Here are some final ideas on building the best coffee setup for your home.
BY TANYA NANETTI
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Cover photo by Nathan Dumlao for Unsplash
Yesterday we began to break down some essentials that home brewers can consider for their coffee setups. Today we finish up with some final yet important items you can complete yours with.
Extra Tools to Consider
You’ve probably thought a lot about the brewing equipment and coffee, but have you considered the accessories?
The Water
Water quality is the first thing you should think about because, after all, coffee is made of mostly water. And for the most part, city tap water isn’t ideal for coffee brewing.
There are many different ways to have proper coffee water. Today’s simple home water filter pitchers suffice, and it’s not ideal, but bottled water is also acceptable for brewing. You can even buy distilled water and purchase packets of minerals for coffee brewing. Just read and decide what’s best for you, but definitely don’t neglect it.
Keep It Clean
When it comes to cleaning and maintenance, it helps to mimic what you’d find behind your own local coffee bar. A paint brush is great for scraping loose grounds off of counters quickly, as is a clean towel nearby to wipe any spills. Cafiza will be your best friend for the days you decide to deep clean. For maintenance tools, a simple screwdriver goes a long way, but just remember to read the manuals for the coffee gear you’ve purchased. They’re going to tell you all you need to know.
Free Reading & Journaling
It may not be essential, but it is really helpful to have some studying material. Some books about coffee and brewing are not only coffee table eye candy, but very enlightening as well.
However, I always love to add a notebook to write about my coffee experiences. These are a mix of detailed recipes and flavor notes. There are also notes that seem unimportant initially, but can actually be relevant to achieve my best brew. Some of these notes include the type of water used, weather conditions, type of filter, and so on. It may sound silly, but this notebook can be the key to learning more and improving, especially if you’re new to coffee brewing.
Décor and Ambiance
Once your coffee corner is ready for brewing, all you have to do is add a few more touches to truly personalize it as your space.
Since this is a corner for brewing and relaxing at home, it may be helpful to point out that you should avoid scented candles, incense sticks, or anything smelly. They will likely affect your sensory perception, and may disrupt the dialing-in process. The same goes for flowers. So, in this case, feel free to add as many house plants as you desire for the area.
As mentioned earlier, shelves are for more than storing coffee, but also a place to decorate. Stacks of coffee books become educational resources but also a means to fill those shelves with decor, stacked next to plants, pictures, and tubes of coffee beans. Here is where you can also add lights that can help you brew your coffee much more clearly on a particularly dark winter morning.
Some Final Touches I Would Consider for My Setup:
- A frame on the wall with the best bags of coffee you’ve ever had.
- A shelf dedicated to coffee-specific swag, from tote bags to stickers and pins by your favorite brands.
- A speaker to listen to your favorite music while you brew.
- A smartphone holder to help you record all your brews.
- A nice source of light.
- And the list can go on and on … after all, it’s your own coffee corner, and it will be perfect however you choose to decorate it.
Unfortunately, my regular home coffee setup is away from me as I work abroad in Portugal, but I can’t wait to get back to it to brew my favorite coffees my way.
We will continue to cover this topic with other home brewers’ setups in the future.
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.
