Brewing Methods
Instant coffee, honestly assessed
A product with a poor reputation, a genuine technical basis for that reputation, and a specialty version that changes the argument.
Brewing Methods
Pour-over, espresso, immersion, moka — and their trade-offs.
Brewing Methods
A morning routine that produces good coffee every day
Consistency comes from a repeatable sequence rather than from concentration, which is scarce at six in the morning.
Brewing Methods
Milk drinks: what actually distinguishes them
Cappuccino, latte, flat white and cortado are not arbitrary names, though the boundaries have blurred considerably.
Brewing Methods
Making coffee while travelling
Hotel rooms, campsites, offices and trains — where good coffee is possible with surprisingly little.
Brewing Methods
Siphon brewing, and why it survives
A theatrical vacuum brewer from the nineteenth century that produces a genuinely distinctive cup, if you can be bothered.
Brewing Methods
Turkish coffee and other traditions
Brewing methods that predate every piece of equipment discussed elsewhere on this site, and are still the everyday method for millions.
Brewing Methods
Batch brewing at home
The automatic drip machine is unfashionable and, done properly, produces excellent coffee with no attention at all.
Brewing Methods
Cold brew, done properly
Long steeping at low temperature produces something chemically different from hot coffee cooled down.
Brewing Methods
The Aeropress, and why every recipe is different
A plastic cylinder that produces excellent coffee by half a dozen contradictory methods, all of which work.
Brewing Methods
Moka pot: the method everyone gets wrong
A stovetop pressure brewer that produces something excellent when treated correctly, and something acrid when not.
Brewing Methods
Espresso at home: what actually matters
The most demanding brewing method, where small errors are magnified and the grinder matters more than the machine.
Brewing Methods
French press, and why it is better than its reputation
Full immersion, no paper, heavy body — and a technique adjustment that removes almost all the sludge people complain about.
Brewing Methods
Pour over, properly
The most controllable brewing method and the one most sensitive to sloppiness, which is why it rewards attention.