The Best Way to Make Coffee At Home

What is the best way to make coffee? In this article, we will answer that question. Including the rules that you need to follow to get that perfect cup of joe. We also have some pitfalls that you need to avoid when you are brewing coffee.

I made an extensive research about it and narrowed it down to the 7 Most common brewing methods. To find the best one, I tried them all myself to give you a non-biased opinion on each one.

Most guides are considering solely on the coffee machine that is used, I set out to look at the overall method itself, and how to get the best results possible.

Here is the 7 most common brewing methods to make a great cup of coffee:

1. Aeropress
2. Drip
3. Pourover
4. French Press
5. Moka Pot
6. Espresso
7. Ibrik

Note: This guide does not teach you how to brew coffee in detail, rather comparing the methods in terms of the final result and overall process.

Also, Instant coffee method is not included in this guide. In the coffee world, even considering it is a lack of respect to coffee.

7 Brewing Methods to Brew Coffee

You don’t need to go too far to taste a perfect brewed coffee, every test we conducted below are all done at home using common coffee makers that can be bought online.

Aeropress Brewing Method

• Time needed to prepare: 2 minutes
• Brewing skills needed: Low-Medium
• Coffee Bean Size Needed: Any
• Final Cup: Smooth, Dark and Clean Coffee
• Pros:
  • Portable and ideal for solo travellers and campers
  • Flavor is rich but not bitter
  • No sediments on coffee
  • Very easy to clean
• Cons:
  • Can only do 1 cup at a time

Aeropress brew coffee method is one of the easiest to do coffee brewing methods and yields awesome coffee, that is why this has almost a cult-like following among coffee lovers.

Score: 8/10

Drip Coffee Brewing Method

• Time needed to prepare: 8 minutes
• Brewing skills needed: Low
• Coffee Bean Size Needed: Fine
• Final Cup: Watery and the light colored coffee
• Pros:
  • It yields a lot of coffee
  • Hot even brewed for hours
  • Convenient machine operation, no need to watch the brewing process
• Cons:
  • Coffee flavor is diluted
  • Aroma is almost gone

I found out that this brew methods relies so much on the drip coffee maker. To get the best results, it is crucial to control how the water is dispensed over the coffee grounds.

Score: 4/10

Pourover Brewing Method

• Time needed to prepare: 5 minutes
• Brewing skills needed: Medium to High
• Coffee Bean Size Needed: Super Fine
• Final Cup: Very Dark, Thick and Pure Coffee
• Pros:
  • Every sip packs a very rich flavor
  • No sediments
  • Can make a lot of cups per serving
• Cons:
  • Coffee Need to consume immediately
  • Needs precision on the coffee beans
  • Needs a chemex, a tempered glass to funnel coffee before serving

This method involves a lot of work, starts from weighing your ground coffee beans up to serving the coffee. For best results, control the rate in pouring the hot water, just put a slight depression in the top of coffee grounds, pour the hot water starting at the center and in circular motion until you cover all the surface of the freshly ground coffee.

Score: 9/10

French Press Method

• Time needed to prepare: 5 minutes
• Brewing skills needed: Medium
• Coffee Bean Size Needed: Coarse
• Final Cup: Smooth and Full of Crema on top of the coffee
• Pros:
  • Not bitter flavor
  • Makes a lot of cups per serving
• Cons:
  • Sediments are found on the coffee
  • Machine is Hard to clean
  • Need to remove the grounds immediately so it wont-over extract

This method is one of the easiest to do, excellent coffee, full bodied cup, not time consuming but the cleanup part is messy. If you are not a frequent coffee drinker, just a single cup or few good cup per week, this is for you.

Score: 5/10

Moka Pot

• Time needed to prepare: 10 minutes
• Brewing skills needed: Medium fine grind
• Coffee Bean Size Needed: Fine
• Final Cup: Strong, Sharp and Slightly Bitter coffee
• Pros:
  • Portable Pot -ideal for travel
  • Moka Pot is mostly cheap
  • Strong flavor to wake you up if you needs a lot of stuff done
• Cons:
  • Bitter taste
  • Risk of over extraction if the base is not taken off asap

If you love coffee, this method is fairly easy to do as well, the trick is to create a little mound above the brim, don’t push the coffee down, let the gravity do it’s thing, if you need to push the coffee it means you already put too much and too much coffee is bitter.

