste of a freshly brewed cup of coffee, the aroma, or simply the habit of your lifestyle – connoisseurs of the perfect roast each have a favorite way of brewing, just because they admire and love it so much.
If you are unsure that you want to spend the money on a shiny new coffee machine, I want to enlighten you a little on the different types of brew methods which you can try.
Some of the top coffee machines retail over a thousand dollars (and more), and for a huge proportion of the coffee drinking population, this is completely unaffordable. But there are other more affordable, and a lot cheaper ways to brew coffee.
Before falling victim of just one brewing technique, why not try them all?
Or at least look for a local coffee shop that doesn’t use a machine and try one of their coffee’s. However, you may be hard pushed to find one nowadays.
Never the less, if you don’t want to go to the expense of a having a ‘metal mickey’ in your kitchen, you do have other choices which could suit your lifestyle better.
That being said, there is no shame for sticking to one particular way of getting your coffee either. And you never know, your expertise could one day serve the greater good at the local fair!
Do Not Compromise the Taste of Your Coffee
Whichever way you choose to brew your favorite roasted beans, you will not want to compromise the taste or speed of delivery, which is another factor to bear in mind when choosing a brewing method.
But more often than not, a cup of coffee you get from a cheaper brand coffee machine will in no way compare to a cup you manually brew using a French press. I guess this is the same for most electronic devices – you get what you pay for OR you spend a longer time doing it by hand.
The Brewing Process
From it’s plantations along the coffee belt to its cooking and roasting process, your pre-brewed aromatic delight is finally ready to slide into your chosen coffee maker after your fine ‘tuning’ in your grinder.
All that is left now is for them to be dissolved in hot water and drank with your favorite coffee cake. Brewing is a matter of two principles – boiling or infusion. The abundance of brewing machines and devices like the vacuum pot, filtration, percolation and French press are all based on this idea.
Coffee Brewing Methods and a Bit of History
The French Press or Steeping Method
The French Press method takes a little longer than just pouring boiling water over coffee granules, but the taste is magnificent compared to that of a cup of instant.
You just put the required amount of ground coffee beans in a pre-heated (with boiling water) glass thermal carafe. Nearly boiling water is then added and stirred. This fusion is left to steep for around four minutes before being giving it a good stir one more time.
The plunger filter is then gently depressed as far as it will go, pushing the grounds to the bottom of the beaker. The brew is then finished, ready for serving.
A cup of espresso coffee, known for its distinctively deep aromatic flavor is the most popular brew to be drank in coffee shops all around the world. A decade or two ago, the French press (also known as the plunger method) was the most popular way to drink coffee in the home.
In fact, I think I still have my own somewhere at the back of the kitchen cupboard. I don’t use that anymore because I replaced it with a beautiful stainless steel Kenwood coffee machine (which I totally adore) not so long ago.
Infusion Method
This process serves to preserve a renowned and magnificent aroma and maximum flavor of the coffee, and is typical of the Greek or Turkish coffee made in an ibrik. Boiled water is poured over ground beans (not instant coffee granules) at the bottom of the cup, which are not removed when you drink it.
Whatever you do, do not drink the muddy residue of black ‘sludge‘ which remains in the bottom of your cup or you’ll get a sharp and bitter taste in your mouth, which will likely make you heave a ‘little’.
You drink a Greek coffee when the temperature has cooled somewhat. This delay allows for the extraction of the caffeine and the release of the stunning aroma.
My dad turned me on to Greek coffee when we visited Greece on holidays when I was a kid. At first I thought just the smell of it was disgusting, but as I got older I started to thoroughly enjoy this certainly very distinct flavor. I think you either love this type of coffee, or you hate it – it’s one of those things!
Boiling
Most people are unaware that when boiling water is poured over coffee grounds, a partial decomposition of the grounds causes the release of a slightly bitter taste as the aroma (caffeol) is distilled from the cup.
However, drinking ‘instant’ is normal for most people anywhere in the world and the ‘bitterness’ has become an acquired taste for many people, including myself previous to getting a coffee machine
Or is this acquisition just a habit stipulated by time constraints a the modern ‘nanosecond’ world?
Needless to say, a cup of java provides that extra kick or stimulation from the caffeine, which compensates for the lack of aroma, and which is what far too many people drink it for.
This loss of flavor in instant coffee is often (and sadly) substituted by sugar.
Try our top tip for getting the best out of your boiled cup of instant. Use slightly cooled boiled water instead of boiling.
The Drip Brewing Method
A very traditional way of brewing coffee either manually or with a machine that uses a filter system, is the drip method (affectionately known as percolating) which actually delivers a lovely aroma that reminds me of my childhood Christmas’s.
After our Christmas dinner, my mother would always bring out the percolator and make coffee for the whole family. My mothers ‘recipe’ would have thick cream added to it very slowly, over the back of a spoon.
I’ve tried to replicate the smell, but nothing has every come close to the after dinner ’Christmas aroma’!
The drip method was originally devised by the Archbishop of Paris, Jean Baptiste de Belloy in 1800. Back then it was just called percolateur, which is why we have our ‘percolators’ today.
You can make a coffee manually this way by inserting a cone shaped filter into a jug, or you can leave it to a machine to do the work for you.
In older times, a simple fine cloth bag would remove the sediment from the grounds, resulting in the perfectly flavored brew. Making coffee this way is convenient and very reliable way of making coffee.
The Vacuum Method of Brewing Coffee
A Scottish marine engineer invented the first vacuum coffee pot in 1840. It was a magical looking contraption made of a silver globe, a syphon and a strainer over a mixing bowl.
It has an aesthetically enlightening and charismatic appeal, which can be found in many homes around the world. It was once a world wide phenomenon because the glass container shows off the brewing coffee, with its changing colors and mixes as it infused.
Although it is still used, it is not as common as the French press or the percolator. In fact, during the fifties and sixties of the twentieth century, the percolator replaced the vacuum pot.
It works like this. Cold water is placed into the lower bowl and placed on a heat source, usually a stove or an electrical hot pan. The filter basket is placed in the upper funnel and the fresh coffee grounds added.
The funnel is then placed over the lower bowl and sealed tight, before the ‘contraption’ is brought to the boil. Once the steam has risen into the funnel through a pipe, the mixture is stirred.
The water is left in the brewer, over the heat for a few minutes more, then the whole pot is removed from the heat source and left to cool.
Low Pressure develops in the lower pot like a vacuum, causing the hot brew to be sucked back down into the lower pot. This is then used as a serving pourer. Sounds like a long winded way to get a shot of coffee, so I will stick to my new coffee machine.
Please share your own experiences with making coffee using your preferred brewing method. I’ve heard of people using a combination of techniques, but I don’t know how. So please share what you know, I would be interested to find out.
