Espresso
Nine bars, thirty seconds, and the tightest tolerances in coffee. Where the margin for error goes.
Brewing methods
Every way to get coffee out of a bean, with the variables that matter.
Grind size, water temperature, ratio and time. Every method is a different way of trading those four against each other.
All categories
10 explore
V60
Conical, ribbed and unforgiving: the pour-over benchmark, and the pour schedule that tames it.
Chemex
A thick bonded filter, a very clean cup and a long brew. What the paper takes out, and what it leaves.
AeroPress
Immersion and pressure in one plastic tube. Nearly impossible to ruin.
French press
Full immersion, a metal filter and maximum body. The method that rewards a coarse, even grind.
Moka pot
The stovetop icon, how it actually brews, and the three changes that stop it tasting burnt.
Siphon
Two glass bulbs, a flame and a vacuum. Full immersion at a steady temperature, filtered by the pull of cooling air.
Cold brew
Twelve to twenty hours in cold water, very low acidity, and the concentrate ratios that work.
Pour over
The family of methods where your pour is the variable, and the technique that makes it repeatable.
Filter coffee
Batch brewers and the SCA certification that separates a good machine from a beige one.
Brewing methods
Siphon
Two glass bulbs, a flame and a vacuum. How a siphon brews, why its temperature holds so steady, and the recipe that gets a clean, full cup.
- Grind
- medium
- Ratio
- 1:15
- Time
- 3 min
Batch filter
Machine-brewed filter coffee, and the certification that separates good brewers from beige ones.
- Grind
- medium
- Ratio
- 1:16
- Time
- 6 min
Pour over
The family of methods where the pour itself is the variable you are controlling.
- Grind
- medium
- Ratio
- 1:16
- Time
- 3.5 min
Moka pot
The stovetop icon, how it actually brews, and the two changes that stop it tasting burnt.
- Grind
- medium fine
- Ratio
- 1:10
- Time
- 5 min
Espresso
Nine bars, twenty-five to thirty seconds, and the tightest tolerances in coffee.
- Grind
- extra fine
- Ratio
- 1:2
- Time
- 0.5 min
Cold brew
Twelve to twenty hours in cold water, and why the result tastes nothing like iced coffee.
- Grind
- coarse
- Ratio
- 1:8
- Time
- 900 min
Chemex
A bonded filter twenty per cent heavier than standard paper, and the clean cup it produces.
- Grind
- medium coarse
- Ratio
- 1:16
- Time
- 4.5 min
French press
Full immersion through a metal filter: maximum body, and the decanting step most people skip.
- Grind
- coarse
- Ratio
- 1:15
- Time
- 4 min
AeroPress
Immersion plus pressure in a plastic tube, and the single most forgiving brewer you can own.
- Grind
- medium
- Ratio
- 1:14
- Time
- 2 min
V60
Hario's conical dripper rewards an even pour and punishes a careless one. Here is the pour that works.
- Grind
- medium fine
- Ratio
- 1:16
- Time
- 3 min
Featured
Buying guides
What to buy, at every budget, and why.
Buying guides
Choosing a filter grinder
A filter grinder is judged at the coarse end: even particles, few fines, steps where you brew. What that means for burrs, loading and budget.
Buying guides
Choosing a moka pot
Moka pot sizes in real millilitres, aluminium against stainless steel, induction, the Brikka's valve, electric models, and the gasket you will replace.
Buying guides
Choosing an espresso grinder
What espresso asks of a grinder that filter does not, from step size to retention, and three ways to answer it between about $199 and $449.
Buying guides
Choosing beans for your brewing method
Which coffee to buy for espresso, filter, French press, moka, cold brew and milk drinks: roast level, process, origin, blend or single origin, and rest.
Buying guides
Kettles and scales: what actually matters
A spout you can aim, water at a repeatable temperature, a scale that reads 0.1 g fast enough. What to pay for in kettles and scales, and what to skip.
Buying guides
Kitting out for pour over
Which dripper, in which material, with which papers and server, and the order to buy the whole kit in so the money goes where the cup notices it.
Recipes
Espresso drinks, filter builds and everything in between.
AeroPress, the standard recipe
Fifteen grams, 250 of water, two minutes and a slow press. The recipe to learn first, and the three variables worth changing afterwards.
- Time
- 4 min
- Difficulty
- easy
Cold brew concentrate
A 1:5 concentrate steeped for sixteen hours, which keeps two weeks and dilutes to whatever you want: black over ice, with milk, or into a tonic.
- Time
- 15 min
- Difficulty
- easy
French press for two
Sixty grams, a litre of water, four minutes and the trick that makes it clean: skim the crust instead of plunging through it.
- Time
- 10 min
- Difficulty
- easy
V60, single cup
15 g of coffee, 250 g of water, four pours. The everyday V60 recipe we come back to after testing every other one.
- Time
- 4 min
- Difficulty
- medium
Articles
Resting coffee: why a fresh roast is not ready yet
Roasted coffee is full of carbon dioxide for days. How long to rest beans for filter and for espresso, and what a bag that is too fresh does to the cup.
Why your pour over drains slowly, and how to fix it
A V60 that stalls past four minutes is rarely the recipe. Grind, fines, agitation, paper and fresh coffee, checked in the order that finds the cause fastest.
Dialling in a new bag
A repeatable routine for the first four shots from a new coffee: what to fix, what to change, and how to know when you are done.
Filter papers, cloth and metal
Bleached, natural, cloth and metal filters change body, clarity and even the oils in a filter coffee. What each one lets through, and what it holds back.
How much caffeine is in your cup
A double espresso holds less caffeine than a mug of filter, and roast level barely matters. The numbers, and where the intuitions go wrong.
Pre-infusion and the bloom
Wetting the coffee before you brew it properly is the same idea on an espresso machine and on a pour over. What it fixes, and how long it should last.
Reviews
Hands-on tests measured on the bench, and first looks at kit we have not tested yet, marked as such and never scored.
First look
AeroPress Original: first look
A ten-ounce plastic press that steeps, then pushes the coffee through paper. What the specification promises, who it suits and where it stops.
First look
Bialetti Moka Express 3-cup: first look
The 1933 eight-sided aluminium moka pot in its 3-cup size: what the specification says, how it brews and who should buy it over a steel pot.
First look
Bodum Chambord 8-cup French press: first look
The press most kitchens picture first. What a one-litre glass and chrome Chambord promises, where it loses heat, and who it suits.
First look
Chemex Classic 6-cup: first look
One piece of borosilicate glass, a heavy bonded filter and 30 oz of capacity. What the Classic 6-cup is built for, and who should skip it.