Coffee Guides

You’d think, from all the sales hype and furore surrounding Red Bull, that the company had invented the energy drink. In fact the ingredient that helps you ‘fly’ is none other than caffeine. A substance we’ve been imbibing in coffee, as well as tea of course, for centuries.

Today, buying a coffee machine is a bit more complicated that simply investing in a percolator. But it’s much more fun because there is so much more to choose from and prices vary greatly. The first thing you have to establish is what sort of coffee you enjoy, what do you order most when you visit a coffeehouse. It might be a latte, a cappuccino or a plain old filter. You’ll want to buy a coffee maker that makes your favourite brew.

Gone are the days when making coffee meant simply throwing a few spoonfuls of coffee grounds into a pot. The rise in popularity of coffeehouses such as Costa and Starbucks has expanded our knowledge of coffee types and variations. Now we appreciate the skills of the barista and the subtleties of the various coffee types available. You can order a decaf latte with goat’s milk as easily as a plain filter one. So now we want to find the same menu at home. Let’s look at the variety of coffee types that you can make with your own coffee machine in your own kitchen.

Not that long ago coffee came in the form of a powder that you mixed with hot water and drank at home. In most cases it didn’t really taste like coffee should. Sophisticated people in Europe who sat at sun-drenched sidewalk café tables drank real coffee. And it came in variations we’d never heard of. That all changed, however, with the global march of Starbucks and other high street enterprises, that introduced coffee culture to those who hadn’t enjoyed it before.

It’s great to wander along to your local coffeehouse, sit down and enjoy your favourite brew – that’s if you’ve got the time. But you don’t always have the time. So what do you do? Go without your coffee? Or invest in a decent coffee machine that makes the type of coffee you like best…