To make a perfect coffee you need more than high-quality coffee. You’re going to need to stock up on essential barista tools for home too.
Investing in quality barista tools will allow you to make a wide range of coffees at home easily. You can enjoy all of your favorite coffee drinks from the menu while making coffee.
The great thing about upgrading your home barista tools is they are a one-time investment.
The benefits?
You can prepare your favorite range of coffee drinks at home at your convenience.
What’s better? You don’t have to leave the house and visit your local cafe. Instead, grab your mug, a chair and sip delicious coffee from the comfort of your own home.
In this article, we will teach you all about the essential barista tools that you need in your home to become a budding barista.
According to Balance Coffee, one of London’s top coffee sellers, you cannot enjoy a good coffee without the tools listed below.
So without any further ado let’s get into it.
What Are The Essential Barista Tools For Home?
It’s pretty simple! By choosing the right tools, you can make better coffee at home. There are many benefits of having barista tools.
Firstly, less effort is required, and secondly, you get that cafe-like taste you really desire.
Check out the following list so you’ll know which barista tools you’ll need. You thank can thank us later.
1. Coffee Grinder
Coffee beans are the first choice for coffee lovers. Investing in a coffee grinder will exponentially up your coffee game. Experience new, delicious flavors that you’ll only be able to unlock with a grinder by your side.
Coffee grinders have additional benefits too. Fast, efficient, and consistent when you compare it to a manual coffee grinder.
Being able to adjust the grind size using the adjustable settings allows you to enjoy filter coffee to espresso as simple as one, two, three.
Your coffee grinder will give you versatility when you want to make your friend or family member their go-to coffee. Just grind fresh and brew for maximum flavor potential.
If you really want to become a barista at home you almost certainly are going to need a coffee grinder.
When choosing a high-quality grinder, focus on a grinder with quality burrs, multiple modes, and grind consistency. This will give you the most satisfying results.
2. Tamper
After you’ve ground your freshly roasted coffee, it needs to be carefully compressed and flattened. This is a really important part of the coffee-making process. If you don’t compress the coffee then the water will flow and pass quickly. The result will be weak under-extracted coffee which will seriously impact your espresso quality.
Tampers are available in a wide range of different shapes and sizes. The common size is 58mm.
Top tip: Before you buy a coffee tamper online. Make sure you check the machine you are using. You’ll want to match up the portafilter and basket diameter to ensure it fits snuggly.
You could even use a ruler to measure the exact size and get the right coffee tamper for your coffee machine setup.
3. Knock Box
The knock box is also known as grounds bin or knock-out drawer. This is because they’re designed to knock out the coffee puck using the coffee portafilter in a clean and tidy manner.
We recommend recycling the coffee grounds from the knock box if you can because it’s good for the environment. Here are a few uses of coffee grounds by Primmart that you can easily apply at home.
4. Milk Jug
The Milk Jug is one of the most common and essential barista tools. The milk jug or otherwise called a milk pitcher is used to steam regular or oat milk for milk-based coffee drinks. For example, flat whites, cappuccinos, lattes, and cortados.
The jug has two primary uses:
Firstly, the milk pitcher is used to stretch and fold the milk as it’s heated by the coffee machine milk steamer. During the steaming process, the milk itself is textured to create the perfect microfoam, ready for pouring a delicious coffee and milk combination.
The second use and benefit of a milk jug are that you can easily pour the milk into the coffee cup to perfectly style the coffee. We recommend using a non-stick or matte pitcher for best results to pour that perfect ‘flattie’.
The smaller the milk jug, the better the results. But why? The less milk and the smaller the jug essentially means more control. Ideally, you want to choose a pitcher between 10oz and 16oz.
5. Thermometer
To make the perfect coffee, the milk must be fresh. If you’re using old milk or milk that isn’t quality you may have trouble steaming it.
Temperature is also a big factor.
With scorched milk, your coffee will be burnt and will taste sour. This isn’t good for anyone.
It means when you steam milk, you should carefully monitor the temperature of the liquid to ensure you’re creating that perfect micro-foam texture and temperature.
There are two ways to measure milk temperature.
