Many of us drink multiple cups a day without ever realizing it can taste a lot, lot better.

Caffeine remains just about the only socially acceptable addiction, and as a result most of the U.S. population live their lives a few short hours and a missed latte away from entering withdrawal. With so many of us hooked on the stuff, it's surprising then just how little time and money the average coffee drinker devotes to getting their fix. Sure, we've all spent $5 a go in a Starbucks at one point or another, but when it comes to the day-to-day stuff, most of us settle for cheap drip coffee or even instant coffee granules.

The good news is, it doesn't have to be that way. Drinking better coffee doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming (though it certainly can be both if you let it). It's all about finding the balance between quality, cost and convenience. Better quality coffee costs more and is less convenient, but past a certain point there are diminishing returns, so what matters is finding the sweet spot, where the increase in quality is worth the added cost and inconvenience. That's different for everyone, and different people will value cost and convenience to varying degrees, so the perfect balance will be quite an individual matter. Don't take this as a prescriptive guide then, but more a blueprint for figuring out what works for you.

The Machine

One of the first things that you need to figure out is what kind of coffee you want to make, and how you want to make it. You've got plenty of options here: cafetiere (French press), stovetop espresso, Aeropress, percolator, Chemex and more. Each method has its own pros and cons, and requires some upfront investment in equipment, so you want to figure this one out before you get started, if at all possible.

One of the first big questions is whether you want to make short shots of strong coffee like espresso, or longer, milder drinks. The former is what's typical of the modern coffee shop: a short shot of brutally strong coffee that you can either drink as is, or mix with water, milk and more for drinks like cappuccinos, lattes and americanos.

At a reasonable budget, the best bet for that is either a Moka Pot or an AeroPress. The former, also known as a stovetop espresso maker (though it doesn't make true espresso), typically makes 2 or 3 shots at a time, and is about as close to espresso as you can get without a real espresso machine. The Moka sits on top of your stove, and consists of three compartments. You put water in the bottom, which is heated by the stove. Coffee grounds sit in the middle, and as the water boils, the pressure from the steam pushes almost boiling water up, through the coffee grounds, and into the top compartment as some rather strong coffee.

Coffee from a Moka Pot has a reputation for being quite bitter and, detractors say, burnt-tasting, though its defenders insist that incorrect usage is to blame there. Since the Moka is among the fiddlier coffee-making methods, it's worth bearing in mind however.

An AeroPress is a more modern device that uses a filter and a plunger to produce a small, strong filter coffee that takes less than a minute to brew. Although it was only invented in 2005, the AeroPress is already one of the most popular choices among coffee aficionados. Because it brews coffee very quickly and at a lower water temperature than other methods, the resulting coffee is smoother and less acidic than the alternatives. You can pick up either a Moka Pot or an AeroPress for $25 or so on Amazon, so both are cheap starter options, but the AeroPress is quicker and easier to use, making it the better option to begin with. You can of course buy yourself a full espresso machine, but since the worthy ones tend to start at $500, you probably want to save that for once you've got a pretty good idea of what you're doing.

For filter coffees, you've got two main options. The most traditional is the cafetiere, or French press, which simply sees you pour hot water over coffee grounds, leave them to steep for a few minutes and then press down a filter to separate the grounds. Because the French press retains all of the oils from the coffee, it tends to be somewhat 'heavier', while the fact that it uses a mesh filter, rather than paper, means that inevitably some sediment makes its way into the coffee, which some enjoy while others see as a downside.

The electric percolator has fallen slightly out of favor in recent years, but still has plenty of devotees. The functionality is similar to a Moka, but is unique in that it continually cycles the water through the coffee grounds until it reaches boiling point