If you like your coffee sweet, clean and full of flavour without needing half the kitchen bench to brew it, the Delter Press is a very clever little piece of kit.

Created by Melbourne based Delter Coffee, the Delter Press looks deceptively simple, but the brewing method is what makes it interesting. Rather than immersing all of your coffee and water together at once, it uses a process called injection brewing.

Essentially, the brewer gives you greater control over how and when the water comes into contact with the ground coffee. Water is introduced to the coffee in stages, helping create a more controlled extraction and a cup with impressive sweetness and clarity.

For coffee nerds, that means you can play around with your recipe and extraction. For everyone else, it means you can make a ridiculously good cup of coffee without turning breakfast into a science experiment.

WHY WE LIKE THE DELTER PRESS

Single cup brewers can produce wildly different results depending on the way they extract coffee. Some give you more body, some highlight acidity and some can occasionally turn a beautiful coffee into something that tastes like punishment.

The Delter sits very comfortably in the clean, sweet and flavour forward camp.

We particularly like it with lighter roasted coffees and single origins where you actually want to taste what is going on in the cup. Fruity notes tend to stay bright, chocolate flavours remain sweet and the individual characteristics of the coffee do not get completely lost.

It is also remarkably compact.

There are no fragile glass carafes, enormous stands or twelve accessories you need to remember to pack. The brewer is lightweight and durable, which makes it one of our favourite options for travelling, camping, the office or anywhere else you are likely to encounter questionable coffee.

Chuck the Delter Press in your bag, take some freshly roasted Grouch with you and your chances of being forced to drink sad hotel room coffee decrease dramatically.

OUR DELTER PRESS RECIPE

This is a great starting recipe. Like every brew method, you can tweak the grind, coffee dose and water depending on the coffee you are using and how you like to drink it.

You will need:

14g freshly roasted coffee

200ml filtered water

Water just off the boil

Coffee ground to a medium coarse consistency, roughly similar to table salt

Delter Press

Around 2 minutes

1. GRIND YOUR COFFEE

Weigh out 14g of coffee and grind it to a medium coarse consistency.

Think roughly table salt rather than fine espresso powder. If your coffee tastes overly bitter or takes too long to brew, try grinding slightly coarser. If it tastes thin, sharp or under extracted, go slightly finer.

Small adjustments make a surprisingly big difference.

2. HEAT YOUR WATER

Heat your filtered water until boiling, then allow it to settle briefly.

You will need approximately 200ml of water.

Using filtered water is worth it. Coffee is mostly water, so if your tap water tastes questionable on its own, it is probably not going to magically improve once coffee is involved.

3. ADD YOUR COFFEE

Add your freshly ground coffee to the Delter Press and assemble the brewer according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Make sure everything is sitting correctly before you start brewing. Coffee before coordination can be dangerous territory.

4. BREW

Add your hot water and begin the injection brewing process.

The Delter allows you to control when the brewing water reaches the coffee, rather than leaving all of the coffee immersed for the entire brew.

Take your time with the press rather than trying to force the water through as quickly as possible.

You are aiming for a total brew time of around two minutes.

5. DRINK IT

That is it.

Remove the brewer, give your coffee a moment to cool and have a taste.

And do not underestimate that cooling part. Different flavours become much easier to taste as brewed coffee drops in temperature. What initially tastes like a simple chocolatey cup might suddenly start throwing berries, citrus, caramel or florals at you a few minutes later.

WHAT COFFEE SHOULD YOU USE?

Technically, you can brew almost any coffee in a Delter Press.

But if you are going to use a brewer designed to highlight clarity and sweetness, we reckon it is worth giving it something interesting to work with.

Freshly roasted single origins and lighter roasted coffees are particularly good through the Delter.

It is also a great brewing method if you normally drink espresso but want to start exploring filter coffee. The recipe is not intimidating, you do not need a huge amount of equipment and you can brew one cup at a time.

Most importantly, you can actually taste the coffee rather than just the brewing method.

THE TRAVEL COFFEE PROBLEM, SOLVED

There are few things more disappointing than going away for the weekend, waking up desperate for caffeine and discovering your options are instant coffee or whatever has been quietly ageing inside the accommodation's communal coffee machine.

This is where the Delter really earns its keep.

It is compact enough to travel with, durable enough that we are not terrified every time it goes into a bag and simple enough to use before your brain has properly booted up for the day.

Take the Delter.

Take some beans.

Take a grinder if you are committed, or ask us to grind your coffee appropriately before you go.

Caffeine crisis averted.

DELTER PRESS RECIPE AT A GLANCE

Coffee: 14g
Grind: Medium coarse, similar to table salt
Water: 200ml filtered water
Temperature: Just off the boil
Brew time: Approximately 2 minutes

Use that as your starting point, then adjust from there.

Coffee brewing recipes are not commandments carved into stone. Your grinder, your coffee, the age of the beans and your own taste will all influence the final cup.

If it tastes good, you have done it right.

WANT TO GIVE IT A CRACK?

If you are looking for a Delter Press, freshly roasted coffee beans or something new to put through your brewer, head over to the Grouch shop.

We roast our coffee in small batches right here at the roastery, so you can grab the gear and the good stuff in one hit.

Less bad coffee. More obnoxiously good coffee.