Be your best self.

How Do You Make Coffee At Home?

How Do You Make Coffee At Home?
Carly Jacobs
Sponsored by L’Or Espresso

Morning Carly has two states of being. There’s Pre-Coffee Carly and Post Coffee Carly. Even though they both inhabit the exact same body, they’re really easy to tell apart. Pre-Coffee Carly is just a bit crap at everything. She’s not mean like 6am Carly, she’s just really inefficient and has a hard time controlling her extremities. Here are a few examples of simple tasks executed by Pre and Post Coffee Carly.

Making Toast

toast

Using Keys

 

keys

Packing Lunch

packinglunch

Getting Dressed

shoes

Applying Make Up

makeupThe problem with needing coffee to function like a human being in the morning is the conundrum of actually being able the MAKE the coffee without injuring yourself or breaking everything within a one metre radius. Being a hugely coffee oriented household we have no fewer than 5 different coffee making apparatus. Plunger, Aeropress, Nespresso capsule machine, stovetop espresso maker (moka pot) and a vacuum syphon. We do very serious coffee in the Smaggle Haus.

The plunger and Aeropress require the use of steady pressure so they’re a poor choice for Pre-Coffee Carly who has difficultly with even simple things like door knobs. I had to veto the stovetop espresso maker after burning myself repeatedly with it because Pre-Coffee Carly can’t seem to grasp the concept that hot things are hot. I never use the vacuum syphon because I’m terrified of science. This leaves my beloved Nepresso machine as the true Wizard of Morning Coffee. I literally press a button and if Pre-Coffee Carly happens to miss the button, the consequences are far less dire than if I apply too much pressure to the plunger and send it crashing to the floor. I seriously love that baby.

Buying capsules for my Nepresso is a bit of a pain in the butt though. You have to order them on subscription or buy them from a specialty store and I usually forget to do either. A while ago some companies started making compatible capsules and selling them at the supermarket and I for one think it’s a genius idea. I’ve been buying L’Or capsules for a while now and I love them. Possibly the most insignificant thing I love about them is that they’re pre-perforated so when you rip open the little bag you get that delicious whiff of fresh coffee that you just don’t get with other capsules. Simple things please me.

When I first purchased my little morning joy-maker, I didn’t understand the buttons. I’d always press the big cup button because I always wanted a big coffee. It’s just logical. It turns out there’s actually different capsules for the big cup button. They’re called Lungo (long) and the short ones are espresso. L’Or have recently released a new Lungo range so you can make a big coffee that’s also strong. I generally go for the higher intensity blends because I’m mostly awesome at sleeping and I need a real punch in the face from my coffee to get going in the morning. My favourite L’Or blend is the Or Juane. I have no idea how to pronounce it but I have heaps of fun trying.

DSCF3568

How do you make your coffee at home?

Are you plunger family? Pods? Capsules? Or perhaps cafe takeaway?

P.S I’ve tried the Aldi machine and capsules too and I didn’t love them but it might be because I tried them at my friend’s grandmother’s house. After several very unsatisfying coffees we figured out that she was squeezing three coffees out of each pod to save money. We were basically drinking lightly infused coffee water, bless her.

This post was co-ordinated by The Remarkables Group.

22 Comments

  1. Raquel Moss 10 years ago

    Local organic beans get ground in the fancy grinder, then they go into the plunger. A drop of vanilla essence gets added. It brews for fucking ages (when I’ve forgotten about the coffee brewing on the bench, it’s officially time to drink the coffee). It gets poured in a cup and enjoyed with a dollop of condensed milk (SE Asian style :-))

    We are also serious about coffee in our house. Unsurprisingly, we live in Wellington.

    • cilosophy.blogspot.com 10 years ago

      oooh that sounds YUM!

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      WELLINGTON!!! I love Wellington. I love the idea of adding vanilla essence… might try that one tomorrow!

  2. Rachel Pierce 10 years ago

    This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion on this post, but I don’t drink coffee. I don’t want to get addicted like this, it’s just not worth it. Also, the caffeine in regular coffee gives me a headache.

    My morning drink is tea. I have a huge and growing variety of teas to choose from and I love them. Sometimes in the afternoon if there is a Starbucks run or someone else is buying, I’ll order a decaf.

    Okay, my non-caffeinated self will leave you be now.

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Ha! Thanks for sharing! I generally only have one coffee a day and always in the morning so I’m not crazy addicted. If it’s the weekend I might not even have one at all! In fact when I was in Thailand I didn’t drink coffee the whole time. I love tea as as well! I’ll have about 4 cups a day.

