These coffee experts have contributed to the cup of coffee that you drink at coffee shops in some or the other way. Some of them are coffee roasters, trainers, brewing equipment makers, or coffee shop owners. Now that they are away from their fancy coffee machines, how are they improving their brewing skills and making coffee for themselves and their folks at home?
My Moka Kaapi!
From the first time fighting with my mother for my first cup of coffee, the South Indian Coffee by the meter has always been my go-to drink in the morning. The issue started when I had to start making the coffee by myself. Never knew how my mom got the recipe so perfect, even after following her recipe to the T. The issue was always with consistently getting the cup right.
After years of pondering upon the same, I found the answer in one of the oldest brewing equipment- The Italian Moka Pot. Making my own desi jugaad to brew the coffee, I now need this Moka kaapi everyday morning.
Fancy as it sounds, it’s one of the simplest methods to brew milk-based beverages, which is addictive. All you need is:
- 20 grams of finely ground coffee (close to espresso grind size)
- Fully functioning Moka Pot (I use the Atlasware Brand. I find it to be the best in the market and cost-effective).
- About 100 ML of water
- Some really good full-fat milk
- An electric or gas stove to heat the above.
The secret is to thicken the concoction before adding the milk and of course, a good coffee and you will have the perfect – Moka Kaapi.
Shravan D.S,
Founder & Owner, Beanrove
Every cup is an experiment!
Every day when I’ve to brew coffee there’s so much performance pressure in my head because o gotta brew the best cup ever. And what if somebody at home takes a sip from mine or wants to split the brew but my issue while brewing coffee is always to try an experiment -almost every single day. Either with grind size or grinder, or weight, temperature, or time. There are so many permutations & combinations to try that I end up either making a kick-ass brew or it gets burned and tastes wrong. Typically, I brew a naturals / PSD in a pour-over method by using either a 2 cup V60 or a Chemex, and I have this coffee black, as is or I brew a Moka pott when I want to have it with milk. Evenings are usually cold brew coffee with condensed milk oh alcohol!! My cup is always an experiment that’s been pending to try and I’m not kidding, my cup at home varies almost every single time!
Bharat Singhal,
Founder & Owner, Bili Hu
Brew with Kalita Wave!
The pleasure of brewing my cup is what makes drinking coffee at home enjoyable. A light roast specialty coffee brewed on a Kalita Wave has been my go-to for a while now. The flat bottom helps in achieving an even extraction. I also find it to be more forgiving than other drippers making it a good starting point for home brewers. I once did a month-long experiment where I would brew the same coffee twice every day, once with the Wave, and the other on a more popular dripper. The coffee brewed on the Wave would always have more depth and complexity. This is why all drip coffees at QBF are brewed on a Kalita!
Vaibhav Bindal,
Founder & Owner, Quick Brown Fox
Summers call for Iced Lattes!
My go-to coffee maker is always an AeroPress due to its versatility and ease of use however having a wide collection of coffee makers at home I am starting to spend more time experimenting and enjoying espressos more so my favorite coffee maker at the moment has to be FLAIR ESPRESSO. It is super easy to use and can pull café quality espresso shots. Summer has me brewing loads of iced lattes and I have to confess that my desserts have turned to salted caramel iced lattes. My chubby cheeks are proof of the extra sugar
Suhas Dwarakanath,
Founder & Owner, of Benki Brewing Tools, Authorised Trainer from SCA, Founder & Head Trainer at SCA India
It is all about the MOOD!
When the lockdown was announced and as we were shutting one of our cafes, we quickly decided to transfer all the manual brewing equipment and grinder home. BEST DECISION TO DATE. Has truly helped us pass this lockdown phase. Every morning, I have to remind myself that machine-brewed coffee will not be available but that allows me to explore one of the manual brewing equipment I have at home. So, I have been experimenting with the Moka pot, pour-over (V60 and Chemex), and AeroPress. It’s generally been an equal mix and a lot of experimenting with grind sizes and recipes. What’s fun is that it continues to be experimental. When I’m drinking it alone, I have more of a choice but when it’s a family ritual – I am restricted mostly to the Moka pot (300 ml) or the Pour over as they can make multiple cups in one go. Luckily, I get to decide and it’s fair to say the coffee choice reflects my MOOD.
Kritivas Dalmia,
Founder & Owner, Kaffa Cerrado
Make the best of what you have – keep it simple!
I think brewing at home for me is similar to how I used to cook at home while I was a “Chef/Cook” at work. When I was cooking at home, I didn’t have a fancy Knife set with 1000 different varieties or 2 huge sinks with a guy who only cleans the utensils.
Similarly, when I am at work, I have access to the most amazing Coffee equipment right from extra precision grinders to beautiful brewing equipment to the most amazing scales which are like 0.01 g calibrated, and a kettle that gives and maintains the temp to the ‘T’ in the best possible way.
When I am at home, I like to treat coffee as simply and as less complicated as possible, more like a beverage than like an “Experimental Study Material”. I don’t want to bring that technicality home, so I brew with the most simple equipment like, a vessel or mug, channel (regular tea strainer), the boiled water, if I want to make a FrenchPress-likee coffee or an (Amazon-bought) Moka Pot if I tend to feel like it’s an espresso-ish kind of a day (or night).
Binny Varghese,
Well-known Coffee Expert, TEDx speaker, Barista and Trainer
Recreating café drinks at home!
This has been a great time to experiment and work on my skills. I have a Moka Pot, French Press & V60 Pour Over kit at home, so honestly, it’s the best of the lot, given the situation. The lockdown has given me some time to take a step back and reanalyze what I want coffee to mean for Potboiler once the place reopens. I’ve been fortunate enough to try new roasters during this time as well. My family has been my guinea pig for all my experiments…. for everything coffee. My 4:30 pm coffee brewing time has become a daily ritual where I try to recreate some of the cafe’s drinks at home with the equipment available! I have also been working on some content for Potboiler’s Social Media. Like I just shot a video on how to make and use coffee ice cubes at home! It has been fun learning and experimenting!
Sonali Lakhotia,
Founder, Potboiler Coffee Shop
