I drink it every day.
I love trying new brewing methods at home.
Im also lazy when it comes to my daily cup of coffee.
Im not willing to go through the ridiculous steps most coffee connoisseurs suggest for the perfect cup.
With that out of the way, were talking about home brewing.There are tons of different brewing methods.
Coffee appreciation can be socomplicated that it requires a five lesson guideto really understand.
Most of us just want our morning cup tonot suckand be enjoyable to drink.
Lets boil that down to its essential steps.
Getting good beans is an easy way to up your coffee game with no real effort on your part.
Good beans do cost more money, but its one of the biggest defining factors of overall taste.
All those shops will ship you bags of coffee if youre interested in trying them out.
This typically costs around $12-$18 plus the price of shipping.
Taste is a personal thing though, so go with whatever beans you like from your favorite coffee roaster.
If you dont have someone local,plenty of other roasters have subscription plans.
With beans in hand, double-check you only grind what you need each morning.
That leaves dripbut not your average, brown-inated water drip.
We can do better.
I have two brewing methods I like based on convenience alone.
Ones an automatic coffee maker.
Enter my favorite coffee maker, the Bonavita series.
Its approved by theSpecialty Coffee Association of AmericaIt alsomakes a damn fine cup of coffee.
This style of coffee maker is often referred to as anautomatic pour over.
Plenty of others agree, includingCnetandCoffeeGeek.
Theres one button, thats it.
Thats all you need.
Programmable buttons are useless if youre following the first rule: grind your beans right before you brew.
If youre lazy and want a lot of coffee every morning, this is the coffee maker you want.
If you just want a cup or two, the Bonavita is overkill.
In that case, try the$20 Clever Coffee Dripper.
The Clever Coffee Dripper is so simple anyone can use it.
It works basically like a manual version of the Bonavita coffee maker.
Pour a small amount of water over the grounds to saturate them.
Wait about 30 seconds for the water-coffee sludge to stop bubbling.
Add more water until the Clever Dripper is full.
Put the lid on and wait three minutes.
Pick up the Clever Dripper and put it on top of you cup.
Itll start dripping into your cup.
When its done dripping, your coffees ready.
Its up to you if you want to exert that extra effort.
Illustration by Sam Woolley.
