I guess it's my responsibility to make a coffee thread

general
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I just watched this and thought it was relatable as someone who exclusively drinks and enjoys drip coffee.

https://youtu.be/MOm7Gr-1BUc?si=f8-6Q6bIVBJnwFGR

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I have had the same baratza virtuoso grinder for over 10 years! Use it every morning, it’s a real workhorse. I also prefer drip coffee, I make pourover using this flat bottom dripper called espro bloom. One nice thing about it is it has a fine mesh screen so I can still make coffee with it when I run out of filters. I get light roast coffee from fancy roasters and justify it because I don’t drink alcohol or smoke weed or really have any other vices besides a cup of coffee in the morning and I really enjoy it.

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I tried a large Greek/Turkish coffee last month and it destroyed my night haha. (But it was good.)

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I downsized to a 3-cup bialetti and am happy with the decision. The moka pot is the best configuration of quality and ease of preparation and cleanup imo. And they're cheap and last forever, which helps increase the budget for the actual coffee purchase. Just got the plain metallic. I did not purchase the new D&G “for display purposes only” model but it looks nice

https://www.bialetti.com/it_en/moka-express-bialetti-dolce-gabbana-50.html

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Brewed a 50/50 mixture of Café du Monde and Bustelo Espresso in my Yama siphon this morning on a whim. Very smooth, good flavor.

@yeso love a good stovetop espresso pot—very efficient, no waste. Also hard to screw up (unless you leave it on the stove while you’re in the shower and melt the plastic handle almost clean off your Moka pot…hypothetically speaking). I’ve been using this Alessi stovetop pot for a while, nice and solid.

28

We should maybe break this out into a coffee and coffee equipment thread? I‘m kinda fascinated by everyone’s coffee choices and this thread tends to be where we put heavier topics.

My coffee achievement of recent weeks is to replace my ailing 15 year old coffee grinder that had become increasing hard to maintain with a new Braun K7070! This was after choosing a more expensive model (I won't name the brand) that had immediate problems with getting jammed and that I returned. I was trying to thread the needle between the incredibly cheap and nearly disposable low end and the 'sky's the limit' machines that were obviously out of range (I'm running into this problem with a lot of small kitchen appliances where there's no middle ground, just inexpensive and crappy OR massively expensive).

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@Karasu seems like about $100 is what you need to spend on a decent conical burr grinder yeah

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@yeso I looked at flat burr as an apparently better alternative to conical, but it seems as though they start at about $250, which is way out of range for me. The best characteristic of the Braun is how easy it is to clean it!

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from what I understand the a conical is perfectly sufficient for making (good) coffee in your kitchen needs, and the flat burrs are kind of pointless in that context. Forgot to mention another good thing about the bialetti: no need for anything other than a medium grind

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If you're going to spend any money on coffee hardware, the best bang for your buck is the grinder. I spent 2/3 as much on a grinder as I did on my espresso machine. The grinder was the real difference-maker.

Coffee, in the last few years, became one of the things I spend discretionary income on, along with ~~games~~. After many years of using coffee equipment that I either got for free or <$50, I discovered what good coffee can taste like and that I actually did like coffee as an experience and not just a requirement for life. I decided I wanted to invest in something that would break my temptation to go get coffee at the shops in my neighborhood. I spent like $600 on the two together -- which is a lot of money, I know, I work at a nonprofit that is famously way cheaper than even our next-nearest peer group -- but I think it was worth it. Every morning I drink a cup of coffee that absolutely bowls me over.

I have [this La Baratza espresso grinder](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G82WVZ0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) (which has nearly doubled in price since I got it). I absolutely love it and it seems to be repairable based on their advertising and the feedback of friends with similar models from them. When I completely overhauled my coffee making setup one step at a time, this was the last piece I changed. It was sorta a scientific experiement and this made the biggest difference. I've always treated the coffee flavor "notes" descriptions as item flavor text in _Dark Souls_ (that is---ignored it entirely), but from the first cup I was immediately able to pick out flavors on the bag.

I use a [Gaggia esspresso machine](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086H1W384/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1) that is only so-so on the frothing and has limited bells and whistles but according to all the review sites punched above its weight class in pulling shots. It's certainly better than the 20 year old machine I inherited from my father! This also seems to have skyrocketed in price since I got it. Maybe they caught on.

edit: the other thing that helped is that my sister was working at starbucks during the time of these purchases and got more free beans than we could drink. Bags of free coffee in the pantry, stuffed in the kitchen cart, falling out of the freezer. I'm not a huge s-bux guy, but their blonde espresso roast is actually pretty good.

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well well well check out little lord fauntelroy

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who spent 6x for 1.15x better coffee

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>

@deepspacefine this La Baratza espresso grinder

I came super close to buying a La Baratza, and that might be the next grinder I buy, someday! I've heard that they're extremely easy to maintain too.

My brewing device is a Moccamaster drip that I've had for close to 20 years! I know drip isn't always the best but it's been super reliable, and when it broke about four years back, they were incredibly helpful in repairing for free. So I'm not sure I'll ever need to buy another coffee maker unless they somehow decide not to do repairs on it. But I can definitely see the value of spending some money on a home coffee setup (but I'm also aware of how there's essentially no top end to price on this stuff, kind of like home audio).

I am solidly a medium roast person these days! Edmonton isn't an amazing city for coffee like Portland is, but I've found a great local brand that delivers beans to my house, which is a real plus.

36

I got into making pour over during lockdowns which has turned me into a coffee baby who has opinions on roast levels(medium all day) and tasting notes and no longer thinks Blue Bottle is any good

My set up is pretty basic: cheap conical burr grinder, Kinto carafe, Hario dripper, and Fellow electric kettle(amazing product)

Getting a much nicer grinder is next!

I also made a lot of moka pot espressos during lockdowns as a little early afternoon treat and those are goooooood

1 Like
37

a couple months ago we got this local coffee grind from a farm place but it turned out to be too strong, so we had to use less coffee to brew the same amount we're used to and make it a little milder.

once we move i hope i can get a coffee machine so i can brew something on the spot and not have to leave it on the thermos

38

I‘ve been team light roast for years, but just got a really good bag of medium from a local shop and am vulnerable to persuasion. What’s the case for medium?

39

@antillese seems like a coffee thread might be in order

40

I'm no expert, and I could be completely off base on this, but I find that light roast irritates my stomach more than dark roast, and the oiliness of dark roast is harder on my equipment, so medium a nice happy compromise.

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I thought there was a coffee thread. Someone here taught me how to make pourover like 2 years ago, unless that was itt

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@Mnemogenic Sure as a moderator, I can merge posts, but do you really need (or more importantly want me as a moderator) to go make the first post too? :thinking: Go do it buddy!