While I prefer to focus on sourcing, roasting, and rapidly shipping top-shelf coffee, I still have preferences to share regarding brewing equipment. These are some links to my recommended items.
-MH
Home Brewing:
Baratza Encore
The grinder is at the heart of coffee brewing equipment, with everything else coming second. The Baratza Encore is your entry into well-brewed coffee.
Tricolate
I’m comfortable saying this is hands down the best way to brew your coffee. Zero bypass (water passing through the filter and not the coffee) and a large flat bed make this simple contraption the easiest route to superb extractions.
Fellow Products
I’m a big fan of Fellow’s Stagg kettles and their Ode grinder. Their brewers are also nice.
V60 Plastic Coffee Dripper
This is the only cone-type brewer I actually recommend, and I can strongly recommend it. The plastic is insulative, the filter size is just right for a single 18g/300g brewed cup. It’s easy to brew a great cup using a series of pulse pours.
Home Espresso:
Decent Espresso DE1PRO
This machine is the state of the art as far as espresso brewing goes, and is arguably more capable than any of the expensive, large, and very heavy machines typically seen in coffee shops. The only downside is that the boiler is set up to do either brew or steam at once and takes a moment to switch between functions.
Barazta Sette 270Wi
This grinder puts out commercial-quality grinds while grinding by weight for so much less waste. Hard to beat without spending several times more.
Scales:
Acaia Scales
These aren’t cheap, but they are nice and responsive and have a built-in timer, which is a big plus.