The most popular brewing methods to use at home

Pour over or Drip using a cone and filter:

The most traditional brewing method, and the easiest and most cost effective.

What you'll need

• A cone
• A paper filter

Fancy cones are available if you want to show off, but cones can be made from glass, metal, ceramic or plastic.

Place your cone and filter over your cup or carafe. Bring the water to boil, and drop 3 tablespoons of ground coffee into the filter. Pour the hot water slowly into the filter so that it drips through the coffee grounds into the carafe.

• Grind of Beans: Medium to Coarse
• Quantity : 3 tablespoons (22g)
• Brewing Time: 2-3 minutes

Pour over or Drip using a Chemex

The Chemex was designed by Dr. Peter Schlumbohm in 1941. Chemex was also one of the few products from any designer or inventor of the time to achieve an "iconic" role in popular culture. This method uses a heavier filter, but it's otherwise very similar to the drip method above. Pour hot water over the ground beans in the paper filter, and let it drip through into the carafe. We think its the best easiest way to get the best out of your beans, and the thicker filter slightly slows the brew, extracting a little more flavour.

• Grind of Beans: Medium to Coarse
• Quantity: 6 tablespoons (43g)
• Brewing Time: 4 minutes

French press

Invented in 1929, the French Press is one of the easiest methods of brewing coffee. Some say it extracts more flavours than any other method. The coffee is soaked, steeped and strained in the hot water. Simply, add a heaping tablespoon (7-8 grams) of coffee to the pot per 200 ml of water. Pour hot water (but not boiling; boiling water brings out more bitterness) into the pot, and stir gently. Carefully insert the plunger into the pot, stopping just above the water and ground coffee, and let stand for 3-5 minutes, depending how strong you like your brew! Plunge downwards to filter the coffee grounds to the bottom, allowing you to pour the contents.

• Grind of Beans: Coarse
• Quantity: 2.5 tablespoons (17g)
• Brewing Time: 4 minutes

Aeropress

In 2004 Alan Adler began studying the coffee brewing process and analyzing coffee maker designs with the aim of creating a truly innovative device that would brew a superior cup of coffee. The filter sits in a basket at the bottom of the brew chamber. Coffee is added into the brew chamber, followed by hot water. The water then steeps (soaks/brews) the coffee. To extract the coffee, a plunger is pressed down creating air pressure to force brewed coffee through a filter and into a cup. In this way, the results are similar to the French Press.

• Grind of Beans: Fine-medium
• Quantity: 2.5 tablespoons (17g)
• Brewing Time: 1-3 minutes

Stovetop Moka Pot

Alfonso Bialetti patented the stovetop in 1933. The stovetop style uses steam pressure from boiled water in the lower section of the device to pass through coffee grounds in the mid chamber of the pot. Brewed coffee then sits in the upper chamber. This is one of the more expensive choices, but it certainly looks the part if you want to add some style to your brewing.

• Grind of Beans: Fine to Medium-Coarse
• Ground Coffee: 2.5 tablespoons (17g)
• Brewing Time: 3-5 minutes

Siphon

The siphon can be a fun way to make coffee and impress your friends. At the same time it can be a little fussy. Coming from in Germany in the 1840s, coffee is added to the upper chamber, and vapor pressure forces hot water up to surround the coffee. Once the heat is removed, gravity pushes the brewed coffee back through a filter into the lower chamber. It's a little over the top if you ask us, but we definitely appreciate a whacky design when we see one.

• Grind of Beans: Medium Coarse
• Ground Coffee: 6 tablespoons (40g)
• Brewing Time: 6 minutes