Making the perfect cup of coffee doesn't look the same for everyone. Differences in strength or flavor profile may mean one system works better than another, and no two people want the same exact coffee made the same exact way. However, there are certain methods that encourage precise brewing and can deliver a more balanced cuppa.
Spoiler alert: It's not a Keurig.
We've spent hours testing coffee makers, espresso machines, grinders and coffee subscriptions to find the best machines and the best beans to brew them in, all while collecting tips for making better coffee at home. Stepping back a bit, I wanted to find out what coffee experts consider the absolute "best" method for brewing coffee.
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Seeking an answer, I grilled 10 coffee experts, including roasters, cafe owners, educators, barista champions and one former president of the Specialty Coffee Association. I asked them to rank seven of the most popular methods for brewing black coffee.
The contenders (listed alphabetically): AeroPress, automatic drip machine, espresso, French press, K-Cup, moka pot and pour-over.
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One method to rule them all: pour-over
The pour-over method received near-unanimous top ranks from the coffee experts I grilled. skaman306/Getty Images
While it wasn't completely unanimous, pour-over was the clear winner for the overall average ranking. The good news is, pour-over is among the least expensive coffee brewing methods available, requiring little more than a handheld kettle or other device for pouring coffee and a funnel dripper outfitted with a conical filter that sits on top of the cup or carafe to catch the coffee. (You can certainly spend more money for a serious pour-over kit.) On the other hand, well-executed pour-over coffee can be fussy and isn't a set-it-and-forget-it kind of method.
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