Everyone is keen to unlock their inner barista and discover the best coffee beans the world has to offer. There is a whole universe of exciting flavours and experiences waiting to be explored, and a growing number of apps are eager to help you find them. Sadly, every app comes with its own set of shortcomings — but that should not discourage you from giving them a try.
Filtru
Filtru is a free app with a paid tier that unlocks additional brewing methods. Within it, you can browse recent brews, save techniques you enjoy, build your own custom method, and download techniques from other users to follow along at your own pace. There is a dedicated espresso section and a filter section, and overall, the app is jam-packed with features.
One particularly clever touch: you can photograph a bag of coffee and the app will pull data directly from the label, organising it with reasonable efficiency. The idea is to help you track which coffee you are brewing and how much of it remains. There is also an augmented reality function designed to help you understand the mechanics of the brewing process — it is quite intense, and rather impressive.
Like most apps in this space, Filtru asks you to input some information at the outset to get the process moving. From there, it guides you through each step methodically. It also has the advantage of connecting with a wide range of Bluetooth scales, making it genuinely useful for anyone who wants to learn a technique from the ground up.
That said, most coffee apps are not ideal for everyday use, as they tend to excel at one or two specific things rather than serving every stage of your coffee journey. Filtru, in particular, is well suited to those navigating the amateur arc — the curious beginner who wants to log brews, experiment with ratios, and build good habits. The logging itself, however, can become tedious over time, which is a common complaint across apps of this kind. Two other options worth exploring in the same vein are Brew Timer and Beanconqueror.
HiCoffee
HiCoffee is a caffeine-tracking app available on iOS. It features a clean graph display showing your current caffeine levels and how they are likely to taper off throughout the day. You can log different beverages at different times and specify how much of each you have consumed — though it is worth noting that the figures will not be perfectly precise. The caffeine content in a filter coffee, for instance, can vary quite considerably depending on the beans, the grind, and the brew time.
Think of HiCoffee as a caffeine equivalent of a calorie tracker. It nudges you to stay mindful of your actual consumption across the day — something that is surprisingly easy to lose track of. It is also worth remembering that several variables affect how your body processes caffeine, not least genetics, which plays a significant role in how quickly you metabolise it.
Where HiCoffee becomes genuinely interesting is in its ability to show how your coffee consumption patterns throughout the day may be affecting your sleep. After a week or two with the app, you will likely find yourself reconsidering your afternoon espresso habits and approaching your daily routine with a slightly more considered eye.
Café Life and Perfect Coffee 3D
There are quite a few games dedicated to the café experience, with Café Life and Perfect Coffee 3D among the more popular examples. Most follow a broadly similar template: press a button to produce a cappuccino, tap another to grind the beans, and if a customer fancies a slice of fruitcake, pair it with an appropriate coffee recommendation. The formula is familiar, perhaps a little too familiar.
The most frustrating aspect of virtually all these games is the inability to redesign the café layout — everything tends to be fixed in oddly inconvenient places. That said, if you are looking to pass the time pleasantly during a quiet afternoon, a few rounds of these games will do the job well enough.
Coffee Cups and CupCup
Who does not love a good cup of coffee? Coffee Cups and CupCup offers guidance on preparing a range of speciality drinks — cold brew, affogato, espresso freddo, and frappé among them. Naturally, the app is aimed squarely at coffee enthusiasts who already have some equipment to hand. There is also a thoughtful section covering coffee news and the world of coffee roasts, which makes for engaging reading even when you are not actively brewing.