Quick Guide to a Beginner’s Coffee Brewer Mind

We take much for granted in life. Recently, I realised I had not cherished my inherited coffee culture enough, as my friend was clueless about how to use a couple of bags of Guatemalan coffee I gifted him.

Coffee-fueled afternoons with some small-talk have always been part of my life. I grew up conversing with my loving grandmother, accompanied by some “Pan Dulce” (sweet bread eaten as dessert in Latin America) and “Cafe con Leche” (an Americano with a tad of milk) as early in life as I can recall.

To make good coffee, one doesn’t need to break the bank or get a fancy machine that does all the work for you, as it is pretty simple.

I like my coffee prepared using an Italian Moka; with it, one can easily convert ground beans into espresso shots which are the equivalent of “a coffee base unit”.

I would say, however, that this method requires proper measurement of coffee as drinking it like one would industrial gas station coffee would not be much pleasant either. Still, as a delicatessen, it is with propper-sized espresso cups, or at least an equivalent measure of them.

For those who still like the feeling of drinking plenty or those who might not yet like the taste of good simple coffee, I would suggest looking into some prepared drinks that one can easily brew at home.

One can prepare drinks at home with espresso shots, macchiatos if one only likes a tad of milk, or a cortado if one likes a bit more of it added to your coffee; even more, milk would make a flat white. (Hint: If one wants to be a bit more professional and impress guests, then one could brew the milk as well, giving the drink the pro-barista look and taste.) And if one needs to keep adding milk to it but doesn’t want a latte, then perhaps one should consider sticking to black coffee with some biscuits instead of venturing into the world of coffee.

Adding hot water to our espresso shot up to fill an 8, 12 or 16 oz cup (20 is a bit too much Starbucks) would make the traditional “Americano”. If one prefers hot milk to water, that would be a “Latte”. The cold versions of these are Iced Coffees and Iced Lattes, respectively.

Also, if one likes Americanos with a bit of milk, that is known in french speaking places as “Cafe Au Lait” or, more commonly in Latin America, as the classic “Cafe con Leche”. Cappuccinos are similar but do require a bit more work, so their preparation of them and other drinks might be a bit out of the scope of this beginner’s coffee mind post.

Thee are other fantastic methods to brew coffee as well, but they do tend to be more limited than what one can do with a Moka. Making drip coffee with filters such as Chemex looks fantastic and tastes smooth but does limit one’s barista ventures after it.

Another easy way of making good-tasting coffee that looks intellectual would be using the French Press, a quick starting point for brewing but not as powerful for making other coffee-based drinks.

Finally, if truly limited by time, one could even get a low-cost “coffee maker” in the market. But let’s be honest, one might be better off waiting to get to the office and drink some perks instead of using it as one won’t get the full taste of the coffee from it, just a bit improved version of the industrialised version commonly sold.

Anything more than what we discussed here is too much for a beginner’s coffee mind for personal brewing. However, if one does discover a passion for it and wants to open up a coffee shop to disrupt Dunkin, Cafe Nero, or Pret, we could chat a bit further about excellent machines and drinks one can prepare with some grains, creativity, and love.

Some examples if you would like to start:

Italian Moka

Espresso Cups

Chemex

French Press

Coffee Maker

Please follow up with any feedback or doubts about this article, thanks.

~Roberto Baldizon