Score: 7/10

Espresso Brewing Method

• Time needed to prepare: 3 minutes
• Brewing skills needed: High
• Coffee Bean Size Needed: Fine
• Final Cup: Sharp and Strong coffee
• Pros:
  • Flexible – you can choose pure americano or add milk
  • Flavor and Aroma is awesome
  • Can be a new hobby or skills
• Cons:
  • Espresso Machines are expensive
  • Espresso Machines are hard to clean
  • Espresso Machines are space-consuming

This method is the most complicated among all others but if you like latte and other milky brews, there is no other method suited for you. First you need own espresso machine like the coffee shops then start learning how to use it to make good coffee.

Score: 8/10

Ibrik a.k.a Turkish Coffee Brewing Method

• Time needed to prepare: 4 minutes
• Brewing skills needed: Low
• Coffee Bean Size Needed: Super Fine
• Final Cup: Sharp, Strong, Very Dark coffee
• Pros:
  • Very aromatic and Pure Flavor
  • Fun Brewing Process
  • Can make a lot of cups per serving
• Cons:
  • Crema needs to be achieved or else the coffee becomes too bitter
  • Needs to be consumed immediately

This method is a personal winner, the amount of work needed is minimal and the result is the most delicious cup of hot coffee ever. The trick in making this home brewed coffee is to stir the solution when the water starts to warm up and do not let it fully boil, once it starts to boil – it is ready to serve.

Score: 10/10

3 Rules to Make the best coffee

If we talk about the best way to make coffee, aside from the method, the rules below needed to be followed as well.

Rule #1 Always Use Fresh Coffee Beans

Coffee Beans need to be consumed within days of being roasted, after that oxygen and ultraviolet rays creeps through affecting the precious flavor of the beans.

Never Refrigerate the beans. Roasted beans are porous and can soak up moisture and other flavors in your fridge

Use airtight containers to store the beans and place it away from bright light.

For more details on best coffee beans, we have a complete guide.

Rule #2 Always Use Good Water

Use spring water or any tap water with activated carbon. Chlorinated water can ruin a whole pot of coffee very easily.

In heating the water, 200°F, or about 45 seconds off a full boil is the best. Hotter than this can extract a lot of compounds which makes the coffee too bitter.

Reheating can yield to a bitter coffee as well.

Rule #3 Always Use a Good Grinder

The goal is to have consistent and even grains on the ground coffee, if not, small and large particles will produce a cup that’s simultaneously bitter and sour.

Nut or spice grinder can be used but check on the consistency before using the grains.

If you want to dig in deeper on how long does coffee last after grinding, you can browse our guides.

4 Things to Avoid to make the best coffee

In making coffee, avoid these stuff below if you can.

#1 Avoid Dark Roasted Beans

Although it is subjective, when you use dark roasted beans, you are tasting more of the roasting process than the natural coffee bean flavor. It’s like tasting an overcooked piece of good steak.

The coffee taste more and more like charcoal, when you want the best cup, avoid these type of beans.

#2 Avoid Cold Brews

Cold brews use cold water to mix with the coffee beans and placing it in the fridge overnight. This method does not extract much of the flavors. If you want it cold, it is better to brew it normally and let it cool afterwards.

#3 Avoid Skimping

You may have heard this already, “Do not skimp on Coffee”, yes that’s true. Tricks like skimping or using less coffee but hotter water to extract more cups per amount of beans will yield to a bitter brews because a lot of other compounds are extracted.

#4 Avoid Guilt on adding milk, cream or sugar

The best cup of coffee depends on who to ask, so go ahead, indulge on your own desires and do not worry about what is the conventional “best”. Especially if you are just starting to brew, there will be a lot of mistakes to go through and these added ingredients can help balance out the taste.

Final Thoughts…

Based on these brew method factors; Brewing Time, Skills needed, Tools required, and of course the resulting flavor of the final cup, this is the best way to make coffee:

Ibrik – Score: 10/10

Pourover – Score: 9/10

Aeropress and Espresso – Score: 8/10

Moka Pot- Score: 7/10

French Press – Score: 5/10

Drip – Score: 4/10

To drink coffee especially your own coffee can set the mood for your whole day. So, it is crucial to find the best guide to make the perfect cup or at least brew a better coffee than before.

Hope this article has introduced you to the different way to brew coffee. If you’re still new, don’t worry we have a lot of noob-friendly guides here so you’ll brew a proper cup more than a couple of times until you learn other methods in making coffee.

If you know about the dual-purpose coffee maker – the grind & brew coffee machine. We have buying guides too.