Sitting down to have my cup of coffee in the morning is one of my favorite parts of the day. We are really into coffee over here at the Rohr house so I wanted to share the products we use to make a really good cup of coffee.
This interest in coffee originated when Danny and I lived in Portland, Oregon for a few years. While we were there, we were introduced to coffee culture; it’s a BIG thing there. The coffee shops there were really amazing, and you could find them all over town. When it’s cloudy nine months of the year, you need that caffeine to wake you up.
Danny and I made a hobby of visiting different coffee shops in Portland and trying different roasts. Eventually, Danny bought a small coffee roaster and started roasting green beans (unroasted coffee beans) at home. We eventually moved back home, and now the craft coffee trend has made it’s way out of the Pacific Northwest and into many other cities, including here in Kansas City.
These are the products we use to make our coffee everyday. I realize these are speciality items, but coffee is something we have everyday so we are willing to invest in the process. We always drink our coffee black at home, but you could add some frothed milk as well. Pour over is our go-to method and I’ll explain how it works below.
The Products We Use To Make Coffee
- Electric Kettle: An electric kettle allows you to heat the water to the exact temperature you prefer. We bring ours to 96 degrees Celsius.
- Reusable Coffee Filter: We use this metal filter for our Chemex to filter the coffee grounds. There are taste and textural differences that result when using different kinds of filters, but I won’t go into that here. For more information, check out this article.
- Chemex Coffeemaker: We are obsessed with our Chemex Coffeemaker. You put the filter on top, add your ground coffee beans and pour water over. If you’re interested in specifics, here is a video on how to use a Chemex.
- Chemex Paper Filters: We occasionally use paper filters if we are looking for a change.
- Klean Kanteen Insulated Coffee Mug: This isn’t exactly for taste, but if you have trouble drinking your coffee before it turns cold, try this out. I hate having to heat my coffee up in the microwave.
- Coffee Storage Canister: We keep our roasted coffee in a canister to keep the flavor fresh. We don’t have this particular brand, but something similar that isn’t available online. When you push the lid down, it forces the air from the canister and prevents the coffee beans from losing those delicious aromas.
- Coffee Scale: We are getting fancy now! We use a coffee scale to measure out our coffee beans. We usually do between 45 and 50 grams for 2 cups of coffee.
Other Speciality Products
I wanted to include two other products we use separately because they are somewhat pricey. First, we use this burr grinder for grinding our whole roasted beans into coffee grounds. The advantage to using a burr grinder over traditional grinders is that they produce a more even grind, and you also have the ability to vary the grind from fine to coarse which is needed if you are planning on making espresso as well.
And if you’re really interested in making coffee roasting a hobby, this is the coffee roaster we (read: Danny) uses to roast our green beans. We order our green beans from Sweet Maria’s. Roasting our own coffee has actually saved us a ton of money. If we wanted to buy a quality roast from the store or a coffee shop, we would spend anywhere from $15 to $20 for a half pound where as green beans cost around $6 per pound.
Tips For Picking A Bag of Coffee
If you really want good tasting coffee, do not, I repeat, do not purchase flavored coffee beans. Just, no, don’t do it. If you can, try to buy a local roast as these will be the most fresh. Some even put the ‘roasted on’ date on the package. If it’s on there, make sure it’s at least less than a month old. Our favorite local brands here in Kansas City are Messenger Coffee, Monarch Coffee, PT’s Coffee, and Post Coffee Company
Also, if you can, try to buy whole coffee beans as opposed to grounds which lose freshness and flavor much faster. We also recommend purchasing single origin coffee as opposed to a blend, but we are getting technical now.
Coffee is life. I hope this post provided some good information about how to make a better cup of coffee. Happy sipping, my caffeinated friends!
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