Home coffee brewing gear.

Baratza Virtuoso+ Grinder

The Foundation

The absolute first thing to invest in.

The first thing you should invest in for your home coffee brewing setup is a top-notch burr coffee grinder. It will make a bigger difference in your cup than any other single upgrade.

Bypass the whirly blade coffee grinders. While they might be adequate for grinding spices, they are far from ideal for coffee. They tend to be messy, inconsistent, and consume too much time, leading to them being underutilized or entirely neglected.

The Baratza Virtuoso+ is the one I recommend to customers, and I hear back about it constantly. People tell me years later they still use it every morning and their coffee has never been better.

The Virtuoso+ is heavy and has a metal body. It looks good on your counter and it's noticeably quieter than plastic models. Setup is simple. Beans are stored in the top compartment, and you just need to set your preferred grind size once. The grinder runs on a timer, so as soon as you know how many seconds it takes for your brew method, you're done. Then it's a one button push in the morning for the perfect amount of coffee.

As authorized Baratza dealers, we offer the entire range of their grinders. If you want to see the full Baratza lineup, reach out. I can walk you through the differences and help you pick the right one.

A good grinder makes your morning easier and your coffee better. The Virtuoso+ does both without making you think about it.

Moccamaster Technivorm

The Coffee Pot

Worth the premium, for three reasons.

You've got your grinder and you're ready for a better coffee pot. I absolutely without a doubt recommend the Moccamaster Technivorm. And while this coffee pot might sticker shock you a bit, it is absolutely worth the premium for three main reasons.

One, unlike a vast majority of pots on the market, it gets the water hot enough for a brew. When I hear customers say they always like the taste of coffee out, but not at home, this is usually the culprit. Water needs to be hot for a proper non-bitter brew. This brewer does it.

Two, it is easy to clean. Everything comes apart easily and can be cleaned. Most coffee pots are all one piece, and funky coffee gook gets all up in them and results in a bad cup. You won't have this problem at all if you keep this one clean.

Three, it has stood the test of time. This coffee pot has been in production virtually unchanged since the 70s. It's a well-built water heater with a simple switch, so this could be the last coffee pot you ever buy. There are no fancy electronics to break.

If you're making a pot of coffee every day for you and others in your household, or if you drink a pot yourself, it's easy to justify the expense. It's the best. You'll love it every day, and eventually its cost per use will be hardly anything.

There's a couple of different styles, but I like the one listed because it brews into a thermal pot. Their other models brew into a glass pot with a heater, and if you're not drinking it right away that heater will make the coffee a bit more funky.

Now, do you live alone and just make a single cup? Take a look at my next suggestion.

Clever Coffee Brewer

Single Cup

Pour over flexibility, no artistry required.

If you want to make a single cup pour over style, I am in love with the Clever Coffee brewer. Don't be intimidated by the term "pour over". Basically you're the Mr. Coffee in this scenario. You're heating the water and putting it on top of coffee grinds.

If you look at it and the coffee pot I recommended earlier, you'll notice the funnel part is pretty similar. So basically you are heating the water in a kettle and pouring the water on the Clever. What makes the Clever unique is it has a valve. The water stays in the funnel unless you put it on a cup, at which time it releases the valve and the water drains.

I just like its flexibility. For just a single cup you can have the water be in contact with the coffee grind for the full 4 minutes and then dump quickly out to the cup. Since it holds water till you drain it, it's also the perfect tea steeper. This device is a great multitasker.

You won't have to learn to be a pour over coffee artist to make a great cup every time. The brew time with the Clever is easily controlled, and you can play with it and find your personal style very easily.

Descaler

Keep It Clean

Maintenance is key. Step one: descale.

With any equipment, coffee included, maintenance is key. In my coffee pot recommendation I mentioned how easy that pot is to clean. You should be doing monthly cleaning on your coffee pot for the optimal brew. If you've never cleaned the home pot you have right now, you'll be in for a treat if you follow my guidelines. You've got two steps.

One, you've got to descale your coffee pot. Here in New Orleans we have hard water. You want to use that hard water to brew coffee, it makes a great cup. That's a whole different recommendation though. For this time, just know you need to get that hard water buildup off of the insides of your coffee pot. Get some of this descaler and follow the directions.

Cafiza Coffee Cleaner

Keep It Clean

Step two: melt the coffee residue off.

Two, coffee has oils. It's not just water based. You know it stains things. Coffee professionals use a product called Cafiza. This stuff melts coffee residue off of everything. You'll be shocked at how much comes off what you think is your clean coffee pot.

Chemex Brewer

The Classic

Functional and beautiful since 1941.

The Chemex is a beautiful, classic pour over device. Its beauty is in its simplicity. It makes fantastic coffee and looks great doing it. It was invented in 1941 and its design hasn't changed. It has been called the greatest designed product of modern times, and is even included in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

The special folded Chemex filter goes in the top. Be sure to put the double folded side towards the pour spout to give it structure and allow air to escape the bottom as you brew the coffee. Second, you'll want to rinse the paper quickly with hot water and pour it out. Then I like to add slightly coarser ground coffee than a regular pour over to help speed up the brew: somewhere between a French press grind and a hot drip grind.

Even if the person hates brewing coffee on it, it's a great item for a kitchen shelf. Currently we have one collecting dust on the shelf in the coffee shop. Maybe one day we can put it back on the menu and you'll again be able to order one to split with friends.

Now that you've seen one, you'll notice it everywhere. It's in the background of lots of TV and movies.