Hello and welcome to the first of our 2020 Holiday Shopping Guides! These guides differ a bit from our “Top 3 2020” articles in that they’re complete shopping guides for you or someone on your gift list to get brewing this holiday! Today we’re focusing on alternative brewing methods.
Brewer’s Choice
The first choice here is what sort of alternative brewing are you looking to do? When we talk about this term, we mean all of those brew methods that don’t fall under drip, pour over, or espresso. This means options like coffee presses, Turkish coffee, and stovetop brewing. There’s a lot of room here, so we’ll break it down piece by piece.
Let’s start with Turkish coffee. Turkish is a brew method that is extremely rich and intense, and relies on hyper fine grounds being dissolved into hot water. The most important part of brewing for Turkish is your choice in grinder, and in our opinion there’s no real option other than a Turkish hand grinder. Along with this, you’ll want a Turkish coffee pot, and you’re pretty much good to go!
Then there’s press and stovetop. These are sort of the bread and butter here. If you know you’re interested in press brewing, you can’t go wrong with an AeroPress Go. This press is all in one, portable, and proven. It’s filter based brew chamber creates some of the best press coffee we’ve ever tasted. If you’re looking for a more traditional press, you can’t go wrong with Espro’s line of coffee presses.
As far as stovetop brewing is concerned, there are a number of excellent Ilsa stovetop brewer’s. We’re fond of the lot of them, but the Neapolitan is a particularly favored option among stovetop enthusiasts. We love all of the above, but if you want the flexibility to brew many different ways with one purchase, we have to recommend the Varia Multi-Brewer.
The Varia Multi-Brewer offers three distinct brew styles all from one device. At a basic level, you can brew pour over, press, and moka pot brew styles with the included attachments. On top of this, you can also brew tea and cold brew, or use the kettle as a stovetop hot water source. To make it even easier, the Varia’s brew screens are designed to use the same grind across all three styles. This means you simply dial your grinder in for pour over and then you can use that setting for press and stovetop brewing. It even comes with a brew guide, pour over filters, and a spare set of gaskets for the kettle.
With the Varia or one of the other options listed above, you’ll have your brewer, but you’ll still need two very important things. Hot water, and ground coffee!
Grounds and Water
Arguably the most important part of any fresh brew is the coffee grounds you use. The nice thing about alternative brew methods like press and stovetop is that you can use the same grinder here, for pour over, and for drip!
Given this, we’ve got two recommendations for those looking to upgrade from that old blade grinder. The first is the classic Baratza Encore. This is a legendary grinder that is perfect for any slow brew coffee method (like the ones we’re talking about today). It’s a simple to use grinder with stepped settings and a basic on/off switch for operation. You can also pulse the grind with the button on the front of the grinder. The Encore produces a fantastic, consistent grind and will last years and years. It’s also easy to clean and maintain.
We’ve also got a new kid on the block for 2020, the Solis Scala! The Scala hasn’t yet built up the reputation that the Encore has, but we’re excited about it just the same. The Scala also produces an excellent grind for slow brew methods, and even includes timed dosing. This means that you can dial in a time for your grind and simply push the button!
The other key part of the perfect brew is your water! You have to have hot water to make coffee, and our recommendation with where to start here is very simple. The Bonavita Interurban is a great way to get water at the perfect temperature. This stylish kettle comes in four colors and includes programmable presets for different temp options. This feature is especially useful if you like tea!
The last thing we want to touch on is scales. For stovetop you may just want to measure with a measuring spoon, but we think having a scale is the right call for press (and can be for stovetop as well). For slow brew methods, the Oxo Precision Scale and Timer is a great option that won’t break the bank. You can use it as a timer as well to measure brew time for your press.
And that does it for our first shopping guide for 2020! Check back soon for guides on gifting or buying for other brew methods.
