WTB Coffee Gear

[stumpt]

Hi everyone,

Looking to get into the coffee hobby... Not so much espresso (don't have that kind of money laying around!), but pour over most likely. Starting from scratch here, just tired of junky cups of joe from the wild. Now in need of a nice kettle and grinder. Would love something that can handle espresso grinding too but not required. I prefer medium-light roasts, but like me some dark from time to time.

Budget for grinder around 150-250 but can stretch. Kettle around 150. Reach out with what you've got! Kind of a catch all.
Reach out with any coffee-related experiences or advice too . Total newbie over here.

Can arrange for trades for knives or stones + cash deals too.

Thanks

 

[mockit]

I have nothing but good things to say about Fellow products. I have their Gen1 Ode grinder and an EKG kettle. I find that combo completely satisfactory for home pour over use . You can get that for < 400. Pair that with a dripper of your choice and call it a day. I have tried 3-4 Baratza grinders (encore, virtuoso, vario, sette) and they are decent but the build quality is not spectacular. The home grinder market has blossomed so hopefully some others can chime in. I’ve heard good things about the Niche but I’m in the flat > conical camp.

I realize this is a WTB btw but you can get that stuff new and come in under budget if all else fails.

 

[stumpt]

I have nothing but good things to say about Fellow products. I have their Gen1 Ode grinder and an EKG kettle. I find that combo completely satisfactory for home pour over use . You can get that for < 400. Pair that with a dripper of your choice and call it a day. I have tried 3-4 Baratza grinders (encore, virtuoso, vario, sette) and they are decent but the build quality is not spectacular. The home grinder market has blossomed so hopefully some others can chime in. I’ve heard good things about the Niche but I’m in the flat > conical camp.

I realize this is a WTB btw but you can get that stuff new and come in under budget if all else fails.

Totally right - wanted to try here as I'm in no rush to acquire anything. I've been looking at Fellow stuff and it looks great, the opus is quite curious but the newness and lack of professional input scares me a bit. Would love to discuss if you've got any local coffee source recommendations. Thanks for the input!

 

[refcast]

I ordered from George Howell, which is in the Boston area. Will report back to you when I get the shipment. . . But having tried about a dozen coffee roasters, my favorite so far is black and white coffee roasters per a rec from @ethompson . I found local didn't really correlate with quality too much for me

The 1zpresso grinder is pretty good and what I use. You can sift the fines out of the grounds of you want a cleaner taste with less astringency and bitterness. I personally like wood or ceramic pour over funnels, any rubber or plastic I tend to taste it a little and dislike it . . . Kinda subtle but enough for me to switch. There's more heat sapping from the ceramic though, so preheating things can help if you want more extraction from temperature that way. The grinder is the most important thing, aside from the coffee beans. It's up to you how you like immersion vs pour over. . . You can try both. I like to immerse coffee in one vessel, then pour it through filter after to drink. I would recommend trying coffees via "cupping" or just ground beans in water, without a filter, in order to better taste the oils as well. Paper filters do remove some of them, and even for metal filters, the oils can stick to the filter. Then you can know more about how the bean tastes. As for roast levels. . . All of them have something to offer, lol. Lighter roasts can have some really interesting aromas or flavors, and are more acidic . . . Like a tangerine sometimes. Darker roasts are acidic often like cherries. . . If you read any specific fruit descriptions, that covers a lot of the acidity levels or type.

There's an intro by George Howell on YouTube about coffee, and I like him more than James Hoffman, and I like James Hoffman quite a bit too. It's a multipart series so there are other videos too

 

[OyakoDont]

I got into pour over coffee a few months ago and it’s been great. Unfortunately I don’t have any extra supplies, but there are items that would fit well within your budget. For the funnel I recommend the Hario switch (available on Amazon). You can do your immersion in it and then let it flow out. For a grinder I use the TimeMore C3, but the C2 was the company’s claim to fame. I assume you and everyone else on the forum has a kitchen scale, but if you don’t, you’ll want one that can keep up with water being poured into a cup.

 

[doomtop]

I don't have anything to sell you, but wanted to echo the recommendation for Fellow's Ode grinder and Stagg EKG kettle. I also use these personally for pour over and they work great for this purpose. Precise control of the temperature of your water is critical and the Stagg EKG does this the best imo. I'm sure the Opus works well and may be a better choice if you prefer conical burrs, but the Ode is better established and has well regarded third party burr upgrades available if you end up wanting to go that route.

