Coffee Brewing Equipment Recommendations
Acquiring the best coffee beans that money can buy, having them roasted to perfection, and on your table in less than 72 hours after roasting, this is only 50% of the perfect-cup-of-coffee equation. The other 50% is in the brewing. Therefore, it helps to have in your brewing arsenal the right equipment.
Everything I buy, I prefer Made In USA. When that's not possible then I fall back to my ABC rule (Anything But China). I don't buy from people wanting to enslave us, like they've done with their own people. That's also why you won't find links to those commies at Amazon.
Whole Bean Coffee Grinders
One of the most important brewing items to have is a good grinder. You want a conical burr grinder (no blades). Here's information on how to grind coffee beans.
Red Rooster Trading Camano Coffee Grinder
100% Made in the USA by Free Americans
You can find cheaper manual coffee grinders, but none made this well which should last for generations. You'll be putting this work horse in your will.
Built from cast iron, meticulously machined, beautifully powder coated, assembled with old-world craftsmanship, and hand polished.
This grinder may look like something your great-grandmother would have used, but frankly, this grinder is so well engineered and manufactured, that any little-old-lady could easily use this grinder.
The Red Rooster Camano Coffee Mill will be the last coffee grinder that you will ever buy or want. So even at $149.00, this bad boy will save you money over the long haul. For more information Click Here. If you want to see this beauty at work, watch the video to your right.
Krups GVX212
Made by Slave Labor in China
This grinder is relatively small, does a great job, and best of all it's a little more quiet than most grinders. There's a fine/course dial and also a dial for how many cups.
If by chance it stops working, you've probably left the lid off (been there, done that) or the drawer isn't pushed all the way in (been there, done that).
If this exact model number isn't available, don't worry about it, just get a Krups that kind of looks like the image here.
You can find this grinder at a number of home appliance stores or go to KrupsUSA.com which has similar models for $60+.
Coffee Brewers
How you brew your coffee has more to do with taste than where your coffee is grown. You can have identical beans, roasted identically, yet brewing them differently really changes the taste. It changes it a lot. There is no one best way. It's a matter of personal taste.
AeroPress Coffee Maker
100% Made in the USA by Free Americans
This is one of my favorite coffee brewers. The AeroPress makes a very smooth, non-bitter, and very flavorful 12-ounce cup of coffee.
So, you'll want to start by watching my video to your right and then you need to experiment. Experiment with how fine or course your grounds are, which makes a "huge" difference.
You also want to experiment with the water temperature. Additionally, you'll want to experiment with how much grounds you use. And lastly experiment with how long the coffee steeps in the water. Watch the video and I'll show you how easy it is.
$39 on AeroPress's website
French Press
The French Press is one of my two favorite brewing systems. It doesn't hide nor enhance any specific flavor. It could be argued that the French Press makes one of the best cups of coffee that you're likely to ever come across.
Alessi French Press Brewer ($200) 100% Made In Italy. This is the larger of the two sizes, about 6 cups. This French Press is gorgeous and works like a Swiss made watch. The only downside is the cost. See demo video below.
Bodum Chambord French Press ($35) 100% made in Portugal. I do not own one of these, but for $35, it's worth a try. I can't imagine it working any better or worse than the Alessi, though it may not last as long.
Slow Pour Over
100% Made In Italy
The slow pour over brewing method is not just a manual version of a coffee drip machine. Drip machines make uninspiring, dull, and bitter coffee. Slow pour over, on the other hand, produces a similar taste profile to a French Press with lots of flavor and still smooth as silk.
I picked the Blue Brew Paperless Pour Over. Unfortunately, the only pour over, that I've found made it the USA are ceramic or plastic and require paper filters. Those'll work just fine, but I prefer the non-paper filter. Besides, it looks cool.
Cold-Brew
100% Made in the USA by Free Americans
If you like your coffee smooth and not bitter, then nothing beats cold-brew. Just course grind about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of fresh whole bean coffee, put it in a quart jar, add water, put the lid on, shake, and stick it in the refrigerator.
In the morning pull it out, pour it through a strainer or filter (one of those gold metal filters for drip machine) and you're ready to go.
It's best to make it 12 hours ahead of time, but I've done it 10 minutes before drinking and it was fine. Hint: You can even microwave it for a super smooth hot cup of heaven.
The video to your right shows me making cold brew coffee.
Cuisinart Grind & Brew
Made by Slave Labor in China
For a drip maker, this unit does it all, grinds and brews. The big downside is that it's made by slave labor in China. If I could find a drip coffee machine made ABC (Anywhere But China) I'd promote that.
If you need 4-10 cups, it doesn't get much easier than this. I have this bad boy sitting on my counter for whenever my son-in-law Jonny comes over. This is so easy that even Jonny can make a darn good cup of coffee.
You definitely want the model with the steel thermal pot and the burr grinder. I recently saw these at Bed Bath And Beyond's website for $200.
Stove Top Gooseneck Kettle
100% Made In Japan
I recently purchased a Hario VKBN-90CP “Buono” Drip Kettle Copper (900ml). I love this kettle. It’s gorgeous and it’s copper sheen looks classy on my stovetop. It works well and best of all it’s 100% made in Japan. As I said earlier, I wish I could find one Made In USA, but as far as I can tell, one doesn’t exist. If you find one made in the USA, please let me know.
The only downside to any stovetop kettle is that they take about 8 minutes to boil 12 ounces of water. On the other hand an electric kettle takes about 3 minutes.
You can find these at Hario's Website. I'd rather pay a little more buy direct than give my money to those commies at Amazon.
Electric Kettles
Made By Slave Labor In China
Although I love Gooseneck Kettles, especially the electric ones, which boil water in 2-3 minutes. The big down side is that there just aren't any kettles, either electric or stove-top, that are made in the USA. Zip! Nada! Not-to-be-found! Which really sucks. I can't even find an electric kettle that's made anywhere but Communist China. I'm just not willing to buy products made by slave labor. If you find an electric kettle made anywhere but Communist China, please let me know.
Burnout Coffee Mug
100% Made in the USA by Free Americans
This space-age coffee mug will keep your coffee at a constant 140-150 degrees for hours. I know that some of you like your coffee real hot. So did I, until I realized my coffee was so hot that I couldn't taste it. Trust me. 140-150 degrees is best.
The Burnout is built like a German tank. Drop it, stomp on it, run over it with your ATV; short of shooting it with a 50 Caliber BMG, you're not going to break this bad-boy. That's why it comes with a lifetime guarantee. That's right. You break it. Burnout will send you a new one.
The Burnout Coffee Mugs come in, black and red or (seriously) red and black. The tall thin travel mugs come in 12oz and 16oz. They also have a new 14 oz Burnout 2.0 mug that's short and squat.
At $69-$79, this will be the last coffee mug you will ever buy or will ever want. For the long haul, this monster is the deal of a lifetime. BurnOutMugs.com
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