It was a piece about slowing down, fussing less, and just appreciating moments with people over things like roasting dates and quality of beans.
That said, have any good coffee recommendations?
I remember once waiting in line while a new student in my lab was complaining about how Reddit coffee snobs said anything besides a light roast coffee with a splash of milk “killed the flavour of the beans”. So a postdoc and I each ordered light roast and put a splash of milk in it, originally planning on spending the next twenty minutes talking about how he had killed the flavour coffee with a dark roast, but then finding we both quite liked getting our coffee that way.
Doing a pour over or drip is low fuss. You could argue grinding your own beans isn’t low fuss, but most grinders have a preset with a hopper, so it’s still pretty quick and easy to grind your own beans.
As for recommendations, I always say go local, and make sure it’s been roasted recently.
As for what’s near me (Portland OR) I have quiet a few — Case Study, Coava, Heart, and Never are my current favorites.
Frou-frou coffee has a way of making the experience about the coffee, rather than about the company and environs. At least that is the author’s point.
And I say this as someone who grinds their own beans every day.
Since then I've gone down the espresso rabbit hole, and my set up makes some fantastic espresso, way better than the bitter lavazza moka pot coffee. but somehow, it doesn't replace those memories I made as a kid. Mostly because the ones who I drank espresso with have passed on.
I think lots of us have places we loved growing up, that in became nostalgic keystone locations for our childhoods. For me, it is an ice cream place. And it becomes all the more apparent that these locations were actually about the people, because at some point we realize actually it is just kinda mediocre soft-serve otherwise.
And maybe frou-frou is distracting. But the instant coffee doesn't induce the authentic experience, it just makes it noticeable in retrospect. Although, the author didn't explicitly claim that it did induce the experience... Anyway there's a big gap between frou-frou and instant coffee where all sorts of lovely little coffee shops live.
I dunno. This became kinda train of thought. In conclusion, I have no conclusion. It is good for people to enjoy things and we should definitely find little rituals to indulge in with our loved ones.
I just store the bag of beans inside the plunger and the entire setup fits inside my backpack if I want to, just add hot water.
(currency not in NZD not USD)
If it's from the supermarket, it's old.
If it's from somewhere more 'hipster', it's not.
(If it gives you a roasting date at all it's a good sign!)
Anything cheap and fresh is good. I used to go to whole foods and look at the roast date and get the ones on sale.
