Each week the Filter newsletter cuts through the noise to bring you smart, practical recommendations on how to live better – from what is worth buying to the tools, habits and ideas that actually last.
I have very specific coffee preferences. The mere thought of a weak brew or bland beans is enough to send a shiver up my spine. I’ve all but perfected my at-home coffee, which I make in my trusty moka pot. Recently, I shared how I use it to make a delicious cup of iced coffee. Over the course of a week, I saved more than $40 compared with what I would have spent at Starbucks.
Try the recipe: Moka pot coffee: unlock cafe-quality iced lattes at home with this $50 Italian staple
As easy as a moka pot is, it’s still not as popular as machine-brewed drip coffee. And whether you’re brewing in the Moccamaster (beloved by coffee connoisseurs including our testers at the Filter UK) or a trusty Mr Coffee or anything in between, I wanted advice on how more people could upgrade their at-home coffee game.
So I turned to award-winning baristas and coffee connoisseurs, including a former barista world champion, for help. Below are four of their best tips for brewing a better pot of coffee.
The coffee pro’s favorite: Moccamaster KBGV Select Coffee Maker
Meet our coffee experts
Noah Stern: a home barista and content creator sharing coffee tutorials with an audience of more than 500,000 people.
Morgan Eckroth: the 2022 US barista champion and author of the forthcoming coffee guide Coffee, for Here.
Derrick Woniala: a home barista and coffee educator, creating content for an audience of 60,000 on YouTube as Dero De Barista.
Emma Carrero: head barista for % Arabica USA.
Justin Piercy: owner of the Canadian micro roastery Got Coffee Co.
More of our coffee coverage:
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Milk frothers: The best milk frothers in the US for everything from lattes to hot chocolate
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Instant coffee v drip: our blind taste test may unravel your assumptions
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Give banana coffee a chance. How to make the viral (and delicious) Korean treat
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How I brew cafe-quality coffee anywhere, from campsite to carry-on
Splurge on beans
While higher-quality beans can be expensive, you can buy in bulk to save money. To preserve freshness, Stern said you can put beans into multiple small bags in the freezer (fill each bag with the amount of coffee you’ll use in a week). “You can grind it straight from frozen. Just don’t open and close the same bag over and over in the freezer. The exposure to air is what speeds up staleness,” he said.
Eckroth advised sampling blends from your local coffee roastery or shop. “Talking to a barista or roaster about what you like in a cup of coffee and having them point you to a good option is a great way to start exploring different coffees,” she said.
Piercy’s recommendations included my own preferred brand, Counter Culture. One of my favorite blends is Big Trouble, which has a nutty, chocolaty flavor profile.
Counter Culture Coffee’s Big Trouble Whole Bean Coffee
Carrero recommended several other roasters, including Seekers Coffee, % Arabica, La Cabra, Sey and Dayglow, saying they offer “high-quality coffees with well-developed flavor profiles that work very well for drip preparation”.
And give some attention to the second ingredient
“Great coffee isn’t about expensive equipment – it’s about controlling the small details,” said Woniala.
“Water plays a huge part in coffee flavor,” said Eckroth. Many of our coffee experts agreed, suggesting using filtered water for better results.
To take your drip coffee to the next level, both Stern and Eckroth suggested using remineralized water, which you can purchase in individual packets.
Coffee Water Mineral Packs
Grind at home
All five of the coffee experts emphasized that freshly ground coffee is a game-changer. It “preserves aroma and flavor much better than pre-ground coffee,” Carrero said.
“Freshly ground quality coffee will always yield better results than cheap, stale beans,” Eckroth said.
She suggested investing in a stainless steel burr grinder. Our colleagues at the Filter UK recommend this model, which is available here in the US and has five different grind settings.
KINGrinder K6 Manual Hand Coffee Grinder
Don’t skip cleaning your carafe
“Coffee oils go rancid, and they will wreck the flavor of even great beans. Run a cleaning cycle or descale regularly,” said Piercy.
And, if possible, try to clean your machine right after use. “Leaving coffee sitting in the machine for too long can negatively affect flavor,” advised Carrero, adding: “Poor cleaning of the machine can lead to unwanted taste buildup over time.”
Best of: milk frothers
Milk frothers are yet another way to upgrade your at-home coffee game, whether you’re making a frothy cappuccino or want to add a delicate layer of foam to a cup of drip.
Our tester, Michael Berk, put several models to the test before crowning the Nespresso Aerocino as our overall winner.
This budget pick from Aerolatte was another of our favorites, striking “the best balance between affordability and performance”, Berk wrote.
Nespresso Aeroccino 4
Aerolatte
Get our recommendations: The best milk frothers in the US for everything from lattes to hot chocolate
Put to the test: USB chargers
A slow charger can sorely test your patience.
Recently, we tried 22 different USB models, pushing the chargers to their limits using a “dummy load” to find the very best. In the end, this lightweight, versatile model came out on top for its ability to charge multiple devices at once without overheating.
Discover the best USB chargers: We stress tested 22 USB chargers to find the best for phones, laptops, travel and more
Product review: Sonos speakers
When Filter writers are not listening to music on their retro MP3 players, they’re trying out the latest releases in the audio tech space. Recently, Simon Cohen, a Filter US contributor, tested three speakers from Sonos, including its newly launched portable speaker made with recycled plastics.
In the end, Sonos play’s features, such as Automatic TruePlay and a durable design, left Cohen impressed. “If you want a portable speaker that might truly be the last you’ll ever need to buy, the Play is unmatched,” Cohen wrote.
Sonos Play Speaker
Read the story: Sonos review: Are these the best portable speakers that money can buy? I tested to find out
In case you missed it: our favorite blenders
As we luxuriate in the first beautiful days of spring, I’ve begun to crave smoothies instead of the stews I’ve cooked up all winter long. So I thought it fitting to revisit the Filter’s roundup of favorite blenders.
To find the very best, Marian Bull tested nine different models, whipping up concoctions from pesto to peanut butter. In the end, she crowned the bestselling Vitamix 5200 as her overall favorite for its speedy blend time and the wealth of different speed settings to choose from.
Vitamix 5200 Blender
And if you’re on the market for a (nearly) plastic-free option, Bull also loved this one from Oster.
Oster Classic Series Heritage Blender with 6-Cup Glass Jar
Discover the best blenders: The best blenders in the US: five favorites for smoothies, soups and frozen drinks