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Channi
This is like the cheat code to making specialty coffee. You can simply get coarsely ground coffee (why coarsely? Read our blog on grind sizes!), add hot water to it, let it steep for 4-5 mins and simply strain it with the Channi! Ta-da, you have just made your first cup of specialty coffee with no additional investment! It’s really that easy.
Automatic Drip Machine
This is an easier and automatic version of the pourover that you’ll see down on the list. Most people receive this as a gift from the office or their family and this is their first step towards specialty coffee. All you have to do is - fill the machine with water and add coffee to the basket and out comes the coffee.
French Press
We’re diving a little deeper and taking a look at the French press. To put it simply, in a French press your filter(channi) has been incorporated into a jar and now you can do the steeping and straining all through one device! It’s a really simple piece of equipment to start your descent into the world of specialty coffee. As an added bonus, you can also use it to froth milk!
Aeropress
This is considered as one of the most versatile coffee brewing equipment and some people swear by their Aeropress. You can get a brew close to a pourover or a concentrated shot like an espresso and it’s easy to travel with! The idea is simple, put your coffee in the chamber, add hot water and let it steep for a while and then simply use the other half of the aeropress to press down (thereby creating a pressure chamber) and you have yourself a delicious cup of coffee.
Pourover
Now we’re getting fancy, you’re in for the long haul now. Pourover is the name for all equipments that brew coffee through the drip method(you slowly pour water over ground coffee and out comes delicious coffee). This includes the V60, Chemex, Clever dripper, etc. PourOver coffee is very different from the previous methods as the rate at which you pour the water on the coffee can significantly change the taste of the coffee but this is one of the best ways to play around and explore the world of specialty coffee.
Espresso machine
This is for all the espresso lovers out there. This is the most expensive equipment on the list but then again, none of the other equipment can make a cup of coffee like the Espresso Machine does. There are several kinds of espresso machines, some involving significant manual effort and others doing everything at the press of a button.
Cold brew
This is not exactly an equipment(even though companies do sell cold brew jars), it’s more of a coffee brewing technique. The idea is to add room temperature water to ground coffee beans and let it steep for 12-24 hours in the fridge. This allows the flavours to get extracted slowly over time and you get a smooth low acidity coffee that you can drink anytime you want!
South Indian filter
You ask anyone from South India and they will swear by South Indian Filter coffee. It’s more of a way of life rather than a brewing method. You need a south indian coffee filter/percolator along with a dabara set to get the full experience. The coffee is generally a blend of coffee and chicory. This blend is used to make a thick concoction with the filter, and milk with sugar is boiled and mixed with the concoction in the dabara.
Honorable Mentions
Moka Pot
Also known as the stovetop espresso maker, which is a misnomer and it should be called the stovetop coffee concentrate maker instead. You fill the bottom chamber with water, then coffee in the funnel-like chamber and tighten the top half with the bottom and keep it on the stove. As the water boils, it rises up, passing through the coffee and slowly collecting in the top half. You get a rich intense espresso like a cup of coffee as a result!
THE OVERVIEW
Everyone likes tables right? * audible silence * ...Well, we do at least and we've gone and made you this nice little table with the price and difficulty of some of the most popular coffee brewing equipment!
Price
DIFFICULTY
An Introduction To Coffee
Breaking into the world of Specialty Coffee can seem daunting, when you’re coming from the world of Instant Coffee but it really isn’t you can start with brewing equipment as basic as the channi you use to strain your chai daily and then keep modifying the equipment based on how deep you want to go in this coffee hole, we’ll meet you at the bottom :)
We’ve tried to list down the equipment from the least commitment and effort to the highest but some of this is subjective!
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