3 Cheap(ish) Things to Upgrade Your Coffee experience

Last Updated on November 2, 2020

Sitting down with a nice cup of coffee in the morning is a great way to wake up and slowly come alive with your first sip of the morning. But you know it is easy to get used to a routine and find yourself not enjoying the taste of your trusted coffee. It turns out that even with quality beans, it is hard to give your brew a boost. Luckily, there are many things that you can try to make it better tasting and more appealing. Even with quality beans, it is hard to be good home-barista, but it possible. We’ve spent almost 18 hours to find out a couple of tools you can try even without the need of professional assistance.

Here are four quite affordable things that can vastly improve your coffee drinking experience. Fortunately, most of the products are fairly inexpensive and cost less than $100.

Kalita Wave Dripper

It was very interesting for me to find out that not at all expensive device helps to make wonderful coffee. After testing three different devices, it becomes clear that the tool that makes arguably the best coffee is also among the cheapest. Drippers, which cafés use to make high-quality coffee, cost around $30. 

Of these three coffee makers (Kalita Wave 185; Vencino Dripper and Reusable Dripper), I settled on one on pretty good pour-over dripper made by the family-owned Japanese company. Taking the Wave Dripper in my hands, I realised that they made it with perfect manufacturing excellence. 

While you make coffee you have precise control over temperature and how evenly your coffee is saturated with water allowing for more even flavour extraction. As our kitchen editor, a coffee maker with more than 20 years of experience Stephen Gardner joked: ‘I’m not an expert, but Kalita Wave Dripper consistently makes great coffee!’ 

“I’m not an expert, but Kalita Wave Dripper consistently makes great coffee!”

— Stephen Gardner, Dan Reviews kitchen expert editor.

Favorite Cup

We love all gadgets to take full advantage of your coffee beans. The best coffee drinking experience starts and ends with your choice of mug. I do think most coffee lovers should have their favourite cup. You do want the ability to not only smell it but also let the coffee linger on your tongue for a while without getting scalded.  Need to keep your drink warm the whole morning? Serving coffee for the family or for yourself? 

Our small team of coffee lovers have strong opinions on what makes a good mug: this is Bodum Bistro Coffee Mug by the $30-a-pair. Glass won’t retain flavours or smells and looks sleek in any setting.  

Kitchen Scale with high accuracy

Before we brew a coffee, we can get different volumes of beans before grinding. Beans and grounds vary in shape and size. For different types of coffee (dark and light ), have different solubilities and as such will extract differently – we need to remember beans’ optimal weight.  These beans don’t settle into that tablespoon the same way every time. It means you can end up with differing coffee-to-water ratios. Sometimes you end up with good coffee, and sometimes you don’t. 

I do suggest Pocket Size and easy to store Kitchen Scale with high accuracy (with resolution 0.01g/0.001oz). It has a high-quality platform with round smooth design.

I think that with these KitchenTour Digital Scale you will be able to create a delicious coffee drink with constant characteristics. It’s nice to know that the weight of the coffee beans will be constant, and you can be sure of it.

About your guides

Stephen Gardner

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Dan Reviews Staff

(Dan Reviews is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission)

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