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I did a middle class thing…

I bought myself a coffee subscription. Every six weeks, they’ll send me two bags of fancy coffee from two different artisanal roasters. It costs stupid money for what it is, but hey – surprise treat in the mail from time to time.

Look at that, the coffee even comes with baseball cards.

Why Waaqa? Oh, that’s the Ethiopian sky god, naturally. The Oromo tribes of Ethiopia believe coffee plants must be nourished by the tears of Waaqa.

Really. That’s the kind of pretentious wankers I’m dealing with here.

I have to say, though, following their instructions I made some of the best coffee ever. Turns out, I was cooking it too hot for too long (though, to be honest, there’s a part of me that likes it nasty bitter, especially first thing in the morning).

Bring the water to a boil and then let it sit for a minute or so to cool down. Grind the beans while waiting – coarse for a cafetière – 13g to 18g per 250ml cup (my usual scoop is 16g. Yes, I weighed it). Pour a little water on the grounds and let it soak for 30 seconds, then pour in the rest of the water for four to five minutes.

At first I thought, “pff! So it’s coffee.” But the more I drank, the more I realized it was milder and sweeter than my usual. Almost chocolatey.

Very nice. Still not worth stupid money, though.

Comments


Comment from ExpressoBold Pureblood
Time: January 31, 2023, 8:06 pm

Coffee aficionados recommend:

https://aeropress.com/


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 31, 2023, 8:30 pm

I have an aeropress! I think I bought it for Uncle B, actually. It definitely makes better coffee than the drip-through.

Ha! I even posted about it, when I couldn’t get filters during lockdown.

I switched to the cafetière not long afterwards, when I got in the habit of making a 500ml thermos of coffee in the morning every day. Still do when I’m home.

I’ll have to try the aeropress with my fancy new coffee, though.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: January 31, 2023, 8:32 pm

Oh, I also have an old-fashioned percolator, which makes a wicked, bitter brew that I enjoy on Sundays sometimes. If you can control the temperature, supposedly you can avoid the bitterness an make a really splendid cup of joe, but I can’t keep the temp low enough even with the diffuser.


Comment from ExpressoBold Pureblood
Time: January 31, 2023, 8:47 pm

I have a French press (a cheap one), a dual carafe-Kcup drip brewer and the Aeropress…

I’ll have to try your procedure modifications although I am to the point where Italian Roast Eight O’Clock brews up quite nicely.

Of course I grind whole bean into the near-fine grounds for brewing.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: January 31, 2023, 9:52 pm

We have all the coffee toys, but for JavaMan’s last birthday he bought a fancy coffee grinder that he set to dispense and grind the beans according to his preferences. He loves it like a baby.

Our daily grind is a Kona blend, but our niece-in-law has a coffee company for a client and they pay her in coffee beans! 🙂 She brings coffee beans to JavaMan all the time, so we drink a lot of stuff that I don’t even know what it is. (Some of it nearly kills me after a few swallows, so I take it back to the kitchen to add sugar and cream.)


Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: January 31, 2023, 9:57 pm

“Ethiopian sky god”???

Ethiopians are Christians, AFAIK. Wiki sez it just means “God” in Oromo.


Comment from durnedyankee
Time: January 31, 2023, 11:22 pm

I admit, I’ll even suffer through the conversion from sensible measure to grams and milliliters to test out your method.

Mrs D received a similiar coffee subscription from WhiteHacker Son #2, though it’s filled with leetle beety bags that can only make about 4 cups, tops (I think, I like my coffee so’s you can stand a spoon in it until the spoon corrodes so I might be overloading )


Comment from Tim Carlson
Time: February 1, 2023, 7:45 am

I quit caffeine. ALL caffeine. No regrets at all. Kinda.

First marriage – living in San Francisco, married to a blonde-haired California girl who was an artist. Good coffee was mandatory. Coffee grinder, filters, sometimes a french press. Expensive beans from exotic locals with unique backstories. Coffee snobs in the making.

Second marriage – living in Phoenix, married to a Thai. Instant coffee, lots of cream and sugar. Just needed that jolt to get started in the morning and for late night programming marathons.

Third marriage – living in Manila, married to a Filipina. Lots of local 3-in-1 (coffee, creamer, sugar in a single pouch). All of the sugar is what eventually tipped me over to being a diabetic (I’ve also quit refined sugar and drastically reduced carbs).

Finally gave up ALL caffeine, I can wake up without being groggy, have better energy throughout the day, and no crashes when the caffeine/sugar runs out. Like I said – no regrets.

Except . . . I sometimes miss that morning coffee with the first cigarette (which I also quit) of the day.


Comment from Anonymous
Time: February 1, 2023, 10:10 am

Oh, man, I miss that first cigarette like stink. I keep saying I’m going back on the weed sooner or later. If they’re just going to euthanize the old, I might as well die pursuing my favorite vices.

Incidentally, it’s kind of worth following the weasel link in my comment above. It dates to the very early part of the lockdown and I’m mulling whether it’s okay to order aeropress filters during a state of emergency. The comments are an interesting window on the beginning of the ‘pandemic’.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 1, 2023, 10:12 am

Comment above is me. My own stupid blog doesn’t remember me.


Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: February 1, 2023, 12:12 pm

That’s okay Sweasel, it proves you haven’t reduced yourself to using a Ratbot to generate content.

Coffee experiment to start in T plus 10 minutes after I launch from bed.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: February 1, 2023, 12:37 pm

Hoo-boy, yeah. The quest for the right coffee. The early years are definitely a TL;DR account, so I’ll get right to the point. My wife has very different preferences so the problems were finding beans we both liked, and finding the right appliance to put it in. We were surprised that Costco’s medium roast house blend made in a Hamilton Beech percolator suited both of us just fine. I buy the whole bean coffee and mill it at the store; that way I can get the coarse grind that works best in a percolator. BTW, that Hamilton Beech keeps the coffee at the right temperature for three or four hours without it tasting burnt. Much better than any drip machine we’ve tried, and we tried quite a few.

Our solution isn’t perfect for either of us individually, but it IS perfect in that we’re both satisfied with it.


Comment from Armybrat
Time: February 1, 2023, 3:06 pm

I’ ve bought the hubby beer of the month, bacon of the month and bloody mary of the month packages in the past. I highly recommend the bloody mary package.


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: February 1, 2023, 6:27 pm

Meanwhile, the badger shakes his head in wonderment and continues to sip Assam tea.

Coffee’s OK but one cup a day does me. Can’t really see what the fuss is about. It smells lovely but the taste disappoints. Unlike me. I don’t smell lovely and I’m tasteless.


Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: February 1, 2023, 11:42 pm

@Uncle B:
I’m thinking of starting a company that makes coffee taste the way it smells when you brew it.

Originally it was to bottle sex, but that would end civilization.


Comment from Pupster
Time: February 4, 2023, 8:39 pm

Except . . . I sometimes miss that morning coffee with the first cigarette (which I also quit) of the day.

Cold, dead, nicotine-stained hands.

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