Money-saving strategy for brewing coffee at home-- A guide to the selection of equipment and coffee beans for beginners

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The editor has been making coffee for about seven or eight years. I dare not say that I am a master, but I have stepped on a lot of thunder. Today, the editor wants to describe how beginners should enter the field of brewing coffee from a consumer's point of view. With the most economical amount, drink the coffee that suits you best.

Everyone starts to make coffee for different reasons. This article only talks about the most economical and labor-saving way of brewing and judging.

Iced coffee, hot coffee, latte, espresso at home?

Many people think that they can only make hot coffee at home, but as long as they are used correctly, all four kinds of coffee can be easily made at home. For all kinds of brewing methods, the common corresponding equipment are as follows:

Hot American coffee: coffee maker, French presser, hand coffee, Philharmonic pressure, siphon pot. Basically all cooking utensils can be used.

Iced coffee: ice drop kettle, coffee maker, French presser, hand coffee, Philharmonic pressure, siphon pot. Basically all cooking utensils can be used.

Latte: Italian coffee maker, mocha pot

Espresso: Italian coffee maker, mocha pot

How to choose the way and equipment to make coffee?

Although there are several common ways to make coffee, coffee makers and French presses are actually the highest in terms of CP values. Hand-brewing coffee is fun, but it requires a lot of time, money and technology. It does make hot and cold coffee, and it tastes good, but there are a lot of skills to learn. To tell you the truth, beginners have to learn how to presoak, the size of water flow, the extraction rate, the ratio of coffee powder to water, the thickness of coffee powder on the cup wall, the location of brewing, and other factors, which are really a little complicated. Therefore, even if hand-brewing coffee is the current trend, the editor does not recommend it for everyone.

The coffee machine is really convenient, just press a button, but the initial investment is a little higher, and the elasticity is relatively low, and there are American and Italian coffee machines. The editor's suggestion is to use the coffee machine as your second coffee-making equipment. First use the French press to find your preferred taste, and then use that taste to choose the right coffee machine.

The French kettle is the first choice recommended by the editor for beginners, and the French kettle of about a hundred pieces is easy to use. The French kettle can do almost all the effects that hand-brewed coffee can do, or even more. Ice, hot, lattes, milk bubbles and even cold coffee can be made. The metal strainer just needs to be boiled in hot water every week. Although the French press is still not as easy as the coffee machine, a device can make ice, hot, American, latte and other coffee, but also can be used to make tea or milk bubbles. With low initial cost, high flexibility and many ways to play, it is the most suitable choice for beginners in addition to the coffee machine.

What's so particular about coffee beans?

For beginners, apart from the price, the editor thinks that the most important thing to know is the degree of baking! The degree of baking can be divided into light baking, medium baking and deep baking. Remember a principle: the deeper the beans are roasted, the less sour they are, but the less the coffee beans have their own characteristics. The lighter the beans are, the more sour they are, but the easier it is to preserve the characteristics of the coffee beans themselves.

In addition to the baking degree, the choice of coffee beans also has a lot to do with the way you want to brew. If you want to drink American black coffee, it is not recommended to buy low-cost espresso beans / powder, because Italian synthesis is usually used in high-temperature and high-pressure extraction processes such as espresso machines or mocha pots. Beans are usually roasted to a deeper depth, with charcoal-based flavor, just right with milk, but it is relatively difficult to taste the unique flavor of boutique coffee.

Of course, none of the above is absolute, and there is nothing wrong with making Italian beans into American coffee. But after all, the lowest price of individual coffee beans is the same as that of Italian composite beans. Remember, even a packet of 25 yuan 100 grams of coffee, as long as you use the right method, you can start to learn the introduction to boutique coffee.

Is there a big difference between coffee beans sold online and coffee beans sold in coffee shops?

Coffee beans are mainly divided into supermarket shopping malls, online stores and coffee roasting stores these several purchase methods, the quality, of course, is good and bad, so it is best to try a small amount and then long-term order. As for whether a large bag or a small bag has nothing to do with quality, it depends on the consumption rate of the individual, but you need to pay attention to the baking date and the best flavor period of the coffee beans (not the shelf life). In addition, there are ways for consumers to keep them after they buy them back. After the coffee package is opened, if it is not preserved properly, ochratoxin may be produced, which will affect human health. So no matter where you buy it, buying it in moderation and drinking it in time is the key point.

What is the price and grade of coffee beans?

The business world is mainly supply and demand, and the more expensive beans are not necessarily better than the cheaper ones, often because some coffee beans are distinctive and demand exceeds supply, causing prices to soar abnormally (for example, some shit coffee). In many cases, beans sold for 200 yuan are not usually five times as good as 40 beans. It is only because the production of 200 beans is limited that there is a significant price difference.

Therefore, the editor suggested that we should mainly buy some basic beans to drink. The daily cost can be controlled between 7-20 yuan (tuhao please feel free), occasionally drink some special coffee to taste fresh, live a good taste of life. For example, Xiaobian personally likes to buy coffee beans in small packages, buying three kinds of basic beans in large producing areas such as Brazilian beans, Yega, and Mantenin in a month, supplying stable, cost-effective, and slightly higher-priced coffee beans such as a bag of manor-grade boutique beans. Even if you drink coffee as water as an editor, you have to drink more than two cups of 800ml a day, and it costs a lot less to buy beans every month than to order coffee outside. You can also drink a variety of better coffee and new experiences of all kinds of coffee.

Although I have never been to Brazil, a big coffee producer, Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, or Panama, the representative of fine coffee, I have at least drunk several local coffee beans with different flavors. It's interesting to think about it. Isn't that the charm of making your own coffee?

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