I like espressos (especially mochas) but they take a bit of work to prepare a single cup. With drip brew, I can do very little and get unhealthy amounts of caffeination into my corpse. Also, I pour ungodly amounts of creamer into my coffee. That Mason jar is quite literally half coffee half creamer.
with a pourover, you’d be doing even less work with less cleanup
Been working in coffee for several years now. It started as a hobby which means I have about 6 different ways of making coffee at home. All that to say I can find very little wrong with these machines as long as your beans are decent quality and you’re grinding fresh for each pot.
Yes they rarely have any form of temp control and the hot plate leaves coffee tasting stale after a few hours of keeping it warm, but they’re consistent, albeit consistently mediocre.
And they come with the added bonus of being able to schedule the brew time which can be helpful for those rushed mornings.
up front: everyone should do what works best for them. no judgement.
with that out of the way, yes, machines make coffee, and they’re easy. the biggest thing that keeps me from using one is the tubing-- if you don’t religiously run cleaning cycles (which is more $ for the cleaner chemicals), then you end up with internal tubing full of bacterial colonies, which, no thanks. that’s to say nothing of the reservoir. when did you last clean the reservoir of your coffee machine?
pourover = rinse out, air dry or towel dry, no moisture for shit to grow in
also, you talk about “grinding fresh for each pot” which i totally agree, but then you say “schedule the brew time” which means letting the “fresh ground” coffee sit in a coffee machine basket overnight, open to the world, which, as you know from working in coffee, negates the “fresh ground” bit. the coffee is fine, i pre-grind my own coffee. but i definitely taste a difference in coffee i grind immediately before brewing, and that which i grind the night before
Fair enough. And yes the cleanliness of those machines can be problematic and require more care, but not enough to be an inconvenience to most people. But I agree with you on that in general as well as the cost aspect.
I am aware that those two phrases negate each other to some extent, however grinding the night before is still infinitely better than store-bought, pre-ground coffee. Just pointing out the small steps someone can make to improve their current setup. No need to overhaul the entire system you have for yourself if a couple small changes can get you to a better end product.
My own experience in coffee has always just been “use what you have until you understand the reason for updrading or changing your equipment.” Make baby steps along the way instead of changing everything at once is always my argument.
Maybe OP does this at work and just wants to waste time. I know I do.
Nah that’s my house. What’s a pourover?
You pour the water (from a kettle or whatever) yourself instead of the machine doing all of the work.
“all the work” you mean your machine pours water into itself?
Yes
you can go all the way from cheap to absurd in price, but pretty much the cup you’re drinking from becomes the pot, and the pourover is the drip brewer. place filter, add coffee, pour hot water, done. throw away the grounds and filter and rinse the pourover, cleanup is done.
i bought one of the cheapo ones when my second keurig machine in 2 years took a shit, and never looked back. the only con that i’ve found is that it won’t suffice for multiple coffee drinkers at once. if you’re traveling you can throw the pourover, bag of coffee, and filters in your luggage and not have to deal with a hotel’s shit tier coffee. or if you’re staying at some weirdo house where no one drinks coffee. just use one of their cups to microwave some water
the only con that i’ve found is that it won’t suffice for multiple coffee drinkers at once.
That’s when it’s Chemex Time!™ Or you have to lateral to french press.
Yes, but skip the filter if you want to do less work and get more coffee in your coffee
Put the grounds in the mug. Pour water. A bit later, stir with a spoon so you have less floaties. Enjoy a mug of tar. Chewing on the grounds later is optional.
We call it “thief’s coffee” in Estonia, because you don’t have much time to spend on making coffee when you’re robbing someone’s house, but you still need the caffeine fix lmao
Pourover is more work in my opinion, since you usually don’t pour all the water at once, do you
What actually is quite easy is an immersion switch dripper since there, you can just pour it all at once
sounds like a load of hype ass bullshit to me
but not in a bad way
Espresso is hard to do at an office but a French press and hand grinder are very easy to keep in a drawer at your desk. And if you’re desperate you can use the drop brewer to get your hot water.
I’m broke and that machine was a rescue. My brother showed me once how to use a French press but my impression of it was that it took more effort than “4 tbsp of grounds into a filter. 24oz of water, push button.”
4tbsp of grounds into bucket. Add 24 oz boiling water. Wait 4 min. Press and pour.
But then you start asking questions like, “surely boiling water is too hot, what is the proper temperature?” and “what about grind size?”
So you go down the rabbit hole. And learn about “blooming”, etc.
But soon enough you no longer need the precision scale, you can just eyeball things like grind size and amounts. You may even learn what the kettle sounds like when it hits the proper temp. You come out the other side.
IMO Boiling water is typically just fine for most coffee, unless it’s a dark roast. By the time it’s in the press and accounting for cooling it’ll be mid 90s.
