Here are nine coffee bar essentials.
My entire home smells like coffee in the mornings. It’s a necessity: If I could set the scent of a medium roast as my morning alarm, I would. Coffee is part of my daily ritual, so I wanted to get my coffee bar just right. My coffee bar is the first place my feet pad to, the first place my eyes unshutter, the first place where I feel calm, then productive.
Here are my coffee bar favorites and essentials.
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Buffet Table
The buffet table I decorated is thrifted. I love the carved cutouts on the sides, the lightness of the wood, and how the table is the perfect height for morning coffee.
don’t have time for thrifting?
Here are our top Amazon coffee station finds:
- Bestier Coffee Bar: a rustic coffee bar cart with wheels, a drawer, and paper towel holder
- OKD Buffet Cabinet: an elegant farmhouse-style buffet table with white sliding barn doors, an after-hours wine rack, and trio of drawers
Nespresso Machine
When Vyas first mentioned Nespresso to me, I was skeptical. Nespresso’s business model felt very Apple-like, and I didn’t want to be locked into a single company’s ecosystem. But a few months later, there we were, with a Nespresso Vertuo on our coffee bar.
And I love it. The Nespresso is a step up from a Keurig. It’s better than Starbucks. Drinks pour with a froth.
I use the brewed espresso to make vegan gingerbread lattes and cinnamon coconut cream lattes (two of my favorite hot winter drinks). In the summertime, I’ll refrigerate the espresso, pour some ice into a cup, and add the cold coffee (and a little vanilla extract) atop crackling ice cubes.
Frother
Sometimes, if I’ve woken up early enough, I’ll froth heavy cream and vanilla syrup to create an indulgent vanilla sweet cream cold foam.
I use this frother that I bought from Amazon to make all my cold foams (in autumn, I add a tablespoon of pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice mix to heavy cream and condensed milk to make a pumpkin cream cold foam).
Sweeteners
I usually use brown sugar or maple syrup to sweeten my coffee, and I place these right next to my Nespresso.
I bought this mushroom sugar bowl for my friend’s coffee bar, and she absolutely loved it (she uses her own spoon though, because the spoon the sugar bowl comes with is a bit fragile for early morning rituals).
Spice Rack
Once autumn air chills Nashville and leaves begin to turn orange, I fill up my coffee bar spice containers with cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin spice. I use these seasoning jars. If you’re a fan of loose-leaf tea, you can swap the spices for tea mixes!
Syrups & Sauces
Since I shy away from pieces that are purely decorative in my home, I display my Torani sauces and syrups atop my coffee bar. Vyas can’t stand Torani syrups, so it’s just me using them in our home (he prefers Monin).
If you have a lot of syrups, I’d recommend a rotating organizer like this one to make the syrups more accessible or a syrup rack similar to this if you want to add more depth to your coffee bar.
Cake Stand
I fill up the rest of the space on the buffet table with two cake stands. I bought these from Magnolia. The ones I specifically own are no longer available, but there are similar ones on Amazon.
Under the glass-domed lids are homemade bread and protein-rich breakfast muffins (my coffee bar also doubles up as a breakfast bar).
Mug Holder
Mugs lie above, resting against the wall. The mug holder I own is thrifted. It’s an old coat rack, so the hooks are thick and don’t accommodate our larger coffee mugs. But I still love the way it looks and how it makes our wall appear longer.
don’t have time for thrifting?
Here are our top Amazon mug holder finds:
- Hulisen Coffee Rack: a staggered wall rack with a dozen hooks and a metal coffee sign
- Zwang Mug Holder: a tree shaped mug holder with rounded leaves for hooks
- Metal Coffee Rack: a small four hooked metal coffee rack beneath a cute cutout coffee sign
A Piece That Feels Like Home
My favorite part of our coffee bar (aside from the coffee and treats) is our framed Cavellini puzzle. A while ago, Vyas and I spent a week after work trying to solve Cavellini’s Bees & Honey jigsaw puzzle. We listened to a cozy audiobook. We fit thin pieces together. We smiled and laughed. And when we were done, we mod-podged the puzzle and framed it. I like having this puzzle above our mug rack because it reminds me of simple, happy moments and helps me start my day in a good mood.
