The best method of brewing coffee is Pressed Coffee.

Hands down, the best method of brewing coffee is the manual immersion technique we call Pressed Coffee using a coffee press, also known as a French Press. With this method, you can adjust the grind’s size, the temperature of the water, and the length of brewing time. This creates a unique taste experience that can’t be duplicated with an automatic immersion method. It is the ONLY way to extract flavors from coffee grounds evenly and completely every single time. It will result (when combined with great coffee beans!) the smoothest, least bitter, or acidic cup of coffee you’ll ever have.

An example of the fun you can have: Finer sized grounds will extract faster than a larger size. Changing water temperature and immersion time, meaning how long the water is in contact with the grounds, will also allow you to experiment with taste. Some claim stirring your coffee longer during brewing will affect the flavor, OR not stirring it at all! Some claim to leave the coffee for several minutes longer, letting grounds settle naturally, and then NOT pressing; just using the screen as a filter at the top and carefully pour the coffee without stirring up the grounds makes for an even better cup. I am sure standing on your head and drinking it upside down might have an effect too, but once you have figured out how to make a great cup of coffee, why do any more work? Just sit down and enjoy it!!!

From our perspective, the most effective, complete, and best-tasting coffee extraction occurs using manual immersion technique in a press coffee maker brewing for between 3 and 4 minutes at 195 – 205 degrees Fahrenheit using a medium to coarse grind. Stir for the first 30 seconds and then let leave the pot alone, putting the top back on the press with the ground filter/mesh screen sitting at the top.

Benefits of Coffee presses:

1. relatively inexpensive when compared to electric coffee makers, 
2. do not require to be plugged into a wall outlet 
3. completely portable – You can take them to work, camping, visiting people, etc. All you need is a source of hot water, a press, a spoon, and some grounds.
4. easily cleaned
5. when properly maintained, they will last a long time

Coffee presses can be found in all kinds of sizes, making one cup to many cups per pressing. High-quality ones will last a lifetime, making them great investments to be handed down generationally.

Another simple method of brewing for single cups is with a manual steeper. 

A manual steeper is stainless steel or mesh reusable basket that works much like brewing tea, except it will have smaller holes than a tea steeper. These are great for travel. Even with all the TSA restrictions, you can carry on an airplane as much ground coffee as you can fit inside your bag!!! At the security gate, I usually have my business card handy, knowing there will be “word of smell” advertising (thanks, Dag, for that one!)

Note about automatic coffee makers 

The most popular method for brewing coffee is the automatic drip and express makers, such as Mr. Coffee, Bunn, or Keurig. Using run-of-the-mill coffee grounds, you’ll effectively make a cup of coffee that is hot, black, and underwhelming.

These makers are immersing the grounds based on their own built-in water sprayer, the size of its brewing basket where the coffee grounds are held, along with its method of allowing the brewed liquid to escape. Most automatic makers have a larger brewing basket with a single nozzle sprayer at the top and offer a single hole to escape route for the brewed coffee out the bottom, hence the term “Automatic Drip” maker.

If you have ever pulled the top off the average automatic coffee maker and watched it brew coffee, you’d be amazed at how inconsistent and incomplete it does at getting the grounds wet until much later in the coffee-making process.

Some of the better automatic coffee makers allow the consumer to order different spraying nozzles with multiple jet nozzles that do a more even job of “wetting” the coffee grounds. Some even allow you to slow down or speed up the spray.

K-Cups® for brewing coffee

The most remarkable automatic maker invention of more recent years is the Keurig. The individual pods of coffee they use are ground to a very fine consistency. The water is heated to an extremely high temperature and only in contact with the coffee grounds for a very short period. I notice an unpleasant after taste when drinking coffee made with K-Cups®.

However, it’s hard to beat them for speed and convenience. Walmart, Amazon, and other retailers sell inexpensive disposable and reusable fillable pods for K-Cups® so you can use any coffee you like. If you want a better experience with your Keurig, get some to use with our coffee! We will grind to K-Cup® consistency (choose extra fine). We also have decaf coffee pods, lighter roast coffee pods, darker roast pods and a discounted multi-box bundle if you order 3 more boxes.

Nespresso makes a rather expensive but very nice coffee maker! The pods are incredibly expensive when you consider the per pound cost basis. I have recently found refillable pods for Nespresso makers too.

The inconsistencies and abbreviated immersion methods of these automatic brewers make manual press coffee so much more enjoyable!