Coffee Guide
A Guide to Popular Brewing Methods
From concentrated espresso to an everyday drip, explore the types of coffee and how each brewing method can bring different flavors and textures to your cup.
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9 min
For coffee lovers, there are many types of coffee, and many ways to make the perfect cup. Some mornings demand a strong black pot, while others leave room for the mind to wander as you savor a rare high-altitude pour-over. Each preparation can create a distinct cup that's worth exploring.
Immerse yourself in our guide to the different types of coffee, from small, concentrated shots to filtered cups and exotic brews.
Concentrated coffees
These methods produce small, intense servings with pronounced flavor. Enjoyed alone, these coffees can be quite potent, and still retain strong character when combined with milk, sweeteners, or ice.
Espresso
Central to cafe culture and widely regarded as the benchmark of coffee preparation, espresso traces its roots back to nineteenth-century Italy. Beginning with finely ground coffee, a specialized machine forces pressurized hot water through the compressed grounds (called “a puck”), producing a small, concentrated shot with a substantial body and a thin, foamy layer of crema. Dialing in the perfect espresso is a fussy process (that’s why people become obsessed), requiring specific equipment. Each variation in grind and prep can affect the final result, but the prize is highly refined coffee with flavor and presence that carries through countless drink combinations.
Moka pot
The moka pot, introduced by Bialetti in 1933, is a type of manual brewer that makes a similarly strong, small volume of concentrated coffee. Sometimes known as ‘stovetop espresso’, it’s a handy gadget that works by boiling water in a sealed lower chamber, where pressure forces water upwards through a basket of ground coffee and into an upper serving chamber. Moka lacks espresso’s signature layer of crema, but is noticeably stronger and fuller-bodied than drip coffee. It’s a simple, classic preparation that remains an enduring part of Italian coffee culture.
Vietnamese Phin
Rising in popularity, the phin is a small drip-style brewer known for its defining place in Vietnamese coffee culture. A small perforated metal dripper sits over the cup while a bit of hot water is added to wet the grounds. Then, the dripper is filled with the remaining water, which slowly passes through the grounds and into the cup over several minutes.
Traditionally phin coffee is made with dark-roasted robusta beans (though any bean or blend can be used), it produces a brew that is bolder and more concentrated than typical drip coffee, often mixed with sweetened condensed milk and served over ice.
Our recommendations
Filter-style coffees
These methods create a familiar, everyday cup of coffee; larger, less concentrated servings you can sip through breakfast and keep beside you at work.
Automatic drip
Automatic drip brewers make the classic pot of coffee with little hands-on effort. The machine heats water from a reservoir and distributes it over ground coffee in a filter basket. The brewed coffee drains into a carafe below, making it convenient to prepare enough for a household. Paper filters capture much of the coffee’s oils and sediment, producing a clean texture and relatively light body at regular drinking strength. Convenience doesn’t have to mean a trade-off in flavor: a well-designed machine, paired with good coffee and the right brewing ratio, can produce an excellent cup.
Pour-over
Pour-over has become a staple of modern specialty coffee, valued for the control it gives brewers over pouring, temperature, and extraction. Using a specialized brewer such as the Chemex or Hario V60, a filter, and a kettle, you first add a little hot water to wet the grounds and let them “bloom,” releasing trapped gas. The remaining water is poured steadily or in stages, passing through the grounds into a cup or carafe below. Paper filters capture much of the coffee’s oils and fine sediment, typically producing a clean texture and lighter body. Strength depends on the coffee-to-water ratio and extraction, while changes in temperature or pouring technique let you explore variations in flavor. Like preparing loose-leaf tea, making pour-over offers a hands-on process that is popular with specialty cafés and home brewers who enjoy its control and flexibility.
Siphon / Vacuum
With its spherical glass chambers and gravity-defying brewing cycle, the vacuum siphon brings maximum visual drama to coffee brewing. It uses two connected chambers: heating water in the lower chamber builds pressure that pushes it into the upper chamber, where it steeps with ground coffee. When the heat is removed, the water vapor below cools and condenses, reducing the pressure and drawing the brewed coffee back down through a filter. The result is a regular-strength, aromatic cup with a clean texture. Cloth filters offer clarity while retaining some oils, while metal filters produce a fuller body. Although less fussy electric brewers reduced its use in everyday kitchens, the siphon retains a particularly enduring following in Japan.
