We all love coffee, and we all hate waste. And with the mounting hills of garbage ending up in oceans, we’re all becoming increasingly conscious of avoiding adding onto those vile piles, the products of neverending consumerism. So even though coffee beans break down into the soil and even add to its structure, throwing them into a plastic bag and then in the trash will slow down this natural process, turning coffee – the gift that keeps on giving – into an accomplice against nature.

Luckily, there’s so much you can do with old coffee beans! Whether we’re talking about stale beans that you discovered in the back of a cupboard, or used ground beans that stay behind after you’ve drunk your cup of java, there’re lots of ways you can repurpose them. From composting them to give the plants in your garden a boost, all the way to turning them into natural beauty products, coffee can do it all.

Without further ado, let’s look at 6 smart ways in which you can reuse coffee grounds.

1. Use Coffee Grounds To Fertilize Your Garden

If you have a garden – even if it’s a little nook of potted plants on your balcony – you can use coffee grounds to fertilize it. The soil in gardens almost always needs a little help. Either it doesn’t contain enough essential nutrients for the growth and wellbeing of the plants, or those nutrients get absorbed from the soil as the plants grow.

Old coffee beans have some wonderful properties that make them a beautiful addition to the soil. They contain a good deal of nitrogen, as well as much-needed amounts of potassium, magnesium, copper, and even phosphorus. Some coffee beans can also help add calcium and iron.

There are some flowers, like roses, hydrangeas, and camellias which simply love coffee! It helps them flourish and satisfies their need for nitrogen. Fruits such as blueberries and cranberries also benefit from the nutrients that coffee grounds add to the soil.

Some other benefits of fertilizing your garden with coffee is that coffee attracts earthworms – which are amazing for the soil, and they also may aid in the absorption of heavy metals from contaminated soil.

To fertilize your garden with used coffee beans, you can simply sprinkle them on top of the soil around your plants. Alternatively, you can bury them about 6-8 inches into the soil near the plants.

Keep in mind that it’s best to use used coffee grounds rather than stale coffee beans for fertilization. This is because used coffee grounds lose their acidity in the brewing process, and end up with practically neutral pH value, which is ideal for most gardens and plants.

2. Add Old Coffee To Your Compost

Both coffee grounds and stale coffee beans make an excellent addition to your compost. If you don’t already compost, composting is a great, natural way to add essential nutrients to your plants. This is done by composting organic food scraps, which you can also combine with stuff like leaves, biodegradable paper, branches, cut grass, garden weeds, and so on. As the organic matter composts, it creates humus: a dark, nutrient-rich, soil-like material.

Adding humus to the soil not only increases its nutrient content but also helps it retain more of the nutrients and more water. It’s a party for your plants!

In any case, coffee has time and again proven to be an excellent addition to any compost pile. To begin with, the coffee’s nutrients and their properties allow them to additionally extract more of the benefits of the other organic matter in the compost pile, so compost that contains coffee is richer in nutrients than compost without coffee, with only kitchen waste.

Another wonderful benefit of adding coffee beans or grounds to compost is that it reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of the compost while helping it achieve the highest nutrient quality. Good for your plants, good for the environment!

You can add coffee grounds to your kitchen waste compost, or you can create a compost pile by layering ⅓ leaves, ⅓ grass clippings (fresh, of course!), and ⅓ used coffee grounds.

3. Get Rid of Unwanted Bugs and Gastropods

Some bugs, like bees and bumblebees, are a very much welcome – in fact desired – presence in your garden. They are incredible pollinators, helping your garden grow and your plants flourish.

However, there are bugs and gastropods (snails and slugs) that will only do harm to the plants, i.e. eat them. To keep these little guys away from your flowers and plants, just sprinkle the coffee grounds around the flower beds. Coffee grounds are an excellent insect repellent, as the caffeine and diterpenes found in coffee are somewhat toxic to bugs. Snails and slugs hate to come into contact with coffee, as well.

But it’s not just the plants that will get a break from pests thanks to coffee. Coffee is also a great way to deter that enemy to all mankind, ruiner of good sleep, punisher of the sweet-blooded, the dreaded mosquito. Plus, it repels fruit flies and beetles, too! You can just put some used coffee grounds in bowls around your balcony, garden, or sitting area to keep pests far away.

4. DIY Body Scrub from Coffee Grounds

Why waste money on questionable beauty products (both in terms of ingredients and ethics), when you can make your own body scrub using coffee grounds? You can use coffee grounds to exfoliate your body, getting rid of dead skin and rejuvenating your epithelial cells.

Coffee – both in the form of old, stale beans and used coffee grounds – has a wonderful effect on the skin. Not only does its texture help renew the surface of skin cells and get rid of dirt, but it also has antioxidant properties due to its caffeine content. Antioxidants are very healthy for the skin and can help protect it from exposure to the sun (this is no way substitutes SPF though). Coffee also increases blood flow, which keeps the skin looking fresh and young.

There are several ways you can use coffee beans to exfoliate. If you’re lazy, or just can’t be bothered, simply mix the coffee grounds with some water or coconut oil, and then scrub the paste all over your clean body. Rinse. Feel good.

If you’re not lazy and like indulging in spa-treatment-grade-self-care, you can take the DIY coffee body scrub a step further.

For high-grade pampering, combine equal parts (usually about half a cup) used coffee grounds (or ground stale beans), brown sugar, and coconut oil. You can add a teaspoon of vanilla extract for good measure – it really adds to the scent and feel. Mix everything well together, and rub the paste into your pre-washed body. Allow it to sit for about five minutes, and rinse it off. Enjoy feeling silky smooth and smelling like a dessert.

You can also freestyle and mix coffee beans with honey (for lip exfoliation), almond oil, Greek yogurt, cinnamon, and whatever you think tastes and smells good – just make sure that it’s also great for your skin.

Just remember one thing: avoid using this DIY coffee scrub on your face. The skin on your face is a lot more sensitive than the skin on your body and you risk being too rough on it.

5. DIY Anti-Cellulite Treatment with Coffee

No matter how much we take care of ourselves, it’s difficult to skip cellulite altogether, especially as we grow older. The vast majority of adult women have at least some amount of cellulite on their bodies, and although it’s completely natural, not everyone appreciates its presence.

So, to reduce the appearance of cellulite on your body you can also use a DIY coffee-based treatment. As caffeine stimulates blood flow, it will encourage blood circulation in the affected areas, reducing the appearance of cellulite. Plus, the antioxidants in the caffeine will encourage more collagen production, causing your skin to look younger and smoother.

Simply take used coffee grounds or grind stale coffee beans and mix them with water or coconut oil. If you don’t have coconut oil, you can use almost any other oil – we generally say coconut because it has the most benefits for the skin. Once you’ve mixed those two, scrub on the affected area for about 10 minutes. Repeat this twice a week to see long-term results. Keep in mind that nothing can completely get rid of cellulite, bit scrubs like this one can decrease its visibility and severity.

6. Scrub Your Pots and Pans

Trying to get rid of stubborn food residue from cooking? You can scrape your pots and pans clean from burnt eggs, or any sort of caked-on food using coffee grounds. The texture of coffee grounds helps clean kitchen utensils thoroughly.

