Even though I make myself a macchiato every morning at home, I still need my coffee fix at work.

My routine now is that I usually drink 1-2 cups of drip coffee between 10 and Noon from our standard-issue Bunn machine. The coffee is terrible though. Pre-ground, stale, yuckiness... you know what I am talking about.

Luckily a few of us were able to convince the office to get a basic burr grinder (Baratza Virtuoso) for those of us who would like to make our own coffee.

Ideally I'd like to make about 10 oz. of coffee once, and keep it hot enough to drink for a couple of hours. There are SO many coffee contraptions on the market these days I don't even know where to begin looking. Suggestions? One note, I am not really annoyed by things that require a lot of cleanup or setup, but keep in mind this is an office. A vacuum pot for example is probably not realistic

How about a Clever coffee dripper (or Bonavita's ceramic version) + whatever thermos you like? Simple as pie.

Why not go with a contraption everyone is familiar with, but that actually meets SCAA standards:

http://www.behmor.com/brazen.php

http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV1800-8 ... B005YQZT92 (w/ thermal carafe)

Espro press: bonus is that is that you shouldn't need a thermos.
You may want to wait for the medium-sized press that's being kickstarted right now.

For manual brewing, you'll probably want an electric kettle. If you want temp and pouring control, the Bonavita PID kettle looks ideal:

http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-Variable ... B005YR0F40

Of course, the nice thing about the clever dripper and the espro press is that pouring control isn't an issue. So you can use an inexpensive kettle. The same is true for the Cafe Solo.

My go to setup for 10 oz of hot coffee when I'm away on business is a small Bodum kettle, an AeroPress and a simple thermos. It's inexpensive gear, easy to replace and packs away pretty tightly. Pouring technique is also not critical for the AeroPress, and it is super easy to clean up afterwards. The only thing I don't like about the AP is that it is made out plastic. (But that's also why it's perfect for travel.)

Thanks so much for the suggestion guys. I am leaning towards the medium espro press since I can just bring it over to my desk and have hot coffee for the couple hours I need it for. I need to bring a thermometer in to the office and test the hot water spicket on the bunn machine we have in the kitchen. I doubt the temperature is appropriate for fresh press. I assume it's there for the tea drinkers in the office. In which case I'll need a kettle. The Bonavita Variable seems like a bit too much for these purposes though, no?

Yes, that's a high price to pay. But apparently I must have paid about ±$40 for my 17 oz. black plastic Bodum Bistro kettle, which isn't a great value. (I just needed something small, light and not easily broken.) So the relative price of the swan-neck kettle w/ PID is about right. You can get the basic Bonavita electric swan-neck for in the $40-$50 range. They also make a variable temperature kettle in a standard shape that sells for ±$75. (BTW: I don't own a single Bonavita product at home-I promise I'm not a corporate shill. But they have interesting product features at reasonable prices, and I've seen their gear in pro shops.)

I like to brew by the cup at work so I snagged a little Sunbeam Hot Shot hot water dispenser at a thrift shop to go with a 600 ml Tiamo pouring kettle and a V60-01 that came with a Tonx Coffee subscription trial.

The La Peppina espresso machine was from eBay and I have a remote PID for temperature control.



I think it's just about time to brew up a cup of the latest coffee from Tonx, Pedregal De Cauca Colombia.

our water cooler at work has a hot water dispenser. I measured the temp at 195* out of the spigot. It is perfect with my Lido grinder, an Aeropress (with the metal disk) and fresh home roasted coffee. Easy cleanup. I can have multiple origins depending on what I have currently roasted, and people generally are pretty interested, and want a cup of their own. I think I could pay for my coffee habit by selling cups for a quarter.

The hot water tap from the bunn machine will likely surprise you. Its probably perfect. Might even be slightly too hot. The one we had in the last kitchen I worked in was perfect to pour directly into a clever, or french press.

Everybodies work setup is different, but a french press will likely work wonderfully in most scenarios. Some people might be able to have a hand grinder and keep a couple different beans at work, other might need to grind at home each morning and bring in a dry french press with coffee grounds in it. Some may be able to use a sink and clean up after brewing, others may need to bring home a frenchpress with the spent grounds still in the bottom. But see.. it works, doesn't matter how flexible your work situation is.

Plus a french press is so easy, that if one of your buddies gets interested, it'll be easy to make him/her a cup as well, AND, it'll be a brew method they can easily attempt themselves.


French Press was the very first step I took towards a better cup of coffee. Its what got me here, eventually. So even though I rarely use it anymore, It still holds a special place for me in my collection.