Everything you need to make great coffee – and the kit that's not worth your money
The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
And if you're here because you're not entirely happy with the coffee in your cup now – or wish you could replicate the £4-a-cup magic brewed by your local barista – then you've definitely come to the right place.
Let me be clear: brewing good coffee doesn't require magic or outlandishly expensive equipment. OK, fine – expensive equipment can help, in the right hands. But it's by no means a necessity. With a little knowledge, anyone can make a life-changingly (or at least a morning-changingly) good cup of coffee at home.
Here's a quick cheat sheet of coffee-brewing essentials and a few tips to help you begin your journey. We'll start with good-quality coffee beans and a decent grinder, move on to a competent and affordable brewer (or coffee machine if you can afford it) and round off the recommendations with a few pretty but non-essential fripperies.
Red Brick
£13 for 350g at Square Mile
This espresso blend from the wonderful Square Mile – a roastery co-founded by James Hoffmann, author of How to Make the Best Coffee at Home – is always on point. The precise blend varies from crop to crop, but it consistently makes a delicious espresso or espresso-based drink in my experience.
Ethiopia Werka Wuri
£10 for 250g at Clifton Coffee Roasters
You'll find a huge range of seasonal specialities flitting in and out of roasters, but you can't go wrong with a good house roast such as the Werka Wuri from Bristol's highly capable Clifton Coffee Roasters. This is a great showcase for the more delicate, floral, tea-like flavours synonymous with lightly roasted Ethiopian coffees, and it makes excellent filter, pour-over and potentially even cafetière brews. It's well worth trying at least once.
Colombia Tumbaga Decaf
£9 for 250g at Craft House Coffee
Craft House Coffee's blend of reliably high-quality roasts, intriguing variety and sensible prices has kept me loyal for many years. Among my recent favourites is this Colombian single-origin decaf. It's bright, subtly fruity, milk-chocolatey joy, perfectly scratching my afternoon itch without the caffeine buzz.
The next stage in the process is the grind, the importance of which cannot be overstated. It's usually better to pair a great grinder with a more affordable coffee maker than the other way around.
If you can't afford to spend big bucks on a grinder, then the key advice is to buy a burr rather than a blade grinder. Blades simply smash and crack the coffee into pieces, and are terrible at getting a consistent grind, making for a terribly uneven brew. Burr grinders have two spinning, serrated metal surfaces that crush the coffee to a more even consistency, so as long as the burrs are nice and sharp, they're a better bet for a balanced cup of coffee.
You can pick up a basic electric burr grinder for about £50, but bear in mind that not all will be a step up on a blade grinder – many cheap models use dull 'false' burrs, which are little better than a blade. If you want to really up your coffee game, though, then pushing your budget to £100 or above will upgrade the evenness of the grind and, consequently, the quality of coffee that ends up in your cup. If you buy wisely, you'll end up with a grinder that you can repair and maintain for many years.
Kingrinder K6
£92.99 at eBay£99 at Amazon
This hand grinder is a great starting point for smaller single servings of everything from pour-over to espresso, with good-quality 48mm burrs and 60 clicks of adjustment for grind size. You can grind up to 35g of coffee at a time, and while the large handle still gives you a bit of an arm workout, it doesn't take too long. It's brilliant for camping or on-the-go grinding, too.
Wilfa Svart
£99 at Wilfa£89 at Horsham Coffee Roaster
It doesn't grind fine enough for espresso, but the Svart is a regular sub-£100 recommendation for coarser filter, pour-over and cafetière grinds. The design is smart, the burrs are replaceable, and the timer setting delivers a preset amount of coffee with the press of a button.
Encore ESP
£159.95 at Baratza£146.73 at Amazon
The Baratza Encore ESP is a great mains grinder for beginners. The ESP model increases adjustability above the standard Encore, which is crucial for dialling in a perfect espresso grind It's also perfectly capable of coarser grinds for brilliant pour-over and immersion brews. Spare parts are plentiful, too, so repairability is top drawer.
Once you've ticked off the first two steps on the journey to coffee nirvana, you'll need something to, you know, make coffee with. While I recently tested some of my favourite coffee machines for the Filter, there's a lot to be said for manual brewers. They're way cheaper than a half-decent machine and they make better than half-decent coffee with the tiniest bit of effort. Often, they can even be slung in a bag and taken on holiday to guarantee good coffee.
There's a winsome simplicity to a cafetière – if you can live with the occasional sludgy bits at the bottom, that is – but if you prefer a lighter, less intense cup, you should explore the results from other manual brewers such as a V60, AeroPress or Clever Dripper. And especially so when you only want to brew one or two cups at a time.
