OUR FAVORITES
Espresso yourself
Are you a flat white type? Most often on an even keel. Reasonably stylish. Warm, and pleasant to spend time with, but with a hidden bite. Or are you more of a double espresso person? Matter of fact with a distinct sense of urgency in your manner. You suffer no fools. And you probably don’t get on with flat whites.
Whatever your order (or your personality), what you absolutely can’t stand is an over-roasted, poorly-brewed coffee. Which is why you need these apps to tell you just where to buy or how to make the perfect cup.
Find your ideal grind
You’re in a new city and to your absolute horror, all you can find is big chain coffee shops. Where are all the independent coffee houses run by Australian and New Zealander bean aficionados?
Try: Best Coffee Guide. It gives you the full run down of the best coffee shops near you. Choose to only see the ones that are open right now, or filter by those which serve non-dairy milk or have baby-changing facilities, for example. Cafés are reviewed and you even get details on the house roast and which coffee machine they use.
Or: Cuppings offers a more pared-back experience (for the single espresso types). Quite simply, it shows you a list of nearby coffee shops that meet the Cuppings coffee critics’ approval and will guide you there with a map.
Impress with your AeroPress
The guests are arriving in five minutes. You bought an AeroPress in order to make them a decent cup of coffee but (gah!) you can’t figure out whether you should go for the standard brew or the upside-down method.
Try: AeroPress Timer. This is the definitive guide to getting the best cup of coffee out of your AeroPress. It has everything from the most basic methods and on to far more elaborate brews used by (and named after) champion baristas. Each method has a timed, step-by-step guide.
Or: Keep it a little simpler with Grind. This attractively illustrated app gives you a visual guide to two AeroPress brewing methods – the normal one and the inverted one. You can customise your requirements based on how big a cup you want to make.
Brew just for you
You’re so into coffee that you’ve tried just about every brewing method there is. Your kitchen cupboards are overflowing with a Chemex, a French press and a V60 – all terms that would utterly confound someone who drinks instant. Did we just say “instant”? Sacrilege.
Try: Filtru Coffee. This app offers the largest range of brewing method guides that we have seen – including a moka pot and a siphon (two that are usually neglected) and four different kinds of dripper. You can also create your own guides if you have already perfected your method and sync with HealthKit track your caffeine intake.
Or: Single Origin has a good range of brewing methods and includes video guides to make every step extra clear. You can rate the coffee you make and write notes to improve the brew next time.