Nice coffee at home.

[ChooksAndBooks]

I would really like to be able to make a decent cup of coffee in my own kitchen.

A lot of the top rated coffee machines cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds or use pods or capsules which are really bad for the environment.

Does anyone have any suggestions for something that's £100 or under?

I bought a (cheap) electric bean/spice grinder and just buy beans. We use a cafetière or a espresso maker (the kind you put on the job) depending on what we’re trying to achieve.

I’ve got one of these types of things.

www.delonghi.com/en-gb/products/coffee/coffee-makers/pump-espresso

I don’t use the milk frothed though - I just heat milk in microwave.

I’d stay away from pods - you’re too restricted to coffees then. With a lump you can use anything ground.

(I’ve also had a stove top pot which for a while I loved, but was definitely a faff.)

I use an aeropress. Better than any machine and about £30. Buy coffee from Hasbean or Pact or other roasters.

My partner would agree with pp - Aeropress is the best way to make coffee at home. He’s pretty fussy about coffee and really likes aeropress coffee. He did have his own grinder, but they kept breaking, so he just buys good quality ground coffee now.

Get an Aeropress as pp have suggested, and a metal filter (about £5 off Amazon) so you don't have to faff about with the paper ones that it comes with

Buy a stove top mocha pot. That's what we do.

We’ve got a mokka pot and it makes lovely coffee. Tbh we just use the Lavazza ground coffee. I’ve tried everything else in the supermarket and this is the one we keep coming back to.

May branch out in to a coffee subscription at some point.

I bought a cuisinart bean to cup machine, you can also use it with ready ground coffee. It is good and about £50. It's quite compact, the only problem is that the Dcs have decided to like coffee but it will only do one mug at a time.

Another vote for aeropress here

Can't beat a good old filter coffee if you ask me!

Aeropress. Quite happy using the paper filters - I make one last a whole bag of coffee 😁
Interested in the metal one tho, but thought the mesh looked a bit loose?

Agree with Aeropress, or even cheaper and less fuss V60 (basically a little drip filter that sits on top of your mug. Cheap, easy and good coffee). If you like cappuccino etc you can pick up a milk frother quite cheaply

SwissGold KF300 is brilliant if you only need to make one cup.

Mokka pot. I actually went to a day long coffee seminar (very very bored on a rainy camping holiday) and the barista recommended this, it's what she had at home. I've never looked back.

I use a moka pot (which I call an Italian coffee maker), grind my own beans first. For me, it is all about the milk, so I buy the creamiest I can, usually from a local farm.

I agree with you about the environmental aspect, but also for me I don't think anyone machine could froth the milk like professionals can, so I don't even bother trying, and I know that any machine I could afford would ultimately be disappointing

Aeropress or v60, then a grinder and buy decent coffee beans

I should have said they need to be capable of making coffee for 2 fairly easy.

Buy beans and an electric grinder. I found it's not the way you make it (aeropress/cafetière/mokka) but using coffee in its most natural form as you can.

There's a company in the UK (will find link) that import the fruit and roast to order.

I have the Lavazza Fantasia which makes an idiot-proof cappucino. The coffee is absolutely delicious and milk froth is perfect every time. I buy the Lavazza eco pods which are 100% compostible. Honestly the Fantasia is the best thing ever.

I use an electric grinder to grind my own beans and use this. The glass carafe got broken fairly quickly by DH because everything glass gets broken in this house but I use a pottery jug and it works just as well. The type of bean makes a difference, I like Monsoon Malabar. There was a bit of experimentation with the grinder to get the right volume and fineness of grind but it's all pretty quick and straightforward now. You don't need paper filters for it, just scrape out the coffee with a teaspoon, and it can go in the dishwasher or you just rinse it under the tap.

I also have a Presso which makes slightly better coffee but is a lot more faff so given that my mornings are fairly hectic I stick to the filter method.