Simply pour some grounds into the utensil, and scrub it with a sponge or a steel scrubber. Just make sure that you’re not scrubbing a non-stick pan, as this method can permanently damage it.

Coffee is all about taste. Sure, it’s the world’s go-to beverage for a morning pick-me-up, thanks to its stimulating caffeine content, but most of us don’t drink coffee just to get a kick out of bed. We drink coffee because of its unique, delicious flavor.

However, coffee beans don’t exactly come out of the ground with that signature taste we all know and love. The key to bringing out that characteristic, rich flavor of coffee is roasting.

In any case, there’s no single type of coffee roast. Whether it’s in a specialty coffee shop or just the local market, you’ve noticed that there’s a variety of coffee roasts, ranging from light to dark, and each of them has a unique flavor. To help you decide what type of roast you’re into, let’s take a look at the different types of coffee roasts, as well as how roasting changes the taste of the green coffee beans.

What’s Coffee Roasting?

Roasting green coffee beans triggers a chemical reaction that changes the taste of the coffee, turning it into a consumable product. While unroasted green beans have a similar makeup to roasted coffee – like the amount of caffeine, protein, sugar, and acid – they lack the beautiful taste that roasted coffee has been giving us since roasting became a thing in 15th-century Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

Several chemical reactions occur when green beans are roasted. One of them is the Maillard reaction – a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars – which is also responsible for the beautifully popping flavors and colors of seared steaks, caramel, toasted bread, marshmallows, cookies, chocolate, and even beer!

The different types of coffee roasting are a result of how long and at what temperature coffee beans are roasted. In general, beans are roasted by quickly increasing their internal temperature to high degrees, and then being quickly cooled to end the roasting process. Unlike green beans, roasted beans have that scent that, to us, is coffee, and are crunchy, since all the moisture has been removed.

For the most flavorful cup of coffee, you’ll want to use freshly roasted and ground beans. You can always ground your beans yourself by getting a great little manual coffee grinder for your home.

The Different Types of Coffee Roasts

Let’s take a look at the different types of coffee roasts, what temperature they require, how they taste, and what some popular roast names are in each category.

Light Roasts

The first step on the coffee-roasting ladder are light roasts. Light roasts are brightly colored, have the highest level of acidity, and in general retain most of the coffee’s original features.

Light roasts are achieved when the bean is pulled out from the heat after the first crack. This usually means that lightly roasted beans reach an internal temperature between 356°F and 401°F.

Although people usually think the darker the bean the higher the caffeine content, green beans and therefore light roasts have the highest caffeine content, as the caffeine content decreases with continued roasting and higher temperatures.

Light roasts have a light brown color and don’t have any oil on the bodies of the beans, as they haven’t been roasted long enough for the oils to seep out.

Light roasts have the taste of a toasted grain, and have a slightly pronounced acidity. They also have a more fruity scent, which makes the origin of the coffee bean more easily detectable for the coffee connoisseur. Although you can use any roast for any coffee brewing method, coffeeshops usually prefer using light roasts for milder coffee types, such as pour-over coffee and drip brews.

Some popular light roasts are Cinnamon, New England Roast, Light City and Half City.

Medium Roasts

Medium roasts are apparently the favorite of people in the United States, which is why they’re sometimes referred to as the American roast (although George Carlin had a different take on an American roast, amirite?). Overall, medium roasts strike a delicious balance between body and acidity.

Medium roasts are roasted longer than light roasts, and thus reach a higher internal temperature which is somewhere between 410°F and 428°F. Medium roasted beans usually reach this temperature after the first crack, and right before the beginning of the second crack.

Medium roasted beans have less caffeine than light roasts, but more caffeine that medium-dark and dark roasts.

Medium roasted coffee has a brown (sometimes specified as medium-brown) color, and no oil on the surface of the bean. In terms of taste, medium roasts have a stronger and sweeter taste than light roasts, but they also have less of that grainy scent. Overall, the aroma, flavor, and acidity of light roasts are quite beautifully balanced, which is probably why medium roasts are a popular favorite.

Some popular roasts in the medium category are American roast, Breakfast Roast, City Roast, and Regular Roast.

Medium-Dark Roasts

Medium-dark roasted beans are dark brown, with finally some oil beginning to show on the surface. This is because they’re roasted just long enough to get the essential oils moving, bolden the flavor, and activate a whole new host of seductive scents that tickle your sensations. Medium-dark and dark roasts have a richer taste and bolder bodies.

Medium-dark roasts generally reach an inner temperature of about 437-450°F. This happens around the beginning or middle of the second crack. The longer, hotter process allows for the taste and aroma of roasting to become more pronounced.

Medium-dark roasts have a rich, almost spicy, full-bodied taste – certainly heavier than that of light and medium roasts – with aromas and flavors that are fully unleashed. In this process, the acidity in the flavor virtually disappears. Rather, medium-dark roasts have a unique bittersweet aftertaste.

Keep in mind that while light and medium roasts have more pronounced acidity, medium-dark and dark roasts have a more pronounced bitterness. So next time you’re at a coffee tasting (perhaps in the coziness of your kitchen), pay attention to this difference and see which one tickles your fancy.

Some popular medium-roasts you may have come across are Full City, Vienna Roast (which borders on a dark roast), and After Dinner Roast.

Dark Roasts

Darkly roasted coffee beans have the darkest color, which can range from dark brown, like the color of dark chocolate, to almost black. They have quite a bit of oil on the surface, which gives the beans a lovely sheen. Dark roasts offer a rich, full-bodied, smokey, and almost burnt taste which is a result of the roasting process, so the original taste of the green coffee bean is pretty much gone at this point.

To create a dark roast, the beans need to reach the highest internal temperature, which is  somewhere between 465 and 480°F. This temperature comes either at the end of the second crack, or sometime after. However, beans are almost never roasted beyond 490°F, as at that point the coffee bean loses all positive flavor characteristics, and starts tasting like charcoal or tar. Blegh.

As we’ve mentioned, the aroma of dark roasts can be attributed to the roasting process, so the origin flavors and acidity of lighter roasts are lost. As it’s the most roasted bean, dark roasts have the lowest caffeine content, and also the bitterest taste.

Due to the boldness of the flavor, dark roasts are often the go-to option of baristas for making espresso and espresso-based beverages like lattes. Dark roasts are a great choice for espresso-based drinks as their rich taste is excellently complemented by creamy, silky milk and froth.

But there’s even variety among dark beans. The roast can range between slightly dark to charred, so make sure you check what kind of dark roast you’re getting before purchasing the beans.

In fact, the body of the coffee will depend on the exact temperature, or point, where the bean was removed from the heat. The body is fully developed at the beginning of the second crack, but begins to diminish right after that. So for instance, one dark roast, like Full-City Roast, will have a much fuller body than another dark roast, like Italian Roast, due to the higher temperature and roasting time of the latter.

Dark roasts have been quite popular in Europe, which is why some common roasts in this category include French Roast, Italian Roast, Viennese Roast, Spanish Roast, Espresso Roast, Continental Roast, or European Roast. Some other, less obvious dark roast varieties are High Rost and New Orleans Roast.