No worries with blooming on a French press!
I’ve been using French press for 20 years and tried a bunch of things; the only complication that stuck is the Hoffman Method (and of course a decent grinder). It’s the graph with a bubble in the middle - don’t know enough, knows enough to be way too intense, knows enough that the intensity doesn’t matter.
What about an aeropress? Full disclosure, I haven’t seen one in person and therefore never used one.
Aeropress would probably be better than a French press in an office setting. More compact and significantly easier to clean
I just use instant at my office though. I rarely use it, but I prefer it to Keurig or the drip machine in our office.
But I mainly just drive in with a cup of coffee from home.
I’ve never tried a single serve Keurig. What makes it undesirable, besides the wastefullness?
it’s single serving, preground drip brew coffee that tastes of plastic.
i got a basket so i could adjust a keurig. grind my own beans. reuse the filter. still tasted like shit. ended up being full of cockroaches. so it may have just been my machine
Thank you, I will avoid Keurigs.
easy for an office. i can’t compare to a french press since full disclosure, same reason
+1 for French press, but enhance the experience with an insulated carafe so it stays warm. Makes an excellent cup of coffee without a ton more work.
Never bothered with espresso, it’s not my thing. I keep it simple. French press, Hario v60, or Clever dripper. Gets it done.
That and I have multiple kettles. An electric kettle for my daily, but also a small stovetop gooseneck and another standard kettle for when I’m traveling or in the worst case if I don’t have power and need to heat with fire.
Same. I tried espresso at specialty cafés a few times and it’s too intense for me. I much more prefer pour over, but my hone setup is an aeropress though.
If my non coffee weirdo friends offer me coffee usually it will be a café latte or anything I can add milk myself to hide the burnt coffee flavor 😬
Although I have to say in my country there’s plenty of non mega corp coffee chain (like Starbucks) that are using quality blends and cheaper than mega corps. And they’re local/regional companies.
Only time I’ve enjoyed espresso was in an Americano. But they’re not worth the trouble IMO, since you’re essentially just using espresso to make a regular cup coffee.
I still occasionally get burnt coffee now, but it’s partly due to the process, as I’ve been roasting my own beans for several months now. It takes some batches to figure out roughly how much time and how fast I have to keep it moving (stovetop roast in a stainless steel popcorn popper), and the process can vary a bit depending on the bean variety, so it feels much more art than science. I’ve had some really good batches, some mid, and some bad ones. All drinkable though.
Ethiopian beans seem to handle just about any roasting method with aplomb and generally turn out great (fantastic for me, as Ethiopian Sidamo Guji is my favorite bean region). Mexican Terruño is easy as well, and is happy up to a medium to medium-dark while still keeping its profile. These are go-to beans for me since they’re tasty and easy to roast.
I’ve had mixed results with Kenyan beans, some regions are rather finicky, and even within the same batch I’ve had some turn out great and others mediocre. They seem more prone to smoking and burning due to high amounts of chaff. And Peaberry can be great, but is hard to roast because it’s difficult to get first crack right since the beans are very small and have low moisture content. They may not crack at all.
While I like the idea of having a French press because it makes my kettle more handy, I don’t like the idea of switching to a coarser grind. I like a mild coffee brewed from a little bit of fine grounds and the drip maker does that well. Plus you use a lot less beans over time.
I’m not sure what you mean about using less beans over time. I weigh my grind on a food scale and use the same amount regardless of brewing method and grind size.
I just find drip machines to be kind of gross and hard to fully clean. Plus, there’s the plastics. My main brewing methods (French press and Hario) are stainless steel.
You can make stronger coffee using less bean by grinding finer, I thought that basically how espresso works. In any case it creates more surface area for the water to interact with the bean during brewing. You are probably right and I should just pour over or something, but I am indeed a lazy bastard.
A friend once tried to convince me to purchase a Rocket Appartmento to upgrade my morning experience. Having to wait 30 m for the boiler was a no go. My ol’ reliable does just fine for the first hit.
I have that exact machine. Toss it on a smart switch so you can set a power-on timer and its a game changer. Also, just drink a whole pot of drip coffee while you wait for it to heat. That’s what I do…
Since we’re doing abominations:
Look at you with your recognizable brand name! I prefer to spend my money on the beans, so I order my beans from Groundwork. Here’s my cheapo, super simple machine.
https://coffeemakers.us.com/product/dayum-white-12-cup-drip-coffee-maker/
No black plastic, no timers, just on/off. Brown paper filters. I made it even simpler by ripping out the little spring, so it can’t stop and it can’t jam. You’re getting better coffee when you wait for the full brew anyway. Dayum, it makes good coffee.
