Coffee

it's more than a baratza encore!

yeah but if you'd bought this instead of an Ode, you wouldn't now be looking for a replacement, cuz it's not gonna break. CHECKMATE

(also, better grind quality than an Encore, and more versatility than an Ode - can do espresso grind no problem)

buncha coffee alchemists up in here, holy frijoles

i actually just started drinking coffee last week. seems to disagree w/me so i reckon it's back to tea, oh well. i have enjoyed my brief sojourn in the fast-paced cosmopolitan cafe realm but must bid it farewell 🫡

Coffee is a finicky mistress, but that's part of what I like about it. So many variables, such that, as much as you try to control things, you don't get the exact same cup twice. And I like changing up my beans a lot too. I was really feeling the Stumptown Homestead Blend, but even that started to bore my tastebuds after a while, so I keep switching. I have a Tandem sampler pack coming in the mail soon. Before my current beans, I had an Intelligentsia light roast blend I really liked.

Coffee chooses you, yo udon't chose coffee. SO said my sources.

my doctor has suggested i give up coffee for a month to see if it will help w my migraines

i almost hurled my chair through the window but composed myself and said why, do you think i have a problem?

so i cut down to just one cup a day for a few days. i'm now on day 2 of just a cup of tea in the morning. tomorrow i have nothing

i feel very... faded. kind of xanax-ed out. it's not unpleasant actually. but not conducive to work. i struggle to find the words to say when asked a question

Has it helped though

well my migraines only happen maybe every three weeks? So it's hard to say. i'm not sure what the end-game is here. if I don't get a migraine for another month do I assume that staying off coffee has helped? and then I keep staying off it? idk

I am going to have a follow-up w this dude in 6 weeks, I will ask him then

Exercising first thing in the morning effectively replaced coffee for me when I stopped drinking it for a few years pre-pandemic (back on the stuff now), though I wasn't a super heavy coffee drinker anyway (1-1.5 cups/day).

never touched the stuff until about a decade ago traveling 7000km for a conference and having to sit through the most boring workshops... it saved my life and I've stuck with it ever since. Thank you, Coffee.

On the occasional days where I don't get to have coffee in the morning — because we forgot to buy more or I'm in a hurry or whatever — I'm always a little surprised that its absence doesn't seem to particularly affect me. I look forward to it and enjoy it so much that I sort of assume that I must need it, but I think it's mostly that I like it. I could give it up I think, but why on earth would I?

I on the other hand am so paranoid about becoming one of those people who needs a coffee in the morning to function that I limit myself to two or three cups a week.

If I don't have a morning coffee for whatever reason the worst I've felt is a dull headache in the afternoon

same, and a bit logy. 25 g's a day. More if my sleep was really shit. I'm not real clear on how much bean is in your average to go cup.

XP have you ever gone days without it though? When I quit for a while, my memory is that the worst I felt was a few days in.

if I don't have coffee, I end up getting an extremely sharp headache, I can't do it

then there is the possibility that coffee treats mild adhd

coffee is nice makes me think pure thoughts

now you’re just trying to hurt me

keep seeing this thread so i broke out the chemex this morning and tried resetting my process. the beans i have are a little too roasty but overall not bad!

I bought a seperate littel ONE CUP DOES YOU machine for other family members who wanted flaoured coffee as I don' tintend to taint the main coffee master

now you’re just trying to hurt me

― Tracer Hand, Friday, January 27, 2023 10:32 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i would not do that my thoughts are too pure

single origin heirloom thoughts are the purest

otm

My thoughts are crapped out by a cat

considering this purchase

https://www.communitycoffee.com/products/coffee/12-oz-whole-bean-colombia-toledo-labateca

it was my parent's daily grind when I was growing up

I'll bet its good -- the best mid-grade, non-precious coffee is always from Colombia

I'm partial to Guatemalan beans. If my midrange store isn't just selling the same thing in every bag..frigged if i know

absolutely nothing wrong with being addicted hardcore to coffee imho

I'm counting on it to hold off dementia for an extra year or two so I can really enjoy those years as a Wal-Mart greeter.

oh i don’t care about being addicted to it either. i’m completely pissed off about this entire turn of events

If your beans are oily, do not buy those beans again. Good coffee beans will not look shiny or oily.

i love oily beans, rub em on my face. they're very good for your skin.

https://sagebrushcoffee.com/blogs/education/common-fallacy-of-oily-coffee-beans

never noticed this but then again maybe I'm just an oil lover

I'm strictly a light-roast guy, at least for drip brewing. Espresso can be good with a darker roast.

i like medium roast im a big medium guy

medium is a good roast. today’s office coffee is quite a bit darker than i’d like.

