How to upgrade your love with coffee

by Abbygaile Rodriguez

We’ve all been through the sleepless nights reviewing or making our thesis. Who saves us but a cup of coffee! It has always been part of this routine. The expenses at a specialty coffee place can definitely add up with the multiple study sessions leading up to examination week.

At the same time, sometimes the experience of a freshly brewed cup of coffee just doesn’t match up to one made from a sachet of instant coffee. If you’re starting to get tired of instant coffee, and you want to upgrade your coffee experience at home on a budget, below are some tips on where to start your own coffee station.

Choose your brew of choice

There are different tools to brew coffee, all at varying price points.  For the more well-off coffee enthusiasts, they normally splurge and get themselves an espresso machine for their home. However, since we want to consider the student budget, the choices need to be a little more on the affordable side. You can choose between the following budget friendly home brewing options under P600

Chemex Style Pour Over Coffee Maker.It comes with a reusable filter so you don’t have to buy the disposable ones every time.

French Press. This is also an easy and affordable way to brew coffee at home, you can buy them almost anywhere at an affordable price. I bought mine at Handyman for P400.

Moka Pot. Depending on their quality and serving size, a Moka Pot can range from P200 to a few thousand pesos. They can be found on Shopee, just make sure to check the reviews. These are a little bit trickier to brew with on the stovetop, after a few tries you should get it right. These produce a very strong brew, right behind an espresso. There are several tutorials on how to hack espresso with a Moka pot and make espresso drinks you can get at cafes like a cappucino, latte or a flat white at home like this one Making Cappuccino/Latte/Flat White at Home (without an Espresso Machine).

Would you like to grind your own coffee beans?

Many coffee snobs always say to avoid pre-ground coffee beans and only grind them fresh right before you brew it. To the newbie, I say it doesn’t make that much of a difference. However, if you’re curious as to why it’s a very prominent rule to grind your own coffee, Perfect Daily Grind says that the reason is that it’s usually better to grind your own coffee.

It becomes more exposed to environmental factors. Therefore, the longer it sits it loses its flavors and aromas. However, if you don’t have access to a good quality coffee grinder (these are normally very pricey), you could end up having an uneven grind. An uneven grind means an uneven brew and you’ll end up with a poor cup of coffee. You’re better off with pre-ground coffee that’s well stored.

Coffee Beans. There is a huge market for coffee beans. However, I would recommend supporting local coffee farmers. Try and search in your area if there are independent coffee bean sellers or in the public markets to see if you can find any. Try and experiment with different blends sourced from different places and make sure to support local.

Now that I have the coffee brewing equipment, what do I do now?

There are many different techniques and methods in home brewing coffee. To make good coffee at home, it helps to learn and research more about the different ways to make the best cup that you can. James Hoffman has many tutorials on different coffee brewing methods and his content is very educational. Other sites offer many tips and tricks to brewing coffee like PerfectDailyGrind.com.

Additional Notes

Please keep in mind that these are the bare minimum supplies for starting to brew coffee at home. If you want to expand your collection with other supplies like a weighing scale or higher quality equipment then feel free to do so, this is merely a guide to home brewed coffee newbies on where to start their set up.