Cheap coffee drinkers NON-machine thread. Aeropress? V60?

[Tisy]

Not wishing to lower the tone of the posh coffee drinkers thread with their fancy £500+ machines and fancy pods I thought I would start one for cheapos like me who just want a nice coffee at minimal expense and fuss. Unfortunately the days of being able to get a decent instant coffee are over as they are all rancid now .

I am a black coffee drinker and I find the standard large Americano from the likes of Costa, Starbucks, Nero, McDs all perfectly acceptable and pleasant enough, so something that can produce the same is all that is needed.

My requirements are :

1. cheap
2. well made / not going to crack/snap after year or so
3. produces a pint pot of coffee in less than 5 mins
4. easy to clean
5. can use reusable filters like metal or silicone to save on paper filter costs
6, brewable with hot water from kettle only, so no moka pot !

I am a subscriber to James Hoffman youtube but the Aeropress and V60 only produce a pathetic amount of brewed coffee so they are no good for me as I want a pint put of the stuff . What else is out there?

Also, I am used to paying about £6 for a 200g jar of Gold Blend, Douwe Egberts, Carte Noire etc which gets shovelled into my pot at 2 heaped teaspoons per brew. Each heaped teaspoon is around 5g so I get about 20-25 brews from a 200g jar . Ignoring the cost of a suitable bean grinder for the moment, how many grams of beans should I expect to need for a pint pot of good black coffee? From a quick scan online for bean vendors, the priice per 200g of beans seems to be roughly half (£3 ish) of what a 200g jar of instant costs if I buy a kilo bag- is that about right?

[Bill]

You're describing a cafetiere, no??

[Tisy]

Bill said:

You're describing a cafetiere, no??

Not sure Bill! I am slightly embarrassed to admit I don't know what one is hence the thread for the experts to hopefully steer me on the right track. Need to watch some more youtube videos..

Edit: ah I see it's just a different name for a french press !

Edited by Tisy on Friday 28th November 16:55

[Bill]

I have a stainless steel 1l insulated one.

[-Cappo-]

Cafetière (they come in different sizes so you’ll get your pint pot) and some Lavazza Qualita Rossa and you’re good to go. It’s our everyday drink and it’s rare to get a better black coffee out and about.

I have a Gaggia espresso machine too but for a “large” coffee I prefer the cafetière to an espresso/hot water Americano.

Experiment with the amounts of coffee but we use one heaped cafetière scoop per mug.

Ground coffee has gone up significantly in price but I buy it in 12-packs from Amazon and that’s currently about £3.80 per 250g pack.

[Bill]

-Cappo- said:

Cafetière
Ground coffee has gone up significantly in price but I buy it in 12-packs from Amazon and that s currently about £3.80 per 250g pack.

I can hear the gasp of the coffee snobs from here!

[Tisy]

Cheers chaps. Which 'cafetieres' do you both have to give me something to start researching ?

And any thoughts on the metal and silicone filters?

[shirt]

Cafetière or a v60 with a reusable stainless mesh.

I use the latter at work straight into a 350ml mug. No reason you can’t use a v60 for a litre if you have the patience.

For pure ease, which seems to be what you want. a filter coffee machine can’t be beat especially as they’re about £20, which is far less than you’ll pay for a decent v60 or cafetière.

[otherman]

I use a moka pot, all metal construction, metal filters. I've had same one for so long I don't remember where I bought it. Bialetti probably favourite.
Be aware when it says 6 cup it means 6x espresso, but you can also use one of those to make two longer coffees.

[Mobile Chicane]

Filter cone and papers for me.

I think permanent filters always taste faintly of stale coffee, plus papers have the advantage that everything can all be hoiked cleanly into the bin.

[Tim330]

Not helpful but one of my housemates at university used to put instant coffee in a cafetiere. He thought pressing the plunger filtered it and made it taste better.

[Smurfsarepeopletoo]

Ive had a couple of these, first one i had cost me about £25, put however mich ground coffee you want in the reuseable filter, fill the reservoir, turn it on, loads of coffee, then i upgraded a bit to the one above that had a timer option.

