With so many variations available for coffee lovers to brew their life juice, let's a take a quick look at the 5 most popular.
Drip Brewing
While you don’t usually hear this term thrown around in conversation about coffee, drip brewing is actually the method most people in America think of when they hear the words “coffee machine.” It just refers to brewing coffee by having hot water poured over coffee grounds, allowing it to drip through a filter and finally into a pot/carafe.
It’s a basic, reliable method that can make a lot of cups at one time, and requires nothing more than a $10 machine—but this method isn’t going to win any awards for flavor, aroma, or texture. If you’ve tried more advanced brewing methods—i.e. pour over brewing, French press/AeroPress brewing, cold brewing, etc.—it’s hard to be satisfied with what comes out of a standard drip coffee maker.
Single-Serve Cup/Coffee Pod Brewing
Brewing with a single-serve machine like a Keurig or a Nespresso is undeniably the fastest way to get a single cup of coffee, if that’s all you’re after. The shortcomings of these kinds of quick brewing methods are that the water typically doesn’t get hot enough—or stay on the coffee long enough—to get the most flavor (and caffeine) out of the coffee grounds inside the pods.
Because of the internal mechanisms and “plumbing,” they also require regular maintenance to keep the coffee tasting as good as possible.. But sometimes, you’re in a rush and you just need a cup of joe to hold you over, and for those situations a K-cup or N-pod can be your salvation.
Cold Brewing
Totally different from iced coffee (hot coffee poured over ice), cold brewing is a method where you actually use cold water to steep coffee grounds. It has significantly more caffeine in it, and concentrated cold brew without additives can keep in the fridge for about two weeks (!). It’s also a good method to try out if you like iced coffee but want a smoother, less bitter tasting experience. Since it’s not made with ice, it also tends to have a much less “watered down” taste, like can sometimes result when you’re pouring hot coffee over ice.
Pour Over Brewing
Pour over coffee sounds fancy to some—especially those who have only ever brewed coffee with an auto drip machine. Actually pretty similar to how a classic drip coffee machine works, pour over brewing involves manually pouring hot water into a filter over ground coffee.
Compared to a standard “coffee machine,” the pour over method slowly extracts a richer, more aromatic, more flavorful cup of brew. This method also gives you finer control over some aspects of the brewing process, which in turn can alter the characteristics of the coffee. Like drip brewing, the pour over method is good for making a lot of cups of coffee at once, except cups brewed via the pour over method are generally of higher quality (taste, texture, aroma, etc.).
French Press
If you’re looking for a dark, dense, caffeine-packed cup of coffee, brewing with a French press may be for you. It’s a little slower than some other brewing methods, but the end result is undeniably worth the extra few minutes. Like learning how to use a percolator, using a french press is a method that typically requires some personal trial and error to get a feel for it.
It’s important not to let the coffee over extract, or you’ll end up with a truly bitter cup of joe (or joséph in this case). If you like the idea of brewing with a French press but want a simpler, faster way to brew with easier cleanup, check out the AeroPress.
