Look, I need to clear something up about the Fellow product I’m about to share. While its model name is technically “Tally” alone, this was the first thing I thought of when I saw “Fellow Tally Pro” in the listing title:

Image source

So yeah — having a totally normal brain over here 🫠

Anyway, the Fellow Tally is designed to be the ultimate coffee scale for pour-over fanatics. It measures super quickly and is accurate to 0.1 grams, but that’s sort of the baseline for any scale these days.

The real selling points are its premium construction with metal and glass components, the pleasingly intuitive controls, the bright and easy-to-read OLED display, and its three different brewing modes: Brew Assist, Timer, and Weight.

That “Brew Assist” mode is the smartest of the bunch. It lets you select your desired coffee-to-water ratio — for example, 1:16 — after which you weigh out your coffee beans (displayed on the left), set up your brewer of choice, and then pour water until the water weight in the middle matches the target weight on the right.

Whether you’re the type who tries to eyeball the ratios or you’ve kept a calculation cheat sheet near your brewing station all this time, I’m sure you can appreciate how helpful this feature is for pouring the perfectly portioned brew every time.

Get the Fellow Tally scale for $185 on Amazon.

Buy Now

It’s been nearly ten years since I wrote about Snow Peak’s nifty collapsible coffee dripper, which continues to sell and review well to this day. At some point during the interim, they designed the Field Barista Coffee Drip, which is more conical in shape and disassembles into small pieces for packing rather than folding down.

Released alongside the Field Barista Grinder and Field Barista Kettle, the Coffee Drip is made from sleek stainless steel and can accommodate Chemex– and Hario V60-sized coffee filters.

While the assembly process is a tad more convoluted versus the old collapsible dripper — and even then, it goes pretty quickly once you’ve familiarized yourself with the process a time or two — the legs do offer a sturdier base and there’s no concern that the thing will simply fold on you mid-brew.

Both are great camping/travel brewers in my opinion, this is just a different take on the concept that may appeal to you more if you were never into the folding one.

Get it for $63 on Amazon.

Buy Now

We’ve written many times about Fellow’s Stagg EKG electric gooseneck kettle — you know, the one you see all the fancy coffee shops using for pour-overs — and we still think it’s one of the best things to have in your home coffee setup. And now, the Stagg kettle is about to get even better with the release of two new models: the Stagg EKG Pro and the Pro Studio Edition.

Both of these upgraded models bring everything you love about the original EKG and add a bunch of neat new features to totally customize your brew experience, such as:

• A scheduling option that orders the kettle to reach a preset temperature at a specific time so it’s ready to go when you are. (Those few extra minutes of sleep in the morning can make allllll the difference )
• An altitude adjustment setting so the kettle doesn’t boil over just because you live in the mountains or wherever.
• An optional Guide Mode with various preset temperature settings for different coffee brewing styles and types of tea.
• A chime that alerts you when your water’s ready to pour.
• Firmware updates over Wi-Fi, which is done via the Fellow app. (I’m not sure if that will be the same as the Stagg EKG+ app or an as-yet-unreleased one.)
• A high-resolution full-color LCD display on the base for controlling all these things and more, whereas the original had only a black-and-white screen. It looks so great too.

The difference between the Pro and the Pro Studio is that the latter brings some premium materials to its construction, including an aluminum base with a reflective glass top, a zinc frame, and a metal cap on the end of the handle. If ever there was a kitchen countertop statement piece, the Pro Studio kettle is it.

The Stagg EKG Pro (from $195) and Pro Studio (from $225) are set to start shipping on October 14th, 2022. You can pre-order either one from Fellow’s site today.

Pre-order

The best thermal carafe I’ve ever seen.

★ John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Ratio’s double-walled stainless steel Eight Thermal Carafe + Dripper is primarily designed to be used with their own Eight and Six coffee machines, replacing the Chemex-like glass carafe that comes with either one. However, you can also use it as a standalone serving vessel for coffee or tea. Either way, it keeps the inner contents hot for up to 90 minutes after brewing, so you have time to sip and enjoy without feeling rushed to finish the whole batch at once.

The carafe has a nice sturdy weight to it and a thick rounded stainless steel handle, so it certainly feels great in the hand. And there’s no denying it’s a sleek and attractive object worth displaying on your countertop. The fact that it comes with a ceramic dripper cone is simply the cherry on top.

