Nearing the age that begins with number 3 I can proudly say I’ve been through certain stages of life already and each stage had its own way of making coffee. From pimpled teenager with no money, through almost equally poor college student to established finance professional I’ve tried many different methods, so allow me to list a few for your entertainment. And who knows? Maybe you’ll find one you haven’t tried yet but after the first taste you’ll never abandon.
Instant coffee
It may depend on your country of residence but generally speaking, this is the cheapest form of coffee around the world and also probably the easiest to make. Just add hot water and Bamm! Done. However, I must mention that consumption in this form will not result in high caffeine intake, considering the method that’s used for production. Lyophilization basically entails freezing coffee and thus extracting the fluid from it, leaving only dry powder as a result. A teaspoon of this powder provides 30-90mg caffeine while regular coffee has a 70-140mg[1] content.
Pro tip: in the summer use cold milk as a dissolvent, add some sugar and ice cubes, and voilà! Enjoy your very own homemade iced coffee.
Turkish coffee
Now, I do realize that in some countries it may be harder to retrieve a pack of Turkish coffee, but when it comes to Europe (specifically Eastern Europe), this is a cheap, quick, and easy way of keeping yourself fueled for the day. What sets this apart from other forms is that the powder is ground so fine, you just need to boil water and either mix the powder into that or pour the water over the powder. I mean sure, the traditional way is to use something called a ‘Cezve’ but both of the aforementioned methods work just fine. The caffeine intake is anywhere between 50-65mg[2].
Pro tip: since the powder is so fine, it’s unable to dissolve completely, so it’ll settle at the bottom of your cup. Make sure not to stir it up because that’s yuck-yuck and not for consumption.
Moka pot coffee
For this one, all you need is ground coffee of your choice and a moka pot. Just put on some water to boil and the device will do the rest for you in a few minutes. Buying it can be considered an investment (the price range is from 20$ and the sky’s the limit) but trust me when I say it’s long-term and is worth every penny. The caffeine intake of its wonderous product is about 105mg.[3]
Pro tip: boil the water in the bottom container first, then fill the filter with ground coffee and set it in place before screwing on the top container and putting the now-ensembled pot back on the stow. This will ensure that the hot water immediately starts evaporating through the coffee and producing our bellowed liquid in the top container. If you put cold water in the bottom, add the coffee, and ensemble the whole thing from the get-go, the coffee can get burned over the time it takes for the water to heat + the time the evaporation takes.
Pod coffee machine
I do realize this is a very controversial way, considering its environmental impact, but I had to list it anyway as we are slowly approaching the end of our bullet points. A pod coffee maker stands at the pricier half of our spectrum with 40$ as a starter price and depending on different variables like the brand, it can go up as high as a couple thousand dollars. The pods themselves contain ground coffee and they just need to be placed into the designated spot, the rest is up to the machine and its filled water tank. Easy as pie and very swift, however, besides the maker, the pods are sort of expensive as well, so this is definitely something to consider before electing this way of coffee making. The caffeine content of a pod is usually between 90-130mg[4].
Pro tip: some coffee types require milk which usually means two pods are needed to ensemble one drink – one that contains the actual coffee and one with milk powder. So, running a quick math, if you buy a box of 16 pods, that only means 8 coffees. But… if you buy a box of 16 espresso pods, heat some milk separately, and have the machine drip the espresso into that, you’ll have 16 coffees. *insert the Eddie-Murphy-tapping-his-temple meme here*
Automatic coffee machine
As the title suggests, this type of coffee maker grinds coffee beans freshly at your service, providing the best consumer experience in my opinion, however, for this very reason, it is the most expensive item on the list with a range between 120$-5000$. The case is the same as with the previous machine mentioned – the device can be considered as a bigger investment and also, the beans aren’t exactly the cheapest form of coffee to purchase either. Here, a decision needs to be made on whether the experience is worth the hype and your pennies or not so much.
Pro tip: the fresher-packed the beans are, the better the coffee will taste.
We’ve reached the end of the list I intended to share, and I sincerely hope that you’ve become richer with a new or intriguing piece of information that’ll spur you to try some of these methods. What are your thoughts? Do you have a favorite method already? Do you think I missed something? Leave a comment below and let me know.
- [1] Bider A., Invigo Coffee 2021, https://www.invigocoffee.com/blogs/news/how-much-caffeine-is-in-coffee-pods
- [2] Russel P., Black Ink Coffee, https://blackinkcoffee.com/pages/caffeine-in-coffee
- [3] Spencer M., Coffee-direct.co.uk , https://www.coffee-direct.co.uk/blogs/coffee-q-and-as/how-strong-is-turkish-coffee
- [4] Bjarnadottir A., Healthline 2019, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/instant-coffee-good-or-bad
Images are from Pixabay.