21st Street Coffee and Tea

If you’re reading this, I don’ t think I’m going out on a limb saying you enjoy coffee.  It’s also safe to say that many of you are still thinking about holiday gift ideas.  If you’re the gift card type- we have them.  If you needed beans, we have them (all bags are roast dated so you know what you’re working with).   As for merchandise- here are some thoughts on what to buy that coffee lover in your life:

We offer four different coffee makers.  You can make great coffee with any of the following brewers, each producing it’s own unique cup.  

For those that prefer the convenience of an automatic drip brewer, we offer the peerless Technivorm Moccamaster.  This coffee brewer is certified to brew at the optimal brew water temperature (200F), saturates the grounds equally with it’s shower-head design, and brews into an insulated thermal carafe.  It’s also one of the simplest coffee makers to use- add water, put in a paper filter with your coffee, put carafe in place, and hit the button.  It doesn’t grind the coffee, have a timer, nor a compass, nor a tivo, nor an alarm clock.  It just brews great coffee.

At a more affordable price, however, you can make excellent coffee at home using traditional methods if you take the time and use the proper tools.  For the artisanal coffee crowd, we offer the Press, Chemex, and Syphon.

The (French) Press, in my opinion, is the easiest way to make a good cup of coffee.  We currently have the 12 cup Bodum (51oz) in stock.  This size press works well if you want to make coffee for two (at approx. two twelve ounce cups at a half pot) or for a party (approx. 8 6oz cups).

The Chemex, however, is my current favorite way to brew more than a single cup of coffee.  You simply pour water over the coffee and filter and the coffee drips into the carafe.  The coffee is very clean and lacks any sediment as compared to the grounds you get from a press.  The coffee is also more nuanced, in my opinion.  This brewing method also requires a little more attention to detail as you need to continually add water throughout the brew cycle.

Finally we offer the Syphon coffee maker.  We currently stock the tabletop 12oz Yama Syphon.  This method also produces a very clean and nuanced, but intense cup and is recommended if you want to make a single cup for yourself or two small cups to share.   There is a learning curve to this brewer, but once you get the hang of it you’ll appreciate the control you gain over the coffee’s flavor and aroma.

To brew with any manual method you need to be able to boil water, so we stock the 51oz cordless Bodum Water Kettles.  They heat up really quickly, shut off automatically, and have a nice pouring spout if you’re using it with the Chemex.

To grind your coffee, we feature the Baratza Maestro Plus Grinder.  If you had to spend your money on one coffee item- it should be a quality grinder.  This one has conical burrs with a wide range of grind settings.  Conical burrs yield a consistent grind without producing static or cooking the coffee grounds before you brew.

A few more ideas… how do you store your beans/how do you keep your coffee hot/do you have drinkware?  The answers… in an Airscape/in a thermal carafe (we have 48oz glass lined Bodum carafes in stock)/look out below: