
Handbrewing Coffee - tosh
https://quanttype.net/posts/2019-03-06-handbrewing-coffee.html
======
bestfrother
If anyone interested, I already research from best milk steamer to STOVETOP
MILK FROTHER for home espresso / coffee. Given below details for that article.
[http://milkfrother.org/stovetop-milk-
frother/](http://milkfrother.org/stovetop-milk-frother/)

------
Tarks
For anyone interested I did a fair bit of research into how I could step into
the passable home espresso / coffee game as I WFH a lot.

Given that :

\- I make at most 3 coffees a day, usually 1.

\- I prefer espresso

I found the traditional options lacking. I'd need:

\- a machine costing about £600

\- a solid quality grinder.

\- machine needs 20 minutes warmup minimum before you can pour a consistent
shot (or you need to leave it on).

Instead I thought I'd go a different way and build an all manual espresso
setup, using getting past the largest price tag using one of these :

[https://www.flairespresso.com/](https://www.flairespresso.com/). Takes some
getting used to but I've been very satisfied with the quality. You NEED to
pair it with a high quality grinder to get solid results (I'm using
[https://coffeehit.co.uk/products/lido-e-travel-hand-
grinder](https://coffeehit.co.uk/products/lido-e-travel-hand-grinder)).

Downside is I can't steam milk unless I break out my stovetop milk steamer
thing ( [https://prima-coffee.com/equipment/bellman/50ss](https://prima-
coffee.com/equipment/bellman/50ss) ) but that's fine as I prefer black coffee,
the steamer gets more use by partner for her hot chocolates.

My setup : [https://i.imgur.com/6M9AT4O.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/6M9AT4O.jpg)

~~~
mattferderer
I'm just a rookie at making espresso but I would argue my <$100 DeLonghi
espresso maker paired with either fresh ground coffee from a local store or
illy Coffee from online is at least on par with most chain coffee shops.

I can't stomach drip coffee but have really enjoyed a nice espresso with
steam/foamed milk.

The biggest lessons I've learned are don't over pack it, don't under pack it,
stop when it turns blond, give it time to warm up & let it run for a bit to
get the old water out.

\- Edit - I would love to hear tips on what else I can do to up my espresso
game though for a reasonable price.

~~~
icebraining
Same here; I bought a used DeLonghi (10€!) and it's on par with a random
espresso from a coffeeshop. It also doesn't take anything close to 20m to warm
up, though I suppose that may be easier in Europe vs the US.

~~~
jrace
Machines will take a short time to get to proper brew temp, but the rest of
the machine takes longer (the group head is most important)

Ideally you want everything the coffee touches to be at the proper temp -
included th portafilter and cups.

~~~
mattferderer
I think it takes 2-3 minutes to warm up. It's ready before I have my espresso
packed. I know the instructions say to run the water a bit before brewing to
clean the pipes of any colder water.

Great point on cup temp! That makes a huge difference if you want your coffee
to stay warm.

------
GreaterFool
In one of the companies I worked for we had this really nice semi-automatic
espresso machine. The type where you have to unscrew the handle, put the
grounds in. I loved making coffee in it! A little break from coding, some
manual task to do. Make the coffee, steam the milk, clean up. It was a nice
little break.

Then some part broke and instead of fixing it the company bought the fully
automatic machine. It was downright terrible (and crazy expensive!). The
coffee tasted terrible and more importantly the ritual of making it was gone
:(

~~~
PascLeRasc
I've had a Jura at three jobs now and they've all been consistently mediocre.
Its espresso is super watery and feels like there's some missing flavor. I
strongly prefer my Aeropress for both flavor and the ritual of using it.

------
JoeAltmaier
I got ruined for regular coffee when I found a local shop that roasts its
beans _sorted by size_. So it doesn't taste scorched. Apparently most
commercial coffee makers roast them in arbitrary batches, which means by the
time the big ones are roasted the small ones are burned.

I know there's a lot more that can be done with roasting. But that one small
change means you can have strong coffee without having burned coffee. Its at
the point I can walk past a coffee shop and say "Yuck they don't sort their
beans" just by the smell.

~~~
earthscienceman
It's really funny to me to just how much junk information there is in the
coffee world and just how strongly people believe it. Even here on hackernews
it seems. This is the exact sort of 'fact' that sounds good, and makes you
feel like you know what you're talking about.

