I am, shamelessly, in love with coffee and tea.

Yes, both.

I feel like a lot of people are either one or the other. But nope, not me! I adore both. Not only for their incredible flavors, but for the whole experience of consuming them. 

There’s something about enjoying a cup of coffee and a cup of tea that is lovely; somewhat indescribable, but so very lovely. 

When we started to put together both our coffee and tea stations together at home, I found myself enjoying the process of drinking them even more. Because, if you think about it, what is a reason you like going to a cozy, arts-y coffee shop (for the record, our favorite is Variety)?

For me, it’s a myriad of things: the aromas, the music, the cute lil’ mugs and cups, the tray that the shop hosts their sugar, creamer, and honey—the aesthetics and intentionality of nearly everything and anything is, purely, delightful.

But going out and grabbing coffee or tea everyday is unreasonable, unrealistic, and let’s face it… probably not the healthiest thing ever. So, we decided that we wanted to replicate the same delicious flavors, aesthetics, and vibe with our own at-home coffee and tea stations that we look forward to spending time at every other day (okay, you caught me, everyday). 

And aside from the mere fact of making your preferred beverage at home being better overall, it is healthier for you, cheaper, and makes your morning routine all that more enjoyable (and easier! Starbucks lines in the AM are absurd!) 

I highly recommend you start your own coffee & tea station and here are a few ways to make it the ultimate at-home station:

1. Keep all of the items within reach of the pot/kettle
   
   This may seem like a silly thing to mention, but is the first step—consolidating all of your coffee/tea items within the same area in your kitchen/office/wherever you decide to keep them! Typically, most of us may keep our tea/coffee in our pantries along with the rest of the food items in your house. However, putting all of your tea/coffee in one spot is crucial to creating a station. Find a designated spot for your coffee pot and/or tea kettle and make that the primary place where you will retreat to it often. When you do this, you aren’t wondering where things are, they should be exactly where you placed them—the designated tea/coffee station.

2. Keep the main thing the main thing
   
   This is an old saying Anna’s dad used to say all the time, and it applies in so many parts of life! When it comes to tea and coffee, the application is simply this: you don’t need all the gadgets. There are single shot coffee makers, espresso machines with all the bells and whistles, Nespresso’s of all shapes and sizes, drip coffee makers, pour over coffee pots, cold brew coffee cannisters, and a whole host of other options we probably don’t even know about. After trying several different coffee maker options with varying degrees of success, we’ve found we love a drip coffee machine most, so that’s the only coffee maker we keep out as part of our coffee station!
   
   We had a Nespresso machine for a few years, but we ultimately decided we didn’t use it enough, so we gave it to a friend. Now, our coffee station consists solely of one machine — no frothers, no pods, just ground up beans and a carafe to put some water in. We have a Chemex for slow moving Saturdays, and a small cold brew maker for the hot months, but those are easy to store when not in use, and thus have no place in the coffee station!
   
   Find the type of coffee you love, and build your station around that, and ditch the rest, You’ll be surprised how little you actually need!
   
3. Keep stirring spoons handy
   
   This may seem obvious, but we have a small cup near our coffee pot with designated for one thing: stirring in our creamer. This one is a bit controversial, as we recently found out…
   
   Apparently there are two type of people in the world — those who pour creamer first and coffee second, and those who pour coffee first and creamer second. We are coffee first, creamer second people, as we believe it cools down the coffee just enough to be immediately drinkable, but not so much that it becomes lukewarm or cold. The creamer first crowd is defiant in their belief that cold creamer ruins the coffee if not given time to adjust to room temperature. To each their own!
   
   Whichever end of the spectrum you find yourself on, keep a tiny spoon handy just in case.
   
4. Embrace the process
   
   Like with lots of things in your home, we recommend taking your time in putting together your station. We’ve found that any time we try to perfectly curate a space, we end up changing it in the not-too-distant future anyways. Unless you have a perfectly clear vision of what you want, taking your time allows you to embrace a collected approach and create a vignette you adore, instead of feeling like “well, this will do the trick” until you ultimately decide it doesn’t.