Bodum Kenya cafetière
£26 at CafePod£12.95 at Amazon
You can't go wrong with a basic Bodum cafetière. The metal-framed Caffettiera model (£16.49) is prettier, but the plastic-framed Kenya model offers more protection to the glass carafe, making it a tad more accident-proof. Add some coarsely ground beans, pour in freshly boiled water and you have a recipe for delicious coffee with minimal faff.
AeroPress
£35 at Argos£35 at Amazon
The AeroPress is a small, plastic manual brewer that makes a stunning cup of coffee. The results can be mind-blowingly good, but be warned: the quest for the perfect cup may leave you disappearing down a Reddit-fuelled technique rabbit hole from which you may never escape. And if you really fancy your brewing talents? Well, you can always consider entering the 2025 World AeroPress Championship. Let us know how you get on.
Hario V60 coffee dripper set (size 02)
£11.99 at HR Higgins£12 at Hario
Hario's V60 coffee drippers have become synonymous with pour-over coffee. You can spend big money on its ceramic versions or immersion drippers if you like, but the simple, cheap, plastic V60 is a great place to start. Getting the very best results can require a little (or a lot of) honing of technique – aficionados will recommend a specialist pour-over kettle, as recommended further down the page – but the simplicity is winsome. Don't forget to pick a colour that matches your kitchen decor.
Clever coffee dripper
£20.99 at Clumsy Goat£35 at Amazon
This immersion brewer looks like a standard V60 but it's far more forgiving for beginners. Simply stand it on your kitchen surface, add a paper filter, coffee and boiling water, then allow the coffee to brew for a couple of minutes. Pop it on top of a cup and the valve releases perfectly brewed coffee. It's great for slinging in a travel bag or rucksack, too, if you're so inclined.
These are hardly essential, but if you're brewing beautiful coffee, there's something even more satisfying about drinking it from an equally beautiful cup. A good coffee cup is about more than just aesthetics, though; the best cups can also keep your coffee hot for longer.
Sign up to The Filter
Get the best shopping advice from the Filter team straight to your inbox. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.
after newsletter promotion
Halo Brew tea/coffee cup
£27 at Harts of Stur£34 for two at Denby
Denby's Halo range is a typically charming glint of kiln-fired, hand-crafted loveliness, with a two-tone reactive glaze and a 10-year guarantee against defects in workmanship. Take your pick from handle-free beakers, espresso cups and larger mugs – each adds a tiny spoonful of tactile, aesthetic joy to a fresh, attentively brewed coffee.
Pavina double wall glass set
£32.95 for four at Bodum£32.95 at Amazon
Truth be told, I bought these cups because they look pretty, but they're impressively multi-functional. They may not look it, but they're actually more effective than traditional cups or mugs at keeping coffee warm (or iced coffee cold). The secret is the hollow construction, which creates a thick, insulating layer of air between the two glass walls. Reassuringly, a little rubber-bunged vent on the underside ensures that pressure doesn't crack the glass, and they're dishwasher-, microwave-, freezer- and even oven-safe up to 180C.
Carter Move mug
From £29.99 at Coffee HitFrom £30 at Amazon
What else could a coffee lover need more than this perfectly proportioned and achingly stylish travel mug? The Fellow Carter Move comes in three sizes – 8oz (236ml), 12oz (341ml) and 16oz (455ml) – and uses layers of ceramic, stainless steel and BPA-free plastics to keep your drink hot on your travels. It also comes with a little splash guard to prevent you from slopping frothy cappuccino all over your work clothes. Helpfully, you can brew straight into it with a Hario V60 dripper or Clever Dripper or similar, which cuts down on washing up.
Hario heat-resistant server, 750ml
£58 at Hario£39.95 at Redber Coffee Roastery
I wouldn't be without a thermal jug. This one from Hario has an ample 750ml capacity and a tough aluminium exterior so you can carry it without worrying about smashed glass. Pop a V60 on top and you can brew directly into the jug, which is a nice touch. Coffee then stays hot for a claimed 90 minutes – but I've had drinkably warm black coffee several hours later, even outdoors during camping trips.
Among the simultaneous joys and dangers of coffee is how easy it is to slide towards full-blown obsession over every minutiae. Could it be tastier if only I were using an [insert coffee gadget here]? In some cases, yes, of course, it could. But that depends on how much time you have to master said item, and whether your palate can actually taste the difference. These upgrades are by no means necessary for the beginner – they're just nice to have.
Minipress coffee scale
£31 at MiiCoffee£33.99 at Amazon
If any of these gadgets are an essential purchase, then it's a set of scales. If you can measure out a consistent amount of coffee every time, then all else being equal, you should get a consistently lovely brew. These cute scales from MiiCoffee measure up to 2kg with 0.1g precision and have a built-in timer to help keep track of your brews, which is super helpful. You can buy a cheap set at a third of the price on Amazon, but it's something of a lottery – I've had to bin a couple as they stopped giving accurate readings.