I'm a roaster. All coffee is sorted by size, or at least all quality coffee.
It's necessary, not only for an even roast, but it's also an inherent part of
green coffee processing. You have to screen and sort the beans to dry them.

The reason grocery coffee is bad is simple. They roast it until the oils come
out and then the oils go rancid because it has been sitting on the shelf for
the last 6 months getting to you. Even if it hasn't gone rancid (way more
common than you'd guess), it's still stale and overroasted. Americans expect
coffee to be dark, bitter, and cheap... And so that's what they get. But what
you said isn't true. Even the crappiest bulk market roaster/reseller roasts by
size and the blends after. They literally don't have a choice.

To be fair, a lot of the junk info comes from roasters keen on delineating
themselves in any way in a saturated market. Taking words that are true for
everyone and making them seem unique to your business is a sales tactic ad old
as time.

[https://espressocoffeeguide.com/gourmet-coffee/arabian-
and-a...](https://espressocoffeeguide.com/gourmet-coffee/arabian-and-african-
coffees/kenya-coffee/kenya-coffee-grading/)

~~~
AdmiralAsshat
Hello! Coffee enthusiast here. I'd like to follow-up on this statement:

> They roast it until the oils come out and then the oils go rancid because it
> has been sitting on the shelf for the last 6 months getting to you.

Are you saying that it's _bad_ if my coffee beans are glistening with oil? I
usually took that to be an indicator of freshness. Or do you mean that if
they're no longer glistening that the bag is probably stale?

FWIW, most of what I buy (except for the Costco bag that I take to work) has a
roasting date on the back so that I can guarantee a certain degree of
freshness.

~~~
driverdan
Light to medium roasts won't extract oils to the surface and IMO have a much
nicer flavor, especially when using good beans.

To me a dark roast Ethiopian tastes the same as a dark roast Costa Rican. They
taste very different with a lighter roast. You lose the bean's uniqueness when
you go darker which is one of the reasons cheap coffee tends to be dark.

~~~
nightski
I feel like I am the only one but I find that "uniqueness" \- sour/fruity
taste disgusting and can't stand the lighter roasts.

I prefer a dark roast with heavy cream :)

~~~
ryanwaggoner
You’re not alone. There are dozens of us!

------
random42_
Funny that my entire life that's been the only way I would drink coffee. My
parents would make it that way and I was doing it that way when I started
drinking coffee. I guess that the fact that electric coffee makers were not
popular nor cheap at the time contributed to this habit.

Besides, you can tell me what you want but I think the coffee from an electric
coffee maker tastes worse than hand brewing. Perhaps I've only used cheap
coffee makers, but I'm yet to find one that can make a drinkable coffee.
Exceptions are espresso makers;the ones I tried made really good coffee
(including the one I currently have at home).

------
alistairSH
French press for me. I buy my beans weekly from a local roaster and grind them
at purchase.

I _think_ I get mot of the upside of 100% fresh ground and pour-over with a
bit less work. And I start cooking breakfast while the water boils, so no time
lost.

At work, it's generic machine coffee. It doesn't taste great, but it keeps me
going.

~~~
nukeop
French press also extracts and preserves all the oils present in coffee beans,
whereas drip/chemex filters them out.

As a sidenote, french press is also great for brewing tea, but keep your
coffee and tea presses separated.

~~~
JshWright
You frame the difference in oils as a bad thing, but it's simply personal
preference (I much prefer paper filtered coffee).

~~~
nukeop
Only because parent mentioned preferring that, in other posts in this thread
people mentioned preferring the opposite.

------
anotherevan
I have several different manual brewers in my collection: an aeropress, a
french press, a couple of different sized coffee siphons, and a few different
sized mokapots.

This is paired with a decent quality electric grinder.

For day to day, just making a coffee for myself, I find the aeropress is the
best. Makes a good coffee, is quick, and the clean-up afterwards is the
absolute easiest. Use with metal filter, not paper, and either the inverted
brewing technique or a prismo to avoid leakage while brewing.

Mokapots are also pretty good overall, especially if making several coffees.
The process is not particularly tweakable though if you are wanting to fine
tune. Like the aeropress, clean-up afterward is pretty easy.

The siphons are great when you want to feel like a mad scientist. It is time
consuming but fun to watch. Once the novelty wears off go back to the
aeropress for your day to day brew. I've eschewed the cloth filter for either
paper or metal.

French press, to me, is okay but doesn't have much by way of advantages over
the above methods. Clean-up afterwards is a chore, uses the most water (if you
pre-heat) and takes about as long as any other way.

Each brings something a little different to the final result.

------
cooooooffffeeee
I just cold brew my coffee. Amazon has a good reusable filter that drops in to
a large mason jar. I make 3-4 jars a week (You literally just add ground
coffee, water, and wait 24 hours). Even mediocre beans taste pretty good as
cold brew.

