4 Ways to Change Your Coffee Habits, Part 1: Your Gear

The New Year is an opportunity for renewal and inner growth. Our specialty is specialty coffee, so we feel especially capable of giving you some options to refresh your coffee routine for a new year. 

Join us as we explore a few different ways of changing our coffee habits and challenging ourselves for the new year! This is part 1 of 2, focusing mostly on your brewing gear. In Part 2, we show you how to explore the many different roasting levels of coffee, and how to dial back your coffee and caffeine consumption without sacrificing much.

Summary:

Don’t have time to dive in? That’s okay, just bookmark this for later, and skim this mini version for now:

1. New Year, New Brew- Try alternative brewing methods like Kalita, French Press, and Chemex. Already have those? There are many other other choices! Transform your coffee into a personal journey of hands-on adventure.
2. This is the Weigh!- A scale helps you hone in on the perfect cup of coffee, day after day. If you haven't been weighing your beans and water, now is the time!  

NEW YEAR, NEW BREW: CHANGING YOUR COFFEE BREWING METHOD

Some already hand brew their coffees regularly, while for others hand brewing may seem overwhelming, intimidating, or confusing. But, if you’re searching for ways to change up how you drink and experience coffee, we think it’s hard to deny the appeal of a hand brewed coffee. It takes more time in the quiet and tired hours of the morning, but it’s more of an experience than pressing a button. And, at least in our minds, the real thrill comes from making something new for oneself with one’s own hands while also interacting with a long, rich history that spans the globe.

Here’s how to change up your coffee making process! 

Try Brewing With:

French Press: Easy to make with moderately time-consuming clean up, this device requires more waiting than work, and makes sweet, full-bodied coffee. 

Kalita 185: Sturdy, reliable, and offering an exceptional balance of acidity and body, this forgiving and easy to use brew is a staple in the pour over arena. 

Chemex: Beautiful to look at and offering renowned clarity in your tasting notes, the Chemex is a great brewer for making coffee for 2 or 3, and gives a wonderful representation of the higher notes of a coffee. 

The French Press, Kalita Wave 185, and Chemex coffee maker

Don’t feel limited to just those three, either. If you’re a pro or just looking for something different, there’s an enormous wealth of brewing possibilities out there and more coming out all the time. If you want to try something new, take a look at some of these different brewing devices. 

Other Brewers:

Other tools: 

• Melodrip tool: Helps to mitigate agitation from your kettle resulting in cleaner taste profiles.
• Kruve Sifter: Used to remove "boulders" and "fines" for a more even grind distribution, and thus a more balanced extraction when brewing. 

 A look at just a few of the other kinds of brewers on the market

Never brewed a coffee by hand before? The Kaldi’s Coffee blog has you covered: check out:

• The Art of Pour Over post for step-by-step instructions and a video tutorial on brewing with a Kalita or Chemex.
• French Press guide: A simple method that can be made with almost any gear

A hand brew coffee should be accessible and affordable to all - try your hand at it today, and deepen your connection with the drink that’s given so much to so many. 

THIS IS THE WEIGH! GET MORE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR BREWING TECHNIQUE

At one point or another in everyone’s coffee journey, we all eyeballed our brews. But getting into the habit of measuring it out - ideally by weight - can take an “OK” cup of coffee to an “O-KAY!” cup of balanced flavors and sweetness. Most importantly, it aids in the repeatability of that excellent cup, day after day.

If you do the same coffee routine day after day, it may seem fine to measure out your daily dose of coffee and water with measuring cups or spoons. This will work pretty well most of the time, but it can throw you for a loop when trying new coffees. Not all coffees have the same density, and a measurement of volume like a spoon or cup isn’t as accurate for optimal brewing as measuring by weight. It may seem like a negligible difference, but a couple grams more or a couple grams less can make or break your morning cup.

Any moderately-sensitive kitchen scale can do the trick. If you don’t have a scale already, we offer the Escali Primo, a reliable scale for coffee enthusiasts which can also double quite easily for most cooking-related weight questions. The Escali’s max weight is 11 lbs, and its graduation - the smallest increment of weight it can detect - is 0.05 oz, or 1 gram. This gives you great versatility and accuracy in the kitchen. Spices, flour, portion sizes - a scale can help with all of it, in addition to letting you take greater control of your cup of coffee. Find your “weigh” to better coffee this New Year.

SPECIALTY COFFEE AND YOU

Specialty coffee doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing deal. Your coffee habits work fine for you, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But coffee is a remarkable fruit that can finally be appreciated today like fine wines, so why not explore a little? Take a look around the world of specialty coffee starting this New Year’s, and find what might work for you, and what challenges you want to take on.

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READ NEXT:

4 WAYS TO CHANGE YOUR COFFEE HABITS, PART 2: YOUR COFFEE

RELATED CONTENT:

• Cupping Specialty Coffee | Education Page
• Brewing At Home Guide | Kaldi's Coffee Blog
• How to Make French Press Coffee with Any Gear | Kaldi's Coffee Blog