French Press Coffee

While the French press is my favorite method to make coffee at home, there are some intriguing alternatives out there. Single cup brewing is now in vogue. The $11,000 Clover makes a really good cup of coffee, but that’s a bit steep for home use. The following filters are a little more practical.

The Melitta cone filter has been around for awhile. It’s a simple plastic cone meant to placed over a coffee cup. Grounds are placed in the cone, then hot water poured through the filter. Simple. And only $3.

The Washingto n Post just had an article aptly titled A Coffee Lover’s Perfect Mate. He pointed me to the Beehouse Coffee Dripper, single cup filter. This filter is made of ceramic, by a Javapanese company that speciliazes in teapots, and not much more at $16.

The dripper, by Japanese company Beehouse, is similar to the age-old plastic Melitta one-cup filter I remember from my mother’s kitchen, only much better designed.

The result is the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had, a perfectly rich but smooth brew. Unlike a French press or Melitta, the device is a breeze to clean.

On the higher end, there is the Tru Bru Coffee Station, which is a stainless steel station designed to have the ceramic filters on top, and the coffee cups beneath. At $330, one would think that you could create something similar for a lot less with the Beehouse Coffee Drippers. This is designed for commercial cafe use though, so maybe it’s more durable. In any case, this gives you can idea how you could layout a coffee station using single cup filters.

I’ve never used any of these personally, so I’d love to hear feedback. Also let me know if there are some other single cup filters that should be mentioned.