Nespresso Aeroccino 4
£89 at Nespresso£119 at Amazon
I've had an Aeroccino in my kitchen for years now, and it gets regular use for everything from topping up filter coffee to babyccinos for the kids. It can simultaneously heat and froth the milk – with a choice of two froth levels – but you can also opt for plain hot milk or even cold frothed milk if you prefer. It produces a thicker, more meringue-like froth than the silken microfoam you'd get from a carefully wielded steam wand on an espresso machine – or a decent assisted espresso machine for that matter – but for froth without the faff, it's a winner in our household.
Fellow Stagg EKG pour-over electric kettle
From £139 at Borough Kitchen£165 at Amazon
If you're considering buying a kettle designed solely for achieving a perfect, laminar flow of boiling water for coffee, then yes – you've fallen head-first into the coffee-brewing rabbit hole. It works, though. The Fellow Stagg EKG has the gooseneck design typical of the breed, providing a concentrated, precise stream for penetrating and agitating a bed of coffee grounds (or tea leaves) powerfully enough to create an even, balanced brew. With a 0.9l capacity and precise control over temperature (from 57C to 100C), this kettle ticks all the boxes.
Rhino flat coffee tamper
£29.95 at Redber Coffee Roasters£49.99 at Coffee Hit
This may be a revelation for espresso enthusiasts. If you've already got a decent machine but struggle to wield a standard tamper due to limited strength or dexterity, then a flat push tamper is a great call. This cute one from Rhinowares is expensive for what it is, but if your espresso machine has a 58mm portafilter, then its adjustable tamping depth and simple, palm-friendly design may make your brewing life just that bit simpler and more consistent.
Flavoured coffee beansWe've all been there, walking around the local market or similar and finding a stall selling alluringly flavoured coffee beans. Beware: it's rubbish coffee with additives. Coffee doesn't need added flavouring. Great coffee well brewed will naturally burst forth with a vivid spectrum of flavour; cast your cup wide enough and you'll discover varieties that taste of chocolate, honey, vanilla, blueberry, booze-soaked fruits and beyond. There's a whole world of coffee out there – go explore.
Expensive coffee scalesThink twice before splashing triple figures on pricey coffee scales. Indeed, add the word coffee to any product type and you'll notice a dramatic price mark up. I wouldn't endorse buying the cheapest scales you can find with 0.1g precision – I've had to bin a couple over the past decade or so – but if you can afford something a little nicer, such as the £31 MiiCoffee Minipress I recommended above, then it'll do the job. Don't feel the need to spend megabucks.
Barista cosplay accessoriesYou don't need a premium rubber tamping mat or fancy-looking espresso knock box to make great espresso. Ask yourself, do you really want to spend £50 on a 1:10 scale replica of a plastic kitchen bin and a small piece of rubber? That money could pay for a far more meaningful upgrade, such as a new grinder. Or you could just treat yourself to some really great coffee instead.
Sasha Muller is a freelance tech and consumer journalist, avid coffee drinker and craft beer enthusiast with more than two decades of experience in testing products and avoiding deadlines. If he's not exploring the local woods with his kids, boring people talking about mountain bike tyres or spending ill-advised amounts on classic drum'n'bass vinyl, he's probably to be found somewhere swearing at an inanimate object
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
05-07-2025
- Times
What exactly is a flat white? 30 coffee questions answered
Since coffee has overtaken tea in Brits' affections, what was once considered a functional drink is now seen as more fun — but a bit more confusing too. Here, the former world champion barista James Hoffmann cuts through the froth on telling your arabica from your robusta, whether you really need to keep coffee in the fridge — and the truth about flat whites. Coffee beans are the seed of a tropical plant. The ripe fruit — called a cherry but actually about the size of a small grape — is harvested, then the seeds are extracted, fermented, dried and shipped, usually to be roasted in the country where the coffee will be drunk. Those beans are then ground and hot water is used to pull the flavour from them to create the drink we love (need, even). It all depends on what kind you're after. For instance, the strongest cup of coffee is an espresso from a proper machine. If you want to make a longer, less intense drink, you're better off using a filter-coffee maker or a pour-over brewer. These are basically the same thing, except the pour-over is done by hand and typically used to brew one or two cups at a time rather than a whole pot. Coffee made in a moka pot — a stovetop brewer that uses steam pressure to push hot water through reasonably finely ground coffee, a staple of many European homes — sits somewhere in the middle. The filter makes a big difference. Metal filters — in a cafetière, moka pot or espresso machine — produce a richer coffee with more body, because tiny particles of coffee make their way into the cup. But one man's mouthfeel is another man's siltiness. Paper filters, which are used in filter-coffee makers or pour-overs, produce a coffee that might have less body but comes with nice clarity of flavours. A cloth filter, which is reusable but more faff, keeps the particles out but allows more oils through, so you get a good balance of texture and clarity. The AeroPress, invented by Alan Adler (who also created the Frisbee-ish Aerobie Flying Ring), is a brewer with two main plastic parts: a cylindrical brewing chamber with a paper filter and a plunger that presses the water through the grounds. They're hugely popular for good reason: they are relatively inexpensive, portable and robust, easy to clean — and they make great-tasting coffee. You can use one to brew many styles of coffee, from short espresso-strong cups to more classic filter-coffee brews. You might think they're for geeks only but for my money coffee scales are really helpful. They are more precise than kitchen scales (accurate to 0.1g) and many have a built-in timer function to help you follow brewing recipes. You can spend a lot but for most people a cheap set such as those by Maestri or MiiCoffee is just fine. Brewing coffee, especially espresso, is not unlike baking — small changes in ingredients and ratios can have a big impact on the end result. Scales help remove the guesswork if, like me, you're much better at coffee-making after you've actually had a coffee. • A dash of water could give your coffee an extra spark To brew the widest range of coffee, you want a machine that's designed to work well with pods from smaller speciality companies and independent businesses. Nespresso machines can have issues with pods from other brands. Opal is best if you don't need milk-steaming built in (standalone foamers from Nespresso, Dualit and others do a great job). Coffee, particularly the arabica species, first flourished in Ethiopia thousands of years ago. At some point it made its way to Yemen, the first country to cultivate it as a crop. It spread into Europe meaningfully in the 1600s via the Dutch, who had a monopoly on its export from Yemen. London's first coffee house was founded in 1652 and as the city fell in love with the drink, hundreds more sprang up in the Square Mile. Over the next hundred years London would become one of the greatest coffee-drinking cities on the planet, until tea usurped coffee's place. It wasn't until the early 2000s that we really started drinking much more coffee again — now Brits drink it more than tea. • The best coffee machines and kit for chic at-home brewing Any country between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn has a suitable environment, if there's enough altitude. I'm hesitant to generalise about styles, but if you're looking for something interesting and maybe a little fruity, explore the coffees produced in east Africa — Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and so on. Latin American countries are a good place to start for sweet, complex coffees with good body and mouthfeel. Coffee is seasonal and many roasters only have products available for a month or so at a time, but look out for coffees that come from Huila in Colombia, Nyeri (Kenya), Yirgacheffe (Ethiopia), Minas Gerais (Brazil) and Mandailing (Indonesia). Brazil produces the most — it has enough flat land at higher altitudes, so the farms can industrialise and mechanise processes such as harvesting. That makes its coffee a little cheaper than those harvested by hand on steep hillsides. In terms of value, it's always worth remembering there's a human cost to cheap coffee and the premium you pay for excellent coffee is pretty small. Spend two or three times what supermarket coffee costs and you can get something truly exceptional — you can't say the same about wine or whisky. We're still not totally sure! It's a common occurrence — one that many rely on — but what has confused and challenged researchers is the speed with which it happens. For many people it is only a matter of minutes between drinking coffee and needing to go to the lavatory. The coffee is still in the stomach at this point, so it's thought that it must trigger something in your nervous system. The modern-day flat white has become something of a calling card for the speciality coffee movement. It is, in essence, a small, strong latte. Usually it is 6-8oz in volume; a double espresso with a thin layer of microfoamed milk on top. Australia and New Zealand continue to argue about which country invented it and I'm certainly not going to get in the middle! Its history can probably be traced back to the 'sea-foam' cappuccinos that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Increasingly frustrated at the dry, milky air on top of their coffee, customers began asking for a 'flat' (ie foamless) white coffee. As Antipodean youngsters travelled to the UK and other places, their coffee culture came with them. Between 2007 and 2010, seeing a flat white on a British coffee shop menu was a pretty good sign. Now that they are more common, their presence has less significance. No! The most important thing about the coffee you drink is that you enjoy it. For a while the speciality coffee industry did a pretty good job of making people feel bad for liking coffee with milk and sugar, even though it's a delicious combination. But with expensive coffee you might want to hold back since milk and sugar can mask the complexity. These are the two most commonly grown varieties of coffee. It is broadly agreed that arabica is superior, with a smoother taste, so it commands higher prices. Robusta can grow in more diverse environments and at lower altitudes — the biggest producers are in Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia — and is more disease-resistant. It is more bitter-tasting and has about twice the caffeine content as arabica, though for some that is a plus. This is a deeply philosophical question that coffee people argue about a lot. However, I'd have to come down on the side of the roast. The darker you roast coffee, the more you begin to obscure the flavour of the beans and their characteristics. Sometimes coffee roasters take advantage of this to mask lower-quality coffee. However, roasting can't create