First things first – you have to be using fresh and high quality whole bean coffee. That’s a prerequisite for brewing at home. This setup also takes into account that you have a hot water boiler at home, if not click here for store locations to find one. Focus on three things when selecting a coffee to brew at your home:
1. When was it roasted?
If there’s no roasted on date, you can assume that it was months ago. *sad face*
2. Blend or single origin?
A single origin is trendy, and can have a very specific flavour to it, which doesn’t fluctuate much – and to the experienced coffee drinker, can be identified easily. Blends vary wildly, and can be amazing when roasted by amazing roasters. To be safe, work your way from popular blends into a specific single origin bean that you identify with.
3. The grind
For this setup we are going over here, you will do better with a coarse grid (bigger particles). With many others, including espresso, the grind needs to be very fine almost like flour.
Let’s go buy a grinder, and get this kit started!
This small shop on Wan Chai Road has hand grinders for $150, so grab one of them bad boys. Likewise, if you head over to Shanghai Street at Yau Ma Tei, you can find multiple cooking and supply stores that will have these hand grinders available for a similar (if not a bit lower) price.
Here’s a picture of what you’re looking for:
Now let’s get a pour over brewer and some filters – and our beginning setup is complete. This step shouldn’t cost you anything more than HK$24. Why $24? Because you’ll be buying two things from Living Plaza.
Here’s (similar to) what you’re looking for:
*pro-tip: There will be some pour overs with a scoop in the bag – grab that!
Here’s a map of the Living Plaza stores in Hong Kong:
Once you get started and develop your tastes at home, you can begin to collect ever more awesome brewing tools – there’s no shortage of those either, and we will cover them in upcoming articles.
Here’s a quick 5 minute video on using this setup to make a great cup of coffee at home. You will immediately be hit by the coffee’s flavour and taste profile – and at the same time you will never be satisfied by a chain coffee again. Sorry!
Want to try a bunch of new beans each month? Check out our monthly box of coffee!
Top image credit: HomeMadeModern