~~~
sickrumbear
could you link to the filter and note your process? I'd be very interested in
making my own cold brew!

~~~
PascLeRasc
I'm not the guy you responded to, but I really love my cold brew maker:
[https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Mizudashi-Cold-
Coffee-1000ml/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Mizudashi-Cold-
Coffee-1000ml/dp/B00IJ3PAIM/)

It's super easy to clean, makes a week's worth (at least for me), lets you
serve directly from it, and I think it looks really good.

Whatever you do, make sure you use coarse-ground beans. They extract so much
more flavor than medium or fine, in my experience.

------
nateburke
OP misses a CRITICAL intermediate step in the handbrewing process:

SMELLING the freshly ground coffee beans before brewing.

Shameful.

~~~
JshWright
My three year old comes running when he hears the grinder running, just so he
can smell the ground coffee.

~~~
nkrisc
My sister loved to do that when we were young. But then one day she sneezed in
them. Watch out.

------
js2
I like variety. My go to is an Aeropress. But maybe once a week or so I’ll
make Turkish style coffee, or use a Chemex or drip cone. (I wouldn’t buy a
Chemex - it’s not really any different from a drip cone, uses special filters,
and takes up more space than a cone, but it was a gift.) And in the summer I
like to have cold brew around.

~~~
devindotcom
I'll contradict you in good humor on the Chemex if only to say that it's just
a very nice multi-cup drip option. The heavy filters seem to slow down brewing
a bit but I've always gotten really tasty, strong coffee out of my Chemex, and
it's a very lovely object and surprisingly easy to keep clean. But you're
right that it's not significantly different and takes up more space.

~~~
js2
I have the three cup classic so it's not even a very good multi-cup option! Oh
well. I otherwise agree.

------
Griceraae50100
I understand this guy. Five years ago, I calmly could drink americano in a
terrible coffee shop. Now I can not imagine my day without aeropress or
chemex. My favorite grains are from Kenya and Congo, because sourness is felt
in them. If you really love coffee, then you will like the hand-brew.

~~~
Yetanfou
It sounds like you lost a neutral or even positive while gaining a negative
here: lost is the ability to drink a common beverage without feeling bad about
being uncultured, gained is a dependency on commercial brands - Aeropress and
Chemex - and related niche products - in this case African coffee - as well as
a related ritual - 'hand-brewing coffee'.

In both cases you satisfied your thirst for caffeine, the difference is that
the lost method allowed you to do this more or less anywhere and at more or
less any price which the new method makes this more hard to come by and
carries a much higher price.

To put all that in two words: _carpe diem_

In a few more words: enjoy your fanciful coffee but try not to create too much
ritual around it as that only builds walls where no walls need to be.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Hey that describes pretty much any food preference? We should all learn to
live with terrible cooking too?

On that note, I had two total lunch fails last week. Food delivered to the
table, that I couldn't eat. Is it the phase of the moon? The political
climate? The cold weather?

~~~
jfk13
It's possible, I think, to appreciate and enjoy (and spend time on) good
cooking - or coffee - without the kind of (IMO unhealthy) dependency suggested
by "I can not imagine my day without aeropress or chemex".

Perhaps that was just hyperbole by Griceraae50100. I hope so.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Of course it was. But also, comfortable middle-class folk get used to lots of
comfortable things and can't imagine living without them. Like cars and roads
and a warm house and a good grocery store. Unless those things change
drastically then wanting and getting good coffee is way, way down on the list
of 'unhealthy dependency'.