complexity or flavours that weren't present in the raw beans. Absolutely! The smell of freshly ground coffee is one of life's great pleasures and you can tailor the size of the grounds to the brewer you are using (for a single pour-over brew you want a finer grind than for a pot; an espresso needs the finest grind of all). Coffee beans are also better value: they often cost the same as ground but last longer and bring more delight. Yes, but the reason you don't see them much is the price. Speciality instants such as those from Hard Lines, Colonna or Common Coffee are made with higher-quality beans but lower yields, so one kilogram of coffee beans makes about half as much instant as you'd get from a commercial brand. This means they end up costing about five times as much as your standard Nescafé or Kenco. Which? recently rated M&S Fairtrade Gold top in a taste test of popular 'gold blend' instants. Coffee bags, essentially teabags full of ground coffee, have improved over recent years but technical challenges prevent them producing top-tier brews: the coffee is ready-ground, so won't be as fresh, and the bag prevents the water from extracting the ground coffee fully. The brews are typically good but not great. However, they are very easy. Two speciality roasters that offer them are Extract and Artisan — give them a try. In Italy there are very strongly held opinions about drinking cappuccinos after 11am. This comes from a combination of factors: three quarters of Italians have some degree of lactose intolerance and many also have a healthy interest (or obsession) with digestion. Most adults worldwide are lactose-intolerant, but a single small cappuccino is unlikely to cause harm or discomfort. A second one, though, mighttip you over the edge. However, in the UK we consume more butter in our diet, so may not lose our ability to digest lactose. If you enjoy a cappuccino after lunch — and your digestion agrees — go ahead and enjoy it. First, baristas can only pour 'latte art' with properly steamed milk, so it is a good indicator of quality. Second, it highlights that the drink is being made to order. It's also about job satisfaction — they enjoy it! • Seven of the UK's best coffee shops in unexpected places Oat milk is probably the most popular but seek out products labelled as specifically suited to coffee — something designed to be steamed and foamed like dairy milk. Non-coffee products tend to taste sour or curdle. While the UK's chains do offer different styles of coffee — Starbucks excels at the coffee-based dessert-style drinks; Caffè Nero is a little more traditional; and McCafé and Greggs keep prices more affordable — none of them has really overcome the challenge of scaling up consistently excellent coffee-making. Instead, look for independent speciality businesses. Prices will be a little higher but you get a lot more for your money. This is a tricky question to answer because there is such astonishing variation from one cup of coffee to another. But a good rule of thumb with freshly ground or whole-bean arabica coffee is that you'll get 10mg of caffeine per 1g of coffee. A single 30ml shot of strong, Italian-style espresso might use 7g of coffee, so it will actually contain way less caffeine (about 70mg) than the 150mg in 225ml of filter coffee brewed using 15g of grounds. A cup of instant contains less caffeine than a cup of freshly brewed coffee, because less ground coffee goes into the granules for one cup. So it might taste intense, but it's actually surprisingly weak. The Food Standards Agency guidelines suggest 400mg of caffeine a day for adults. However, there's a huge variance in people's response to caffeine and our ability to metabolise it. If it is impacting your sleep in any way, try dialling back for a week or two to see if you notice any difference. NHS advice is to limit caffeine intake to 200mg a day (it says a mug of filter coffee has 140mg), or risk complications including miscarriage. Not everyone agrees, but you might want to err on the side of caution. Decaf is considered safe during pregnancy. A tiny amount: to be sold as decaf, coffee beans must be 99.9 per cent caffeine-free and instant coffee must be 99.7 per cent caffeine-free. Caffeine is removed before roasting — essentially the beans are first steamed, then soaked in a solvent that pulls out caffeine but not much else. After any solvent is removed, the beans are dried and sent for roasting. All the solvents used now are safe, though some drinkers prefer the use of water or CO2 in place of the solvent (a good decaf will list the process on the bag). There is some impact on the flavour but less than people think. I think ethyl acetate (a by-product of molasses fermentation) is another great solvent, often sold as the 'sugar-cane process' decaf. Black coffee doesn't really contain much in the way of calories — usually less than five in an espresso or cup of filter coffee — but it does contain a surprising amount of fibre. A cup of coffee might contain up to 1.5g of fibre, as well as the phenolic compounds that gut bacteria seem to love. Fairtrade is a certification that relates to the way coffee is grown and by whom, ensuring that a minimum price is guaranteed at or above the market rate and that premiums are paid to the growers to fund community development projects. In the UK the Fairtrade certification can only go to coffee-growing co-operatives from low-income countries, not coffee grown on a single estate, however ethically run. As for whether the coffee trade is currently fair and equitable — that's a much more complex question. I tend to look for traceable coffee, coming from a single farm or particular group of producers. These coffees are often higher quality and the producers will have been