A Few Words Before You Go…

Hopefully, our guide on the different types of coffee roasts has helped you get a better idea of what you’d like to try next, or how your favorite bean comes into being.

At the very least, knowing all this can help you look mighty smug on your next trip to the coffee shop.

If there’s one thing that all coffee lovers will agree on, it’s that every promising cup of java starts with the single most important ingredient: freshly ground coffee. No matter what your favorite coffee beans are, the only way to get the most flavor in your morning cup is grinding them yourself, then and there.

However, nothing is too simple when it comes to coffee. As every brewing method requires a special technique, there’s also nuance and finesse when it comes to grinding. For starters, there are different types of coffee grinders with their own advantages and disadvantages. Then, various brewing methods require different degrees of coarseness – some will require that your coffee grounds are coarse, while others demand that your beans are practically pulverized.

With all that in mind, let’s get to the bottom of everything you need to know about how to grind coffee beans.

Types Of Coffee Grinders

Let’s start off with the main types of coffee grinders. This can give you a good idea of what to expect performance-wise as well as price-wise.

Blade Coffee Grinders

Blade coffee grinders are the most widespread, familiar type of coffee grinder. They’re sold almost everywhere for affordable prices, so there’s a good chance that there’s one stowed away somewhere in grandma’s home. My grandmother actually tried to force-gift me her old blade coffee grinder, but luckily, she couldn’t find it. Naturally, she blamed her caretaker. But why am I saying luckily?

Well, the way blade coffee grinders work is through a rapidly spinning – you guessed it – blade that cuts and hacks the coffee beans. The issue with this method is that they do a very uneven job. You won’t be able to expect a consistent grind for any type of coffee. Plus, the motor in the grinder may heat up, so you’ll end up with a chunky grind that won’t taste very good, either. This is because the heat in the motor destroys the coffee’s essential oils.

So, to reiterate: the pros of blade coffee grinders is that they’re cheap and easy to use. They’re usually corded, so you just plug them in, and they do the rest. The cons are that you’ll get an uneven, possibly burnt grind. Blegh.

Burr Coffee Grinders: Flat Disk

Of the two types of burr grinders we’ll talk about, the first one is flat disk. This type of burr grinder uses two rapidly spinning disks that grind the coffee evenly. So when it comes to a uniform, precise grind, flat disk burr coffee grinders are definitely a step up from blade grinders.

However, flat disk coffee grinders have the same failing as blade grinders when it comes to overheating. If the disks heat up, they’ll have an adverse effect on the coffee’s essential oils, which will mess up its taste.

Burr Coffee Grinders: Conical

The solution to overheating comes in the form of conical burr coffee grinders. They are generally pricier than flat disk options, but they’re well worth the extra buck. Conical burr grinders operate more slowly, keeping the motor and blades cool, thus preventing the coffee beans from heating up.

Rather than flat disks, these burr grinders use a conical disk that grinds the coffee perfectly, every time. It’s also easy to adjust the precise type of grind you want, everything from extra-coarse to extra-fine. This is why they’re an ideal choice for fine grinds, like what you’d need to make a Turkish coffee. Most coffee shops use this type of coffee grinder.

Manual Coffee Grinders

Manual coffee grinders, also known as hand grinders or hand coffee mills, are a smart way to save money and get a uniform grind. They work on the same principle as burr grinders, except instead of using electricity, you use your wo/man power. In other words, they’re hand-operated.

The best manual coffee grinders use a conical burr mechanism that prevents the disks, and thus the coffee, from overheating. They also ensure that you get a beautifully precise grind ranging from coarse to fine. The main downside of manual coffee grinders is that they require more time and effort than corded alternatives. Plus, you won’t be able to grind coffee for more than 5 cups of coffee, at most, at a time. Still, a manual grinder can be a meditative addition to your morning ritual and a handy companion for camping.

Choosing the Right Coffee Grinder

Some things to consider when choosing the best coffee grinder for your home is price and performance. If your priority is getting a precise, uniform grind (which it should be) you should opt for a grinder that uses a conical burr. If you want to grind coffee for more people and have extra money to spare, you may consider a corded conical burr grinder. If you’re on a tighter budget, don’t grind too much coffee at once, and don’t mind the extra workout, you should look into a manual coffee grinder.

Different Types Of Grinds

The type of grind you want from your coffee beans will depend on the type of coffee you drink, or rather, your go-to brewing method.

Coffee grind is different from coffee roast. The roast of a coffee bean refers to how roasted it is when you buy it. Basically, it’s all about how long the coffee has been heated and at what temperature. (Or, if you buy green coffee beans, how long you roast it for.) Choosing a roast depends largely on your taste, while choosing a grind depends on the coffee brewing method.

So, the grind of a coffee is how coarse you grind it. Grind can range from being quite coarse to being extra-fine, or pulverized. Let’s take a look at the different types of grind, and what coffee brewing method each grind is suitable for.

Coarse Grind

A coarse coffee grind is when you get the largest granules of coffee. Coarsely ground coffee approximately has the size of store-bought bread crumbs. This type of grind is good for brewing methods where the coffee is exposed to hot water for longer periods of time, as the larger particles prevent the beans from being over-extracted, which would cause the coffee to taste bitter.

The most popular brewing methods that use a coarse grind are percolators and French Presses. Cold brew is made with an extra-coarse coffee grind.

Medium Grind

A medium grind falls somewhere between coarse and fine grind and has a similar size to granulated sugar. It’s the most common and versatile grind, so it’s used for lots of different brewing methods. It’s also the most common grind you’d get if you bought your coffee pre-ground at the store.

Some popular brewing methods that use medium grind are drip coffee makers, AeroPress, pour-over coffee makers, as well as siphon and vacuum brewing.

Fine Grind

A fine grind, which is sometimes referred to as espresso grind, has the approximate consistency of powder. It’s generally used for brewing methods in which the hot water goes through the coffee more briefly. The fineness of the grind ensures that the coffee gets extracted, and the brevity of its contact with hot water ensures that the coffee doesn’t get over-extracted.

Fine grinds are used for making espresso or coffee from Moka pots. In Moka pots, for instance, the water gets heated up in a bottom chamber, travels quickly through the middle chamber where the ground coffee is placed, extracts it, and moves to the top chamber, where a beautiful, flavorful cup of joe is ready and waiting. As with espresso machines, here, too, the contact between hot water and coffee is brief.

Fine grinds are also used for electric drip and filter brew coffee makers. Using a fine grind for something like French Press would possibly over-extract the beans and leave lots of sediment in your cup of java.

Extra-Fine/Pulverized Grind

Extra-fine or pulverized grind is the finest type of grind which has the approximate consistency of fine flour. This type of grind is most generally used for preparing Turkish coffee. With Turkish coffee, the grind itself stays in your cup. To prepare Turkish coffee, you mix the pulverized grind with cold water into a coffee pot, place it on a stovetop, and let it cook for several minutes until it rises. Then, you pour the entire contents of the pot into a cup without filtering out the coffee residue. The coffee itself is rich and flavorful, while the super-fine sediment stays at the bottom of your cup.