  3. Erika 10 years ago

    In the far off days of writing my honours thesis, it was a percolator on the stove top. ALL the time. Sad. I ran out of money at one point and got really bad withdrawal symptoms. Since then, I’ve significantly cut down my consumption – one or at the most, two mugs a day. I’m actually not supposed to have it at all (CFS), but truly love the smell, flavour and ritual.

    So – its organic/fair trade beans (I like a stronger roast) in Rocky the grinder. And a fully manual Rancilio Sylvia espresso machine. Let her warm up, then go through the whole process of heating the group and cup, making the coffee, foaming/heating the milk and then decompressing the steam from Sylvia (really don’t want her to burst under pressure). It’s not quick, but it’s a rather soothing ritual, and if I say so myself, I make a reasonable coffee, even if it’s not as good as from a professional barista!

    One of the BIG deals is keeping your equipment clean. Old coffee oils are bitter and spoil the flavour of the best beans. If you have coffee that’s bitter, the two main factors are dirty machine or too hot water. And 9 times out of 10, the machine hasn’t been kept clean.
    Sylvia gets cleaned regularly. Yep, I’m obsessive. And Sylvia and Rocky are actually the product names of the espresso machine and grinder! They sit next to each other on the kitchen bench, along with the knock box 🙂

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Holy shit, you’re waaaaay more hardcore than us! Although Mr Smaggle certainly likes to make an artform out of it. I’m more slap dash. As long as the coffee gets in my belly I don’t really care much!

  4. I love this post and can totally relate. My first cup of coffee is never as well made as my second one.

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      My first cup of coffee is medicinal. Fact.

  5. Norlin Mustapha 10 years ago

    Hahaha…love it! Well, I had that predicament this morning when I found out that the jar of coffee was…EMPTY!!! Mr. C is looking to buy a coffee machine. He wants to get a “good and expensive one” (his words not mine), I told him to get the ones with pods, no need to run around for ground coffee, just choose the darn pods and pop one in – voila!

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Nooooo! That would RUIN my day. Mr Smags has actually bought empty pods that you put fresh coffee into. I’m too stupid to figure out how to use them but they may be worth a try?

  6. Shelby Wright (aka Cal) 10 years ago

    Stovetop pot all the way! I’ve had it for a few years now and I can generally make a reasonable cup of coffee without being fully awake (although occasionally I forget the coffee).

    I love it but it’s been causing drama recently. This morning it just would not brew and I was reduced to eating coffee beans two at a time with a hot chocolate to take the grit out of my mouth. Tomorrow I might have to break out the Emergency Touring Plunger.

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      I actually really love stovetop coffee! Haven’t had one for years… so thick and italiany!

  7. Nicole 10 years ago

    I just rebought a keurig machine, in purple no less. Seen here: http://instagram.com/p/fwTBz8Ljn8/ I could be mistaken, but I think it’s the brand that began the coffee pod machine trend. Now, this is where it gets confusing. Apparently, the pod machines in Australia are espresso machines, but most of the pod machines here are like “drip coffee”. Personally, I don’t really get it and neither did other Australians when my American husband tried to buy a “drip coffee” pod machine when we were living in OZ last year.
    Regardless, it’s amazing. Cheaper than starbucks and I can have tasty, delicious coffee almost as soon as I open my eyes.

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Drip coffee is foul. You poor thing you must really crave Melbourne when you have bad coffee! That purple coffee machine totes made my dag.

      • Nicole 10 years ago

        Thankfully, I have found a loophole with these cappuccino pods that work in our machine. They come with an espresso pod and a frothy, milk powder pouch. I add the powdered chocolate on top (that’s an Aussie touch) and it’s pretty spot on.
        My husband gets drip coffee any time we go to a diner, it tastes like cigarette butts in fart water.

  8. Nessbow 10 years ago

    I’m an instant coffee girl. Very unfashionable, I know, but brewed coffee gives me an enormous headache.

    • Alexandra Brovco 10 years ago

      Yes, this! I thought I was all alone! It got a little better over the years, and nowadays when I add milk, it almost never happens, so sometimes I allow myself something brewed, but almost always the repercussion will manifest itself. (That was a very long run-on sentence.) So instant all the way.

      I also like instant, because on most occasions I just CBA to wait for the thing to brew. 😛

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      I don’t mind an instant coffee every now and then but for me it’s more like a coffee flavoured beverage than any kind of caffeine helper.

  9. Nadine 10 years ago

    I don’t drink coffee.

    I can’t stand them smell (yes I use smell as it is a smell not an aroma to me).

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Oh I LOVE the smell of coffee!

  10. RTWgirl.com 10 years ago

    I do pour over drip coffee. I really wanted a Nespresso but then my enviro friends sent me links about how much pod waste fills our landfills. Then I felt guilty and stuck to my cheapo coffee methods.

Leave a Reply