paid more for them. If packaged and sealed properly, coffee is safe to drink for a very long time. I've drunk 50-year-old coffee with no ill effects — though it tasted awful. Ground supermarket coffees usually display a best-before date that's 18-24 months from the date it was roasted. I'd avoid the stuff — it's almost guaranteed to be stale. Once you grind coffee you expose a lot of the bean's surface area to the air. Although packaging has improved over the years, once you open that bag of ground coffee the flavour goes downhill very rapidly. Coffee beans last a lot longer but, even so, try to buy beans with a roast date on them. While lighter roasts age a little slower than medium or dark roasts, I'd still say you've got a couple of months to enjoy it if it's properly stored. Keep it dark, dry and air-tight. The freezer is great for long-term storage if the coffee is sealed well (just let it defrost in the cupboard), but I'd avoid keeping your coffee in the fridge — it will go stale just as quickly and you risk contamination with other odours. A container or a bag with a seal strip is fine. Instant coffee lasts a lot longer because there's less to it. Instant starts with ground coffee brewed in massive extraction columns, usually from cheap and low-quality coffee beans. This is then dried and portioned into jars for you to reconstitute later with hot water. It's a technical marvel of convenience, but gives you only a fraction of the delight that fresh coffee can. Yes, broadly speaking. Coffee consumption is associated with slower cognitive decline and reductions in 'all-cause' mortality, cardiovascular disease and incidences of some cancers. It is not fully understood why — it may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties — but there is good evidence that moderate coffee-drinking is beneficial for many people. • Is coffee good for you? How it works and when to drink it There are some downsides. Culturally we're beginning to understand the importance of good-quality sleep to health and longevity, and allowing caffeine to disrupt your sleep may undo any benefits. For many people caffeine can heighten anxiety too. There is also a concern that coffee may impact blood pressure. If you're worried, consult a medical professional. Some schools in Brazil give pupils coffee in the morning, but I'd be wary of giving it to anyone younger than a teenager. Caffeine works by stopping a hormone called adenosine from lowering your heart rate and making you feel sleepy. But not everyone metabolises caffeine at the same rate. You might metabolise food quickly but caffeine slowly, in which case you'll want to stop drinking coffee earlier in the day so the caffeine levels in your blood don't cause issues at bedtime. The half-life of caffeine is five to eight hours. So if your body is slow to metabolise caffeine, you could drink an espresso at 1pm but still have half the caffeine in your system at Hoffmann is a coffee expert, former world champion barista, author and co-founder of Square Mile Coffee. A revised edition of his book The World Atlas of Coffee is out in October (Mitchell Beazley pp272 £26). To order a copy go to Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members
The Guardian
25-06-2025
- The Guardian
From cloths to cleaning tablets: how to make your coffee machine last longer
If you want your coffee machine and grinder to perform their best, morning, noon and (very ill-advisedly) night, you need to give them the care they deserve. Get into a routine of basic cleaning and low-cost maintenance, and they will run better and last longer, meaning fewer emails to the manufacturer's help desk or trips to a repair cafe – or worse, buying a new machine altogether. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. I've consulted two experts: Radu Bria at a man who's repaired more coffee machines than I've had flat whites. And Ben Young, a manager at Craft House Coffee. Here are their hard-earned tips, tricks and general advice for keeping your brewing equipment in tip-top condition so it lasts for years to come. Before we get into the nitty gritty, though, there are some general rules of thumb. Always read the manual There are a huge number of coffee machines and makers out there, and what works for one won't necessarily work for another. Before you start scrubbing, soaking or descaling any of your equipment, check the manufacturer's recommendations – and warnings – first. Unplug your machine If you're embarking on deep cleaning, then always remove that plug. Water and electricity do not make a pleasant brew. Use dedicated cleaning supplies Never, ever use your usual cleaning kitchen cloths and brushes. You don't want to contaminate your coffee with harmful or abrasive cleaning products. This sounds ridiculously simple, and it is: keeping your machine clean cuts down on a huge number of issues. Coffee splatters, sticky milk residue and wet coffee grounds can make your machine a grime magnet. They don't just look messy: they can block spouts and prevent your machine from working to its full potential. Both Bria and Young recommend regular, light cleaning over the occasional desperate deep clean. What you do depends on the type of machine (or maker) you have. The intricate internal design of an espresso or bean-to-cup machine will require a more fastidious approach than a simple filter coffee maker. A quick wipe-down goes a long way. Clean spouts, drip trays and milk frothers daily if used. Wipe the exterior of your machines regularly to prevent staining. If you have a fancy machine with a touchscreen or LCD display, then don't put harsh chemicals anywhere near it – use a general-purpose, nonabrasive cleaner. Steam wands are particularly prone to getting blocked with milk deposits, so