I do not use my Ode to grind for espresso and I would caution you against getting a grinder that "can handle espresso grinding too".

If/when you get into brewing espresso, you'll want an espresso specific grinder for multiple reasons. Primarily because a grinder that can do both is going to be a compromise on one or the other or both, at least until you get into a pricing tier that is an order of magnitude greater than your current budget. But secondly because calibrating the grind for a bean has a much more significant effect on your espresso results, and adjusting the grind back-and-forth between espresso and pour over, or even between two types of bean, will become very cumbersome and inefficient.

You're going to need a scale. I use an Acaia Lunar for everything, but the Pearl might be better for pour over specifically. If you need something less expensive, I've also used the Hario V60 scale which works well.

For brewing pour over, all of the methods I use are extremely cheap to buy new: Kalita Wave (1 cup), Hario V60 (2 cups) and Chemex (multiple cups).

It would seem that your budget may allow you to purchase everything you need brand new, especially if you can find anything on sale. If it still feels important to seek out used gear, send me a PM and I can point you to some coffee-specific buy/sell websites. (I'm not sure if I should be linking to other sites in a post here.)

 

[stumpt]

Thanks everyone, loving the input… doom brings up some great points, going to take back any mention of espresso gear from here on out! Fellow seems great, would love to hear anything about ode 1 vs 2… i’m thinking v60 preliminarily but open to hearing about things like aeropress/other methods.. this may be better off in a standalone thread. But will leave this up in case anyone has extra gear lying around

 

[doomtop]

If you're interested in using an AeroPress, get the Prismo attachment.

https://fellowproducts.com/blogs/learn/wade-preston-s-winning-us-brewers-cup-qualifier-prismo-recipe
I have an AeroPress and Prismo, and the results are really very good, but I rarely actually use it. It just feels a bit more tedious and complicated to produce the result I want vs. using the V60 which the process I have done so frequently as to become second nature.

 

[parbaked]

I was picking up an order at Bernal Cutlery and stumbled on this Fellow brand store just a block away.

Stuff looks well made and would certainly be attractive on one’s counter.

 

[reforminded]

The Baratza Virtuoso+ is an excellent, very well reviewed and often recommended grinder. Its performance beats everything else at the price point, and the burrs are the same ones used in much higher end and more expensive machines. Most enthusiasts and pros say this is the best entry into a real grinder that can do anything a home brewer will need, until you are getting into the $1K+ market.

 

[e30Birdy]

Hi everyone,

Looking to get into the coffee hobby... Not so much espresso (don't have that kind of money laying around!), but pour over most likely. Starting from scratch here, just tired of junky cups of joe from the wild. Now in need of a nice kettle and grinder. Would love something that can handle espresso grinding too but not required. I prefer medium-light roasts, but like me some dark from time to time.

Budget for grinder around 150-250 but can stretch. Kettle around 150. Reach out with what you've got! Kind of a catch all.
Reach out with any coffee-related experiences or advice too . Total newbie over here.

Can arrange for trades for knives or stones + cash deals too.

Thanks

If it was just for me I would get a commandante hand grinder, fellow stagg as you can adjust the temp and has a nice swan neck for controlling the flow. Scale I would personally get an acacia pearl s but if budget says no them a timemore black mirror. I think that V60 setup would be pretty solid for some third wave coffee.

Coffee is a rabbit hole, ask my wallet.. coffee is stupid good though but I have also spent what some spend on a car.

 

[doomtop]

The Baratza Virtuoso+ is an excellent, very well reviewed and often recommended grinder. Its performance beats everything else at the price point, and the burrs are the same ones used in much higher end and more expensive machines. Most enthusiasts and pros say this is the best entry into a real grinder that can do anything a home brewer will need, until you are getting into the $1K+ market.

Additionally, the Baratza Encore can be inexpensively upgraded to the M2 burr, which the Virtuoso line uses, giving very similar results in the cup at a more attractive price point.

 

[mockit]

For coffee recs in the Boston area I fully endorse George Howell and Broadsheet in Cambridge. Both of them are phenomenal. Brewing devices are a lot less expensive so there is more room to play. I think Kalita or Hario Switch is a bit more beginner friendly than a V60 personally but I’m of the opinion you can make good coffee on all of them. I LOVE aeropress but find it a bit too fiddly for day to day compared to a standard dripper.

