Sourced Approved Home Brew Equipment

Posted By Max Threlfall -

Sourced Approved Home Brew Equipment

We are now seeing a new era for home coffee brewing in the UK. It is now more accessible than ever to brew proper coffee at home, with gadgets to suit everyone’s taste, budget and lifestyle. However, with this abundance of options on the market, what equipment is best for you? In this blog, we've explored the three of most popular brewing methods in use at home to give you some ideas to mix things up!

 

French Press/ Cafetière

The humble cafetière is a full immersion method of coffee brewing, meaning the ground coffee simply steeps in hot water until brewed. It is then strained through a metal filter and can be poured straight into your cup – a no-nonsense and effective brewing method. The filter material being metal mesh is important here as the ‘holes’ are relatively large when compared to the porous nature of a paper filter, meaning you end up with a coffee that has a much heavier mouthfeel.

 

PROS:

Simplicity – you can’t go wrong with this one

Thick mouthfeel – for some, the punchy viscosity adds extra appeal

CONS:

Silt – due to the nature of the metal filter, some ground coffee can pass through into the cup

Messy – ground coffee can be hard to clean out

 

V60/ ‘Pour over’ Brewer

Converse to the Cafetière, pour over or ‘cone dripper’ coffee makers are what’s called percolation brewers. Instead of the ground coffee being immersed in water for a period of time, when making pour over coffee, the water is constantly passing through a bed of coffee to infuse flavour. This results in a lighter tasting coffee with a more tea-like mouthfeel.

There are many types and brands of cone-style drippers but one of the more well-known is a Japanese company Hario’s v60 range. The design is pragmatic and easy to use but also lends itself well to experimentation and more advanced coffee-making techniques.

 

PROS:

Clarity of flavour – makes a very clean and balanced cup of coffee

Range – there are several types of offer & colours (plastic, ceramic, metal, glass) to choose from

CONS:

Lighter body – could take some getting used to if you are a French Press regular

 

Aeropress

This plunger-style gadget made by plastics company Aerobie, also known for its frisbees of all things, has taken the domestic coffee equipment world by storm in recent years. The device uses a combination of immersion and percolation (as detailed above) to make a coffee that is best of both worlds. The clean, balanced sweetness of a pour over coffee paired with the punchy, flavour hit you get from an immersion brew makes this a must-have for any coffee aficionado.

 

PROS:

Versatile – there are hundreds of ways to make a cup of coffee with an Aeropress, just check out the Aeropress Championships

Portable – great for home, on the go, office use, camping and outdoor pursuits

Clean – once finished, the spent ‘puck’ of coffee just pops right out

CONS:

Process – can seem quite fiddly at first and hard to get used to

 

Why not try something different for your next brew and, you never know, you might find your new "perfect" cup.