~~~
stirfrykitty
Much of what we do in the west could fall into the category of unhealthy
dependency. I drink 4-6 double espressos daily, plus about 16oz of green tea.
I vape. I code. I sort out issues on servers, for which without the caffeine
and nicotine would suffer :).

This is life in the west. Being comfortable is no sin. Getting used to
"better" is likewise not a bad thing. It's bad if/when you use your
"status/wealth/etc" to impugn or degrade others. I feel like I've earned my
place in life, as has my wife. We live in a normal house, drive so-so daily
drivers (car status means nothing to me), and wear clothes from the outlet
stores.

I do, however, not skimp on coffee, tea, meat, or leather boots. These I will
gladly spend money on.

Like a lot of guys, I enjoy a fine cigar and a cold expensive lager on the
back porch while cooking steaks. All washed down with a healthy measure of
espresso and green tea.

------
linsomniac
We got a Moccamaster 3-ish years ago, and honestly I haven't been that happy
with the coffee it makes. But we also don't have a grinder, so we are using
preground beans. But those same beans when run through a Chemex pourover taste
dramatically different. Even though the Moccamaster is meant to mimic the pour
over brew.

I have switched to the Chemex, partly because as this article says I am liking
the process. Partly because it tends to taste better. The Moccamaster does
seem more consistent, it's just, to my taste, more consistently bad. Sometimes
my Chemex is as bad, sometimes it is great... At home I have an Oxo
BaristaBrain, and that is more consistently good, for some reason. But I also
grind beans there with a pretty high end grinder (Virtuoso by ...?).

In the end, I have come to enjoy the break in the day that the brew gives me.
I don't tend to take breaks otherwise, and I should, but that is a good
opportunity.

~~~
e12e
Are you diligent with cleaning / rinsing the moccamaster? Makes a huge
difference in my experience. And you need to keep it much cleaner than most
people do. That's another benefit of pour-over - I've never had any issues
re:cleaning a simple v60 setup.

------
sevensor
> The drip cone maintenance is easy, too. Washing the cone after each use
> takes only a couple of seconds.

This line really resonated with me. I think there's a general principle at
play: simple systems take more effort to use but require less maintenance.
It's at the core of the original vi versus emacs divide (although vim with
vimscript and its plugin ecosystem has muddied the waters.) Vi's power comes
from its simplicity: a limited but highly effective feature set. Emacs users
on the other hand often end up spending a significant amount of time
maintaining their emacs configuration, which makes their actual text editing
tasks go much faster.

In this analogy emacs is the automatic coffee maker, and vi is the drip-cone.
At the risk of complicating the analogy, emacs may in fact be able to brew
coffee.

------
m-i-l
Personally not a big fan of filter coffee. I have an Aeropress and know lots
of people rave about it, but it isn't for me. I was hoping this article would
be about a hand (or battery) pumped portable espresso device, e.g. Handpresso,
which I don't have although have thought about (primarily as a way around the
electrical safety compliance restrictions at my current workplace). BTW, I
don't mind the awful free coffee from the machine at work (because it's free),
and don't mind periodically paying a small fortune for a good one from one of
the few coffeeshops that actually consistently make good ones - I just hate
paying a small fortune for a rubbish one, and would prefer to make my own low
cost good ones.

~~~
latchkey
Try using a fine mesh metal screen with the aeropress. I find it is better
than a filter.

~~~
oo0shiny
To add onto this, Fellow makes an attachment (the Prismo) that builds up
pressure giving you a more espresso-style cup. It comes with a metal filter,
too.

~~~
latchkey
Interesting device! I found that the hole punch metal filter didn't give me
the same great taste that a mesh did. Obviously, very personal preference
though. Maybe it works better with a Prismo.

------
chrisgat
I'm a coffee ritual person as well, though I think you can get a similar
experience using a machine.

With that being said, my coffee maker device of choice is a Peruvian coffee
pot (for lack of a better name, essentially this: [http://cuzcoeats.com/perus-
great-way-of-making-coffee-esenci...](http://cuzcoeats.com/perus-great-way-of-
making-coffee-esencia-de-cafe/)). It creates a dark rich full body concentrate
that hits the nail on the head for me. With that being said, I'm not a big fan
of the subtle flavours of coffee that you might get in a high quality pour
over with a lightly roasted coffee.