Firstly, you can use your hand as a reference if you’re a trained barista. You want to avoid going past 68 degrees because at that point, milk begins to burn, taste sour and lose its natural sweetness.
The second solution which is incredibly popular is the thermometer. This can come in a number of forms. Either a sticker that is placed on the milk jug and changes color as the temperature rises. Alternatively, you can use a physical thermometer that will react on the dial and provide an accurate reading.
If you want to become a pro, then the former is the best solution.
Now let’s talk about which temperature for water.
Water Temperature:
Many espresso machines have an integrated PID which stands for proportional integral derivative. But you won’t need to know that. However, you’ll need to know that the job it does is to stabilize water temperature in a coffee machine. The good news is that it does a pretty good job of this.
If the espresso machine you are using does not have an integrated PID. Then it’s a good idea to test the temperature of your water or espresso to understand what ‘brew temperature’ you are making coffee.
Simply, check the water temperature before you pour it into the coffee.
Make sure the water is hot if you want to brew tasty coffee.
6. Coffee Scale
To make the perfect coffee it is important to keep the brew ratio right. You need to measure the right amount of coffee, milk, or water whatever ingredients you use.
Why?
So you can replicate the same delicious drink next time. Secondly, because coffee as a product is inherently difficult to manage. There are many variables affecting the end result so it’s important that you are able
To do so some people use a measuring cup. But the challenge with a measuring cup is it does not give you precise results because all coffee beans vary in mass. Some have bigger crema affecting the volume and therefore, the weight is affected.
This directly affects flavor too. Meaning that using a measuring cup and your eye is a sure-fire way to trick yourself.
The solution is to use a coffee scale to measure the quantity of each ingredient. This way, you will have that perfect coffee taste and your efforts will not be wasted.
7. Coffee Cups
After preparing the coffee you need the right cups or glasses to serve that perfectly brewed coffee. You can get different sizes of cups to present a different type of coffee from the menu.
For espresso or coffee shots, small glasses or cups are preferred. While people love to drink hot black coffee into large mugs.
Flat whites are often served in colorful 6oz to 8oz cups.
Stencils are also used to decorate the top of the cup. They are available in different shapes so that you can draw or etch unique patterns on top of the coffee.
Simply place the stencil on the coffee cup and pour some cocoa powder on it. It will enhance the look and taste of your coffee.
8. Cleaning Brush
The great thing about your barista tools is that they will last a long time. All you need is to clean them after every use and maintain them.
A cleaning brush is a perfect example. Clean the group head of your coffee machine after use and not only will you protect the machine, but you’ll improve the espresso taste and quality. A win-win!
Make sure you select the right size brush to clean your coffee machine. If you select a large-size brush then you won’t be able to clean the machine effectively.
You can also use a cloth if you find it difficult to get the right size brush. Make sure to dry all the equipment and store it in a safe place.
9. Timer
The perfect timing for preparing an espresso is somewhere between 23-32 seconds. Timing is key to delicious coffee.
If it takes too long, it’ll taste bitter and over-extracted.
If it pours too fast, it’ll taste weak, astringent, and under-extracted.
In coffee extraction, we call this the ‘sweet spot’.
Using a timer is a simple and effective solution to brewing mind-blowing coffee. And if you pair the timer with the coffee scales to precisely weigh your shots of espresso; you’ll be producing coffee just like your local cafe does.
Remember: Make sure to dial in your coffee and find the right extraction time right to get the best flavor results.
10. Cold Brew Coffee Maker
To make the cold brew coffee you need a cold brew coffee brewer. You’ll need the exact amount of water and ground coffee to begin the brewing process.
To ensure you get the taste you want, you’ll follow the same process we discussed in this article today. Measure out the right ground coffee and add the correct amount of water during the correct time frame.
There are many great cold brew coffee machine solutions, so make sure you pick the one that suits you best.
It’s time to upgrade your coffee game at home.
Final Thoughts:
Buy quality barista tools and accessories from the right brand and supplier and you’ll be confident they’ll last you a long time.
On the contrary, poor-quality tools will get damaged easily and you’ll likely need to replace the tools several times over.
Finally, remember that quality tools help you achieve the perfect flavor and cafe-like taste at home.