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HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT COFFEE AT HOME

THE VERY BEST GEAR SO YOU CAN BREW THE PERFECT FIX

Written by Menswear Style in Tech on the 21st November 2018

The UK was once known for their taste for Tea, but that has changed somewhat in the past few years. Good quality coffee has become more accessible, meaning we have a much better option than the instant variety that doesn’t taste very pleasant at all. There is now a cool specialist coffee shop on every high street and chain coffee shops now feel rather passé. However, some of these new arrivals are charging up to £5 for a single serving.

So, if you’re anything like us and drink multiple cups of coffee per day, this can be a rather costly habit (£15 daily anyone?). Another problem; maybe you don’t live next to a swanky bean-grinding space at all. However, did you know you can get good, balanced quality coffee right from the comfort of your home, even if you have no idea what you’re doing, at a much cheaper price? We’ve put together a few recommendations for the very best coffee gear so you can brew your preferred cup at home today.

Miele CM 7750 CoffeeSelect

This countertop coffee maker in black with silver details is simply stunning. It offers four useful features and you can select from three different bean types at the touch of a button. This is handy if you live in a household of differing tastes and for those who drink decaf. The conical steel grinder (preserves aroma better than ceramic grinders) is impressively quiet and gentle, meaning there’s no chance of waking anybody up with a 6am pre-gym espresso before work.

Furthermore, this is the only countertop coffee machine which self-descales and uses sensors to automatically adjust the height of the spout to the size of the cup. Even you deem yourself the complete barista novice, you’re in good hands here because there are 16 coffee specialities available to choose from, ranging from Coffee Crema, Espresso, Cappuccino or Latte Macchiato through to Long Black or Flat White. Added to this, there is also hot water at various temperatures for making tea. Another neat feature is the Miele mobile app which allows you to send over your requested drink order from a smartphone or tablet.

This is handy if you’re waking up from bed and are heading for a shower. Your coffee will be downstairs waiting for you once you’re ready. Alongside the features already mentioned, the Miele CM 7750 CoffeeSelect has a removable brew unit and automatically cleans milk lines. These benefits are joined by tried-and-tested features such as the programming of up to 10 user profiles via the touch display, LED lighting of the coffee spout recess and the coffee jug function for up to 10 cups in quick succession. It retails for £2049, but it is the best fuss-free speciality coffee maker around.

IKAWA Coffee Roaster

This stylish piece of tech is an app-controlled home coffee roaster that gives you professional control. It’s used around the world at home and by professionals, helping coffee producers, roasters, baristas and educators roast and evaluate their coffees with more precision than ever. The beautiful app-controlled IKAWA Smart Home Roaster has everything you need to roast incredible coffees at home. Including a World Selection pack; a selection of 6 packs of 500g of green coffee with accompanying Roast Recipes so you can just plug it in and go. It retails for £1270, but worth it for the difference in taste you will get from freshly roasted coffee.

Speciality Coffee

We recommend trying out many different coffee brands to arrive at your preference. Monmouth, Allpess, Square Mile and Caravan are a few of our favourites here at MenswearStyle HQ. Also, a top tip is to use bottled or filtered water because tap water often doesn’t taste good to begin with, so it won't taste any good with coffee added. Another great tip is to always buy beans and grind just before brewing. The Miele coffee maker above will do this for you too. You can buy freshly roasted coffee beans from great roasters on subscription for a regular fix or roast your own using the IKAWA roaster above which will ensure you have the freshest coffee possible. Supermarket coffee is convenient and cheaper, but the quality is commonly quite low, and there is no way of knowing when it was roasted (best before dates can be up to 12 months).

KeepCup Glass

We would recommend getting a takeout coffee cup so if, for example, you need to unexpectedly leave the house after recently making yourself your favourite coffee, you take it with you. KeepCup have ones crafted from blown tempered glass which creates a premium drinking experience best suited to a coffee ritual. They’re built to last and the components are detachable and replaceable too. The glass 12OZ size costs £18.50, but worth every penny for a world’s first barista standard reusable cup.