Chances are you have spent an inordinate amount of time at home over the last year, drinking coffee. And chances are this won’t be changing anytime soon. But if coffee at home is the new normal, you’ll need the right gear to do it well, and consistently, so as to continue fueling your coffee dreams (and whatever else you’re working on).
As part of our partnership with Seattle Coffee Gear, we’re going to be bringing you regular guides to cool new gear to brew with at home throughout 2021. This is the first one of those guides, and to kick things off we’re co-curating with the team at SCG a list of products we all dig together. Read on, and shop directly from SCG at the links below—you can enjoy 10% off your first item by signing up for the Seattle Coffee Gear mailing list at SeattleCoffeeGear.com.
Fellow Junior Demitasse
Drinking great coffee at home requires cute cups. This is non-negotiable. San Francisco design firm Fellow is known far and wide for a range of home brewing products, but here at Sprudge Central in Portland, Oregon, we are particularly fond of their cups, specifically the Junior Demitasse. Yes, you should put coffee in them, but they also make gorgeous objet with which to decorate your home—try potting one with a succulent!
“Keep your shots hot and your espresso setup shiny with the Fellow Junior Demitasse set. Crafted in thick double-wall ceramic and capped with a polished copper base, each 2.3-ounce demitasse offers insulation for toasty shots in a pleasing tapered shape. Includes two demitasse cups. Hand wash only.” —SCG
Vitamix Explorian
Picture this: you’re vacationing on a sunny, far away island. All is well in the world, and in your glass, as you sip a stunning coffee frappe and count up the sun-dappled pebbles beneath your feet. You post a triple-digit Instagram and drift away in satisfaction.
This is mostly just a fantasy—you really shouldn’t be on a tropical vacation right now!—but at least one part of the dream can be yours, with the right blender. Vitamix once ruled the stages of barista competitions near and far, and now it can rule the cabinet underneath your kitchen counter, ready to be deplored in making a wide variety of blended drinks, sauces, and what-have-you. This is the perfect pick-up if you’re both drinking a lot of coffee at home and doing a lot of cooking at home.
“Designed to upgrade your kitchen routine, the Explorian offers simple operation, effortless maintenance, and multiple blend options in a sleek case design sure to enliven your kitchen counters. Mix, crush, and puree with a quick turn of the speed select knob—the aircraft-grade stainless blades and 2 HP motor will make short work of your kitchen prep. Ready for cleanup? A drop of dish soap and a few pulses is all you need to get your blender clean and ready for your next recipe. Includes blender, 48-ounce container, lid, and manual.” -SCG
Isla Slancio
Rather unexpectedly, one of the most popular stories we published on Sprudge last year was this deep-dive into Italian coffee drinkers rediscovering their national love affair with the Moka pot. There are quite a few options for those looking to get in on the stovetop coffee craze, and none more handsome than the Isla Slancio.
“Aptly named for its quick-brew ability, the Ilsa Slancio (or, “Rushed”) Stovetop Espresso Maker combines its chic, brushed aesthetic with high-quality performance. Designed to create up to ten cups of delicious espresso in its largest size, and compatible with induction heat sources like gas, electric, glass, and ceramic stovetops. Bring home the Slancio Espresso Maker to add a touch of sophistication to your morning cup.” — SCG
Technivorm Moccamaster
Ask us to make coffee gear recommendations and inevitably we’ll mention the Moccamaster, an efficient and handsome mainstay of fine home coffee setups worldwide. Available in a range of gorgeous colors and stylish on any home countertop, my commitment to stanning for the midcentury design triumph that is Moccamaster continues unabated.
“Refined and reviewed since 1968, this Netherlands design will knock your socks off! The Technivorm Moccamaster KBG741 combines durability with finesse through its high-quality copper boiler, its steady flow rate, and its easily replaceable parts. This brewer also uses a glass carafe and warmer plate to keep your coffee piping hot between cups. Technivorm’s Moccamaster KBG741 has been crafted with care to prepare delicious hot coffee – pot after pot, and year after year.” — SCG
Breville Dynamic Duo
Seattle Coffee Gear has paired up two objects of home coffee making excellence—Breville’s well-loved BES920 Dual Boiler and BCG820 Smart Grinder Pro—available together in formation as a home espresso combo.