Not all coffee grinders are capable of producing a grind this fine, so if you are a Turkish coffee lover, double-check your potential grinder’s capabilities before buying it.

You don’t have to dough out a lot of money for an expensive espresso machine to get great-tasting coffee in your home. A simple and elegant solution is a pour-over coffee maker. Pour-over coffee makers are easy to use, affordable, and most important of all – allow you to create a cup of java that has all the notes and flavors that can be extracted from a good coffee bean.

With a little bit of skill, like knowing how to get the right water temperature and at what pace to pour the water over the coffee beans, you will be the composer of your own coffee symphony. Plus, you’ll always have control over how much coffee you want to make, and how strong you want the flavor. Of course, to get the most subtle flavors from this method, you’ll need to have the best pour-over coffee maker first.

Luckily, we’re here to help you find just that: the best pour-over coffee maker to buy in 2020. We scoured the market and rounded up the top four options for the perfect cup of joe. We reviewed them in detail so you know what to expect from performance, price, and maintenance.

Make sure you read our handy buying guide at the end of the article, where we’ve outlined some important factors you should consider when deciding which pour-over coffee maker is the best choice for you.

Best Pour-Over Coffee Makers

Before we get to our reviews, here’s a quick look at our top recommendations:

Best Overall

Best for Pour Over Pros

Most Eco-Friendly

Best Design

Kalita Wave 185 Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

Hario V60

LHS Paperless Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

Hario Woodneck Drip Pot

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Best Overall

Kalita Wave 185 Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

Buy on Amazon

Best for Pour Over Pros

Hario V60

Buy on Amazon

Most Eco-Friendly

LHS Paperless Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

Buy on Amazon

Best Design

Hario Woodneck Drip Pot

Buy on Amazon

Best Overall: Kalita Wave 185 Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

The Kalita Wave 185 made it to the top of our list for its wonderful performance – it consistently makes flavorful coffee with detectable, intricate notes. The unique wave design and flat bottom allow for just the right amount of coffee to be extracted, to get a full-bodied cup of coffee. It’s a great choice for both professionals and beginners in the world of coffee-making, as getting a perfectly-balanced cup doesn’t require much technical know-how.

You can get this pour-over coffee dripper in one of three materials: glass, stainless steel, and porcelain.

Pros:

The Kalita Wave 185 features a smart design that allows it to consistently produce a flavorful cup of coffee. Cone drippers require carefully selected grounds and pouring skills to get a great cup of coffee, but this isn’t the case with the Kalita. The bottom of this dripper, where the coffee beans are placed, is flat, which gives more space for the water to drain while providing uniform extraction. Additionally, the bottom has three holes through which the water drips evenly.

The design of the Kalita makes it really easy to use. That’s why it’s a great choice for beginners, as they won’t have to time and measure the pouring of water to get great results.

But the great design doesn’t end with the dripper itself. The special Kalita filters that are to be used with the dipper have a patented wave design which minimizes the contact between the filters and the sides of the dripper, i.e. the brewing space. This creates a kind of a water pool on top of the bed of beans which helps maintain uniform extraction, preventing the possibility of a bitter-tasting outcome from over-extraction.

The Kalita is quite small, yet you can use it to make about three to four cups of coffee. You place the dripper over a cup or carafe and put between 26-45 grams of coffee (depending on how many cups you want to make). Then, you start with a single short pour to help the coffee bloom, and once the bubbles die down, you simply fill up the dripper to the top and wait for it to drain a couple of times until you have the desired amount of coffee. This means that although it won’t take up space in your cupboard – or backpack, it’s also a great portable option! – you’ll still be able to make enough coffee for the whole family.

Lastly, the Kalita is compatible with most cups and carafes. As the full length of the bottom is about 4-inches, you can easily place it on most regular containers without worrying about the coffee spilling over or the dripper sliding in.

Cons:

To get the best results with the Kalita, you also need to purchase the wave-y Kalita filters. The drawback here is that they’re a bit pricier than other filters and not as easy to find in stores, so you’ll have to purchase them online.

Sale

Kalita Wave 185 Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

$24.50

Buy on Amazon

Best for Pour Over Pros: Hario V60

The Hario V60 is a long-standing favorite for pour-over coffee lovers, and for good reason: it embodies everything a traditional pour-over coffee maker should be. The durable material and design of the dripper are ideal for getting that perfect cup of pour-over coffee. However, it’s not enough to have a great tool in your hands to create something beautiful: you need a master to get the best possible results. In this sense, the Hario V60 is a great choice for pros that are ready to spend the time required for a proper brewing cycle, doting over the dripper with a gooseneck kettle.

Pros:

The Hario V60 is designed for a hands-on pour-over brewing experience. There’s a large, single hole at the bottom which means that the taste of your coffee will change based on how slowly or quickly you add water to the beans. If you enjoy those several meditative minutes measuring water temperature and then timing the pour, you’ll love the Hario, and what it has to offer. You can brew one to three cups with a single brewing cycle.

The Hario is also designed so as to give you the most flavorful cup of java. The conical shape will allow floral and fruity notes to be more detectable in your beverage, while the spiral ribs allow the coffee grounds to expand as the coffee is extracted.

Like the Kalita, the Hario also gives the best results with the same brand’s proprietary filters. However, they’re cheaper than the Kalita and also more widely available in coffee shops and stores.

The Hario offers great value for your money, as it’s quite affordable yet durable. The sturdy ceramic dripper retains heat so that by the end of the brewing process, your cup of joe will still be piping hot.

Last but certainly not least, the Hario boasts one of those simple, yet elegant looks that are hard to pass up on. True to form, it’s manufactured in Japan. In addition to ceramic, you can also get the Halio in a heat-resistant borosilicate glass design, which is the most beautiful, or in plastic, which is the best for traveling.

Cons:

Filters other than the Hario filters designed for this pour-over coffee maker, don’t work with the V60 and often end up tearing at the bottom.

Hario V60

$25.50

Buy on Amazon

Most Eco-Friendly: LHS Paperless Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

The LHS pour-over coffee dripper is our favorite eco-friendly option as it doesn’t use any paper filters – the cone itself is the filter. And no, it won’t spill! If you don’t have the opportunity to compost, and you feel guilty every time you throw out a paper filter, the LHS is a sweet little environmentally-conscious option. The LHS is also the most budget-friendly pour-over coffee maker on our list.

Pros:

The LHS is designed to bypass the needs of a paper filter. The cone is made of mesh stainless steel, which won’t allow coffee to drip from the sides. The base contains extra-fine wire mesh, which prevents much residue from ending up in your cup of coffee.

You can use the LHS as a reusable metal filter for an existing pour-over coffee maker, or as a standalone pour-over coffee maker. It comes with a wide, detachable metal base, i.e. cup stand, which fits over most regular-sized mugs or travel canteens.

The LHS is a great portable option. It’s quite lightweight and compact, measuring about 8 cm over 13.5 cm, so it can easily fit in your backpack. Plus, the stainless steel material is quite sturdy, so it won’t bend and get deformed while you’re traveling. You can make one to two cups of coffee at a time.