As of September 4th, 2021, the Eight Thermal Carafe is on back-order but should begin shipping again in mid-October. Order yours for $125 (in one of four colors) to ensure you get one as soon as possible.

Order One

The Willsence G1 is a stunning variable-temp gooseneck pour-over kettle that’s clearly designed to take on the likes of the Bonavita Interurban and the Stagg EKG, but at a more modest price point. I first spotted it on r/coffeestations a couple months ago, and from all reports I’ve seen since, it definitely gives those kettles (and others) a run for their money.

A simple turn of the knurled knob on the kettle base lets you quickly set whatever temperature you like, to the degree. Temperatures 205°F and lower can be held for up to two hours, and a full pot can reach boiling in about three minutes — not bad at all. When the water’s ready, the kettle’s counterbalanced handle makes the pouring experience easy and comfortable.

For those of you who want even more control over your coffee-making experience, the kettle has a stopwatch feature for consistently timing your pour-over from brew to brew.

Get this eyecatching kettle in white + gold or black + gold for $80 on Amazon.

Buy Now

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted one of those Rube Goldberg-like contraptions from the movies that automatically does all the breakfast-making as you wake up, so you never have to lift a finger before food and coffee makes its way to you, fully prepared for your enjoyment.

Until my dreams of laziness are realized, this coffee-brewing alarm clock will have to do. Dubbed the “Barisieur” — which you might’ve seen on Kickstarter back in June 2016 and again last June — this personal bedside barista automatically wakes you up with a fresh cup of coffee at whatever time you set, the aroma of which alone has got to be the best way to pull someone out of slumber.

You can watch this review video to see what it’s like in the hands of a real coffee geek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KH5rnRiKCg

As she points out, you do have to set up the grounds and such the night before, so it’s not going to be as excellent a cup of coffee as getting up and grinding beans right beforehand, but hey, you still get to wake up and simply grab your cup of freshly brewed coffee. And what’s more, it has a slot that keeps a little thing of milk/cream cold, so you don’t even have to get up for that!

What I’m saying is, enjoy this delightful future world you live in, folks. Your ancestors never could’ve dreamed of having this.

You can get the Barisieur in white or black for $445 USD at Joy Resolve. Be sure to check that you have the correct voltage option selected for whatever country you live in (I’ve linked to the US versions here).

Buy Now

After their enormously successful Kickstarter project earlier this year — over $1.2 million??? holy cow — the team at Fellow is gearing up to release their upcoming “Ode Brew” coffee grinder into the world.

Rather than trying to please both brewed coffee drinkers and espresso fans (a feat rarely managed by any grinder manufacturer), Fellow have poured all their engineering prowess into creating a powerful grinder to dominate the home brew market only — that means pour-over, French press, cold brew…you get the idea.

Another intentional choice they’ve made is to use a shallow (80-gram capacity) loading bin rather than a tall hopper. This not only saves vertical space, it’s specifically designed for single-dosing your brews so as to maximize the beans’ freshness.

It couldn’t be easier to make grind adjustments with the Ode. On the front is a single giant knob with 31 grind settings — there’s seriously no way you can miss the thing unless your name is Mr. Magoo — that controls generously sized (64mm) professional-grade flat burrs.

Those burrs are powered by a direct-drive motor with PID feedback control to expose every bean to the same force and speed to improve grind quality and produce even particle distribution.

It’s kind of unbelievable they were able to pack this much design consideration into such a beautiful and compact package, and for only $299.

Pre-order now and bring café performance to your countertop this fall when the Ode starts shipping in November 2020.

Pre-order

This past October, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the original Manual Coffeemaker Nº1 — and following hits like the Manual Coffeemaker Nº3 and Manual Cocktail Collection — Chicago designer Craighton Berman took to Kickstarter once again with the Coffeemaker Nº4 pour-over brewer.

That project unfortunately did not meet its funding goal, but that didn’t stop Berman from moving forward with the manufacturing independently. And now, as of April 5th, 2020, the Coffeemaker Nº4 has finished production and can be pre-ordered from the Manual site at a discounted price.

If you’re wondering at this point what the Coffeemaker Nº4 even is, it’s essentially a refined version of both the Nº1 and Nº2 models, except instead of coming with a wooden or bamboo base, the Nº4 sits atop a ceramic plate (in matte white, matte black, or stoneware) that’s been glazed to be impermeable to water drips, and is dishwasher-safe besides.