“Renowned as one of the most temp-stable machines in its segment, this high-tech espresso machine offers dual PID-controlled stainless steel boilers, volumetric or time-based shot programming, programmable pre-infusion, even an auto-on timer so that it’s always ready to brew. Matched with this is Breville’s own Smart Grinder Pro. Equipped with a digital display, the Smart Grinder Pro simplifies setting and saving your grind setting. Together, these two make a capable combo that will help you make coffee you love.” — SCG
Rocket Espresso Nera
Friends, readers, other journalist types—my inbox is flooded with your coffee queries, and without fail the thing I’m getting asked the most about right now are home espresso machines. This is a product category in which Seattle Coffee Gear excels, and the team at SCG heartily recommends to us the newly redesigned Rocket Espresso Appartamento Nera.
“Rocket Espresso’s refreshing take on home espresso just got a new look with the Appartamento Nera! Their much-loved compact machine gets a cutting-edge black powder coat case while maintaining its adorably outsized controls and side panel cutouts in copper or white finishes. Inside, you still get the Appartamento’s 1.8-liter copper heat-exchange boiler for brewing and steaming coupled to a heated E61 group for boiler-to-spout temperature consistency. The Nera also includes quality of life features like sprung valves, an electronic water sensor, and an insulated steam wand; making it one of the best compact home espresso machines on the market.” — SCG.
Eureka Filtro
Making coffee at home is really personal, a topic we explored recently here at Sprudge in a home coffee bar redesign feature. So if what you’re going for is a coffee bar that whispers stylish chic, yet is still capable of delivering high-quality performance, the Eureka Filtro from Florence, Italy is most certainly worth a look.
“The Mignon Filtro offers quick, consistent grinds in a design dedicated to filter coffee brew methods. At its core, the Filtro pairs a lower-RPM motor with a 50mm burr set that balances grind speed with consistency and low retention. This combo—coupled with a stepless grind adjust system and on-demand grinding—makes the Filtro’s simple-yet-sturdy setup easy to use and maintain. The externals offer similar quality—a thick metal case, tritan bean hopper, and matching catch bin—for a grinder built to last through years of service.” — SCT
Baratza Encore
From the pages of our book to the digital ink on this website, there’s no grinder we’ve recommended more often at Sprudge than the Baratza Encore. It is more or less the perfect entry-level coffee grinder: sturdy, easy to clean, and an ideal introduction to the world of burr grinders, the grinding style trusted by cafes and coffee lovers the world over. I literally recommended this to a friend verbally a few days ago; I am recommending it to you here right now again, available in a lush, creamy whiteout design.
“Renowned as the best entry-level grinder on the market, the Encore is back with a fresh new color perfect for your kitchen counter. Built with easy functionality in mind, the Encore offers 40 simple stepped grind settings, easy-access burrs for cleaning, and simple pulse or switch operation for single cups or full pot grinding. Best of all, Baratza’s deep parts availability and technical support ensures your grinder will work for years to come. Available in black or white colorways, the Baratza Encore will have you happily brewing every day.” — SCG
Eureka Mignon Silenzio
From entry-level coffee grinders to a step up the offering scale, Eureka’s Mignon Silenzio offers a compelling option for those looking to upgrade their home coffee game (especially if home espresso is in play). As you might suspect from the name, the Silenzio is whisper-quiet (shh!) and offers timed dosing with a stepless grind adjust.
“The Silenzio takes Eureka’s home-size grinder and improves it with a new motor, anti-clumping system—and a custom-designed, sound-insulated case. Rubber damping at motor mounts and around exit points like the throat and grind adjust knob reduce resonance for quieter grinding. The Silenzio may be quiet, but it packs in a host of Eureka’s famous features like step-less grind adjustment, easy-access burrs, and a bottom burr adjust that preserves your grind setting during disassembly.” — SCG
Urnex Grindz
All this grinding means you’ll need to keep things clean. Indeed, regularly cleaning your equipment is the number one thing a home coffee enthusiast can do to up their game. Urnex has for decades been the gold standard in the coffee cleaner business, from homes of discerning coffee lovers to the best cafes around the world. Grindz is one of the most intuitive coffee products out there, easy to use, and a must to have on hand with the amount of coffee you’re drinking these days.
“Running this Urnex Grindz Cleaner through your Burr Grinder every few weeks will work wonders and give you only the freshest tasting coffee or espresso. All-natural, gluten-free and completely food safe.” — SCG
Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.
Seattle Coffee Gear is an advertising partner on Sprudge Media Network and the official fulfillment partner of Sprudge. Read more about this partnership here.
