You work your butt off honing your barista skills and perfecting your espresso. You’re up late into the night making detailed notes on how to maximize crema and body. You conduct studies in grinder minutia that put the engineers at M.I.T. to shame. You can set an atomic clock by your shot times, and you need a postage scale to note any variation in your tamp pressure. In the end, your espresso is the ultimate combination of art and science, and your customers worship your work, celebrating the unmatchable flavor you deliver dozens of times daily.

At least, that is until the poor sod comes in and orders a “regular coffee,” and you hand a him an empty cup and point to the glass carafe over on the counter that holds the remainder of your brew tower’s best efforts, cooking, as it has been, for more than an hour.

Wait... what? That’s your regular coffee? You, exemplar of excellence and precision of all things espresso? You, the crafter of custom created coffee masterpieces on your espresso machine, just directed one of your customers to go pour their own? Is this a café or a gas station?

OK, that might be a bit harsh. But really, in today’s specialty coffee market, don’t you want your regular coffee to be something more than just, you know, regular? Well, you’re in luck. With three alternative brewing methods available for incorporation into your café—the press pot, the Melitta pour-over stand, and the newest entry on the market, the Clover—you can bring out all of the nuances of your most complex coffee in a made-to-order drink for your customers in every cup that you serve.

Ready to find out how to take your café Alt?
Then order this back issue today from Barista Magazine!

Article by Kenneth R. Olson
Photos by Daniel Mullery