Lastly, the LHS is quite easy to clean and maintain. Once you’re done making your cup of coffee, you can just throw away the beans, rinse the filter, and wipe it. It comes with a little brush which you can use for more thorough occasional cleaning. Plus, the LHS is dishwasher-washable, so you can also just stick it on the top rack of your dishwasher.

Cons:

While the LHS is made from stainless steel, its type of stainless steel alloy (18/8 grade) includes about 18% chromium and 8% nickel. While this is common in cookware and generally deemed safe, some people prefer 100% stainless steel. So if you’re in that category, this dripper may not be the best option for you.

LHS Paperless Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

$14.99

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Best Design: Hario Woodneck Drip Pot

We’re back to this Japanese manufacturer for the best designed pour-over coffee maker: the Hario Woodneck Drip Pot. The style is timeless, elegant, and slick – it will look beautiful in any home or office. But the Hario Woodneck is not just a pretty face – it uses a delicate cotton flannel cloth instead of regular filters to produce a rich, full-bodied cup of coffee. One downside of this pour-over coffee maker is that it’s quite pricey.

Pros:

The Hario Woodneck Drip Pot is truly wonderful for coffee lovers that want to taste every last bit of what a coffee ground has to offer. The drip cloth has smaller holes than any metal or paper filters, so the coffee grounds get more extracted before the water passes through the mesh. It does take a bit longer than paper or reusable metal filters, but the resulting coffee is well worth an extra minute or two.

Rather than changing the taste of the coffee like some paper filters, the drip cloth allows intricate notes to dominate the taste of your cup of java. The slow extraction allows for the coffee oils to pass through to the end result, and aid in the creation of a rich, full flavor.

Much like the Hario V60, the Woodneck Drip Pot is also a great choice for hard-core pour-over coffee enthusiasts. The unique brewing process takes devotion to the method, time, and patience – but the delicious cup of coffee you get makes the effort negligible.

The Hario’s beautiful look is a combination of the woodneck glass pot, the featured filter with a wooden handle, and the delicate cotton flannel drip cloth. Together, they give this pour-over coffee maker a timeless, rustic look. You can choose from 240 ml or 480 ml-capacity options, and from dark wood and olive wood alternatives. The 240 ml is suitable for up to 2 cups, and the 480 ml is suitable for up to 4 cups.

Thanks to its reusable cloth filters, the Hario Woodneck is another eco-friendly option. The initial purchase comes with one drip cloth. Once it wears out, which should be about 6 months or so, you can order a set of three cloth filters.

Cons:

The Hario Woodneck is the priciest option on our list, so it’s not a good idea if you’re on a budget.

Additionally, the glass is a bit fragile, so you’d best handle it with care.

Hario Woodneck Drip Pot

$54.99

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Conclusion

Our overall favorite pour-over coffee maker is the Kalita Wave 185 Pour-Over Coffee Dripper for its consistently excellent performance in making a flavorful, rich cup of coffee. The Kalita Wave’s design makes it a very forgiving little tool, which makes it a great choice for beginners. Even if you don’t get everything right, your coffee will come out tasting pretty good! While the Kalita is reasonably priced at $24.50, one possible drawback is that the Kalita proprietary filters are a bit pricier than regular filters.

The best pour-over coffee maker for pour-over coffee aficionados is the Hario V60, as it will give you everything you need in order to get the most intricate, delicious cup of coffee. But this dripper isn’t as forgiving as the Kalita Wave – you’ll need to have the necessary skill and knowledge on how to create that perfect cup of coffee. The Hario also offers excellent value for your money, as all three options – plastic, glass, and ceramic – are durable and affordable. The plastic is the cheapest, the ceramic the priciest, at $25.50, while glass sits between the two.

Our favorite eco-friendly option is the LHS Paperless Pour-Over Coffee Dripper, as it doesn’t use any paper filters. Rather, the stainless steel which the dripper is made of contains mesh which functions as a filter. It’s also quite compact and lightweight, which makes it a great portable choice. The LHS pour-over coffee maker is the most budget-friendly option on the list (except for the Hario V60 plastic), costing $14.99.

The pour-over coffee maker with the most beautiful design is the Hario Woodneck Drip Pot. It has an elegant, classy look and it’s made of glass and wood. A lovely addition to this coffee maker is the cotton filter which is reusable. The tiny holes in the cloth allow for a beautifully extracted cup of coffee that emphasizes all the delicate notes contained in the coffee beans. However, the Woodneck Drip Pot is also the priciest recommendation on our list. The 240 ml versions are cheaper than the 480 ml versions. Out of the 480 ml pots, the olive wood one that we have featured in our review costs $54.99.

How to Choose the Right Pour-Over Coffee Maker

Alright, so now you know what the best pour-over coffee makers are on the market – but which one is the right choice for you? Here are some tips on what to look out for when choosing a pour-over coffee maker that will suit your needs and preferences.

What’s Your Skill Level?

As you may have realized, not all pour-over coffee makers are as forgiving as the Kalita Wave. Some, like the Hario options, require that you’ve familiarized yourself with the pour-over method quite well in order to get the optimal cup of coffee. Plus, if you’re already a pro, you may want to opt for a coffee maker that has the versatility necessary to allow you to adjust the brewing process to your taste.

Of course, you may also be willing to learn, so just think over how much effort you’re willing to put into coffee brewing before settling on a coffee maker for yourself.

What’s Your Desired Capacity?

The pour-over coffee makers on our list have different capacities when it comes to how many cups of coffee you can brew at a time. Check out how much each option can yield, and see if that suits the needs of your home or office.

What’s Your Budget?

In the conclusion, we tried to give you a general idea of how much each pour-over coffee maker costs, but you should still check their current prices on Amazon. In any case, you don’t need to pay a lot of money to get a great coffee maker. The Hario V60, for instance, is quite affordable and still yields wonderful results.

Are You Stationed, or on the Go?

If you want a pour-over coffee maker for your home, any of our recommendations will do. However, if you want something that you can take with you while traveling, you should look for an option that’s lightweight, compact, and not likely to break. The LHS and the Hario V60 plastic dripper are the best portable options and great camping companions.

What Accessories Does Your New Coffee Maker Need?

Some coffee makers don’t require much, other than a hot water source. Others, on the other hand, may require that you have a gooseneck kettle from which to slowly pour water in small quantities. Additionally, some drippers need specific paper filters, while others rely on reusability.

Check what your pour-over coffee maker of choice needs, and see if you have it. If not, think whether you’d be willing to invest in it.

How Much Time You Got?

Each coffee maker has a different brewing time. This is often based on how many drainage holes they have, and how dense the mesh of the dripper or filter is. Check how long the brewing process for each pour-over coffee maker is, and decide if you can fit it in your schedule.

How Does Pour-Over Coffee Taste?

The wonderful thing about pour-over coffee makers and the reason there’s such a thing is pour-over coffee die-hard fans, is that it has a very unique, flavorful taste. The slow extraction of the beans during the measured brewing process produces a clean, light, and well-balanced cup of coffee that has all the intricate high and low notes of the coffee bean.

This means that pour-over coffee will take your taste buds someplace new, allowing you to finally make sense of those descriptions that accompany coffee beans, like fruity or flowery. Essentially, pour-over coffee prevents over-extraction and bitterness, so you only get the crisp flavor of the coffee bean.

