Karl Stuebe, barista and co-owner of Home Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, never really clocks out. Every morning at his little home coffee station, he brews a cup and judges it. If it comes out “a little bit bright” (a coffee pro term for “overly acidic”), Stuebe writes a note and tries something different the next day. “I’m always measuring what the quality is like,” he says. “I like to keep testing my palate every day.”
For many baristas and cafe owners like Stuebe, coffee isn’t a drink; it’s a calling. But what do they use to brew at home, away from their $26,000 La Marzocco espresso machines? I asked baristas in the west coast coffee meccas of San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. Here are their favorites, including some surprisingly inexpensive options – and one method they all despise.
Six ways to brew coffee at home
For good coffee anywhere: AeroPress
Jason Mitchell, a barista for nearly 30 years, got his start in the cafes of Seattle’s Capitol Hill before moving south to Portland, where he now works at Roseline Coffee. When he travels outside the Pacific north-west, he’s wary. “I will still go out to coffee, but I don’t trust that it will be good.” So he packs an AeroPress Go. Like an oversized syringe, it pushes water through coffee grounds and a filter, making something close to drip, though Mitchell says you can “just keep pumping and compressing it and make it more like espresso”. An avid hiker and camper, he likes anything “small and portable that I can take on the trail”, and the Go model fits inside its own mug. AeroPress also makes six other models, and we have tried them all.
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Barista pick: AeroPress Go
When life is hard: French press
Cobi Williams is one of Stuebe’s baristas at Home Coffee Roasters in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Williams chooses his morning brewing method by “how lazy I’m feeling”, he says. On his sleepiest days it’s a French press. “I just wait while it sits.” All you need are coarse grounds and hot water; no paper filters needed, not even electricity. Steep for four minutes, then press.
Mitchell of Roseline Coffee keeps one too, a ceramic press with a Starry Night design that his sister gave him years ago.
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Barista pick: Bodum Chambord, 8-cup
For a perfect cup: Pour-over dripper
Stuebe makes pour-over coffee “100% of the time”. Brewing one cup at a time lets him rotate through beans, and, he notes, it keeps a light roast’s natural notes. He picks a bean each morning to suit his mood. “Do I want a South American? Do I want an African?”
Williams says he makes pour-over on medium-effort mornings. Sonia Clinkinbeard, the head barista at Portland’s Proud Mary Cafe, brews hers on a Hario V60. “It just works very well, brews evenly. It makes a great cup of coffee.”
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Barista pick:Hario V60 dripper
For espresso punch without the patience: Moka Pot
When Williams wants to “spend a little more effort”, he says, “I do a moka pot.” The stovetop pot forces water up through the grounds with steam pressure, so it brews stronger than a press or a dripper. Williams claims his Bialetti Moka Express is “a little more work to use, but it’s the closest you can come close to making espresso at home”. This pot-shaped contraption needs no dialing in, costs a fraction of a bulky machine and fits easily inside a cupboard. It’s also a favorite among Filter staff.
Barista’s Pick: Bialetti Moka Express, Six-Cup
For baristas in training: Espresso machine
This is the one piece of gear that splits the baristas I spoke to. Heidy Espinoza, a cheery barista at Home Coffee Roasters in San Francisco’s Chinatown, owns a Breville espresso machine with a milk steamer but doesn’t think she has ever turned it on. “I use it as another surface,” she says with a laugh.
In contrast, Clinkinbeard’s Breville sees daily duty. “I love my morning routine,” she says. Part of that routine is the almond-milk latte she makes on her Breville, the model with a built-in grinder. It’s the priciest pick here (starting at about $500) and takes the most patience and practice to use effectively, so buy one only if you’re ready to become an amateur barista yourself.
Barista’s Pick: Breville Barista Express, with a built-in grinder
For quick caffeine without the fuss: Instant coffee
I spoke with a seasoned barista at a cafe near Union Square who admitted, under the condition of anonymity, that she starts her day with plain Nescafé: a spoonful, hot water, stir, enjoy. The good coffee is waiting at work, so the cup at home only has to get her out the door. For those of us on a budget and with no time to spare.
Don’t feel guilty: as the Filter found out in our blind taste tests, many people prefer instant, anyway.
Barista pick: Nescafé Clásico
Filter pick: Illy Intenso Bold Roast, winner of our best instant coffee taste test
Other ways to optimize
Adjust the grinder
The dial for grind size is the one that baristas turn most. At Roseline, Mitchell grinds lighter roasts “a little finer” so the brewer “gets a little more out of the coffee”. At home, Stuebe changes his grind whenever a cup isn’t quite right: sour cup? Grind finer. Bitter? Grind coarser.
Beans ground just before brewing keep a heap more of their aroma and flavor than pre-ground coffee, and a hand grinder is easy to pack, looks great on a counter top, is quiet enough that your roommates can stand it and even provides a light morning workout.
Barista pick: Toaks Manual Coffee Bean Grinder
Choose beans from a local roaster
For most baristas, the setup matters less than what goes inside. “It’s all about the beans,” says Clinkinbeard. Though she and her colleagues tend to drink Proud Mary’s own coffee, they also like to “support all sorts of different roasters around the country”. Stuebe, who co-owns Home Coffee Roasters, mostly brews its Ethiopian Yirgacheffe at home. He also keeps an eye out for less common origins, such as Burundi. “If I see it at the store, I’m going to grab it,” he says. Whatever you brew with, consider starting with whole beans from a local roaster sold at your favorite independent coffee shop.
Barista pick: Whatever’s local, but you can’t go wrong with Home Coffee Roasters’ Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Koke or Proud Mary’s Ghost Rider Blend
Try matcha
It’s not strictly java juice, but matcha is growing in popularity among the coffee-loving crowd. Reina Garcia, a San Francisco-based barista at Home Coffee Roasters, makes vanilla matcha at home every workday morning, whisked the traditional way, a skill she learned on the job. She sifts about 4g of matcha “so no clumps or anything get through”, adds 45g of hot water, then whisks it smooth in a ceramic bowl. Vanilla goes in, sometimes brown sugar. Clinkinbeard makes matcha at home too, and even Williams drinks it. It’s supposed to be “a calmer caffeine high”, he says.
Barista pick: Jade Leaf Complete Matcha Ceremony Set (bowl, bamboo whisk, sifter, scoop and whisk holder)
Bane of the baristas: Pod machines and drip coffee
Confession: I’m a recent convert to pod life, and before that I spent years with a Mr Coffee drip pot. So I kept waiting for a barista to glowingly mention either machine. Nobody brought up a Mr Coffee, and the only Keurig that came up was Espinoza’s, which she says is “collecting dust”. Though these machines are among the most common coffee makers in American homes, not one pro claimed to use them. My Nespresso and I are trying not to take it personally.
Skip: Pod machines and Mr Coffee, if the pros’ silence is anything to go by
Other pieces you might enjoy from the Filter, the Guardian’s guide to buying fewer, better things:
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Is an AeroPress coffee maker worth it? I tested every model – here’s the good and surprisingly bad
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How I brew cafe-quality coffee anywhere, from campsite to carry-on
