> I prefer the Baratza line of grinders which can be easily maintained over time. An entry level model will set you back about $150 and you may be able to find it cheaper used.
Which I think undersells the best part of Baratza, as a part relevant to HN: the company actively supports maintenance, sells all parts and refurbished models, and has very helpful customer support. I love that they don't need to be forced into right-to-repair. I'm a very happy customer.
Incidentally, it’s entirely possible to enjoy good coffee without becoming a total snob, just like it’s possible to use vim without being a dick about it :)
Snobbery exists, but I think most people are just excited about the subject and perhaps overly eager to share their learnings. To some it seems snobbish, but from the coffee lover’s point of view each thing they’ve learned has made a big difference in their experience and they’d like to share that with others.
Just like any skill, there will be gatekeepers and elitists who think they are better than others. They’re the vocal minority.
They're all different and I love em all for different reasons.
Though I will say I absolutely refuse to drink Keurig coffee. It's an environmental disaster and it has the strength and flavour of coffee brewed with used beans...
I still drink preground basic grocery store coffee every day and it's fine. Co. paring the two is like saying you want to taste fine and expensive wines and you'll never drink wine just to get drunk.
I'm actually not that often even in a mindset where I can make the most of my more expensive coffee and I drink the cheap stuff then.
I willingly share my coffee knowledge to anyone who asks and never denigrate someone for liking Folgers.
You do you, though.
The biggest upgrade you can do on your setup is getting a proper coffee grinder with burrs and not blades. There's little sense in buying any fancier beans if you're grinding them in store and drinking it over a period of several weeks. In a matter of hours after grinding, the coffee will be almost as stale as it'll be in two weeks' time.
Hand grinders like Hario Skerton go for like 50 USD and something like Wilfa Svart Aroma for around 100. If you don't need espresso-level fine, then it's more than great.
Great coffee doesn't have to be expensive. If you have a local roaster and they offer single origin coffee at a sane price point, you'll make your money back in a few months time if you're an avid fan of take out coffee.
An Aeropress and electric mill will cost about 140 dollars and for example approx 20 cups of Intelligentsia coffee will cost roughly a dollar per cup. That's top shelf coffee, compared with mediocre Starbucks black coffee which will cost you double that.
I'd much rather pay for some 15 year old single malt whiskey and pay less per portion than buying Jack Daniel's from the local drinkhole.
Source: I'm a hobbyist reviewer of coffee, done some roasting and working on the judgment panel selecting Findland's best coffees.
Why I don't necessarily agree about temperature: coffee beans are already roasted at temperatures far hotter than 100 celcius. Any oils that would get lost due to temperature, have already evaporated at that point. If the water is too cold (like 90C or less), you risk under extracting the coffee. I think boiling is a perfectly acceptable temperature and don't notice any difference between that and 96C.
Last weekend we were visiting family in Sheffield, which is on the edge of the Peak District, and their water comes from hard sandstone hills, beautifully soft.
If you don't need espresso fine grounds buy a timemore c2, normcore or 1zpresso jx.
If you want to brew espresso take the 1zpresso jx pro.
Edit: all those recommendations are best band for the buck. For an equal electric grinder you will pay a hefty extra. For the same quality the cheapest electric grinder I could find was more than double the price. I don't want to pay 150€ for a motor
But for many, it's also just a part of the ritual and charm. I mean, if you really go at it, it shouldn't take more than 20 seconds per cup.
I have an under the sink in-line water filter and that's what I use to fill up the kettle.
If you enjoy your coffee the way it is, don't get pressured into making it 'better'.
And then I let it go cold and drink a cup cold too. Because even cold coffee is coffee and coffee has caffeine.
And then I microwave the third cup, usually for too long, so it largely evaporates and develops an interesting aftertaste (and also becomes an excellent laxative). Because the headache doesn’t care how it tastes and who can be bothered to make fancy new coffee several times per day.