A Few Words Before You Go…

Hopefully, our recommendations and buying guide helped you find the right pour-over coffee maker for your needs, preferences, and taste. Make sure you follow the links to the products to check their current prices and find answers to any additional questions you may have about the material, warranty, or brewing process. Soon enough, you too will be enjoying your delicate cup of joe!

You can also check out our other product reviews and guides, or try some of our favorite coffee shop grade recipes that will be the perfect addition to your cup of pour-over coffee.

Want to see our favorite pour-over coffee makers one more time before you go? Here they are! Happy brewing!

Best Overall

Best for Pour Over Pros

Most Eco-Friendly

Best Design

Kalita Wave 185 Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

Hario V60

LHS Paperless Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

Hario Woodneck Drip Pot

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Best Overall

Kalita Wave 185 Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

Buy on Amazon

Best for Pour Over Pros

Hario V60

Buy on Amazon

Most Eco-Friendly

LHS Paperless Pour-Over Coffee Dripper

Buy on Amazon

Best Design

Hario Woodneck Drip Pot

Buy on Amazon

The menus of most coffee shops will always include a host of espresso-based beverages. From latte to Americano, macchiato to cortado, we’re used to expecting the difference between these drinks to stem from how much hot water, steamed milk, or froth they each contain – if any. Their common unifier is always that full-bodied shot of espresso.

But now, all of a sudden, you hear about ristretto. How is a ristretto different from an espresso? In this case, the difference boils down to the process of coffee extraction. Let’s see what each of these beverages is, and how they’re made. In the end, it’s these factors that account for the final difference in flavor.

What’s an Espresso?

An espresso is usually the basis for most coffeeshop drinks, like all the ones we mentioned above. More recently, however, baristas have taken to using ristrettos as the basis for these same, milky beverages – but we’ll get into that a bit later.

So an espresso is a 30 ml shot of coffee made with a (surprise!) espresso machine. High-pressure, piping hot water goes through about 7-9 grams of finely ground coffee beans for anywhere between 25 to 30 seconds. The result is an intense, strong shot of coffee that can be drunk on its own or added onto. A lot of coffee shops that make big drinks use double shots of espresso or doppio.

Some people that drink espresso straight like to add a bit of sugar to soften the strong flavor.

An espresso has three layers: the bottom is the darkest, and also known as the “body.” The middle is lighter, and is referred to as the “heart.” Finally, the top of an espresso is adorned with a thin, light-brown layer referred to as “crema,” which accounts for the almost creamy finish and deep aftertaste of an espresso shot.

What’s a Ristretto?

The main difference between a ristretto and an espresso is in the brewing process. Namely, the time and the amount of water used for each beverage differ, while everything else in the method is the same. So to make a ristretto, you use the same process and the same amount of coffee as you would for an espresso. However, you only use half the amount of water that you’d use for an espresso, so a ristretto is only about 15 ml per shot. Plus, the extraction time is shorter, lasting only about 15 seconds.

The resulting shot is not only different from the espresso in quantity, but also in flavor.

What Are the Differences Between a Ristretto and an Espresso?

So because of the shorter extraction time and smaller amount of water, a ristretto is different from an espresso in overall quantity, caffeine, and flavor.

Quantity-wise, we already covered that a ristretto is half the size of an espresso, about 15 ml. Some coffeeshops which have started using ristrettos to make milky coffee drinks as well, usually use a double shot.

In terms of caffeine, the shorter extraction process yields a shot with a bit less caffeine than an espresso. The variance in caffeine content is quite small, however.

The most important difference, of course, is taste. Due to the shorter extraction time and smaller amount of water used, the taste of a ristretto is stronger, bolder, and more concentrated. However, a ristretto has a sweeter finish than an espresso.

While a ristretto must sound quite beautiful by now, it’s also, unfortunately, easier to mess up than an espresso. As the extraction process is shorter, beans that are not finely ground may result in an under-extracted cup of coffee, which is sometimes unpleasantly bitter.

Ristrettos In Milk-Based Drinks

Some coffee shops prefer using ristrettos in milk-based drinks like lattes and cappuccinos since the milk and cream complement the sweet finish and bold flavor of the ristretto really well. They come together as a flavorful balance between strong and sweet. If you prefer a sweeter finish in your coffee, you may ask your barista to use a double ristretto instead of an espresso, and see what happens!

In fact, some popular coffee shops already use ristretto for certain beverages. Starbucks, for instance, prepare flat whites with ristretto shots rather than espresso shots.

If you want to enjoy good coffee in your home, but aren’t ready to sacrifice money and kitchen counter space for an espresso machine, you can always experiment with flavors and beans using a great pour-over coffee maker.

Whether you’re trying to prove your friend wrong over what the difference between macchiato and mocha is, or you’re trying to figure out what to order on your next trip to the coffee shop, you’re in the right place.

The truth of the matter is, these two drinks are quite different – their similarity mainly lies in the fact that they’re both espresso-based beverages. However, because their names sound slightly similar, people sometimes confuse them.

So let’s find out what a macchiato is and what a mocha is, so you’ll decide which one is more to your taste.

What Is a Macchiato?

The original Italian macchiato, also known as espresso macchiato, is basically an espresso shot with a spot of foam, or frothed milk, on top. In fact, macchiato in Italian means stained or spotted – which is exactly what this drink is – a spotted shot of espresso. The initial conception of macchiato was to highlight the bold, full-bodied flavor of the espresso shot with a spot of creamy milk froth. Alternatively, a macchiato can be stained with a splash of steamed milk and then completed with a dab of foam.

However, as the macchiato traveled to the United States and other countries worldwide, the way the drink was made started to change. In a lot of American coffee shops, for instance, a macchiato is closer to a latte in that more steamed milk is added. In this version, the milk is the star or the show rather than the espresso. To make an American macchiato, a full amount of milk is steamed and poured into a mug, and then the espresso shot is slowly added into the milk, diffusing it and creating layers as it goes.

In some other European countries a macchiato is prepared like a cappuccino with one part hot water, one part steamed milk with froth on top.

So, what about the taste? The versions of macchiato which are truer to the original and don’t use too much milk, really help accentuate the bold taste of the espresso shot. Of course, this may be too intense for people that prefer milky drinks. You can always try to recreate an original macchiato in your home with a high-quality, affordable milk frother.

What Is a Mocha?

The name mocha doesn’t come from the Italian espresso tradition, nor does it come from the Italian language. Rather, it comes from the Mocha (or Mokha) region in Yemen that’s famous for producing one of the most delicious, flavorful coffee beans in the world. Historically, also, Mocha was a key part of the global coffee trade for centuries. After all, the tradition of coffee drinking that we know today emerged from the Middle East. The first known coffee consumers were the Sufis, a Muslim mystic sect, from the region of present-day Yemen.

In any case, it’s not quite clear how this espresso-based beverage was named mocha, as there’s little relation to what the drink has come to mean. At best, we could draw a parallel between the natural chocolatey flavor of the Mocha bean and chocolate being the key ingredient – next to coffee – in the mocha that’s offered in coffee shops today.