ensure you wipe them with a dedicated damp cloth after every use. Do it before purging the wand with steam, though, or you'll bake the milk residue on to the wand. For automatic machines, ensure that every nook and cranny of the milk carafe is cleaned, scrubbed and soaked after every use to remove buildup and prevent tainting. If milk or coffee residue does end up getting caked on, then don't waste effort scrubbing, as it's incredibly sticky. Instead, use a dedicated coffee machine cleaner such as Urnex Cafiza or a milk system cleaner such as Urnex Rinza. These are available in liquid, tablet and powder forms, so pick the one that works best for your machine. For instance, many automatic bean-to-cup machines recommend cleaning tablets rather than powder, so check your manual before buying the wrong type. If your machine uses a manual steam wand, and the power seems a bit limp, then Bria's advice is simple: remove the steam tip, soak it and clear any blockages with a needle, paperclip or – technical term incoming – the little poky tool that came with your machine. If it's really baked on, then soak the tip in a milk cleaner solution. Either Urnex Rinza or Puly Caff will do a good job. It's worth noting that Urnex's Rinza comes in both alkaline and acidic formulas. Both can be used as part of a regular cleaning regime, but they're complementary rather than strictly interchangeable. The alkaline formula is best at removing all types of milk residues, including non-dairy alternatives, whereas the acidic formula is most effective at dissolving scale buildup – something which is particularly useful if you live in a hard water area. Urnex Rinza milk system cleaner, 1.1l £14.49 at Amazon Puly Caff milk frother cleaner, 1l £10.90 at Clumsy Goat According to Young, manual espresso machines require more regular care. Make sure to clean your portafilter with a dot of dish soap and a non-abrasive cloth after every use. If your machine has an auto-cleaning cycle, don't be afraid to use it regularly. More upmarket espresso machines equipped with solenoid valves (often found in machines costing upwards of £300 – if in doubt, ask your manufacturer) can be back flushed with espresso machine cleaner to remove internal coffee residue buildup. If you're doing regular cleaning, Young recommends Clean Express's group cleaning powder as a slightly cheaper option than Cafiza. Clean Express group cleaning powder, 900g £6 at Copper Coffee Roasters Urnex Cafiza cleaning powder, 566g £10.66 at Nisbets £11.99 at Amazon If you live in a hard water area, the mineral deposits can quickly cause limescale buildup and, over time, put your machine out of action. A simple jug filter will help (and potentially improve the taste of your brews). And some machines allow you to fit dedicated internal water filters: buying these in bulk can make it reasonably economical, and more convenient than having to keep a filter jug topped up. Brita Marella XL jug, 3.5l capacity £24 at Argos £18.99 at Amazon Peak water filtration starter pack £40 at Camden Coffee Roastery Some fancier machines provide a water pH testing strip: based on the results, they'll remind you to descale after a set period. Most machines, however, rely on you to remember. The easiest option is to put a reminder in your calendar. Consult your machine's manual for specific recommendations, and consider that your water hardness and usage levels will affect the required frequency. Using the right descaling method for your machine is essential – the manufacturer will usually recommend a specific type – as some products may damage the metal parts inside. We'd recommend using coffee-machine-specific descalers, such as Urnex Dezcal and Puly Cleaner powder descaler. Sign up to The Filter Get the best shopping advice from the Filter team straight to your inbox. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. after newsletter promotion Alternatively, Young's top money-saving tip is food-grade citric acid. It's more affordable than pricey specialist products. It's safe to consume, and any residue is easy to detect. It works on more than coffee machines, too – it'll tackle limescale anywhere in the home. Whatever you do, don't attempt to make up for lost time by using more descaler than advised, as this may damage the machine. You want just enough to dissolve limescale; any more and it may start attacking metal parts, too. Always follow the instructions. Also, avoid using vinegar. Unless, that is, you're happy to risk tainting your machine permanently and potentially eating away the rubber parts and internal components. Rinse the machine through thoroughly after descaling. Run several cycles of clean water through before brewing another batch – you don't want it in your coffee. Urnex Dezcal, 900g £13.99 at Zoro £14.74 at Nisbets Puly Cleaner powder descaler £7.79 at Clumsy Goat £11.95 at Amazon Food-grade citric acid, 1kg £6.49 at Amazon A more hardcore option for real connoisseurs is a reverse osmosis (RO) filter, which you can plumb in under the kitchen sink. This has far faster filtration – water jugs are slow; tediously slow if you're uncaffeinated – and the dramatically larger and more effective filters in reverse osmosis filters may only need to be replaced every six months to a year. The downside is expense, and potentially the need to plumb in a dedicated tap. Another consideration raised by Young is that RO systems don't just remove the stuff you don't want – they also remove beneficial minerals, too, which can negatively affect the taste of your brews. You may need to consider adding a remineralisation cartridge to optimise coffee taste and keep your machines working well. Needless to say, unless your water quality is objectively terrible – or you're a