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Every time you wake up in the morning next to a woman, you should offer to make her a cup of coffee.
Regardless of whether you’re already planning the next date in your head or plan on never calling her again, brewing a cup of coffee is one of those small gestures of kindness you should extend to everyone. (If I have to make the trek back home in last night’s dress, the least you can do is offer me a cup of joe.) Bonus points if you have a dedicated, well-honed coffee routine.
I still remember the first cup of coffee a romantic interest ever made for me. It was a pour-over, a process of coffee making I find inherently sexy. The labor of hand-grinding the beans, the precision of measuring the grounds, the patience of the slow pour. It’s all very intentional, unlike, say, absentmindedly popping a plastic coffee pod in a Keurig. I was impressed by the intentionality and pleased I didn’t have to lift a finger. I simply lounged on the couch and watched a handsome man take his time with my drink.
You don’t have to take up the pour-over specifically, but give some thought into your morning brew. Whether you’re going full barista mode with a fancy espresso machine, or delight in the simplicity and timelessness of a moka pot, every grown man should have a grown-up coffee routine, and complete it with high-quality beans and souvenir coffee mugs you’ve sourced from your impressive travels. (Oh, you skied the Powder Highway? Tell me more.)
The benefits of a steadfast coffee ritual aren’t limited to impressing the women you’re courting, it can also add structure to your mornings. While I do not have the mental or physical strength for the “5 to 9 before the 9 to 5” routine (a viral trend that involves devoting four hours each morning to self-care), I approve of the sentiment and try to adopt my own realistic version of the ideal. For me, this involves waking up just an hour or two before I have to get ready for work, going for a 30-minute walk and leisurely making my morning coffee. Emphasis on leisurely. Having a quiet morning all to myself — before the bombardment of emails, Slack messages and tasks — where I don’t feel rushed, and can indulge in the sensory experience of grinding beans and brewing a pot, is paramount.
If you feel compelled to take your morning coffee seriously in 2026, whether for your own pleasure or someone else’s, you’ll want to start by choosing a method.
We have extensive guides on the best drip coffee makers, espresso machines, stovetop pots and pour-overs, along with in-depth explainers on each technique. You can consult those guides or peruse below for a snapshot of each, along with what each popular at-home brewing technique says about its brewer (according to me), accompanied by the best products to master the perfect cup of coffee every time.
Brewing method: Espresso
The machine: Breville Barista Express
What I think it says about you: You like the bells, you like the whistles and you get a thrill from turning the lever. You may bring up the short stint you had as a barista in college a little too often, but you can also make a dang good Espresso Martini, so it cancels out.
Brewing method: Pour-over
The machine: Chemex
What I think it says about you: You like to take your time. IYKYK.
Brewing method: Moka pot
The machine: Bialetti Moka Express
What I think it says about you: You prefer a tried-and-true product over a shiny, fully automated one. You’re not impressed with AI and take pride in doing things by hand. You’ve been to tiny European towns I’ve never heard of, but aren’t too pretentious about it.
Brewing method: Drip
The machine: Technivorm Moccamaster
What I think it says about you: You need your coffee, in large quantities, as soon as possible, without much fuss. But you know better than to order the first drip coffee maker served to you on Amazon. You’ve done your research and it led you to the Technivorm Moccamaster, the best drip coffee maker in the game, that’ll brew café-quality drip in one impressively large machine.
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