------
otterpro
My favorite hand brew method is "4:6 method" Invented by Tetsu Kasuya_ World
Brewers Cup 2016 Champion
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmCW8xSWGZY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmCW8xSWGZY)).
He uses 20g of beans to 300ml of water and with this method, one can adjust
the sweetness and strengtt. Previously, I always got random results, sometimes
getting great coffee, while at other times, getting too much acidity or
bitterness.

------
stirfrykitty
I don't care for the ritual aspects of it. My purpose is caffeine, yet I do
want my coffee to be good. I agree with some others who posit that African
coffee is some great stuff. It is. I use a French press, as I don't want to
"filter" my coffee too much. If I cannot see the oil in the coffee, I will not
drink it. I like my coffee very strong (taste and caffeine), very black, and
in bean form before self grinding. The Ethiopian and Kenyan varieties are some
great coffees.

------
nkurz
Since others are listing their process, I'll document mine. I rarely drink any
coffee, but I try to make a morning cup for my wife when I can. In return, she
often makes me hot chocolate, which I prefer.

About once a year, we buy 20-30 lbs of green beans from
[http://sweetmarias.com](http://sweetmarias.com) at about $6/lb. Her
preference is mostly for dry-process East Africans, but we also buy pounds of
varieties from elsewhere that have words like "fruity" and "berry" in their
descriptions.

About once a week, we roast an 8 oz batch or two in a Behmor Roaster (left
over from a failed business venture). Roasts depend on the variety, but
usually we try to stop somewhere between first and second crack. Depending on
bean size and origin, this means 14:00 to 15:30 at P1A.

Then each morning, a portion gets ground in a Baratza Encore (at about setting
12), and put in a stainless steel filter cone (Bonzercraft from Amazon). Two
cups of water is heated in a kettle on the stove. I add enough hot water to
"bloom" the grounds when the kettle first starts to whistle (about 160F), then
heat the rest of the water to about 195-200F. Then I start adding water to the
filter, where it drips through at about 180F.

Over the course of a minute, I add the remaining water as the filter continues
to drip into the cup. Meanwhile, I froth ~1/2 cup of cold whole milk in a
Breville milk frother (set to about 140F). A minute or two later, the frother
finishes at about the same time the remaining water drips through. Then I
leave the milk and black coffee separate for her to combine when she comes
down.

------
bpyne
I tried different drip coffee makers, French press, and percolator over the
course of years. The Bialetti Moka Express is perfect for me. However,
everything depends on the grind, roast, and quality of the beans. After using
medium and light roast coffee beans for five years, I am back with dark roast.
I prefer Indonesian beans and a grind slightly coarser than espresso.

~~~
turtlecloud
My concern with the bialetti was the aluminum material and possible side
effects. I do like the iconic design, but went with a more modern Moka pot
made of stainless steel.

~~~
bpyne
I had the same concern. My understanding is that finished aluminum doesn't
give off the aluminum powder that causes brain damage. The Bialetti's aluminum
parts are supposed to be finished.

------
drsim
The Moccamaster is ubiquitous in Denmark. When I moved here from the UK (where
the average household gets their coffee from a jar of Nescafe) it was a
curious sight.

We picked up our Moccamaster second hand for 300 DKK (about 45 USD). This
thing is absolutely solid and to my palette makes great daily coffee non-stop
without complaint.

------
gwbas1c
I still find using my Keurrig time consuming. Pouring the milk, putting in the
sweetener, waiting for it to heat up.

I do use a manual coffee maker a few times a year. So much "extra" goes into
making coffee that I find the time savings of a Keurrig over pouring water
into a funnel isn't very much.

------
dreen
Has anyone here managed to quit coffee completely after being really into it?
I have 1-2 a day, can't imagine starting starting a day without it, but
despite really loving the taste I would rather not feel the need to have it.

~~~
williamdclt
1-2 _cups_ a day? I don't see that building an addiction (I hope at least, or
I'm going to have a hard time)

~~~
seszett
It depends a lot on people, but two cups is enough to develop an addiction to
caffeine, yes.

It's very easy to get addicted, and since the withdrawal symptoms are not that
obvious (it's basically just not feeling good, some slight headache, etc) it
is common not to be aware of it at all.