I love a good cup of coffee, in almost all forms. But visiting family overseas, I just couldn't get used to the all espresso, all the time model. Wake, turn on the impressive machine. Wait, for temp and pressure. Grind coffee, press into the whatever, draw a double, then stream or add a bunch of milk. Plus cleaning. It's lovely and a nice routine, but sometimes you just want a deep cup of coffee and not an espresso or milky espresso drink.

I realize that this is the model in a lot of places ( just as the model here is likely generally simpler than my own pourover), but I just kept feeling that at the end of the process I was already ready to start it all over again and brew another one, and that's not taking into account everyone else waiting to make *their* coffee. Lotta work.

lot of ppl over there use the "stovetop espresso" pots prob cause its easier, not really espresso tho

yeah, that seemed to be the backup, and beneficial if you need to brew for more than one, but it's pretty inferior to drip/pour/espresso, imo.

yeah its not great

i love a stovetop moka pot espresso
makes me homesick, that’s what i used when i was first out of college etc … mum still uses one occasionally, which is def preferable to the instant coffee her & dad normally do

I'm strictly a light-roast guy, at least for drip brewing. Espresso can be good with a darker roast.

― o. nate, Monday, 30 January 2023 15:45 (one hour ago) link

I much prefer medium roast for espresso too. Urban legend, perhaps true, is that espresso was never particularly meant to be dark and the only reason we associate it with that is that the immigrants who brought espresso here were less well off and used cheaper beans (which are usually roasted darker to mask defects).

I love a good cup of coffee, in almost all forms. But visiting family overseas, I just couldn't get used to the all espresso, all the time model. Wake, turn on the impressive machine. Wait, for temp and pressure. Grind coffee, press into the whatever, draw a double, then stream or add a bunch of milk. Plus cleaning. It's lovely and a nice routine, but sometimes you just want a deep cup of coffee and not an espresso or milky espresso drink.

I realize that this is the model in a lot of places ( just as the model here is likely generally simpler than my own pourover), but I just kept feeling that at the end of the process I was already ready to start it all over again and brew another one, and that's not taking into account everyone else waiting to make *their* coffee. Lotta work.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, January 30, 2023 11:23 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is part of why I never wound up fixing my Pavoni once it broke (coinciding when I also started to have to get young kids ready in the morning). The think took SO much time and effort - at least several minutes to heat up, grind, tamp, lock, pull, froth the milk, and incredibly annoying to clean (which you also had to do before pulling another shot if you wanted another) -- in fact I never really figured out an efficient way to do it, but largely used wet q-tips. Coffee was SO good, and when I retire or when the kids are older maybe I'll get back to it. Also making coffee for guests was insane - I'd be in the kitchen for like 30 minutes missing conversation.

the coffee urban legend i like is that places like starbucks use intensely oily dark roasts that taste like crap because everyone just gets junky sugary borderline-milkshake drinks anyway so you need that to be able to taste the coffee at all

It's basically the same idea too -- Starbucks uses shitty beans primarily sourced from Brazil, and roasting them dark and oily masks a lot of the flaws in the taste (although not that well tbh) and makes the beans look fancier, plus as you point out they get drowned in other flavors anyway. Also I think there's a perception that dark = "strong" (which is of course not true in terms of caffeine).

i liked the article latham green posted, particularly for this bit:

This leads to my last point of this discussion. You have control over your coffee

for me this is really the best part of grinding beans and doing a pour over with a reliable adjustable kettle. i just get whatever cool single origin beans my favorite local small roaster has new (natural process ethiopian, honey process from colombia, washed beans from mexico, etc) and then adjust grind, temp etc as needed to get something to my taste

one of the aha moments for me was learning the "coffee compass", this is not the original one i saw but it gets the idea across

https://khymos.org/wp-content/2021/02/Coffee-Compass-1024x1024_1024x1024.jpg

xp i generally assume light roasts have the most caffeine, since (like any alkaloid) caffeine molecules are going to be degraded by heat, though as the almighty coffee compass teaches the particulars of extraction are going to play a big part in how much makes it into your cup

I don't think roast has much effect on caffeine, but some espresso blends use more Robusta beans which are higher in caffeine than Arabica.