Beverages

Defining Your Motivation for Switching to Non-Alcoholic Drinks

We love a good libation, we're not going to lie. From beer to wine and craft cocktails, we enjoy them all.

But we also respect that alcohol needs to be consumed in moderation, and each year, we participate in dry(ish) January to give ourselves a bit of a detox and get a refresh on drinking for the new year.

Over the years of periodic abstention, we've learned a thing or two about our motivations for doing it completely, and that has given us direction on the best way to get the most out of our month without alcohol.

So in this one, we thought we'd break down popular reasons for switching to non-alcoholic drinks and then give some questions to ask yourself to help you better figure out the best kind of NA products for you!

Note: We are not medical professionals. This article is not intended to be medical advice- only to help you ask important questions before switching to non-alcoholic products as there are a number of factors out there to consider. If you are concerned with the health effects of drinking, addiction, or withdrawals, talk to your doctor- blogs are not the best source of this information.

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How Long Until a Coffee Roaster Pays Itself Off?

We are coffee nerds. Big coffee nerds. The kind of coffee nerds that not only own every style of coffee brewing equipment under the sun but the kind that also got into home roasting as well.

As any coffee consumer can tell you, roasted beans are expensive, and those made by artisan producers are often doubly so.

So while we got into coffee roasting as a fun, albeit nerdy, hobby, we also did so because we thought it would end up saving money in the long run as green beans are often far, far cheaper.

Naturally, we wanted to share the math on if this purchase truly worked out in our favor or not!

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How to Brew Kombucha – Easy Steps to Follow at Home

Kombucha is a delicious beverage that's made with sweetened tea fermented with a mixed culture of bacteria and yeast. Although it's widely available in grocery stores these days, making kombucha yourself at home is a really fun and easy fermentation project that can save you money and allow you to customize the flavor and ingredients.

Kombucha was one of the first ferments that I dove into – I like to think of it as a gateway ferment. Requiring nothing more than water, sugar, tea, and a starter culture, it also has a pretty short fermentation time so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor relatively quickly.

We're going to walk you through everything you need to make kombucha and outline the steps to brew this zippy fermented drink.

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The Best Coffee Equipment Found in Our Home Bar

As with everything on Hipster Homesteaders, we tailor our articles around our personal experiences in home roasting, brewing, and more. As such, the equipment we use could have a direct correlation to how some of our tests and brews turn out. In some cases, this may be minimal (the brand of electric kettle you use, for … Read more

Our Working Theories on the Best Coffee Brewing Practices

Our coffee goal at Hipster Homesteaders is to use science and engineering to brew the best cups of coffee at home. As part of this quest, we are optimizing our coffee brewing recipes to reflect what we learn through research and at-home testing. In this guide, we wanted to share our overall coffee brewing practices, … Read more

How to Make Cold Brew Coffee – Immersion vs. Flash Iced

As much as I love sitting down to a big mug of hot coffee, when the summer heat is oppressive I find myself gravitating toward cold coffee drinks instead. There are several different techniques for making cold brew coffee, but most all can be classified as either immersion techniques using room temperature water, or regular brewing techniques using hot water that is subsequently flash cooled over ice (which is not inherently cold brew, but is often discussed in the same breath).

We've always wondered if there was any difference in the resulting flavors from these different types of cold brew techniques, so we decided to put them to the test. We tried several different cold brew techniques and found a clear winner; in this post we'll share our recipes and results from each test along with a little theory behind cold brew.

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Which Espresso Cup is Right for You? A Test of Four Unique Cups

Shopping for coffee-related gear can be overwhelming with the huge number of options out there, and the variety of espresso cups available is no exception. When it comes down to it, though, the main things we consider when buying espresso cups are material/performance, aesthetics, and cost.

We recently purchased four different types of espresso cups and evaluated them on the above criteria for their pros and cons. For performance tests, we measured espresso temperature as a function of time in each cup. In this post we share our impressions and the results of our tests so that you can pick the best type of cup for you.

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Inverted Aeropress Brewing vs Upright – Which is Better?

When it comes to brewing a cup of coffee with an Aeropress, the process seems simple enough.  Wet your filter paper, screw it onto the base of the unit, add coffee grounds, bloom, add water, steep, and plunge (check out our full Aeropress recipe for specifics).

Apart from tweaking your grind, temperature, and brewing time for any given roast, there is little technique involved in this full-contact brewing process.

While you could simply follow this rough set of steps and end up with a good brew, many baristas utilize an inverted Aeropress brewing method that switches things up ever-so-slightly. In this process instead of brewing with the base of the unit at the bottom, the plunger is first added onto the top of the unit, the entire thing is flipped, and then grounds and water are added to steep. When the brewing is finished, the filter paper section is screwed on last before the unit is inverted and plunged.

There are a number of reasons we've seen given as to why this is better, but we were curious if this made much of a difference in the final cup- so we devised a test to compare the two and see what happens.

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How to Make the Best Aeropress Coffee at Home

Aeropress is a popular brewing method for a number of reasons. First and foremost, its small size makes it portable, ensuring you can have specialty coffee even in the most unlikely places (no more crappy hotel coffee!). The second is that for a relatively simple brewing method you can actually make some pretty delicious coffee with it!

In this one, I wanted to share my favorite Aeropress recipe with you so that you can make Aeropress anywhere life takes you.

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How to Make the Best French Press at Home

If there is any coffee brewing method that is almost a set-it-and-forget-it approach, it would most certainly be the French Press. On the surface, this one is an easy process as you add water, coffee grounds, and wait for a sufficient period of time before pushing the plunger down and pouring out a cup.

But with everything, minor changes here with your grind settings and brewing temperature can go a long way to a flavorful cup.

In this guide, I wanted to share my process for making the best French Press coffee at home, including what you'll need to make one and subtle brewing details that are often overlooked.

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