From their separate info page:

Nº4 is the latest iteration of our signature Manual Coffeemaker—the defining design gesture of which has always been the hand-crafted sculptural borosilicate glass dome. This cloche transforms from clear to translucent with the steam of brewing.

[…]

In a world focused on speed and convenience, the act of preparing coffee manually is a chance to truly slow down and enjoy the moment. As you master manual brewing, the ritual of preparing coffee becomes just as pleasurable as drinking it. Manual Coffeemaker was designed to celebrate this ritual of daily craft.

The Nº4 is not only sculptural in appearance but practical in use, able to be used with either cone or wave filters. It also includes a serving carafe with measurement markings so you can accurately brew a single cup or enough to share.

Manual currently hopes to begin shipping the Nº4 in May 2020 — pending any delays due to the COVID-19 coronavirus — and you can pre-order it for $95 (down from $130).

Pre-order

Unibene’s bamboo coffee filter holder solves a somewhat different problem than that Chemex organizer I wrote about a couple weeks ago.

If you’re the type of coffee nerd who owns not only a Chemex but also a single-serve dripper and an AeroPress, then chances are you’ve got a scattered collection of filters and boxes in a cabinet somewhere. This holder collects all those filters in one place for easy grabbing, no matter which contraption you’re brewing with.

You can simply set the holder upright on a countertop, or hang it on a wall with the notch on the back. Either way, it’s a real nifty way to ensure your filters are always on deck.

Get it for $13 on Amazon.

Buy Now

The iconic Chemex pour-over carafe has been a staple in kitchens and across pop culture for three-quarters of a century now, so I won’t waste your time explaining it here. If you own one though, you might be interested in a neat way of storing it on your countertop.

Drip & Brew’s Chemex Organizer is just the thing. It’s a simple bamboo wood contrivance with a durable and removable silicone mat on one side where your Chemex carafe sits, and a slot on the other side for its paper filters. It’s that simple. Looks great on your kitchen counter, keeps your stuff within easy reach, and it’s got rubber feet on the bottom to keep from slipping around

If you don’t have a Chemex, it also happens to be a great place to store an electric burr grinder like the Baratza Encore. Even has a hole in the back for running a power cable through.

Get this nifty little coffee station for $30 on Amazon.

Buy Now

While we’ve featured plenty of pour over brewers and other paraphernalia over the years, it’s hard to deny the classic stylishness of the Kalita Wave dripper. This is one we’d recommend if you intend to set up a dedicated pour over station in your kitchen, where the brewing gear will be on full display at all times.

The 185 size ($24) is made to brew 3–4 cups at once, while the smaller 155 model ($22) is for individual servings. Both are made from stainless steel, giving them a sleek look that’ll fit into kitchens both retro and modernist. To complete the look, I’d pair the dripper with the Kalita Wave kettle and a metal stand.

Buy Now

For some of us, the ritual of coffee-making is just as important and rewarding as the end product. It’s a process to be enjoyed each morning, not merely endured. The folks at OXO agree with that sentiment, which is why they created the Good Grips glass pour-over set.

This elegantly modern set includes a hand-blown borosilicate glass dripper along with a double-walled glass carafe/server. The dripper sports a stainless steel ring around its base, with a cutout so you can look down into whatever you’re brewing into (whether it’s the carafe or a mug of your own). Beneath that ring is a silicone pad to keep the whole thing stable while you brew.

In addition to being double-walled, the carafe has an insulated base to keep it from damaging any surface it’s sitting on, and there’s an included cork lid to retain heat after brewing. Not to mention how mesmerizing it makes the brewing process, as you watch your freshly brewed coffee fill the container.

The server holds up to 24 oz. of coffee — enough for two to share — and there’s a little dot on the side that indicates the 12 oz. mark in case you’re brewing just for yourself.

Get this stylish pour-over set for $50 on Amazon.

Buy Now

Ever heard the quote, Every day, somebody’s born who’s never seen The Flintstones? I think about it a lot.

As a blogger, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking everything I write about is already known by everyone, or that our audience on T&T has seen everything we’ve ever published. It’s good to remember that every day, someone might be part of the lucky 10,000 to learn something new-to-them.

With that in mind, I thought I’d put together a “back to basics” guide on coffee brewing. We’ve certainly covered this topic in a number of ways, so think of this guide as a compilation/remix of all that information.

