What gear you need to start brewing filter coffee: the complete kit, item by item

Before spending a single euro, here's some good news: the cheapest item in the kit is also the easiest to choose. The ceramic Hario V60-02 dripper, already recommended in our V60 vs Chemex comparison, remains the go-to starting point — it costs €20 to €25, pairs with paper filters at €6 to €7 per 100 (roughly 6 cents a cup), and its ceramic body retains heat better than the €10 plastic version. This choice barely needs debating: it's the most documented, most widely available entry point, and one you won't lose money on even if you switch to a Chemex or another method later — the dripper stays useful indefinitely.

If there's one product not to compromise on, it's this one. A cheap blade grinder (€10-20) chops coffee unevenly: fine particles over-extract and turn bitter, coarse ones under-extract and stay flat — regardless of the coffee, the method, or your patience. A conical burr grinder, even a manual one, fixes this at the root. The Timemore Chestnut C3 Pro (€70 to €80) is a solid example: steel burrs, precise internal adjustment, enough capacity for one to two cups. It's not the cheapest grinder on the market, but it's the threshold below which grind quality becomes the limiting factor in your coffee — even before the choice of beans or brewing method.

Wooden and steel manual coffee grinder, essential for a consistent grind

Weighing your coffee and water isn't obsessive — it's simply the only way to reproduce a recipe that worked the day before. Without a scale, you have to eyeball it, which works, but introduces variability that, as a beginner, you don't yet know how to read. The Timemore Black Mirror Basic 2 (€45 to €50) adds a built-in timer, useful for tracking brew time alongside weight. If budget is tight, any kitchen scale accurate to 0.1g is enough to start with — the timer and flow display are a comfort, not a necessity. It's the one item in the kit you can postpone without losing any cup quality.

Coffee beans weighed on a precision scale before grinding

A good dripper and grinder are wasted if the water arrives in a wide, uncontrollable stream from a regular kettle. The gooseneck — that thin, curved spout — allows a slow, steady pour centred on the coffee bed: it's what makes a circular pour possible in the first place. The Hario Buono (€30 to €40) is the non-electric reference: it sits on any heat source, with no built-in thermometer. Electric, temperature-adjustable versions exist, but start at €100 and are only worth it if you brew coffees that demand a precise temperature — light roasts, in particular.

Precise pour from a gooseneck kettle onto a V60 dripper

Add up the dripper, the filters and the grinder: budget €96 to €112 for an essential kit that already produces a clean, controlled cup. Add the scale and the gooseneck kettle, and the total climbs to €170-200 for a complete comfort kit. The difference between the two isn't cup quality — a well-used essential kit can match a poorly dialled-in comfort kit — it's how fast you progress and how consistent one cup is from the next. Exact references and their prices are listed at the bottom of this article.

If budget forces a choice, here's the priority order: the grinder first — it's the only item that degrades the cup irreversibly, no matter how much care you put into everything else. The dripper next — its price is too low to justify cutting it. The gooseneck kettle can wait: a regular kettle with a careful, slow pour works, less precisely, but it works. The scale can wait even longer: with a bit of experience, eyeballing gets you to roughly correct proportions. What you should never do: invest in a high-end scale or kettle before you have a burr grinder — that's the reverse of what actually improves your coffee.

If you're trying filter coffee for the first time with no certainty you'll stick with it, start with the essential kit: dripper, filters, grinder. That's enough to find out if the practice suits you, without over-investing. If you already know filter coffee is going to become a regular habit — several cups a week, wanting to compare origins and roasts — the comfort kit pays for itself quickly: the consistency that a scale and kettle bring cuts down on ruined cups, and therefore wasted beans. Either way, log what you brew: it's the best way to know whether a setting, a coffee, or an accessory actually improved your cup, rather than just guessing.