It's my understanding the real coffee snobs avoid dark roast because it burns off a lot of the flavor and natural sweetness of coffee.
I do concur with consistency and then changing only one variable at a time - beans, temps, ground amount & size, water type(?), extraction time / length / size. It’s probably something I haven’t paid any attention to and have my favourite spots to get coffee from.
Tap water could also improve the taste the way NY tap water supposedly makes the pizza taste good.
"Profiles" product menu: Classic | Dark | Espresso
Here's some of their copy:
«Life is Too Short to Ruin Your Coffee with Bad Water» • Bad water destroys great coffee • Don't drink boring, flat coffee anymore • Starting your day right shouldn't be this difficult
«Protect Your Coffee Maker» • Stop ruining your coffee maker by causing lime scale buildup! • Do you have an espresso machine? • Third Wave Water has a water profile just for your needs
«Find Full Flavor» • Achieve Optimum Extraction and taste your coffee like the Roaster intended • Reduce Bitterness with all natural minerals • Balanced Water Chemistry to compliment your coffee (pH and kH)
«Brew Consistently» • Stop Chasing the Perfect Cup • Brew the same amazing cup of coffee every morning
Over 3 million gallons of coffee brewed.
"This coffee tasted 10X better with Third Wave Water! This stuff is the real deal! If you love coffee you'll love Third Wave Water!"
If you like to experiment, try different methods of brewing - French Press or pour over are easiest. You can try single origin beans, or blends, ground or whole bean that you grind with a propeller grinder gasp.
I consider myself a coffee snob and even I buy pre ground beans sometimes because I'm a lazy old codger. Frankly I sometimes don't want to go through my coffee ritual in the morning and just want a simple, quiet, pour over to get me going.
Absolutely nobody should be knocking the way you take your coffee.
I don't measure my own coffee on a scale from "terrible" to "enjoyable" because they're all for a different purpose and mindset. The main point is that people enjoy their coffee. If they're often finding the experience lacking, then they should try to fix the process.
What makes coffee taste especially bad is just sitting out. It gets sour and real bitter.
And I don’t make it like this for guests because it’s too weak. Well, maybe okay for Americans.
But to expand on that point, pay attention to origin and roast style. Mass produced coffee is like any other fungible commodity, but craft coffee is much more varied. Coffee may not be as diverse as teas but it’s definitely more than dark roast arabica beans.
I have an under the sink in-line water filter and that's what I use to fill up the kettle.
If you buy only one type of coffee and it's consistently the same roast level, then there shouldn't be a huge difference if you measure accurately.
But for me, I buy a different coffee bag every time and one scoop of a light roasted Ethiopian coffee will definitely not be equivalent of some darker Guatemalan coffee for example.
You don't need to measure it thrice though. Just measure the beans before grinding them and then calculate how much water you'll need. I also use the 60 grams of coffee per liter of water, ie 16:1 water/coffee ratio as a starting point. Then just measure the water with a scale or by volume.
It’s basically what I do, and also sometimes it isn’t perfect but I don’t expect it to always be either .
If you just get some fresh locally roasted beans and make French press you’re already mostly there
It’s diminishing returns after that point
Highly doubt anyone’s going to notice a difference with tap water
They're small, hot as hell, you don't prepare much coffee out of it, the coffee is burning hot, it's easy to fail your coffee, and the taste is most of the time very (too?) bitter.
But at least... digestion will indeed be facilitated ^^
Source: my family in Italy became Bialetti cultists, I have to bear it to avoid boring comments on "real" coffee.
So I bought a “12 cup” Bialetti, which makes about a pint each time, which is enough to keep me going for a day or two.
And yes it took me a while to get the hang of getting it to siphon all the water through the coffee properly without over-cooking.
Chinese tea is, imo, much better than Indian. So much less bitter and more fragrant. There's quite a large difference between different teas, also from the same region, so try a few different ones. I live in Copenhagen but go to a specific tea store in malmö for my tea.