Getting Started

Making great coffee from home is almost entirely a matter of having the right gear, fresh beans (i.e. roasted within the last two weeks), and a recipe. We’ll get to the gear and brewing methods in a bit, but where do you source fresh coffee beans from?

You typically have two options:

1. Buy some from a local coffee roaster. (Ask them for whatever’s been roasted most recently.)
2. Use a subscription delivery service like Crema.co or Blue Bottle.

Whichever way you go, you’ll need a way to store the beans that keeps them fresher, longer. We’ve always recommended the 64oz. Airscape coffee canister. It uses a two-lid system (one inner, one outer) wherein the inner lid is pressed down onto the coffee itself, forcing air out through its one-way valve and creating an airtight seal. The outer lid has a rubber seal of its own for added freshness, and lets you stack multiple Airscapes together if you like.

One last thing: If you want to make use of brewing recipes, be sure to pick up a decent kitchen scale to accurately measure how much coffee and water you’re working with.

Brewing Implements

Next, you’ll want to decide how you’d like to brew your coffee. There are many ways to get the job done well, and let’s just say they all preclude the use of K-Cups.

If you just want to make a good cup of coffee every morning without going nuts about gear, then we recommend these three starting basics: a good burr grinder, a simple coffee maker, and an electric gooseneck kettle.

A good conical burr grinder: Our two favorite entry-level grinders are the Baratza Encore and the Bodum Bistro.

At the risk of snobbery, we only use burr grinders and never blade grinders:

• Burr grinders produce a consistent grind without damaging your coffee beans. We tend to prefer conical burrs over flat burrs because they grind more slowly, so they’re quieter and less likely to overheat the coffee.
• Blade grinders don’t actually grind your coffee beans, they chop them and give you a combination of tiny dust specks, medium bits, and larger chunks all in there together. Brewing this jambalaya of coffee grounds means some of the coffee will get grossly over-brewed while some of it will be under-brewed. Blade grinders also tend to statically charge and overheat the grounds, causing them to stick to everything and taste awful besides.

If you think a manual grinder is more up your alley — maybe you need a daily arm workout, or you want something to travel with — then we suggest the Porlex JP-30. Or, if you’d like an upgrade over the Baratza Encore, check out their Virtuoso model.

A simple coffee maker: To this day, the AeroPress remains our favorite way to brew coffee. It’s simple to use, works with fine or coarse grinds, is easy to clean, and you can brew with it in a number of ways (including right-side-up or inverted) that all result in a heckuva cup of coffee. We’re certainly not alone in this thinking — they have world championships for this thing, and a documentary is even in the works.

One thing that’s great about the AeroPress is its portability. You can use it as the centerpiece of a whole travel coffee kit, if you like.

An electric gooseneck kettle: If there’s one kettle we recommend owning, it’s the Bonavita Variable-Temp Gooseneck (though it did recently get some competition with the release of the handsomer-but-doubly-expensive Stagg EKG). Not only does it sport a gooseneck spout for surprisingly fine pour control, it also comes with an electric base that lets you set your own temperature (°F or °C) then have the kettle hold that temperature for an hour.

One nice feature is that since the kettle’s heating element isn’t exposed, you can set it directly on a countertop or table, even while hot. There’s also a count-up timer to help you brew even more accurately.

Other Ways to Brew

• Pour-over: If you’ve ever been to a coffee shop that does pour-over coffee, the Hario V60 is probably what they use. It makes a delicious cup of coffee and cleanup is a piece of cake. When more than one cup is needed, use the iconic Chemex carafe instead.

• Press pot: No brewing method is more classic than the French press. However, in recent years there have been many interesting takes on the concept of pressing coffee. You’ve got the double-walled stainless steel Espro Press (along with its travel variant), the even larger Stanley Classic Vacuum French Press, the American Press (which falls somewhere between an AeroPress and French press), and even more.

• Siphon vacuum pot: Now we’re just having fun. A siphon pot makes coffee brewing feel like a ⚡science experiment⚡. It makes a full-bodied cup of coffee like any of the full-immersion methods above, but with a brighter taste. Not only is the coffee from the siphon delicious, it’s the most “dangerous” and exciting to brew. Make sure you get a butane mini burner and a can of butane fuel.

