Is a really good coffee at home down to the beans or down to the machine?

[Dup]

In other words, should I spend a few hundred on a fancy bean to cup machine?

Or do I just need to buy the very best, freshest ground coffee I can, and my plunge cafetière is good enough?

I am fed up of making coffee where I can’t taste that really good, authentic ‘coffee’ taste!

I use a Krups Expert Burr Electric Grinder but I am, alas, constrained by budget so I don’t know whether pricier grinders offer any improvements.

When my working day was spent around the Inns of Court the best coffee was at Monmouth Coffee Co in Covent Garden - and they used individual ceramic filters cones, with paper filters. So I switched to that (despite a shelf full of coffee paraphernalia at home). Now, and for the past twenty years, I use a paperless filter. And grind beans by hand. For one or two people it’s perfection.

It’s also down to the water, if you live in a hard water area get a Brita water filter as hard water doesn’t make nice coffee.

The best coffee is made with an old-fashioned ceramic filter that goes over the cup and filter papers, I have found. Boiled water that has been allowed to cool a little. Personally I like Cafe Noir or Lavazza Rosso ground coffee. It stays fresher if you keep it in the fridge.

Also had very nice Dallmayr coffee pods recently in Germany and plan to investigate if these are available in the UK. Tasty, but not bitter like Nespresso.

The best way to make coffee is in a cafetière and you just need to buy a coffee to your taste (I choose a strong (5) French blend and crucially use enough of it, if you’re not getting a good coffee taste you aren’t using enough. I find coffee shop coffee weak

Another Bialetti Moka pot lover here , a lot depends on how often you want to drink coffee during the day as I only drink 1-2 cups a day

I'm thinking cafetiere & moka pot are both relatively cheap so worth trying both.

I only really do coffee in the mornings.
I don't think I want a full on coffee machine on the worktop. Enough stuff there.

@Newname26 I think the Moka pot gives a much smoother coffee , avoids any bitterness you can sometimes get with cafetière. Make sure with a moka pot you buy one big enough e.g my 3 cup only gives you enough coffee for one latte or milky coffee

Do you grind you own beans or buy ground?

@Newname26 a mixture of both I really like Bialetti’s own coffee, I think this is nice for a ground coffee
https://www.johnlewis.com/bialetti-moka-classico-ground-coffee-250g/p5112673?s_ppc=2dx_mixed_home_BAU&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20155424063&gbraid=0AAAAAD2el1xwYfDLvJES7QQ6uLRFzZ-NT&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyI_VwuublgMVz5ZQBh1hYSKhEAQYCiABEgJk4vD_BwE

I get a brilliant cup of coffee using my refillable Tassimo pod & milk frother. I use Iley coffee & have never had a bad cup.

DP has a grinding machine then uses a one cup filter with paper filters. Some kind of health reason but I can’t remember what. He drinks it black.