------
dep_b
We're using percolators and fresh ground coffee at home. One large Argentinean
clone and a "3 cup" Bialetti. I fill up the Bialetti with coffee for a good
punch but the large one (don't know it's capacity actually) only half full
maybe for a milder coffee.

Still I'm going for a Chemex to be able to drink something more subtile. Tried
Moccamaster but it's still regular coffee to me. A good one though. My dad has
a Jura that I really like for such a quick machine but perhaps not what I
would like to drink daily.

Going to experiment a bit more with beans as well in the coming months. Just
to have a bit more of variety.

------
sureaboutthis
Let's not make this some sort of big deal. It's not. "Handbrewing" coffee
makes this sound like a studied method--I guess it is--but there is little to
think about once you know how. It's no different than using any electric
coffee maker. Just slightly more manual in that you need to boil the water in
something and buy whole beans and grind them in a grinder. Most of that time
is just wait time, not thinking or doing anything else. No big deal.

For years, I roasted my own beans. Now that would be something to talk about.
Not this.

~~~
hagbarth
But that's not really what the post is about. It's about having an excuse to
free your brain for 4 minutes. The fact that it's not a big deal to brew it is
precisely the point. It's automatic, so your brain can wander.

------
dnhz
> My standard recipe is 15 grams of coffee to 250 grams of water.

Hmm I use 18 g of coffee for 340 g of water. It's what my grinder dispenses,
and I use 12 oz of water. 13% more water per gram. Is that wrong?

~~~
js2
Wrong? Not if you like the result.

Coffee is a combination of many factors: bean, roast, grind, freshness, water
temperature, brewing time, brewing style, and amount of extraction. There’s
some guidelines of course, but ultimately you’re trying to get a coffee that
tastes good to you.

My uncle likes his coffee much more watery than I do, but I think he uses not
enough coffee and over extracts it. So when I’m making the coffee I make it
the strength I like, pour his cup about 2/3rd then top his up with hot water.

Edit to add: According to Harold McGee, balanced flavor is an extraction of
around 20% of the coffee solids producing a cup that’s 1.3% - 5.5% bean solids
by weight (so you can see already a big range, drip is at the low end,
espresso at the high end). Ideal brewing temperature of 190-200°F (but this is
higher than Aeropress recommends). Brewing time of 1-3 minutes for a fine
grind and 6-8 minutes (!) for a coarse grind. For American coffee, he
recommends a coffee:water ratio of 1:15 for American, 1:5 for espresso. Also,
per my anecdote about my uncle: “It’s always better to use too much coffee
rather than too little: a strong but balanced cup can be diluted with hot
water and remain balanced, but a weak cup can’t be improved.” (My summary from
“On Food and Cooking” which has about 5 pages on coffee alone.)

------
el_cujo
I use a pour-over Chemex and manual bean grinder at home. I enjoy the process,
but I really don't drink coffee that often, maybe once a week on a lazy sunday
morning. I would definitely need a side by side taste test if I was to tell
any subtle difference in fresh ground pour over vs pre ground in a normal drip
coffee maker or a Keurig.

If I was a daily drinker, I doubt I could resist the temptation to get
something convenient like a Keurig, despite all of that plastic waste it
generates with the K Cups.

------
james_pm
We have fairly non-terrible coffee at our office available almost always on
demand. Yet still there are a non-trivial number of us who opt to brew single
cups either with Aeropress, or cone pour over.