Brewing with a Machine

So far we’ve talked a lot about methods of brewing by hand. But what if you’re not into that? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

• Coffee maker: For all the joy we get from brewing with all the contraptions above, sometimes we just want a plain ol’ cup of drip coffee like our parents used to make. For that, we turn to the BUNN Velocity Brew.

  This is a very simple but understatedly handsome coffee maker. There’s no digital clock, and it only has two buttons: one for the machine itself, the other for the hot plate. It’s also fast. Thanks to its internal hot water tank, the Velocity can brew 10 cups’ worth of coffee in 4 minutes — no more waiting for cold water to heat up (provided you’re brewing daily and thus never giving the water in the tank a chance to evaporate away).

• Espresso machine: A home espresso machine is one of those specialty tools that almost no one needs, but for that person who really wants one, it pays to have one that does it all. Breville’s Barista Express fits the bill. It has a built-in conical burr grinder (sweet!), super accurate PID (proportional integral derivative) temperature control, an articulating steam wand for frothing milk, and includes all the accessories you need for pulling shots and steaming milk.

Cold Brewing

Ah, we finally arrive at my personal favorite kind of coffee: cold brew.

This method calls for the greatest amount of planning in advance — on the order of 24–48 hours of steeping to get it right, and certainly no less than 12 — but the smooth, mellow concentrate that results is worth the time investment. You can drink it straight for maximum caffeine buzz, cut it with water to your liking, mix in some sugar and/or milk for a refreshing treat, or blend it with ice cream to make a delicious coffee shake. (As a bonus, it makes your fridge smell awesome.)

If you want the full rundown on two awesome cold brew techniques, we have a separate guide for that. For now, we’ll point out our favorite kits for making cold brew:

• Toddy Cold Brew System: This has everything you need in one kit — the best part being that you don’t have to pour the cold brew concentrate into a separate filter/container and risk a mess. Instead, you simply pull out its cork, place the brewer over the included decanter, and let it drip on its own. The Toddy system can also brew pretty large batches, which is nice.

• OXO Good Grips Cold-Brew Coffee Maker: This setup has some advantages over the Toddy system:

  • It uses a valve to drain the coffee rather than a rubber stopper — which tends to get lost easily anyway — so you can simply flip a switch to close the valve while the cold-brew concentrate is draining, pour yourself a little to taste, and flip the switch again to let it continue draining, all without making a mess on your fingers.
  • It has a reusable mesh filter rather than those little felt pucks that are somewhat of a pain to remove and rinse.
  • It looks cooler. Not much else to say here; I mean, the Toddy brewer is basically a white plastic bucket, so it’s not a hard competition.
• Ovalware RJ3: This one uses more of an infusion basket to produce great cold brew, which also makes it ideal for brewing tea (loose leaf or bag, hot or cold).
• Hario Mizudashi: Also of the infusion type, the Mizudashi coffee pot is for those who need to make the smallest possible batches of cold brew.

As part of the Kickstarter Gold showcase taking place until July 31st, 2017, the creators of the popular Manual Coffeemaker Nº1 Kickstarter project — along with its subsequent edition, the Nº2 — are back with the Coffeemaker Nº3, a double-walled, hand-blown glass pitcher with a natural cork lid that can do any of three whole-pot coffee-brewing jobs:

1. Pour-over
2. French press
3. Cold brew

Once brewed, the pitcher keeps the coffee warm for over an hour. You can also use it as an all-purpose pitcher, where the double-walled, no-sweat construction similarly helps keep drinks cool longer.

Watch their promo video to see the Nº3 in action:

As of this writing (July 10th, 2017) the Coffeemaker Nº3 Kickstarter project has 10 days to go and they’re so close to reaching their funding goal. If you’re interested in seeing this thing become a reality — and/or you’d like to receive one of your own — go back the project at the $85 level or higher.

Back Project

Osaka’s handsome pour-over coffee dripper w/ wood stand is a full set that has everything you need to make manually brewed pour-over coffee at home. It includes:

1. A wire stand with a stainless steel drip plate and water-resistant wooden trim, which comes in your choice of mahogany, natural, or black. Features non-slip grips underneath.
2. Stainless steel double cone filter.
3. 20 oz. borosilicate glass carafe, which — in addition to being thermal shock-resistant — won’t absorb any odors, chemicals or residue from the coffee you brew.

Get the stand in your color of choice for $40 at Amazon. They also offer a larger 27 oz. version (which sports a gold titanium-coated cone filter) for $50.

Buy Now