Hasta La Ideas

From Vietnamese traditions to an icon of design, these sets will elevate your morning brew

Whatever your skill level, a well-stocked coffee brewing set-up with freshly roasted high-quality beans will make drinking coffee at home easier and infinitely more pleasurable. Used in conjunction with a CH favorite roaster (like Sey Coffee, Cafe Grumpy, Devocion Coffee or Saint Frank Coffee) or your own pick, each of these coffee kits will elevate your morning caffeine fix. Some sets provide space-saving solutions and double as useful travel options, while others come with the pedigree of classic design history. One features a modern design by renowned LA-based architects, and another is based on a beloved coffee tradition from Vietnam. Peruse below, where we might just have your at-home coffee style sorted.

Canyon Coffee Chemex Starter Kit

Founded in Los Angeles by Casey Wojtalewicz and Ally Walsh, Canyon Coffee creates coffee experiences with California soul. Their Chemex Starter Kit ($72) offers a taste of how they began their coffee journey. “The Chemex is really at the heart of the Canyon Coffee story. It was the Chemex that beckoned to Casey when he was searching for a replacement to the French Press he fortuitously broke one morning,” explains Walsh. “When he brought it home and made coffee with it, the difference in clarity and taste was so striking that it intrigued us, and set us on this path deeper into coffee.”

The Chemex was invented in 1941 by Peter J Schlumbohm PhD (who had earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Berlin). It went on to become an icon of design—being displayed in museums around the world. “Aside from the quality of cup it produces, there’s a lot to love about the Chemex. We love its glass, wood and leather materials, the hourglass shape,” says Walsh. “Made in Massachusetts, it carries these elements of Americana and mid-century design within it. On a road trip through northern New Mexico, we spied two Chemex vessels in the bright, white-washed walk-in pantry of one of our favorite artists, Georgia O’Keeffe. We love the image of O’Keeffe firing up the kettle and making herself a Chemex every morning, with her big windows looking out over the desert.”

The Pour-Over Kit by Fellow

Self-proclaimed coffee nerds at San Francisco’s Fellow develop coffee equipment with obsessive attention to detail. Known for their innovative coffee-brewing products, their Stagg Kettle had become a favorite of Brewers Cup competitors. Their pour-over set ($199) includes the Stagg EKG Electric Kettle, a Stagg [X] Pour-Over Dripper, a handblown borosilicate tasting glass and filters. The kit also comes with a ratio aid, and the dripper’s vacuum insulated body and design with help guide your path to a well brewed cup.

Barista and Brewers Cup competitor, Emmeline Wang says the Stagg Kettle helped her perfect her pour-over technique. “The counter balance weight on the handle really helps with maintaining precision when it comes to controlling the flow rate of water when attention to detail heavily matters,” she tells us. Add their Atmos Vacuum Canister to keep coffee beans fresh for as long as possible.

The James Haden Bundle from GGET

For kitchens with limited space, this Go Get Em Tiger bundle ($160) takes up a small amount of counter space. The Aeropress can easily be used on the road, too. The sports-loving owners of GGET, Kyle Glanville and Charles Babinski, named this set for NBA player James Harden—honoring his ability to move well on the court and travel (a play on his signature move: arguably getting away with a violation). The set comes with an Aeropress, Acaia scale, filters, and a bag of single-origin GGET beans.

The Aeropress brewing process was developed to make smooth coffee without bitterness. “The greatest thing about the Aeropress is its versatility,” says Babinski, whose perfect ratio is 16:1 with filter strength and coarser grind, and a three-minute brew time. Though “there is an infinite number of approaches out there,” he says.

The Original Phin Kit (Filter + Coffee) by Nguyen Coffee Supply

Sahra Nguyen founded Nguyen Coffee Supply to import green coffee to the US from a fourth-generation farmer in Da Lat, Vietnam and share the tradition of making and drinking Vietnamese coffee. This brew set ($28) includes a bag of coffee, an NCS Phin filter, and brewing instructions for a fresh cup of coffee in five minutes.

“While the Phin filter has been around for decades in Vietnam, it’s underexposed in America and commonly left out in the arsenal of daily brew tools by coffee enthusiasts,” Nguyen says. “Personally, I think the Phin filter is one of the best brew tools out there. It’s compact, sustainable with no paper filters required, easy to use, and easy to clean. The opposing forces of gravity with the filter press and the degassing of fresh coffee beans creates a powerful pressure for slow drip extraction. You can enjoy it with milk of your choice or classic black. Similar to Americanos, you can do a second pour of hot water into the Phin for higher volume coffee.”

notNeutral LINO + GINO: Deluxe Pour-Over Brewing Kit

The architects at notNeutral (a division of Rios Clementi Hale Studios) designed their GINO coffee dripper ($98) to complement their streamlined LINO mug. With an insulated, double-walled cone made with hand-blown laboratory-grade borosilicate glass, the GINO provides the optimal distance for the water to travel through the ground coffee to ensure a balanced and flavorful cup. A food-grade silicone gasket at the bottom creates a germ-resistant surface between the dripper and the mug. The set comes with a GINO glass server with a silicone lid, two LINO porcelain mugs, and a bag of custom-designed flat-bottom filters.

notNeutral employs the tenants of architecture for brewing and drinking coffee. Their drinking vessels are designed and developed in collaboration with professional baristas who took the 3D prototypes and tested them in the cafe environments to assess ergonomics, capability and durability.

Images courtesy of respective brands, hero image courtesy of Canyon Coffee