The author nails it. Often it's more about the ritual of taking a few minutes
to do something that isn't work. The fact you get a nice cup of coffee is a
bonus. Others in our office do the same thing by walking out the front door
and over to the indie coffee place literally around the corner.

~~~
stirfrykitty
We have one of those Dutch de Jong Duke coffee machines in our office. Thing
makes great coffee, and as a consequence, I drink more than I would were I
elsewhere. Thing makes lattes, cappuccinos, double/triple shots. The
"executive" staff bought it, but we're all free to use it. It must cost them a
fair amount of coin to run it, as it's always in use. Tastes better than
Starbucks, but not as good as making your own with a French Press. You can see
the oil in the coffee, so it must be only minimally filtering out just the
grounds. I use it because it's there, and I'm one of those who, after drinking
copious amounts of coffee daily for decades, develops headaches from lack of
caffeine during the day.

------
jedimastert
I've thought for quite some time about ritual. I've been learning to make
lattes for the last month or so, and I'm really enjoying it. For me at least,
there's a mindfulness to focusing completely on the task at hand. No thinking
about other problems, no worrying about email, and most of the time I turn off
the music I'm listening to. And after all of that, I have a tangible result.

I enjoy ritual though. Maybe I just need more mindfulness in my life.

------
RedBee
I guess it depends on why are you drinking coffee. I can see the ritual side
if coffee is like one of the things that you do every day as a routine... But
for many of us coffee is more like a tool to help ourselves wake up, do stuff,
take a break from work, etc. This way people are more likely to use easy-way
because is no ritual it's just one of the daily self-given tasks.

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taplogger
Love this. Nibbles around the edges of an issue that should be more central to
creative professionals: how to attend to the subconscious.

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zwieback
I've used the same french press for 25 years, granted it's a nice one. I throw
the grounds in the compost, seems easy and quick. I'm not the one drinking the
coffee, though, my wife is so I can't say if it's as tasty as other options.

Pour-over seems almost as easy but you have to remember to stock filters.

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mymythisisthis
Got tired of buying coffee makers that always burned out. A drip cone is the
easiest to clean, never breaks.

~~~
oftenwrong
I am a big fan of the steel "drip-o-lator"-style coffee brewers. They are a
predecessor of electric coffee makers. It is similar to a pour-over, but you
can just dump the hot water in and walk away. Unfortunately, they are no
longer in production, but I have purchased several from eBay. One day I would
like to design and build my own version with vacuum-insulated walls.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg4ncWWqjno](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg4ncWWqjno)

Their layered construction can be described, from top to bottom, as follows:

1\. A chamber for hot water. The top is open and has a lid. The bottom of the
chamber has a number of very small holes, so that water will slowly drip
through the bottom of the chamber.

2\. A holder for coffee grounds. There are larger holes in this layer, so that
water passes relatively quickly through the grounds during brewing.

3\. A chamber to catch the brewed coffee.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Sounds like the Vietnamese single-serving coffee apparatus! Fun to use too.

~~~
kaybe
I like these:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot)

------
m3kw9
You end up with around 1$ a cup after tax. And damn good coffee after you do
around 50 pours. The time you save is priceless. What you learn is priceless
if you are into perfecting a craft

—

-A good grinder(Commendennte)

-12oz coffee

-Hario Filters

-Hario V60

-Goose neck cattle

-A scale that does single decimals(.1) accuracy

-A thermal bottle to hold the coffee.

—

Grind it to 2xsugar sized grinds.

15g coffee to 220-270g of water right off boil is fine for most coffees.

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guiomie
"My standard recipe is 15 grams of coffee to 250 grams of water.", I go with
30 for 300. I tinkered with those quantity a few times to settle on this one.
It's one of the reasons I like pour over, over batch. Sadly pour over gives me
bad reflux.

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Finnucane
I keep a Melitta cone and Bodum kettle at my desk in my office at work. I can
work and make coffee at the same time. I grind my coffee at home before I
leave in the morning. Beats having to buy coffee somewhere or depend on
whatever shite is in the hallway.

------
larrywright
I’ve been hand brewing for nearly a decade. I use an Aeropress when I’m in a
hurry, and a Kalita Wave or a Chemex when I’m not. The brewing method is only
one variable. Freshness of beans and the quality of the grind are another.

~~~
o_nate
Speed tends to be a factor people mention a lot with Aeropress, but I guess
I'm not as busy as most people, because I rarely find myself in a situation
where that difference of 2 minutes is a make or break thing. Once I factor in
time for boiling water, it's like 5 minutes vs 7 for Aeropress vs a drip cone.

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peterwwillis
> while waiting for the way-too-slow kettle to boil the water

How is it Americans _still_ don't use electric water kettles? Everyone else on
the planet that has electricity has one. It's faster, more convenient, kinda-
sorta safer. And you can find ones with digital temperature control on Amazon
for like $25.