The Commandante is another good recommendation if you’re ok with putting in a little work . Hand grinders have the hidden advantage of being super quiet if that matters to you.

 

[dragjp]

Broadsheet in Cambridge

my go to place when I went to school there, just awesome especially in a damn snowy winter.
And for V60 I'd recommend this Hario V60 Drip Coffee Decanter, cheap but nice made and works very well.

 

[stumpt]

Additionally, the Baratza Encore can be inexpensively upgraded to the M2 burr, which the Virtuoso line uses, giving very similar results in the cup at a more attractive price point.

Liking this idea, I'm not a huge coffee drinker so I don't need a ton of fancy features. Liking the re-buildability that Baratza seems to emphasize.

George Howell and Broadsheet in Cambridge.

I knew about George Howell but I'll have to check out Broadsheet. Thanks for the recommendations!

 

[OkayMode]

At a lower budget and for pour over only, a hand grinder will get you far better results than electric for the same money imo.

I’ve had a few grinders over the years - currently using a 1ZPresso K Plus, with a Timemore Sculptor on the way.

The K plus grinds extremely quickly.

I have a Feld2 hand grinder by Knock which I was using at my office. You can have for cheap if you’re interested, as I’ll be replacing it with my 1ZPresso when the Sculptor arrives. Shoot me a PM.

 

[Bensbites]

Liking this idea, I'm not a huge coffee drinker so I don't need a ton of fancy features. Liking the re-buildability that Baratza seems to emphasize.


I knew about George Howell but I'll have to check out Broadsheet. Thanks for the recommendations!

Hey, you're from Boston too. Always happy to chat knives and coffee. I started roasting my own beans about 10 yrs ago. I like drip / aeropress/ clever dripper.

 

[user 16756]

I switched from a Baratza Forte BG to the comparatively less expensive Fellow Ode with SSP Multipurpose burrs and genuinely think it makes nicer coffee.

Plastic v60, cafec T-90 filters, gooseneck of your choice and an Ode. All you need for pourover IMO. After that it's mostly just about the beans until you wanna splurge on an endgame grinder, which I won't be doing as I've mostly cut out coffee as it was messing with my ability to sleep despite not doing much for my alertness. Still love the taste though.

 

[KasumiJLA]

I've been in the specialty coffee industry for 6 years and I done brewing competition. I used Compak, Baratza, Mahlkonig, Ascaso, Fellow and many more grinder. The one I would recommend, because I like it so much and I still use it, it's a Comandante.

I only drink light roasted coffee and it can be hard on those burrs. I've been grinding twice a day since 4 years and it's still going strong! It's not cheap, but you can achieve a super homogeneous grind, which is super important for a nice extraction. I've done some tests with a VST refractometer and it's in the same ballpark compared to the "overhyped" EK43

I know manual grinder is not for everyone but if you want drip coffee and sometimes an espresso, this one can be a nice one.

I don't sold mine, just to let you know about this product! Here's a link if you want to look at it

 

[EShin]

If it was just for me I would get a commandante hand grinder, fellow stagg as you can adjust the temp and has a nice swan neck for controlling the flow. Scale I would personally get an acacia pearl s but if budget says no them a timemore black mirror. I think that V60 setup would be pretty solid for some third wave coffee.

Coffee is a rabbit hole, ask my wallet.. coffee is stupid good though but I have also spent what some spend on a car.

I would recommend the same. Grinder is definitely the biggest factor and if you enjoy grinding manually, the commandante is as good as it gets and a huge step up from e.g. a timemore c2. 1ZPresso K Plus is probably in the same league, so whichever you get a good deal on will be a good choice that will last you many years. If electronic, I’d get a timemore sculptor, but the ode is a good choice, too. If you need a scale, timemore black mirror is a great budget choice, but you can just start with a regular kitchen scale and upgrade later if you feel the need. And the hario switch that some have mentioned would also be my recommendation, after some experimentation I really came to love it and it has become my go-to in the last two years.

 

[stumpt]

Thank you all once again for the replies. I didn't expect this much input at once, but it's definitely made the choices easier.

From what I've gathered, I think my path from here will be:
1zpresso k-plus
Timemore black mirror
Stagg EKG or similar
V60 or switch V60