If you make really great coffee at home, what do you use?

[YouHaveNoAuthorityHereJackie]

I’ve always just stuck to instant coffee at home but noticed more and more how much I like coffee when I go out, presumably it’s being made properly with better beans. I like black coffees and the odd cappuccino. What would I need to replicate this at home? We had a hand me down nespresso machine for a while which I did like, but gave away due to the pod waste.

Lavassa coffee beans and deLonge Magnifica S+ bean to cup machine. Also vanilla coffee beans added occasionally. Makes a great latte.

Delonghi magnifica bean to cup machine
A lot of people who visit ask for a coffee as soon as they arrive

I use a stovetop moka pot and freshly ground beans. I have used this for 14yrs since I first started drinking coffee when ds was a baby.
It makes lovely espresso, to which I add a little cold milk and more boiled water for a white Americano.
I have tried many different beans but I like Aldi Italian roast beans best

Bit wanky I’m afraid.

Bean to cup with locally roasted, small harvest, fair trade beans we have on a subscription (they send us a couple of small bags a week so we are always using freshly roasted beans, makes a massive difference).

We like longer coffee rather than the espresso type - so we have a very simple filter coffee machine. It’s fab - buy decent coffee and it’s great! Can have it on a timer so coffee is ready in the morning if you like!

If you get one I recommend one with an insulated pot rather than glass as it stays warm for ages!

Can also get a milk frothier is your like that!

@BalladOfBarryAndFreda

Bit wanky I’m afraid.

Bean to cup with locally roasted, small harvest, fair trade beans we have on a subscription (they send us a couple of small bags a week so we are always using freshly roasted beans, makes a massive difference).

Ethical and supportive of a local business. And great coffee, brilliant really.

Thanks for the help everyone. I’ve been eyeing up bean to cup machines, hence my original post. Today I bought a moka pot and some ground beans and WOW. So glad I didn’t go expensive first, it was as easy as waiting for a kettle to boil and the coffee was amazing, I could feel my brain PING awake as I drank it .

@grannycake

I use an aeropress and ground coffee (although I sometimes go through phases of grinding beans), This makes a double espresso with minimal fuss - just add hot milk for a cortado or extra boiling water for an americano. If you're wedded to froth for cappucino you can buy a milk frother but that's more washing up

Aeropress are around £20-25 and last forever

I don’t drink coffee, but this is pretty much what dh does.

We have a sage bean to cup. It was quite expensive but worth it in my view.

We have the Sage Bambino Plus & a seperate grinder. It makes fab coffee!
I'm thinking of getting the Sage grinder next

Yay - a moka convert

To get the very best coffee flavour from your moka pot you need to boil the water before putting it in the pot, don't press the ground coffee into the bit it sits in, and take the pot off the heat as soon as you hear it start to bubble. My results were a bit hit and miss before I found a YouTube video containing these tips from an Italian coffee aficionado and since I've never had a bad cup.

Another aeropress fan. Easy to make, and stupidly easy to clean (as in just put the rubber end under the tap for a few seconds. Makes a small espresso or a longer Americano with equal ease and no claggy stuff at the bottom of the mug like you get with a cafetiere.
I have a big cafetiere if I've got company, but jeeze I hate all the cleaning up.

We bought a Delonghi bean to cup machine with milk frother in 2019 and have used it a couple of times a day, every day, ever since. It's brilliant.
We buy beans from a local coffee place or from Pact.
It's reliable, easy to clean, easy to use and makes really excellent coffee. I usually make a flat white, DH has espresso with hot water - like a short Americano.
It's been particularly appreciated while working from home since the pandemic started.

Midlander88

Fascinated...What possible harm can you do to adding hot water to espresso, as opposed to adding water then espresso?

@Gherkingreen

We bought a Delonghi bean to cup machine with milk frother in 2019 and have used it a couple of times a day, every day, ever since. It's brilliant. We buy beans from a local coffee place or from Pact. It's reliable, easy to clean, easy to use and makes really excellent coffee. I usually make a flat white, DH has espresso with hot water - like a short Americano. It's been particularly appreciated while working from home since the pandemic started.

Mine’s a DeLonghi too (eletta cappuccino), bloody brilliant. Press the button and boom, excellent coffee.

Aeropress at work, moka pot at home (occasionally a cafetière). And a dark roast coffee from Pact delivered every few weeks. Usually whole bean, which I grind per cup in my Hario mini hand grinder. I am supposed to limit my caffeine intake (bladder issues) so I have one coffee a day and make it a good one! Taste really is all about the actual coffee rather than the brew method.
(Cafe Direct Machu Pichu ground coffee is what we use in our catering percolator at the community cafe I run once a month and it is also pretty good, and economical)

I've tried lots over the years and now have a De Longhi machine with milk frother and although it makes a great cup of coffee, nothing makes coffee as good as my little stovetop moka pot.

Ground coffee in a cafetiere. Bliss. Love the slightly grainy texture. Can't abide Nespresso coffee, too smooth, too short, goes cold too quickly.

Stovetop pot, with really good beans , ground each day.

I use a cafetiere. I think the most important thing is to find the right coffee. My personal favourite is Kentish Dragon from St Applehurst Roast, but just cause I like it doesn't mean you will. I also love their Brazilian Santos and Cafe Direct's Macchu Picchu.
I know some people who rave about Dark Woods coffee, but it didn't suit me.
Once you've found the right coffee then start experimenting with fancy machines and grinding your own beans if you feel the need, but start with getting the right coffee.

Sage (Breville) Bambino Plus with a Niche Zero grinder. I prefer the flexibility of separate grinder to make pourer as well as espresso drinks and the Bambino Plus for me was right balance between size and functionality. The automatic milk steaming function is amazing.

I've tried everything over the years ... now I stick to a single cone filter over a mug ... easy and uncomplicated!

Aeropress with Lavazza ground. Over the years we have tried an old style percolator, cafetiere, bialetti stove top and a pour over. Aeropress wins for me.

Agree with pp that you need to get the coffee right - we got one of those coffee advent calendars for Christmas and didn't really like any of them!