Would you swap your barista made coffee for filter? Al Brown thinks you should

RNZ News

27-05-2025

Al Brown
Photo:
Supplied
In the face of rising coffee prices top chef Al Brown is urging people to park the snobbery and make the switch to filter coffee rather barista made espresso.
The Auckland chef and owner of several eateries told
Checkpoint
drip coffee is a cheaper alternative.
Bottomless drip coffee is something Brown sells at some of the cafes he owns.
He reckons filter has come a long way, since the bad old days.
"Drip coffee has just come a long way and the coffee culture in New Zealand is extraordinary. It kind of jumped, from instant straight to becoming, really taken seriously," Brown said.
"We have great coffee roasters and great baristas out there, but it just keeps going up and up."
He said the difference with drip coffee is the coffee is extracted through water dripping through the coffee grounds, instead of being forced through like an espresso shot.
"They both are ground. The barista one is then packed, and the water is forced through for your espresso shot. A drip coffee is again fresh roasted beans, they're ground and then the water drips through and extracts the coffee."
Drip coffee is essentially filtered coffee, he said.
"I spent a lot of time in the states and their coffee culture over there was pretty hopeless. But we make beautiful, filtered coffee here in New Zealand, there's lots of roasts. Not just me, but Supreme, all the big roasters are doing it as well.
"It's an opportunity if you love coffee, most of the people that serve drip coffee, it's bottomless. There's a whole lot of ups to it, you all get your coffee at the same time, it's fast, often it's bottomless, so you can sit there and have a couple of cups.
"You're not having to pay a barista, which is a lot of money. Coffee machines are up to $20,000 each. There's quite a bit of wastage with espresso as well with the grind and a lot of milk."
The cost of coffee beans hit a record high of $14/kg earlier this year.
Buying a coffee a day for $5.50 adds up to
$2007.50 a year.
Kiwis can tend to be snobby around coffee, Brown said.
"If you're paying seven bucks for a flat white or latte somewhere, if it's made by a great barista, I totally get it. It's delicious and it's well made and it's crafted.
"But you can stop at a horse float halfway up the country in some little town and pay seven bucks there as well. Made by someone that hasn't really been trained, and the result isn't great at all.
"When you travel around the world, there's a whole lot of different ways that coffee is served. It's mellower, if you drink it black, it's not as aggressive. You taste those sort of flavour points a bit more."