To brew a full bodied, flavorful cup of coffee at home, there are a few pieces of required coffee equipment. The uninitiated often think that purchasing whole bean coffee and using these fancy looking brewing methods must cost a lot of money. Certainly it must cost more than simply buying coffee to go, and absolutely it must cost more than the simple one-cup brewers that dominate the marketplace.
In actuality, purchasing whole bean coffee is much less expensive than buying k-cups (or even to-go coffee), and the required coffee equipment is equally inexpensive. Your average one-cup brewer costs around $100. Your average French Press or Chemex is closer to $30. Sometimes even less. Good burr grinders can be expensive, but beginners can use cheap blade or “spice” grinders until they are ready to make a larger investment.
K-cup coffee costs, on average, $30 or more per pound. That may sound wrong, but consider the low weight of each k-cup. If you do the math, you’ll see it truly does work out to be this very high price. Conversely, freshly roasted whole bean coffee should run anywhere from $8 – $18 (high end) per pound, depending on the roaster.
What follows is a list of the required coffee equipment to get you started walking the path to your perfect cup.
Required Coffee Equipment You’ll Need
• A scoop
• A blade grinder (spice grinder)
• A brewer (French Press or *Chemex recommended for best results)
• Tea kettle
• *If using Chemex, the special Chemex branded filters
Advanced Coffee Equipment (Optional)
• A burr grinder
• Digital kitchen scale
• Pour-over kettle (for controlled pouring) such as the Hario
• Thermos
