Three Essential Accessories for Brewing Coffee

Jan 21, 2025 - 12:41
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Three Essential Accessories for Brewing Coffee
Brewing Coffee

There are many factors that go into brewing the perfect cup of coffee, no matter what method you use. In addition to choosing quality beans with the right roast and brewing time, there are three important aspects to consider: grind, brew ratio, water, and temperature. To ensure accuracy and ease of control over these variables, you need to use the right coffee brewing accessories, which we will discuss in this article.

Kettle

An integral part of any coffee drink, including water processed decaf coffee, is hot water. To obtain it, one of the most common kitchen utensils is most often used - a kettle. In coffee machines, water is heated inside the device itself, so they do not need this type of accessory. Well, when it comes to such methods as Chemex or pour-over, where it is necessary to evenly, for optimal extraction, pour water through ground beans, you cannot do without a kettle, but without a special kettle with a long thin spout. Such a spout allows you to fully control the flow of water, making circular movements, doing it carefully and slowly enough. If you use other brewing methods, then such a spout is useless, it will become daily torture, because the water pours out of it really slowly.

Let's talk about an electric kettle with a thin spout. Unlike conventional kettles, such devices can have additional functions - a timer, thermometer, thermoregulation, temperature maintenance, protection against running out of water, an audible alert signal, etc. All this is possible thanks to the built-in electronics.

Now there are models that can even connect to a smartphone, be controlled remotely and serve as a component of a smart home. And all this, just to heat water! To brew coffee, we are of course interested in temperature and everything connected with it. A built-in thermometer allows you to simply measure the temperature. The thermostat allows you to heat the water to a certain, specified temperature. All thermo pots (thermos kettles) have this function, they can also maintain the optimal temperature after the water has heated up to the specified one. All this is very convenient and facilitates control.

 When choosing an electric kettle, you should pay attention to its heating element.

It can be:
1. Open spiral (TEN) - looks like a regular boiler and is located at the bottom of the kettle. In this case, the water comes into direct contact with the spiral, which is why scale forms on it faster. A mandatory condition for boiling is the complete coverage of the spiral with water. This is the cheapest and most outdated type of heating element and is rarely found anymore.
2. Closed spiral - the same boiler, but hidden behind a flat bottom made of stainless steel. First, the spiral heats the bottom itself, and then the water heats up from it. The absence of direct contact of water with the heating element has a better effect on its taste. It also reduces scale formation, and accordingly extends the service life of the device. The flat bottom is easier to wash, and it looks better than the gray "snail".
3. Disc heater.

Replaced the two previous ones. It is a flat disk, and is also fixed on the back of the bottom. However, unlike a buried spiral, it is less noisy and has fewer losses on heating, and therefore such a kettle will consume less electricity, and with the same power, heat water faster. With the same dimensions, kettles of this type have a larger volume, since the heating element is more compact.

Scales

The proportions ( brew ratio ) of ground beans to water are of great importance when preparing coffee . Not only do you need to know this ratio, but you also need to apply it somehow, and for this you need to know the weight. Accuracy is important for professionals and great coffee connoisseurs. Estimating portions by eye or using measuring utensils does not provide the necessary accuracy for monitoring and standardizing coffee preparation. Using scales, you can always measure out the same number of grams without making mistakes.

In addition, a large number of different models of scales designed specifically for coffee have appeared on the market. Some of them are not much different from kitchen scales, but most of them not only have the necessary accuracy, most often up to tenths of a gram, but also have additional functions. A built-in timer will help you not to be distracted from cooking and focus on the process itself, as well as avoid using additional equipment.

The tare function (excluding the tare weight to find out the net weight of beans, water or the finished drink) is, perhaps, an integral part of such scales. By the way, in order to know the final weight of the drink or added water in time, the scales must have a fast reading speed. When choosing a device, you need to consider its dimensions. Here you need to start from the method of making coffee that you use, namely from the equipment itself that will be weighed. The device can be powered by batteries or by a built-in battery with the ability to recharge. Coffee scales must be sufficiently sealed, because we are talking about working with liquid and small particles. In addition to a dense case, it is desirable that the internal electrical parts of the scales are treated with a special water-resistant compound.

The most popular manufacturers of coffee scales at the moment are Hario, Bonavita, Brewista, Tiamo, Jennings, Felicita. Along with the above functions, some models have built-in modes for monitoring the measurement of coffee weight when preparing it using various methods. However, Acaia takes a special approach to creating coffee scales. Their devices have a minimalist design, but are complemented by wide capabilities thanks to built-in Bluetooth for remote control and synchronization with a smartphone.

Coffee grinder

It is a well-known fact that coffee beans must be ground immediately before preparing the drink. Because the essential oils and carbon dioxide contained in the beans quickly evaporate after grinding due to contact with air, within a few hours. This leads to an inevitable loss of aroma and flavor notes of coffee. The quality of grinding coffee beans, as well as its homogeneity, is one of the main secrets of a delicious cup of coffee.

Thus, the conclusion suggests itself - to prepare a drink with ideal characteristics, a good coffee grinder is needed. Only a manual burr coffee grinder can ensure the correct grinding in the best way. In general, coffee grinders can be manual and electric, but the former have several advantages. The main one, which directly affects the quality of the drink, is that the beans are not exposed to heating and burning during the grinding process, thereby preserving more nutrients.

It is also worth noting some more advantages of manual coffee grinders:

Portability . The devices themselves are small and do not depend on external power sources, they can easily be taken with you anywhere.
⦁ Reliability . Due to the lack of electronics, there is simply little to break.
⦁ Low noise level . Compared to electric ones, manual coffee grinders are very quiet. If you make coffee at home early in the morning and do not want to wake anyone up, then this is a big advantage.
⦁ Grinding degree . Not all electric coffee grinders have grinding level settings.
⦁ Price . A high-quality manual coffee grinder is much cheaper than an electric one.

Along with the pros, there are, of course, also cons. The main one is the speed at which the beans will be ground. On average, this will take from 1 to 5 minutes, but to create a very fine grind, for example, for a Turk, it can take up to 20 minutes. Also, manual coffee grinders are limited by their capacity, which is why it is not possible to grind a large amount of coffee at once. And lastly, you will have to do everything manually and put in some effort. However, this has a therapeutic effect and saves electricity.

As for the material from which the body of the coffee grinder is made, it all depends on your preferences. It can be metal, glass, wood, plastic, porcelain, as well as various combinations of them. It is worth noting that plastic is the least durable of all of these. Perhaps the most optimal choice would be a manual coffee grinder of the oriental type with ceramic millstones and stepless grinding adjustment made of metal. But this is a subjective opinion and everything depends on your preferences and budget, as well as on the method by which you brew coffee.

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velmatmartinez Velma Martinez is a seasoned marketing manager based in Brooklyn, currently leading brand strategy and digital marketing efforts at Tiny Footprint Coffee.