How Much Does a Pour-Over Coffee Setup Cost? Beginner Recommendations for Drippers and Grinders

Coffee lovers are never satisfied with just drinking coffee; eventually, they'll want to experience the joy of brewing it themselves. The simplest way to achieve this goal is to get a set of pour-over equipment.

Compared to espresso machines, the initial cost for pour-over coffee is significantly lower. However, as your skills improve, subsequent investments will continue to increase (better coffee beans, better equipment), with theoretically no upper limit.

Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee will now calculate the investment costs for beginners. (The equipment selection won't be the cheapest, as we need to consider the learning curve for beginners. Therefore, the budget calculated below is for beginners who plan to brew coffee long-term, with equipment that won't need replacement within a year.)

A. Pour-over Kettle

As an essential tool for pour-over coffee, the kettle is like a swordsman's sword—choosing a kettle is like choosing a sword. There are pour-over kettles ranging from tens to thousands of yuan on the market, with various styles available. For beginners, choosing a more mainstream pour-over kettle makes it easier to get started. If you already have a water heating device at home, purchasing a pour-over kettle without a heating element will be slightly cheaper. Based on prices across various platforms, we'll calculate using a B kettle at 280 yuan. If choosing a temperature-controlled version, the price would be 500 yuan.

B. Thermometer

If you're not using a temperature-controlled kettle, you'll need to equip yourself with a thermometer. Of course, thermometer prices vary greatly, from as low as 20 yuan to over 100 yuan. As for their differences, FrontStreet Coffee's experience is that more expensive thermometers refresh faster and provide more accurate readings, while cheaper ones refresh slower. Considering the user experience, FrontStreet Coffee will use Seikō's thermometer price of 85 yuan as the calculation benchmark.

C. Dripper

For the dripper, beginners are advised to purchase a resin version of the V60, which will initially allow you to brew with all types of coffee beans. If considering functionality only and compromising on appearance, a non-transparent resin version costs 40 yuan.

D. Filter Paper

The prices of filter paper are generally similar. We'll calculate based on the Kono filter paper used by FrontStreet Coffee, which costs 32 yuan for 100 sheets per pack.

E. Server Pot

This isn't actually necessary; you can buy attractive glass containers from specialty glassware stores for about 40 yuan. If you're not particular about details, you can simply use any container at home. (Sometimes at home, for convenience, we often use our own drinking mugs as server pots.) If you want a bit of ceremony, then purchase professional coffee equipment, priced at approximately 100-150 yuan.

F. Coffee Grinder

FrontStreet Coffee believes this is the most important piece of equipment—good grinding leads to good coffee. For beginners, choosing a manual grinder will be cheaper, but FrontStreet Coffee doesn't recommend buying inexpensive manual grinders, as their grinding precision and quality are difficult to guarantee. If you truly want to brew delicious coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes this equipment is worth a significant investment. We'll use the price of Timemore's mid-range manual grinder at 699 yuan as the calculation benchmark. Additionally, manual grinders need cleaning tools—brush + blower—with a budget of approximately 30 yuan.

G. Electronic Scale

For beginners, equipping yourself with an electronic scale with a timing function is essential. Similar to thermometers, low-priced electronic scales also have disadvantages like slow refresh rates and fluctuating readings. Based on FrontStreet Coffee's experience with electronic scales, we don't recommend designs where buttons and the weighing platform are integrated, because when pressing buttons, finger pressure on the platform causes temporary data distortion. We'll use Watchget's electronic scale price of 85 yuan as the calculation benchmark.

H. Coffee Beans

When all the coffee equipment is ready, it's time for the main character to appear. If you're just learning to brew pour-over coffee, FrontStreet Coffee doesn't recommend purchasing expensive coffee beans immediately, as the cost is too high. We suggest choosing some entry-level pour-over single-origin beans, such as FrontStreet Coffee's seven regional daily beans, priced at 25 yuan/100g. FrontStreet Coffee created this series to allow more beginners to explore the world of single-origin coffee at a lower cost. For those just starting, calculate based on a monthly coffee bean expense of 100 yuan.

In summary, to comfortably enjoy the pleasure of brewing coffee at home from scratch requires approximately 1,400 yuan. This is significantly lower than the initial investment cost of an espresso machine.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473