There are many different types of coffee drinks that you can get. It helps to know some of the differences since they can vary a lot in the way that they taste.

This post will show you the difference between brewed and drip coffee, how they are made, what impacts their taste and the things to consider.

So, what is the difference between brewed and drip coffee? Brewed coffee refers to any type of hot coffee drink regardless of how it was prepared. Drip coffee specifically refers to coffee that has been made by putting coffee grounds into a filter, adding hot water to it and then collecting the coffee that drips out of the filter.

There are actually a number of ways to make coffee and the way that it is made can have a large impact on its taste.

How brewed and drip coffee are made

Below, I will mention a number of different ways to make brewed coffee, how drip coffee is made and how to alter the way that they taste by changing some of the variables used when making them.

How brewed coffee is made

Brewed coffee is a general term that refers to coffee that has been made by adding hot water to ground coffee. The way that the hot water and ground coffee were mixed together is irrelevant.

Drip coffee is a type of brewed coffee. It specifically refers to where brewed coffee has been made by mixing hot water with ground coffee contained in a filter and then collecting the coffee as it drips into a glass below the filter.

The video below shows how to make drip coffee.

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to making coffee using the drip method.

The benefits are that it is easy to do, drip coffee makers are normally very affordable and the newer ones come with programmable timers where you can set the time for it to start making the coffee.

However, it is not so easy to control the strength of the coffee when using the drip method, it requires you to take time cleaning it up and it requires more work on your part when compared with alternative ways to make brewed coffee.

There are many other ways to make brewed coffee that I will mention below.

One of the other and more popular ways to make brewed coffee is to use a French press. A French press is a pot that contains a plunger with holes in it. To use it you put coffee grounds and hot water into the pot, wait for a few minutes and then push the plunger down and pour the brewed coffee out into a mug.

You can watch the video below to see how it is done.

The advantages of making brewed coffee using a french press are that it is easy to do, it is cheap and it allows you to have more control over the strength of the coffee when compared with the drip method. This is because you can push the plunger down sooner or later depending on how strong you want the coffee to be.

The French press that I would recommend the most would be the Le Creuset 3.37 Cup Stoneware French Press.

Another way to make brewed coffee is to use a coffee machine. Most coffee machines will work by using the drip method where hot water is mixed with ground coffee which then drips out of the machine.

The advantage of using coffee machines are that they are easy to use and do not require much work on your part. They will also allow you to get consistently good tasting coffee since the machine automates a lot of the work for you.

The coffee machine that I would recommend the most would be the Hamilton Beach FlexBrew® 2-Way Coffee Maker.

An alternative way to make coffee would be to use a pod-style coffee maker. To make coffee using a pod-style machine it is just necessary for you to put a pod into the machine and to select the type of coffee that you want.

An advantage here is that pod-style machines will also allow you to make other types of coffee drinks as well such as iced coffee, cappuccino and latte. They are also easy to use and the pods come with a number of different flavor options to choose from.

The pod-style coffee machine that I would recommend the most would be the Keurig K-Cafe.

Making coffee using an espresso machine

Espresso is made by forcing pressurized water through finely ground coffee. It has a very dense, rich, sweet and slightly bitter taste.

Even though espresso is made by mixing hot water with ground coffee people don’t include espresso when talking about brewed coffee. Espresso is different to brewed coffee because it is much denser, richer, more bitter and it is served with a smaller serving size.

Even though, per gram, espresso has more caffeine in it than in brewed coffee a normal serving of espresso actually contains less caffeine than a normal brewed coffee due to its smaller serving size.

Espresso machines do not make brewed coffee themselves directly unless it is a dual coffee and espresso machine.

However, you can make Americano with them which tastes very similar to coffee. Americano is where you add hot water to espresso.

Espresso can be made using espresso machines, pod-style espresso machines or stovetop coffee makers.

To make espresso using a traditional style machine it is necessary for you to get the coffee beans, grind them, press them down into a container, put the container into the machine and to turn it on.

This allows you to have full control over how the espresso is made but it can have a steep learning curve.

Pod-style espresso makers work by putting a pod into the machine and selecting the type of espresso that you want.

They are ideal for making espresso easily and consistently. However, they give you less control over the way that the espresso tastes. This isn’t a large issue since there are normally lots of different pod flavors to choose from.

To make espresso using a stovetop machine you put ground coffee and water into a machine, heat it up, steam then rises through the coffee grounds, mixes with them then the espresso is extracted through another filter.

Stovetop espresso makers are the cheapest option. However, they don’t make the most authentic espresso if you want strong tasting espresso it will likely be necessary for you to use a pod machine or a traditional machine.

Related

What is black coffee? Black coffee is brewed coffee that has been made with hot water, ground coffee and nothing else.

Author

Pin It