Now ive upgraded to the below, but its alot of faf and hassle tbh.

[Huzzah]

Years since I've had it but we always used to have a Cona pot on the go at work.

Something similar

https://www.maxicoffee.com/en-gb/bodum-pebo-vacuum...

[Tisy]

Thanks for everyone for the suggestions and ideas thus far . Definitely want something "manual" rather than a machine as I'm lazy and when it inevitably gets clogged up with scale, I ignore it to do another day, and then put it off some more because I can't do it now as I want to make another coffee, so I'll do it tomorrow and so it goes on.

It does seem like a "cafetiere" / french press or something at least with a big capacity is what I need. Would rather brew as much up as I can on one go, then put the surplus into my flask so those with big containers is what I'm aiming for. I've read the comments on some french press reviews and nearly all say they are messy to deal with the used grounds afterwards and they get caught up between the mesh layers in the filter (?) Is that true or blown out of proportion? Would a rubber spatula not scoop them out easy enough?

[Bill]

Mines very much like this. I put the grounds in the compost and given it a rinse before use. Occasionally put it in the dishwasher.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/French-Coffee-Press-Doubl...

[Vsix and Vtec]

Tisy said:

Thanks for everyone for the suggestions and ideas thus far . Definitely want something "manual" rather than a machine as I'm lazy and when it inevitably gets clogged up with scale, I ignore it to do another day, and then put it off some more because I can't do it now as I want to make another coffee, so I'll do it tomorrow and so it goes on.

It does seem like a "cafetiere" / french press or something at least with a big capacity is what I need. Would rather brew as much up as I can on one go, then put the surplus into my flask so those with big containers is what I'm aiming for. I've read the comments on some french press reviews and nearly all say they are messy to deal with the used grounds afterwards and they get caught up between the mesh layers in the filter (?) Is that true or blown out of proportion? Would a rubber spatula not scoop them out easy enough?

I have a rather lovely little Bodum French press, which is big enough for a mug of coffee, but I believe they do bigger ones. I would agree that cleaning it out afterwards is a bit of a faff, you end up rinsing it out in a washing up bowl and then have a bowl full of coffee grind. The silt isn't inclined to pour out into a bin or somesuch, so your options are limited. I adore it for the sense of occasion, but I have to confess I find the Aeropress I also have much neater to use. That said, I tend to only drink one cup at a time, so I savour the occasion.

[snuffy]

I give you the coffee bag, tis a wonderous thing:

https://www.taylorsofharrogate.co.uk/coffee-bags

No mess, no cleaning a cafetiere, just stick it in the bin like a tea bag.

Mind you, it comes out at around 30p a bag, which may, or may not, be cheap, depending on your idea of cheap.

[grumbledoak]

You can get size 4 filter cones and filter papers. Simply bin the paper and grounds afterwards.



https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plastic-Coffee-Dripper-Bo...

[-Cappo-]

Tisy said:

Cheers chaps. Which 'cafetieres' do you both have to give me something to start researching ?

And any thoughts on the metal and silicone filters?

For some unfathomable reason, we have at least 3 ranging from a Bodum, through a double-walled metal one which keeps the coffee water for longer, to a cheapie from Tesco which we had to emergency-buy when we rented a cottage recently and found it devoid of any coffee-making apparatus!!

Oh and there's on in the RV as well but I can't remember the make. To be honest, other than the absolute cheapest, which can be a bit flimsy in the internals, there's not much to choose between them.

[-Cappo-]

Bill said:

-Cappo- said:

Cafetière
Ground coffee has gone up significantly in price but I buy it in 12-packs from Amazon and that s currently about £3.80 per 250g pack.

I can hear the gasp of the coffee snobs from here!

This thought ran merrily through my mind as I wrote that post I didn't like to mention my hand-made, personalised solid silver Mappin & Webb cafetière, or the fact that my beans are flown in for me from my own Colombian plantation in my spare private jet