​Coffee is personal, and rarely do two people brew or drink it the same way. You might crave a punch of a dark roast or lean toward something subtle and complex. Some take it iced, espresso-style with a drop of foam, or lukewarm with skim milk. Ultimately, the best cup is the one you enjoy, but making coffee is a matter of chemistry, and some brewing methods objectively extract more nuanced, well-rounded flavors than others. I spoke with ten coffee professionals—including roasters, cafe owners, educators, barista champions, and a former president of the Specialty Coffee Association—to rank seven popular brewing methods: AeroPress, automatic drip, espresso, French press, K-Cup, moka pot, and pour-over.

Pour-over emerged as the top method by a healthy margin. It’s among the least expensive brewing options, needing little more than a kettle, a funnel dripper with a conical filter perched over the cup or carafe. It can be fussy, and it isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it approach, requiring precise timing and temperature as well as patience to watch the brew. Yet, among the pros I spoke with, pour-over held the highest average ranking: pour-over 1.625, AeroPress 2.375, espresso 3.5, French press 3.75, moka pot 4.625, drip 4.75, and K-Cup 6.625.

Another method that earned high marks was the AeroPress. While pour-over topped the overall ranking, several pros still placed AeroPress at number one. Marwyn Garcia, owner of Headcount Coffee, ranked it first among the available options, noting that other, less common methods such as immersion brewers or coffee siphons are also worthy contenders. The AeroPress’ steep time is adjustable, allowing personal preference in the brew, and he emphasized that bean quality matters as much as the technique.  

​Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.. Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one, but fun if you know athlete nicknames. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.. Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.. Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta. Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups. Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.. Yellow group hint: You might call this person an ace.. Green group hint: Combat sport vocabulary.. Blue group hint: Slangy monikers for specific hoopsters.. Purple group hint: Not Ms. or Miss.. Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups. Yellow group: A team’s best player.. Green group: MMA terms.. Blue group: Nicknames of former NBA players, with “the.”. Purple group: Mr. ____.. Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words. What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?. The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 9, 2026. NYT/Screenshot by CNET. The yellow words in today’s Connections. The theme is a team’s best player. The four answers are centerpiece, headliner, lead and star.. The green words in today’s Connections. The theme is MMA terms. The four answers are armbar, choke, clinch and submission.. The blue words in today’s Connections. The theme is nicknames of former NBA players, with “The.” The four answers are Answer, Big Dipper, Matrix and Truth.. The purple words in today’s Connections. The theme is Mr. ____. The four answers are 3000, Hockey, Met and October.. Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories. The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.. That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing.. #1: Serie A Clubs. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.. #2: WNBA MVPs. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.. #3: Premier League team nicknames. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.. #4: Homophones of NBA player names. Answers: Barns, Connect, Heart and Hero.  

​Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.. Today’s NYT Strands puzzle could be tough, unless you’re an artist. Even then, some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.. I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.. Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far. Hint for today’s Strands puzzle. Today’s Strands theme is: In the paint.. If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Hand me a brush.. Clue words to unlock in-game hints. Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:. COME, PATS, SPAT, SLOE, MEAN, LEAN, MANE, RATE, PEER, LATE, RATER. Answers for today’s Strands puzzle. These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:. FRESCO, PASTEL, ENAMEL, ACRYLIC, TEMPERA, WATERCOLOR. Today’s Strands spangram. The completed NYT Strands puzzle for April 9, 2026. NYT/Screenshot by CNET. Today’s Strands spangram is MEDIUM, the art term! To find it, start with the M that’s four letters down on the far-left vertical row, and travel straight across.. Toughest Strands puzzles. Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest.. #1: Dated slang. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.. #2: Thar she blows! I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.. #3: Off the hook. Again, it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.  

​Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.. Today’s Wordle puzzle doesn’t have unusual letters, but it’s not a word that springs to my mind that often, so it might be a struggle to solve. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.. Read more: New Study Reveals Wordle’s Top 10 Toughest Words of 2025. Today’s Wordle hints. Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.. Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats. Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.. Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels. Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.. Wordle hint No. 3: First letter. Today’s Wordle answer begins with L.. Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter. Today’s Wordle answer ends with N.. Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning. Today’s Wordle answer can refer to something that is heavily weighted down.. TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER. Today’s Wordle answer is LADEN.. Yesterday’s Wordle answer. Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 8, No. 1754, was INLET.. Recent Wordle answers. April 4, No. 1750: SANDY. April 5, No. 1751: ENVOY. April 6, No. 1752: SWORN. April 7, No. 1753: DENSE. What’s the best Wordle starting word?. Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.. Some solid starter words to try:. ADIEU. TRAIN. CLOSE. STARE. NOISE  

​Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.. Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a fun mix. If you follow your horoscope regularly, you might solve the blue group right away. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.. The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.. Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time. Hints for today’s Connections groups. Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.. Yellow group hint: Like haunted house weather.. Green group hint: Medicine you spread on skin.. Blue group hint: Crab, bull and lion are three more.. Purple group hint: Think Arnold Schwarzenegger.. Answers for today’s Connections groups. Yellow group: Gloomy.. Green group: Ointment.. Blue group: Zodiac symbols.. Purple group: Muscular, minus “ed” sound.. Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words. What are today’s Connections answers?. The completed NYT Connections puzzle for April 9, 2026. NYT/Screenshot by CNET. The yellow words in today’s Connections. The theme is gloomy. The four answers are blue, dark, down and low.. The green words in today’s Connections. The theme is ointment. The four answers are balm, cream, paste and rub.. The blue words in today’s Connections. The theme is zodiac symbols. The four answers are archer, fish, goat and ram.. The purple words in today’s Connections. The theme is muscular, minus “ed” sound. The four answers are jack, rip, shred and yoke.. Toughest Connections puzzles. We’ve made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they’ll help you see patterns in future puzzles.. #5: Included “things you can set,” such as mood, record, table and volleyball.. #4: Included “one in a dozen,” such as egg, juror, month and rose.. #3: Included “streets on screen,” such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.. #2: Included “power ___” such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.. #1: Included “things that can run,” such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.