So – what’s a mocha? A mocha unites the two beautiful, complementary tastes of coffee and chocolate, creating a coffee drink that’s ideal for chocolate lovers.

Mochas are made by adding chocolate sauce to an espresso shot and then adding a full amount of steamed milk. Some coffee shops also add foam, whipped cream, and chocolate shavings.

So, while a macchiato is much less sweet, and only uses milk to help the espresso flavor pop, a mocha is quite sweet thanks to the chocolate syrup. Plus, it uses a lot more milk than a traditional macchiato, which means that espresso comes second or third in the story. In a nutshell, a mocha is a favorite among people who like espresso, but need some strong backup to diffuse its boldness. Places like Starbucks like to take it a step further into non-coffiness, by offering additional syrup options like peppermint, salted caramel, vanilla, nutmeg, and so on.

Most urban coffee shops offer the same array of coffee drinks on their menu. And in this broad, seemingly never-ending list of caffeine-infused deliciousness, it’s always a couple of variables that are dancing around the same, main component of the perfect cup of joe: espresso.

Today, we’ll take a look at two espresso-based beverages that often get confused: the elegant, laconic cortado and the smooth, velvety latte. We will learn what makes them similar, and what sets them apart so that you know exactly what to order on your next trip to the local café. Or, you’ll know exactly what to do if you’re trying to recreate these coffeeshop classics at home.

What Is Cortado?

A cortado gives a Spanish twist to the usually Italian-crafted array of espresso beverages. You see, “cortado” means “cut” in Spanish. The drink is named cortado, or cut, because you cut that wonderfully acidic shot of espresso with some steamed milk. Unlike most Italian milky takes on the espresso, the cortado contains less foam and is generally made without any frothed milk. Any thin layer of foam that adorns a cup of cortado is the result of steamed milk.

The taste of the cortado is a beautiful balance between coffee and milk, combining that flavorful espresso punch with the smooth, silky taste of steamed milk. It’s the ideal choice for coffee lovers that like a strong cup of java, but don’t want to be knocked to the ground by the bold taste of an espresso shot.

How Do You Make a Cortado?

A cortado is made of equal parts espresso and flat steamed milk. This makes the drink quite short – when you add the espresso and steamed milk, the drink averages a total of 3 – 4 ounces.

While frothed milk, or foam, in lattes is often optional, cortados are traditionally made without any foam. The most you’d get is a thin, foamy layer that’s come out of the steamed milk.

What Is a Latte?

The word latte, as you may have suspected, means milk in Italian. The name makes perfect sense, as a latte is one of the milkiest espresso-based beverages you’ll come across. One of the main differences between a cortado and a latte is the amount of milk. A latte uses twice as much steamed milk as a cortado. Another difference is that while frothed milk (foam) isn’t a must in a latte recipe, it’s an optional ingredient that baristas often choose to add. Cortados never really come with additional foam – unless you specifically ask for it.

Lattes are the perfect choice for people who prefer experiencing the intense flavor of the espresso through a veil of silky, velvety-smooth steamed milk. A lot of coffee shops also offer lattes with different flavored syrups, like mint, vanilla, caramel, and so on. (But why would anyone ruin their coffee with a syrup? What am I, twelve?)

How Do You Make a Latte?

A latte is generally made with one part espresso and two parts steamed milk. The steamed milk is also slightly aerated in the process, so it comes with a thin layer of foam on the top (perhaps a bit thicker than a cortado). If you prefer having foam on your latte, you can specify this to your barista, or you can create it at home using an affordable, handy milk frother.

As a latte comes with more milk than a cortado, it’s also a larger cup of coffee. The size of a latte starts at 6 ounces, but can also go all the way up to 20 ounces in coffee shops like Starbucks, where a coffee drink seems to count only if you can barely carry it. Of course, in these cases, baristas also add a second shot of espresso to maintain the balance between espresso flavor and silky-smooth milk.

Recapping the Differences Between Cortado and Latte

So, what are the differences between cortado and latte? Let’s recap:

• A cortado has a 1:1 espresso to milk ratio; a latte has a 1:2 espresso to milk ratio;
• A cortado usually has no foam; a latte may contain anything from a thin to a generous layer of foamy, frothed milk.

A lot of espresso-based beverages you can get at any coffeeshop (or recreate at home!) include warmed milk. But the milk doesn’t always have the same taste or texture. That’s because not all milk is prepared the same way. So, why do some cups of coffee have a rich layer of foam, and others simply a thin layer of lonely bubbles?

The answer to this question lies in the difference between frothed milk and steamed milk. Let’s take a look at the difference between these two forms of milk in terms of how they’re prepared, how they taste, and what espresso-based beverages use one, the other, or both.

What Is Frothed Milk?

Frothed milk is that beautiful, velvety foam that regularly adorns cappuccinos. The way it’s created is by aerating the milk, or injecting air into it, to create tiny bubbles which constitute milky foam, or froth. The perfect foam, or froth, shouldn’t have large bubbles and shouldn’t be dry – it should taste and feel dense, yet creamy.

A cappuccino isn’t a cappuccino without a beautiful, silky finish – froth. Coffee art, for instance, where baristas draw flowers, hearts, and so on, on the top of your coffee requires perfectly made froth.

How Do You Froth Milk?

There are several ways to froth milk, and you can froth both hot and cold milk, depending on the method. Generally, baristas and folks who have espresso machines in their homes use a steam wand to froth the milk. The milk is placed in a frothing pitcher and the steam want is inserted near the surface of the milk, and near the edge of the pitcher. As the top layers begin to froth, you slowly move the wand lower inside the milk to froth the rest. Once you’ve reached the desired fluffiness, and the milk has grown about twice its original size, it’s ready to top off your coffee!

You don’t have to own an espresso machine to get perfect, silky froth. There are a lot of great milk frothers that are intended for home use and easy to operate. Most of them are handheld and work either through manual pumping of the milk or through an electric whisk.

Which Beverages Use Frothed Milk?

Some espresso-based beverages that always come with froth, or foam, are cappuccino, flat white, café breve, and macchiato – although a macchiato uses very little of it.

For a lot of other espresso-based drinks, foam is optional. This includes café au lait and café latte.

What Is Steamed Milk?

Steamed milk is what you get by exposing milk to high-pressure steam. Usually, the steam is introduced to the milk through a steam wand. Steamed milk is less dense than frothed milk, but it’s still quite creamy thanks to the expansion of milk fats that occurs during the steaming process. Steamed milk has a really silky, velvety taste which complements the initial espresso shot perfectly.

Unlike frothed milk, steamed milk isn’t completely turned into foam. Rather, the structure remains liquid yet creamy, containing only a very thin layer of small bubbles at the top.

As you can see from this image of a cortado, which is made with flat steamed milk, the foam that accompanies steamed milk is much, much thinner than the rich foam that comes with frothed milk.

How Do You Steam Milk?

The high-pressure steam is slowly introduced to the milk (usually through a steam wand), which causes the fats in the milk to grow and produce a thin layer of tiny bubbles on the top. You can steam milk by again placing the tip of the steam want just below the milk’s surface, and adjusting it until you find the right angle at which a vortex is created inside the pitcher. To make sure the milk reaches the perfect temperature, which is about 55–65°C (139–149°F), you can use a frothing thermometer.