certified coffee obsessive – this approach is akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a coffee bean. Waterdrop G2P600 water filtration system £269.99 at Waterdrop Whether it's a stand-alone grinder or a bean-to-cup machine, Bria urges owners not to forget about its maintenance. Oils from beans build up over time, and these can impede grinding quality and cause off flavours. If you're particularly partial to dark roast, oily beans, then your grinder will need more regular cleaning. Use a combination of stiff and soft brushes to clean the burrs, chutes and internal parts, and you'll help ensure that nothing gets clogged. Rhino grinder and bench tidy brush £16.99 at Coffee Hit Rhino steam wand and milk frother brush set £9.99 at Coffee Hit Every once in a while, a deeper clean is a good idea – but you don't have to dismantle the grinder. One easy option is to use cleaning pellets. Run through the grinder to remove stuck on coffee residue. Once done, flush by grinding some old coffee beans and discarding the grounds. If you have an automatic bean-to-cup machine, don't use cleaning pellets without consulting the manual or manufacturer first. As these kinds of machines automatically grind then brew, you don't want to end up brewing the cleaning powder (which expands upon contact with water) and clogging your machine. Crucially, keep an eye out for worn burrs. If the grind becomes uneven, and the coffee quality fades – for instance, if you find your brews suddenly becoming sour or bitter – then it might be time for new burrs. Some are easy to replace at home, but consult your user manual or manufacturer for advice. If in doubt, give your local coffee machine repair shop a call. Urnex Grindz cleaning tablets, 430g £26.38 at Nisbets £21.99 at Amazon Puly grinder cleaning crystals, 405g £21.99 at Bella Barista Good, fresh coffee can taste like all manner of wonderful fruits and flowers, nuts and chocolate, but if it's literally sprayed with flavouring, then that sticky stuff can ruin a good grinder. Please, don't do it. Or if you must, get the supplier to grind it for you. If you want coffee delivered to your door, check out our expert guide to the best coffee subscription services Sasha Muller is a tech and consumer journalist, avid coffee drinker and craft beer enthusiast with more than two decades of experience in testing products and avoiding deadlines. If he's not exploring the local woods with his kids, boring people talking about mountain bike tyres or spending ill-advised amounts on classic drum'n'bass vinyl, he's probably to be found somewhere swearing at an inanimate object
South Wales Argus
17-06-2025
- South Wales Argus
Tear gas deployed against migrants in Calais
Hundreds gathered on the dunes before making dashes towards the Channel at Gravelines beach, north east Calais, all intent on boarding a single dinghy on Tuesday morning. Migrants of all ages who made it to the sea had to wait in waist-deep water for almost an hour before any of them were able to board the small boat. An older man on crutches had to be carried out of the water by two others, who then ran off to re-join the crowd. People thought to be migrants wade through the sea to board a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines, France, in an attempt to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA) Many others did not make it to the water, raising their arms in surrender under a thick blanket of tear gas fired by the French Police Nationale. Police Nationale officers were trudging the sands at Gravelines beach before the sun had risen on Tuesday morning, armed with riot shields, tear gas and batons. Pictures taken by the PA news agency show a cloud of smoke as migrants ran from the dunes. People thought to be migrants emerge from bushes on a beach in Gravelines, France, after French authorities had fired tear gas (Gareth Fuller/PA) A warning cry of 'baby, baby' was heard as a man carrying a tiny child sprinted out of the smog. Those who made it to the water bunched into three groups and waited for the dinghy to collect them, watched by the French police from the shoreline. While they waited, an Afghani migrant who wished to remain anonymous told PA that he was seeking a better life in the UK. 'Just I want to go for a good life, I have a situation bad in my country,' he said. Well over 50 migrants made it aboard the small black dinghy before it finally took off into the channel. Others were left to watch as it floated out to sea. Pictures from the morning show a woman sitting dejected on the sand after chasing the dinghy as it left the beach. People thought to be migrants embrace on the beach at Gravelines, France, as they wait to board a small boat in an attempt to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA) She and her friends, thought to be Ethiopian, complained that it was mostly men who had managed to get on the boat that morning. They had been hit by tear gas when the migrants were making their initial sprint to the water. The police present on Gravelines beach would not confirm whether the use of tear gas had now become common practice during these clashes. A beach comber who has begun to document crossings was watching events unfold on Tuesday. The 28-year-old said of French police: 'I think they show them that they tried to stop them but they're happy if a few hundred or thousand are away because the camps are more empty.' The dinghy which had originally come to shore around 7am local time (6am BST) headed out to sea at 9.30am. A group of people thought to be migrants on a dinghy near the beach at Gravelines, France (Gareth Fuller/PA) The boat was thought to be overloaded and witnesses saw it was eventually brought back to shore at around 11am local time (10am BST).
