How to make better coffee at home, according to a coffee expert

You have time. Now all you need are the materials and know-how.

It’s really not as complicated as you think

My first job out of college was at a fancy coffee shop, and that experience ruined my standard office coffee forever. When I started working at a DC think tank a few years later, the first thing I did was create a mini-coffee shop on my minuscule desk, cluttering it up with a kettle, a gram scale, an electric grinder, and equipment for several different brewing methods. If you primarily brew coffee at home, you might be tempted to reach for Keurig pods and ready-to-drink coffees from Starbucks and Dunkin. I totally get that you want to brew your coffee in the most convenient format possible, but as a former barista, I beg you: Don’t! Don’t settle for inferior coffee at the push of a button or the twist of a cap. Here’s how to take a more practical approach to brewing coffee.

For information on how to up your home coffee game, I reached out to Peter Giuliano, research director of the Specialty Coffee Association and executive director of the Coffee Science Foundation. Fortunately, his first tip doesn’t require buying any recent equipment. Just buy good coffee to start with.

“In our studies, we quantified the extent to which different interventions affect the quality of the drink,” he says. “It’s really clear that the biggest impact is the coffee itself. There’s nothing that can have as much of an impact as the quality of the coffee in the first place.” In other words, no matter how you brew your coffee at home now, you’ll likely see an immediate improvement simply by buying better beans.

Still, Peter notes that any grinder is better than no grinder: “Coffee that you grind loses its flavor, and that’s what you want in your home and in your cup.” To capture the enticing aroma and flavor of fresh coffee, grind whole beans just before brewing.

An electric burr grinder requires some initial investment, but it is cheaper than many Keurig machines, and a good grinder will last for years. I put my first Vegetable grinder utilize for over a decade, spending just pennies per cup over its lifetime. A cheaper option is to purchase a burr grinder, which is manually powered by turning a crank. I pack one of these when I travel and it’s effective, but be warned, it may be more work than you want to put in first thing in the morning.

The next question is whether to brew your beer in an automatic brewer or take a more manual approach. Not all coffee machines are created equal, and many are not capable of making a great cup of coffee. Peter notes that common shortcomings include brewing baskets that are too miniature to maintain the proper water-to-coffee ratio, an inability to brew within the ideal water temperature range, and uneven extraction in different parts of the basket. The Specialty Coffee Association offers: a certification program for machines that have successfully passed their range of testsand a high-quality coffee machine can be tempting for those who know they won’t want to go through a more complicated process.

That said, the process of making the perfect cup of coffee can become an enjoyable part of your morning ritual. Like mastering any skill, learning to brew by hand can be deeply rewarding in a way that using an automated device is not.

“A coffee machine is a black box,” says Peter. “When you do it yourself, you start to understand the dynamics, and those dynamics are handsome.”

Pour-over brewing is a more animated process, requiring the user to manually pour water onto the grounds while gravity forces the coffee through the filter. It is less reliable than immersion brewing and has a greater risk of uneven extraction or “channeling”—a term that occurs when water flows through one part of the coffee bed. A gooseneck kettle gives the user more control over the water flow, and the choice of using a flat- or conical-bottomed basket will also affect the final cup.

“Changing the geometry of the basket makes a huge difference in the taste of the coffee,” says Peter, “and which one is better depends on the coffee.” A few popular drip coffee machines include Harry’s V60, Kalita AND Chemex.

The best brewing techniques vary depending on the type of coffee used and, most importantly, on the preferences and tastes of the end user. Experimenting and exploring your palate is part of the fun, but it’s worth checking out online tutorials for your chosen brewing method to establish a basic recipe. Utilize your skills now and be rewarded with better coffee for life. Below you’ll find the best coffee gadgets for whatever brewing method you prefer, whether you like pour-over, frigid brew, drip coffee machines, or need a list of the best coffee subscription services.