What Brewing Machines to Buy

Drip Machines
I only recommend two: the Technivorm and the Scandinavia Design Presto. Why those two? They are the only ones that I know for certain brew at a steady 200 degrees. Most drip machines brew at far lower temperatures, resulting in inferior extraction and less flavor.

The Technivorm is likely the last machine you'll need, and quite pricey. The Presto is very inexpensive. Both will work equally well. Google will pull up the latest deal on both.

Espresso Machines
Once again, I will refer you to the premier coffee website. The decision is complicated and one which deserves a lot of consideration, not just a paragraph here. My advice? Do lots of research before buying. www.coffeegeek.com

Brewing The Coffee

Drip
Always grind immediately before brewing. Grinds go stale in hours. An easy way to gauge your drip grind is to go to Starbucks/Peets, ask to have a small amount of coffee ground for drip, and take it home to compare grinds.
Generally they have their grinders dialed in well, and you can see from that how fine you should go.

Alternately, you can start from your burr grinders 'drip' setting. It'll usually be marked.

Either way, brew up a pot, and adjust from there. A common mistake people make is grinding too fine. I always hear people say they grind for espresso (very fine) for their drip, because it's 'stronger' or "Dude, I can use so much less coffee per batch!". Nice idea, but if you want stronger coffee you should add more properly ground coffee; (WARNING: GEEKSPEAK!) espresso grounds are fine because espresso brews in 25 seconds or so, and it needs maximum surface area for the water to saturate and extract from. Your drip has 4-10 minutes contact with the water; using a grind that was meant to only have 25 seconds contact, for a 6 minute contact, means it will WAY over-extract. It will be sour or bitter.

As a rule of thumb, use two heaping TEASPOONS of coffee per cup of water. You'll have to experiment with this too. Spoons vary, as do cups.

Never leave the coffee sitting on the warmer longer than necessary. It will turn sour as the oils in the coffee oxidize and coffee particles continue extracting.


French Press
Boil some good water.

As it's heating, grind your fresh coffee for FP, which is coarser than for drip.

When it boils, turn off the flame, and pour some boiling water in your FP. Let it sit a second to pre-heat it. Toss the water out of the FP.

By this time, 30 seconds or so should have passed since you turned the flame off, which is about the right amount of time to lower your water temp from 212 to the optimum 200 degrees. Put 2 teaspoons (eating, not measuring) per cup of coffee in the preheated FP and pour your just-not-quite-boiling water over it.

The grounds will bloom, or foam up, and float on top of the water. Take a spoon and stir it in so it fully saturates. Put the plunger in the FP, and depress slightly until the water submerges the plunger screen.
If you have trouble depressing the plunger, your grind is too fine.

Wait 3-4 minutes, and fully depress the plunger slowly. You can now enjoy your coffee!

Espresso
Espresso is so very complicated, I would need a separate website to explain the intricacies of that wonderful nectar. Fortunately, such a website exists.
Use caution when entering that site: you may find yourself contemplating the differences between $1800 Brewtus's and $2700 La Cimbalis, or the Schomer method and the Stockfleth's Move. You've been warned. www.coffeegeek.com or www.coffeekid.com