Percolator
Before automatic drip machines, there was the percolator. Though less common today, the once-classic percolator is experiencing a resurgence as a naturally plastic-free brewer. As water heats in the pot, it rises through a central tube and showers over grounds in a perforated basket. The liquid then drains back into the pot and passes through the grounds, producing a full-bodied cup of regular-strength coffee. Prolonged brewing can make it bitter because the coffee is repeatedly heated and extracted. Electric models, however, handle the brewing cycle automatically and keep the finished coffee warm, making them a convenient option for brewing several cups at once.
Neapolitan pot
The Neapolitan coffee brewer, known as the cuccumella, predates both espresso and the moka pot. Originally developed in Paris, it became a fixture in Italian homes. The brewer consists of two stacked metal chambers with a coffee filter between them. Water is heated in the bottom chamber, and when it reaches a boil, the pot is removed from the heat and flipped over. The hot water then drips back down through the grounds into the serving chamber, producing aromatic filter coffee similar in strength and body to regular drip coffee. Traditional dark roasts often give it toasted, dark-chocolate notes and a bitter finish. Although largely replaced by the moka pot, the cuccumella is still fondly used for special occasions in some Italian homes, particularly in Naples.
Cold brew
Cold-water brewing predates today’s café trend, though its earliest origins are uncertain. It’s become a familiar option on menus and supermarket shelves, but it’s also relatively easy to make at home. Unlike iced coffee, which is brewed hot and then chilled, cold brew is extracted with cooler water from the start. In place of heat, it uses time. Ground coffee steeps in cool or room-temperature water, typically for 12–24 hours, before the grounds are filtered out. A jar or pitcher and a coffee filter will do, while a French press or specialized cold brew maker combines steeping and filtering in one device. The taste is mellow and less acidic than hot water coffee, although the beans and exact recipe still shape its flavor. It can be made at regular strength or concentrated for mixing with water or milk. Its steady appeal lies in its simple preparation and the convenience of making a batch ahead of time.
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Full-bodied coffees
A full cup of coffee, similar in serving size to drip or pour-over, but with a richer, slightly thicker feel. More natural oils and tiny grounds remain in the cup, adding texture without necessarily making the coffee stronger.
French press
The French press, also called a cafetière or coffee plunger, remains a classic choice for home brewing. It uses immersion, with ground coffee steeping directly in hot water for several minutes. A plunger fitted with a mesh filter is then lowered to hold the grounds below the brewed coffee before pouring. The result is a regular-strength cup with a rich, full body. The mesh allows coffee oils and some fine sediment through, giving it a heavier texture than paper-filtered drip coffee. Despite the range of automatic machines and newer manual brewers available today, the French press retains its appeal as a straightforward way to make a full-bodied cup of coffee.
AeroPress
Invented by engineer Alan Adler and introduced in 2005, the AeroPress is a compact manual brewer designed to make coffee quickly. A bit of a hybrid, it combines immersion and gentle pressure. Like a French press, it steeps ground coffee in hot water inside a cylinder, but its hand-operated plunger then pushes the brewed coffee through a filter into a separate cup. With a paper filter, it produces a clean, smooth cup with little sediment; a metal filter allows more oils through for a fuller body. Depending on the coffee-to-water ratio, it can make either regular-strength coffee or a moka-like concentrated brew, though it lacks the pressure needed to produce true espresso. Since its debut, it has gained an enthusiastic following and inspired an international brewing championship.
Unfiltered coffees
Often rooted in tradition, these coffees are brewed and served without removing the grounds, creating a textured drink that changes as the sediment settles.
Turkish coffee
Turkish coffee remains a familiar part of life in Turkey, served at home and in cafés as both an everyday drink and a gesture of hospitality. Established in Istanbul’s coffeehouses during the sixteenth century, it’s prepared by combining extremely fine-ground coffee with water and optional sugar in a small, long-handled pot called a cezve. The mixture is heated slowly until foam rises, then poured directly into small cups without filtering. The grounds settle to the bottom, leaving a strong, aromatic drink with a rich texture and a foamy top layer. Despite the availability of espresso machines and other modern brewing options, Turkish coffee retains a distinct place in the country’s coffee culture. UNESCO recognized its culture and tradition as intangible cultural heritage in 2013.
Boiled coffee
Boiled coffee, also known as direct pot brewing, is a simple, unfiltered method that predates modern brewing equipment. Its American campfire version is known as “cowboy coffee,” with similar boiled-coffee traditions found in Scandinavia. Ground coffee is briefly boiled or simmered in water, or added to just-boiled water and left to brew after the pot is removed from the heat. The grounds are then allowed to settle before the coffee is carefully poured. The result is a regular-strength cup similar to French press, but with substantial body and sediment due to the lack of a filter. The method requires little more than a pot, water, coffee, and heat, making it easy to prepare on a kitchen stove or over a campfire.
