We chat with the creator of Wendelien Drinks Coffee about her functional home coffee routine and what she recommends for any home bar.
BY TANYA NANETTI
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of Wendelien van Bunnik
Today, we continue our series on home coffee setups with Wendelien van Bunnik (she/her). Wendelien is the 2019 Dutch Barista Champion as well as the 2019 World AeroPress Champion, but she’s also well known in the specialty-coffee community thanks to her Instagram page Wendelien Drinks Coffee. Wendelien has been a coffee professional since 2009, working at a roastery in the Netherlands for over nine years, where she became head of education and training. In 2021 she left to start her own business as a—mostly online—coffee trainer, coach, and consultant. So, nowadays Wendelien makes most of her coffee at her “home office,” which is—she confesses—basically just her own kitchen.
A Change in Environment
Wendelien’s home coffee setup has grown exponentially in the last year since she started her home business. During her years at the roastery, she barely brewed coffee at home; the V60 and AeroPress she had then were mainly used by her husband. But now, Wendelien—somehow—owns two espresso machines, eight AeroPresses (to be fair, two of them are trophies and three were gifts), and about five or six other types of filter brewers, along with two kettles, four grinders, and some scales.
And don’t even get her started on the different types of filters!
At this point in time, her home coffee setup no longer fits in exactly one area of the kitchen: It has already taken up two different corners of the space, both of which she can never get properly organized!
What Wendelien Needs for Her Perfect Home Coffee Setup
In Wendelien’s opinion, there are a lot of things that cannot be missed in a proper home coffee setup. A good burr grinder and a water filter are the first things to invest in after high-quality, fresh coffee beans. A scale is very useful to be able to reproduce that yummy cup of coffee you made. And obviously an AeroPress is essential to Wendelien, simply because it’s such an easy, foolproof way to make great coffee. And lastly, it’s important to have a cup or mug that makes you smile!
In addition to having the proper brewing equipment, one of the key factors for better coffee is water: There is so much to gain when brewing at home using better water. A lot of people underestimate the importance of water quality, despite the fact that coffee consists of 98% H2O: That’s why investing in bottled mineral water, a good water filter, or a solution like Third Wave Water will make such a big difference in taste.
Décor Isn’t Everything
Concerning “smaller” things like furniture, light, and décor, Wendelien must confess: She gets super jealous when she sees people on Instagram with these gorgeous home coffee setups, so polished and stylish! Hers, on the other hand, doesn’t quite look like that; there is just not enough space.
What she does like about her little coffee corner is that it is in the lightest spot of the kitchen, near the window. And, the only plant that is actually thriving in the house is exactly in this corner! The morning sun and that plant make the “messy” coffee corner Wendelien’s favorite spot in the house.
Coffee doesn’t usually last long in Wendelien’s home, so there’s no need for a storage method different from the original coffee package. She has tried a vacuum canister before (but it was not needed), and she’d really love—one day—to buy a freezer to be able to portion and freeze the really extraordinary coffees. Problem is, she always seems to be able to finish a coffee before it gets too old (or her husband does …)
A Preference for Note Taking
She owns a beautiful logbook, the Coffee Brewers Logbook; however, she only uses it for the coffees that she needs to provide feedback on for a client, or when she’s testing roasts for competition. She enjoys taking notes in a physical notebook more than on her phone or an Excel sheet, and writing helps her form a clear opinion. That is, at least when she can read her own handwriting …
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tanya Nanetti (she/her) is a specialty-coffee barista, a traveler, and a dreamer. When she’s not behind the coffee machine (or visiting some hidden corner of the world), she’s busy writing for Coffee Insurrection, a website about specialty coffee that she’s creating along with her boyfriend.
