Modern Homemakers

6 Useful Tips For Building Coffee Bars for Small Spaces

by Kevyn Gohu
January 18, 2023

As frustrated coffee bar baristas, here are some tips for building our personal coffee bars when we only have small spaces.

Once we discover how much money we save in making coffee at home, there’s no turning back. We start scouring through our favorite online shopping apps for all the coffee equipment that a typical café has. It’s overwhelming and we might end up making the rest of the house a storage for our personal coffee bar. So before we start online shopping for every brewing implement, here are some useful tips for building coffee bars for small spaces.

1. Glass jars for containing coffee grinds

Glass containers work better for storing coffee grinds or beans because it prevents air and any other external factors to affect the coffee’s flavor. Especially if the room is usually humid, glass containers will also prevent molds and mildew from spoiling our stock. Consider using the air-tight jars that once stored our cream cheese, olives, and other preserved goodies. You can also use one of those racks for glasses to put inside the drawer to organize the coffee grinds. Don’t forget to put labels!

2. Different brewers = different tastes

Some of us who want to indulge and unleash the frustrated barista may get excited to try all sorts of coffee brewing machines. While Espresso machines are good, they tend to be bulky and not a good fit for coffee bars or small spaces unless it relies on capsules or has fewer settings than commercial ones. Here are some smaller coffee brewing tools that save space and glam up our personal coffee bars.

Moka Pot – Although it does not make a true Espresso, a Moka Pot is a traditional tool that even Italians use to make them. Most of them work well on electric or gas stoves while the ones that are induction cooker compatible are a little pricier. Usually, it takes 5 to 10 minutes to brew on high heat and then you’re done!
French Press – French Presses are easy to find and extract coffee by using pressure. It has a mechanism that allows you to press down and extract all the coffee from the grinds. However, those who use a French Press often prefer smokier coffee flavors which isn’t usually a preference for the typical coffee drinker.
Cold Brewer – Cold Brewers usually range from 650 mL to 2 L because it takes at least 16 hours to brew. Baristas would recommend 24 hours for more flavor but those who have a high caffeine tolerance have gone as long as 48 hours for brewing time.
Vietnamese Phin Filter – They go as low as PHP200 in online shops and produce drip coffee. This tool comes with a built-in filter to keep the coarse granules out. To use, place the grinds into the filter and then mount the filter on a glass or mug (with ice if you want it cold!) and then slowly pour hot water through it. This isn’t recommended for thin or low-quality glasses because the sudden change in temperature will break the glass.

3. Keep it in a dry, cool, dark space.

If you can find a small space in the room or house that never gets hit by sunlight, that’s perfect for your coffee bar! Sunlight causes coffee grinds to rot because it reacts with the latter to produce oxygen. We call this process “photodegradation” where the light causes oxidation or the release of gases that affect the coffee. Direct sunlight causes coffee to go stale, creating that rancid and sour flavor.

4. For sweeteners: Plastic Jars will do.

Instead of using the box as a container for the sweeteners, use a plastic container. Because boxes are organic and use paper, this makes them a favorite of insects. Add sweeteners to it and you have a potential ant or cockroach nest waiting to happen! Those take-out containers will finally have use because you can store all the artificial sweetener sachets in them. For those who still use sugar, glass jars are still the best.

5. Do not buy syrups unless you’re serving a lot of people!

It’s tempting to buy flavored syrups to recreate our favorite drinks. But, it’s not worth the investment when each bottle at 500 mL ~ 1 L costs around PHP 600 pesos (even more expensive for the sugar-free kind!) when you just need a bottle cap’s worth. Some flavors can be recreated from scratch. Caramel is just melting sugar in a pan and vanilla is just buying the flavoring from the supermarket.

6. Consider investing in a multi-tiered rotating spice rack.

As your knowledge of brewing coffee grows, so does your curiosity about what goes well with it. Small coffee bars usually have a short multi-tiered rotating spice rack that keeps all the coffee additions in one spot. Vanilla flavor, Virgin Coconut Oil (for bulletproof coffee), sweeteners, and all sorts of other things are within arm’s reach for the groggy mom who hasn’t had her morning coffee.

Customize your coffee bars to fit your small space efficiently!

It’s easy to get carried away by the excitement of brewing coffee at home. But remember while the number of items grows, the house doesn’t! It’s good to keep in mind how many people actually drink coffee in the house since it will help you decide how you want to build your coffee bar. The main rule is to always keep it well-equipped! Especially if your home is a frequent spot for Hen Parties or Teen Hangouts.