While usually you’d need a steam wand to steam milk, there are also some home appliances which can No products found..

Which Beverages Use Steamed Milk?

Almost all espresso-based drinks that include milk use steamed milk. This includes latte, cortado, macchiato, café au lait, flat white, and mocha. Some drinks, like cappuccinos and macchiatos, are made with both steamed milk and frothed milk.

Whether it’s to stir up your brain or to stir up your bowels, you drink coffee. And once you start drinking coffee, it’s hard not to end up loving coffee. And once you love coffee, it’s impossible to just leave it at one type of coffee and coffee maker. They say that getting tattoos is addictive – once you get one, you gotta have more. I don’t know about tattoos, but as a coffee lover, that has been my exact experience with coffee makers.

So anyway – as you’re not a brute that drinks instant coffee, or at least you’ve decided to leave your philistine ways behind – you need to pick your first (or next, in my case) coffee maker. This time, we’ll look at percolators and drip coffee makers – what their similarities are, what their differences are, how they work, and what sort of coffee they produce. With all this knowledge under your belt, you’ll know exactly what you want for your next caffeine fix.

Here’s a quick overview of what to expect:

How Do Percolators Work?

The beginnings of the humble percolator were conceived by the Parisian tinsmith Joseph-Henry-Marie Laurens, then moved to Franklin, Massachusetts via James Nason, for it finally to be patented in the modern, stove-top version we know today by Hanson Goodrick from Illinois in 1889.

The percolator had its glory days in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – but its glory was somewhat diminished after the 1950s. Throughout Europe, it was being quickly replaced by the Italian Moka pot. In the States, siphon brewing was becoming increasingly popular. And in the 1970s, the booming success of drip coffee makers pushed percolators further in the background.

Still, percolators maintain their place in the coffee-loving community and remain a favorite among campsites and church gatherings. So how does the modern percolator work?

Percolators rely on gravity to recycle the water through the coffee as many times as needed to achieve the desired strength. They have two chambers – an upper and a lower one. The two chambers are connected through a thin, metal tube and divided with a porous metal tray that contains the coffee grounds.

You start off by putting water in the bottom chamber, coffee beans in the upper chamber, and placing the percolator on a heat source (stovetop or a portable gas burner/stove). As the water heats up and turns into steam, it moves to the upper chamber through the metal tube. In the upper chamber, it turns back into a liquid and drips onto the coffee beans (this is the extraction process), and through the porous tray back into the bottom chamber.

After a single cycle, you basically have a ready cup of coffee waiting for you in the bottom chamber. However, you can allow the coffee to repeat the cycle as many times as you like, depending on how strong you want your coffee. The more concentrated you want your cup of joe, the more cycles it’ll need to go through.

What Size Coffee Grounds Should I Use with a Percolator?

Percolators don’t use paper filters, but only the porous metal tray where the coffee is placed. This means that if you use medium or finely ground coffee, you’ll end up with a lot of unpleasant sediment in the end result. That’s why it’s best to use coarse grounds with percolators. Plus, as coarse grounds are slower to extract, you’re less likely to end up with an over-extracted, bitter cup of coffee even if you let the water repeat the cycle a few times.

Who Do We Recommend Percolators For?

Travelers. You don’t need electricity to make coffee in percolators – all you need is fire. Plus, they’re quite lightweight and easily portable.

Parties. If you’re looking for something big that can fit a lot of coffee for a lot of people, you can also find some pretty large percolators, which are often used for symposiums and weddings.

How Do Drip Coffee Makers Work?

Drip coffee makers are kind of like a cross between pour-over coffee and percolators. Except, unlike these two contraptions, modern drip coffee makers are automated. Drip coffee makers are super easy to use and simple to set up, which is why they’ve been adorning kitchen counters in homes, offices, and hotels in the US since the 1970s. If you remember our short history lesson on percolators from earlier, you’ll remember that drip coffee makers are one of the main new products on the scene that pushed out percolators.

So, how do they work?

Drip coffee makers consist of a water reservoir, a metal tube (similar to the one that percolators use), a shower-head-like valve, a coffee tray, and a carafe. The water is placed in the water reservoir and heated until it turns into steam, which then travels up the thin tube (like in a percolator). At the end of the tube, the steam turns back into liquid, which is dripped over the coffee beans that are placed in the tray – usually on a paper filter (like in pour-over coffee!). The water drips through the filter into a carafe, which is usually placed on another heating element to keep the coffee warm.

While we’ll outline the differences between drip coffee makers and percolators in more detail, the main difference between the two is that when using the former, water goes through the coffee grounds only once, while a percolator recycles the same water several times – although this, too, can be adjusted.

The elegant simplicity of a drip coffee maker is what makes it so popular. All you have to do is put water in the container, add coffee on the tray, and turn the machine on. You can walk away and get ready for the day, or do some work, and return half an hour later with still warm, still fresh coffee waiting for you.

What Size Coffee Grounds Should I Use with a Drip Coffee Maker?

As drip coffee makers use paper filters, you can use medium or medium-fine grind. A good rule of thumb is choosing medium-fine grind for a flat-bottomed funnel and medium grind for a conical funnel. In addition to paper filters, the fact that the water is cycled through only once makes it a good idea to use a finer grind than you would with a percolator. A single cycle means that the coffee won’t be over-extracted, but the finer grind ensures that it won’t come out tasteless, either.

Who Do We Recommend Drip Coffee Makers For?

Homes, offices, dorm rooms. Drip coffee makers are great for any place where they’ll be stationed for a longer period of time. All you need is electricity! They’re especially a good choice for multi-person households and offices. The machine will do everything on its own, and supply everyone present with a cup of coffee. Keep in mind, however, that large drip coffee makers are still usually smaller than large percolators.

What Are the Differences Between a Percolator and a Drip Coffee Maker?

You can already see that there are some differences between a percolator and a drip coffee maker in the way they work:

• A drip coffee maker has a separate reservoir for water and a separate carafe for the end product – coffee. A percolator only has one reservoir, which starts off as water and ends up as coffee.
• A drip coffee maker cycles the water only once, while a percolator can recycle the water as many times as you like.
• Drip coffee makers are automatic, while percolators generally need a separate heat source (stovetop or gas burner). Of course, there are also electric percolators available today.
• A percolator doesn’t use paper filters, while drip coffee makers do.

The way these machines work naturally has an effect on the difference in taste that we get from the coffees they produce. As percolators recycle the same water over and over again, the coffee is bolder and stronger. Of course, you can get a milder taste from your percolator by letting the water cycle through only once. The longer the coffee brews, the more cycles it turns, the more extracted the beans and the bitterer the taste.

In all honesty, no matter how strong you like your coffee, you probably don’t want that kind of bitterness, so it’s best to pay attention to your percolator as it brews, lest your coffee become undrinkable.

Drip coffee makers produce milder-tasting coffee because they only cycle the water through once. This allows for more nuanced notes in the coffee beans to be detectable, a joy for the palate. If you want your drip coffee to be stronger and a bit more bitter, you can use very finely ground coffee beans.