Do you love iced coffee but can’t afford to keep buying them from coffee shops? I feel the same way. Paying $6 or more for an iced latte including a tip (and oat milk, of course) has me making my coffee at home more and more. There are so many different ways to brew coffee. Here are some of the best ways to make coffee at home, that are both accessible and reliable.
#1: Cold Brewed Coffee
Ease: 4/5
Speed: 1/5
Strength: 5/5
Cold brew is so much easier to make than it appears at first glance. Similar to hot coffee, you just need water and ground coffee. Instead of running hot water through your coffee grounds, the grounds sit in cold or room temperature water for a long time, usually up to 24 hours, but overnight works, too. The long contact period is what gives the cold brew the strong flavor and caffeine levels it’s known for.
While any coffee beans can work with cold brew, the strength and flavor depend on what coffee you pick. Just make sure that the beans are coarse ground, otherwise they’ll slip through the filters and into your cold brew.
Spoon Tip: Coffee shops that sell their beans will often also grind them for you. You can buy your coffee beans in-store and have them coarse-ground to make sure that you’re getting the right texture for your needs. You can also do this yourself in some grocery stores or buy a bean grinder!
Get started:
Bodum Bistro electric coffee grinder ($20)
Dunkin’ Donuts cold brew steeping packets ($10)
Bodum cold brew coffee maker ($15)
Lardera cold brew pitcher ($24)
#2: Iced Coffee Makers
Ease: 4/5
Speed: 5/5
Strength: 2/5
Most people make iced coffee by simply pouring ice over their brewed coffee. This is a tried and true method, but coffee brewers specifically designed for iced coffee have also become popular lately. These machines are usually smaller than traditional coffee brewers and (oftentimes) dishwasher safe, making them a more efficient option for college students who don’t drink hot coffee.
Get started:
Vinci Express Cold Brew Coffee Maker ($80)
Mr. Coffee Iced Coffee Maker ($35
#3: Moka Pot
Ease: 1/5
Speed: 2/5
Strength: 5/5
Moka pot coffee is an old-school style of coffee brewing that’s popular in Europe and Latin America. Moka pots have a bit of a learning curve but produce strong, tasty coffee when used correctly.
Brewing coffee with a moka pot is done on a stovetop. The bottom of the moka pot is filled with cold water and a smaller canister of ground coffee is placed into it. When filling the pot with water, make sure to not cover the valve that releases steam when too much pressure builds in the pot or the pressure will collect in the pot. If pressure can’t escape, it may cause the moka pot to explode.
Once the moka pot is placed on the stove, use medium heat to warm up the water. Pressure from the water vapor pushes water through the coffee grounds, which collects in the upper chamber of the moka pot.
Get Started:
Whitbread Wilkinson Pantone Moka Pot ($12)
Bialetti Moka Pot ($3)
Spoon Tip: Head to your local Latin supermarket to get a Moka pot!
#4: Pod Coffee
Ease: 5/5
Speed: 5/5
Strength: 2/5
For anyone looking for a quick, easy, hands-off method, this is for you. Pod-brewed coffee, most popularly Keurig and Nespresso machines, are a popular brewing method. Just pop a pod of coffee into your machine of choice and hit brew. Some of the more expensive machines have more options, but it’s a simple process overall.
Get started:
Reusable Vertuo pods ($14)
Reusable K-Cups ($9)
Nespresso Vertuo Next ($179)
Keurig K Mini ($76)
#5: Drip Coffee
Ease: 4/5
Speed: 3/5
Strength: 2/5
In my opinion, drip coffee is the most basic coffee brewing method. It’s as classic as coffee gets and an easy way to brew multiple cups at once, which makes it perfect for people who want to drink multiple cups of coffee and aren’t super picky about it.
Drip coffee can be brewed with any coffee, and most ground coffee bags you see at the grocery store are a fine enough grind for brewed coffee (and are often ground with drip coffee makers in mind). To make drip coffee, just put a coffee filter in the brewer and add your grounds. Most machines will tell you how much coffee to put in the machine.
Get started:
Mr. Coffee Programmable Coffee Maker ($35)
Amazon Basics 5-Cup Coffee Maker ($25
#6: French Press
Ease: 3/5
Speed: 3/5
Strength: 3/5
French press coffee is a brewing method that is easy to master but still makes you feel fancy. French press coffee is made by steeping grounds in hot water and slowly pushing them to the bottom of the brewer (where the press in French press comes from). Like cold brew, french press grounds need to be a little coarser than typical drip coffee in order to not slip through the filter.
Get started:
Starbucks French press ($33)
COUPLET Heart French press ($32)
Bodum Caffetteria French press ($25) with matching Bodum Oktett tumblers ($16)
Bonus: Store-Bought Cold Brew
Ease: 5/5
Speed: 5/5
Strength: 5/5
For anyone looking to make coffee at home with minimal effort, cold brew can be bought pre-packaged from pretty much every grocery store. You can buy cold brew as a concentrate that you dilute with water to drink or as straight cold brew that comes ready-to-serve.
Get started:
Starbucks Cold Brew Concentrate ($10)
Stok Cold Brew ($6)