GADGETS
Once you have the two needed ingredients, you need to pick some gadgets to use to make coffee. Below are some of the gadgets I use. This list is not exhaustive by any means. These are simply what I have tested and made great coffee with.
A QUALITY MUG OR CUP
If you were to go to a fine restaurant where only the best is served, you certainly would not be given a paper plate. The same goes for coffee. Quality coffee deserves a great mug or cup. No paper or styrofoam unless it is the only option left.
I have an assortment of favorite mugs and coffee cups. The best ones were handmade for me by a friend. Coffee tastes so much better in a mug that has sentimental value. I guarantee it!
AIR POT
Unless you are making only one cup of coffee, you need an air pot or thermos of some sort. Coffee left on a burner for more than 20 minutes will turn bad. It chemically changes into yuck. Some good brewers come with their own insulated carafes. If you have one with a glass carafe, go to your nearest store and buy an air pot of some sort.
I use air pots by Service Ideas, Inc. They are sold at our local Gordon Foods. One of their air pots will keep you coffee hot for hours.
GRINDER
Everything with making coffee begins with the grind. The coffee bean needs to be made smaller in some way. I prefer using a burr grinder. Its a machine that has two burrs--metal or ceramic discs that the beans are forced between. In the process, the beans are broken into smaller bits, called a grind. Different brewing methods use different grinds.
If you cannot afford a burr grinder, a blade grinder is the next best thing. Anything to avoid pre-ground coffee. A blade grinder is just that, a grinder that has a spinning blade in it. It will pulverize the beans like the burr grinder. Yet, you won't get a consistent grind, which is preferred.
I own a Capresso Infinity Grinder. It is the only decent grinder I could find for less than $100. It does well for the coffee that I make. They are carried by Bed, Bath, and Beyond. If you get on their mailing list, you'll get a 20% off coupon about twice a week. That will make the sting of buying one of these less painful.
HOME COFFEE BREWER
A coffee brewer is the simplest way to make coffee. You put your good water into the machine with your freshly ground coffee and hit the button. It does everything else.
For coffee snobs like me, this takes away all control. How do I know what temperature the machine is brewing at? How is it dispersing the water over the grounds? These are all important factors in choosing a coffee maker, if that is how you choose to make coffee.
I would recommend two brewers. The first is the Moccamaster. The Moccamaster is one of only a few coffee brewers that hits the desired water temperature AND disperses the water correctly.
The other brewer I would recommend is the Bonavita. They have multiple models that do the same thing--take good water, heat it to the correct temperature, then disperses it correctly across the ground coffee. They are a bit cheaper than the Moccamaster, yet they are widely respected in the coffee circles.
I own a Moccamaster. I bought it on Ebay for less than $200. It was well worth the money, though I don't use it much anymore. It makes a great cup of coffee. The carafe doesn't hold temp as well as I like, but if I've actually pulled it out of storage, the coffee isn't going to last long because I have friends drinking with me.
Any brewer outside of these two brands may still make decent coffee, but they probably won't get the water to the correct temp. They may also brew longer or shorter than needed. The correct time for brewing is essential.
We won't even talk about Pod coffee makers here. Pre-ground coffee in a little metal tin is sad coffee to me.
PROFESSIONAL COFFEE BREWER
This is a machine made for constant use. If you visit any coffee shop, more than likely they will have a couple of these machines in their business. Its the same concept as the home coffee brewer. The machine heats the water then disperses it over the beans. These machines can make gallons of coffee in an hour. Sometimes you simply need that much coffee!
At our church, we have two brands. We have the Bunn-o-matic airpot brewer and a Newco Brewer. I like the Newco a little better than the Bunn, simply because it brews slower and has a European switch (which means it only heats water when it has a load of water poured into it). The Bunn makes a good pot of coffee, but it brews fast and is always heating water. Not very energy efficient.
GOOSENECK KETTLE
If you are going to make coffee with something other than a coffee brewer, you are going to need some vessel to boil water in. Most of the brewing methods I will share about require some level of control in pouring the water over the coffee grounds. That's where a goose neck kettle comes in. The goose neck gives you quality control over your pour. They aren't that expensive either--currently less than $50 on Amazon, though you could spend more. You can always spend more!
I have two Bonavitas. One is a stove top model like an old tea pot. The other has an electric element and heats the water for me.
THERMOMETER Unless you splurge on a gooseneck kettle that has a temperature gauge built into it, you will need a thermometer. I have an inexpensive cooking thermometer. It registers over well over 200 degrees, which is probably the maximum temp you want to use when brewing coffee.
POUR OVER BREWER
Pour over brewers come in many shapes and sizes. The Principle is the same. Its a vessel with a hole in the bottom that holds a filter and ground coffee. They vary anywhere from a few bucks online to $50 if you get a high end ceramic one. I have owned a few from World Market. They were ok, but the drain in the bottom was too small.
If you want to get into this type of coffee making, I would recommend the Hario V60 or a Kalita single cup. They are inexpensive to buy and will provide a quality cup of coffee. To achieve perfection you will also need a gooseneck kettle.
CHEMEX BREWER
The Chemex has been around for a long time. It uses the same principle as the pour over brewer on a larger scale. There are varying shapes and sizes of Chemex brewers. They are more expensive than a simple pour over.
I own a Chemex 6 cup maker. It works when I don't want to spend time brewing up a full scale pot of coffee at the office. It will make three decent sized cups of coffee (since a 6 ounce cup of coffee is simply not enough). You will also need the gooseneck kettle for this.
THE AEROPRESS Designed by the guy who made the Aerobie, the aeropress is one of the easiest and foolproof ways to make coffee. You won't need the fancy gooseneck kettle with it. You need ground coffee, hot water, and a little elbow grease.
I have one of these in my office and one at my house. As I convert people from bad coffee to snooty coffee, this is the tool I start them with. You really can't mess it up. If you want to venture into the snooty coffee realm, begin here!
Vacuum/Siphon Brewer
This is where coffee meets hipster and fun! Vacuum pot brewers have been around for a long time. They make a truly awesome cup of coffee. They offer some of the most control when brewing coffee AND they are cool! The main idea here is getting water to the correct temp and then fully controlling the amount of extraction time for you ground coffee. This is definitely something you want to try at least once in your life.
I have a Yama 8 cup Siphon Brewer. I don't use it as much as I would like. Its a commitment to drink that much coffee by yourself. I normally opt for the aeropress. But, if you have friends and one of these, you become the cool person in the group. They aren't really that expensive and you don't really need any other gadgets.