I love coffee and the precision that goes into brewing a cup of craft mud (trademark pending). It appeals to the part of my brain informed and influenced by my late father, a civil engineer. We shared a belief that perfection is attainable if you sweat every single mind-numbing detail, alienating anyone within a 25-foot radius in the process.

The craft coffee world encourages such obsessiveness, a quality that sometimes (often?) slips into snobbery, which no doubt explains why those who don’t inhabit this orbit love to mock us.

But we coffee geeks do have a mission: to unlock the full sensory experience trapped inside those beans. It’s not necessarily easy, and it requires money, equipment, time and patience, all of which are in short supply. Plus, many folks are content with the caffeine rush alone, and the rest is just frippery.

Yet for those who want more from their coffee, here are some ways to start. I tried to crystallize these recommendations so that most apply to a variety of methods, such as automated drip or pour-over.

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