[https://www.amazon.com/s?k=goose+neck+electric+water+kettle+...](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=goose+neck+electric+water+kettle+temperature+control&ref=nb_sb_noss)

Look at these things, there's hundreds of 'em. I picked the cheapest one and
it works great. I can set the temperature to exactly 205F and the gooseneck
works for pourover, or I can bring the temp down to 170 for green tea. (If you
make big batches of tea, a non-gooseneck pours much faster)

~~~
rland
Mains voltage is typically 120V here, instead of 240, so it takes a while to
boil water with an electric kettle.

~~~
peterwwillis
Uh, you don't need 240V at all. With 120VAC an electric kettle takes _half the
time of a traditional kettle_ to boil water. It also shuts off automatically,
so no annoying whistling.

[1] [https://slate.com/human-interest/2005/11/forget-your-
stove-t...](https://slate.com/human-interest/2005/11/forget-your-stove-top-
kettle-go-electric.html)

------
myrandomcomment
It’s not that hard. Get a nice French press. At home we use one that that is
large and steal. Get a good burr grinder. Get an electric kettle. Buy some
decent whole beans where you know how long it has been since they where
roasted. Boil the water, grind the coffee. Put coffee in press. Pour water
over. Stir the mixture for ~20 seconds. Put the lid on the press but do not
press it down. Wait 2-5 minutes (up to your taste, beans). Press coffee.
Drink. Clean the grinder, etc. It only takes a few minutes of real time doing
something each morning. So worth it.

Also if you like milk in your coffee switch to heavy whipping cream. You will
use less and it taste richer. Shake up the cream a bit before putting in mug.

~~~
kough
or spring for some good non-homogenized whole milk, way too pricy to drink
instead of normal milk but super cheap when you just use it for coffee!

------
dk1138
I buy pre-ground beans from the store (usually what's on sale), chuck them in
Mr. Coffee, and have a wonderfully enjoyable carafe of coffee everyday.

~~~
netule
I used to buy my own beans, grind them, and brew my coffee in a French press.
However, my SO doesn't want to wait 30 minutes for a fresh cup of coffee, so
we switched back to grounds this year and the difference is really not all
that noticeable.

~~~
michaelcampbell
I prefer ground, but grocery store bought beans is fine. But that difference
from pre-ground is very noticeable, to me.

I also don't care if my MP3's are 128kbit vs 320kbit.

~~~
jrace
And if you enjoy it (coffee and the mp3's) Excellent!!

Just don't try telling me _I_ don't taste or hear a difference. :)

------
sys-error
moka pot, up to 70.00 for 12 cup. kruve filters, up to 70.00 (optional)
espresso size grind, any bean will do.

me? i prefer pourover with medium to coarse grind, my wife likes the moka pot,
and my kid likes drip. i use a kruve with sizes 1100 and 400 filters, grind
handground to size 6 twice, and get all three size grinds at the same time.

------
BooneJS
I make coffee in a Tias Kettle with coffee ground just as the water comes to a
boil. It’s the ritual of the whole thing.

------
calebsurfs
Any suggestions for a _quiet_ bean grinder that won't disrupt a small office
with its noise?

~~~
cr1895
Hand grinders are pretty quiet, but less convenient.

Low end:
[https://www.hario.jp/seihin/productgroup.php?group=MSCS-2TB](https://www.hario.jp/seihin/productgroup.php?group=MSCS-2TB)

High end: [https://prima-coffee.com/equipment/orphan-
espresso/lido-3](https://prima-coffee.com/equipment/orphan-espresso/lido-3)

------
kallemoen
An added benefit is that you don't make as much coffee as you would with a
machine.

~~~
lostlogin
It depends on the machine - I’m picking you don’t mean espressos?

------
ArrayList
Peet's Major Dickason's Blend®. Enough said.

------
weeksie
Degustibus non est ... and all but I will never understand the American
preference for drip coffee. I say that as someone who drank press or drip
exclusively until I lived overseas for several years and my Americano became
an espresso at the cafe and my press coffee became Moka Pot stovetop at home.
I've been back for 11 years and I still grind my teeth when the only option is
drip.

Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Still, reading comment threads about the
supposed differences between various drip techniques is always funny. Chemex?
We used a plastic funnel thing that looked exactly the same in the 80s. The
difference was Yuban (or whatever) instead of the far nicer quality beans on
offer now.

But seriously, the Italians figured coffee out years ago. These discussions
are like a bunch of people arguing over which fast food chain makes the best
burger.