And for the full abomination, a big slosh of Atkins Vanilla Shake as my creamer.
Opens link👀
Dayum
Personally tea is my everyday thing. Coffee is a special treat; but I do have a fondness for drip coffee. It makes me feel like I’m at a deli!
I also drink tea fairly often. Not as regularly as coffee, but often. Usually black with a dollop of honey.
If it’s a real hot day, I like to throw a bunch of hibiscus leaves in there too. Makes me feel tropical lol
Hibiscus tea is my board game drink for some reason. Every time I play a board game I need to have hibiscus tea. No idea why anymore but I can’t go without it now.
Same, but more so because too much caffeine gives me anxiety, and not enough caffeine gives me headaches. I’m not addicted, I can quit whenever I want!
That’s true. I like that with tea I can be nearly constantly drinking it during the work day!
I love coffee, but Twinings Irish Breakfast tea is delicious. I usually have a cup in the afternoon/evening.
You might also enjoy Harney & Sons Scottish Morn (loose tea). That’s a good gateway into loose teas. Can get a metal tea basket for it cheap from Amazon. Then after that you might try a CTC like Darsam CTC.
I use the Clever for loose tea to save on cleanup. I buy Ceylon and Assam from various places to make my own blends but nothing ever seems to quite match up to Twinings, dunno what magic they’re doing.
Twinings anything really
Milk with some brown flavoring?
I’m not from the US, but creamer isn’t typically milk, right? It’s some kind of protein-heavy vegetable fat?
Powdered creamer is usually corn syrup solids, others vary. I personally just add a splash of milk to my coffee and sweeten slightly with Splenda (I’m T2 diabetic, no sugar).
Yes
reeeeeeeeeeeee
that’s… no.
i’m not into the fancy stuff, i have only whatever was cheap to get (plastic v60, first-gen aeropress, a french press i got for free) but… if you want to drink coffee, at least drink coffee.
I’d always used one of these machines because that’s how I’d seen my parents drink it. But someone at work brought in a French press and it blew my mind. I was already considering replacing the drip machine but I immediately picked up a French press instead. Plus it was creaper than a new machine and no more paper filters.
A Mr. Coffee does make coffee. It’s kinda shit for multiple reasons, but then again nobody drinks it for its flavor as a coworker likes to remind me…
I like the flavor of coffee :(
I think he means the coffee that comes from a Mr. Coffee.
I think we drink it because it’s there, not because it’s good.
no, i don’t care about the machine. you do you. just don’t put other stuff in it. coffee is expensive.
Or people can enjoy what they like
yeah but then you drink the coffee. you don’t dilute it.
Boo, fuck off.
I assume you only ever drink straight espresso.
As opposed to gay espresso?
Made me snort.
Enjoy the upvote.
👀
As someone who almost exclusively drinks straight espresso I see nothing wrong with the pic in the post. They seem to be enjoying themselves so who gives a shit? Like, seriously. I might not like it personally, but I can guarantee they’d hate what I drink. We should all just drink what we enjoy.
Methnks you don’t actually like coffee. There are other ways to get ungodly amounts of caffeine.
You’re right I don’t, I hate the bitterness of black coffee, hence why I drink pale coffee.
I do, on occasion, drink energy drinks, but they’re a lot more intense than coffee imo, and tea is too weak.
Have you tried black tea? I have heard it has the most amount of caffeine out of all the different types of tea.
I have, and do often drink black tea. Not enough caffeine content though.
Like… via the butt?
Why’s it always the butt with you Janx?
Where else are they supposed to have a prostate?
I love shitty coffee, I love fancy coffee, I love coffee.
yeah, i’m not a coffee snob, i’m a food snob. i appreciate the delicacy in the coffee but if it’s brown, drink it down. if it’s black, drink it back. if it’s white, tastes alright. i can rhyme these all day.
This is my take too, any coffee is good. I just wanna talk about this drink, I don’t care how people like to actually drink it. I’ve got my preferences, and accept that others may have different preferences. It’s what makes this hobby so much fun. Life would be boring if we all had the same likes and dislikes.
When I was in university, and it was finals time and they opened the study areas 24/7, they would wheel out big coffee dispensers, the kind I associate with hospitals or bad hotels. Just a big insulated metal cylinder filled with almost rancid, mealy, astringent black liquid, with rickety little spouts.
The default coffee here is Turkish-style (we call it Turkish or Arabic coffee), but this was a weird halfway between batch brew drip coffee and Turkish style coffee. And being a few hours old it was basically the absolute worst of both worlds.
I think they don’t allow any food or coffee anymore there now which sucks, maybe one too many spills. Never an issue when I was there.
My friends knew I would only get coffee from particular places, and they would be shocked to see me drink what I called hospital coffee. But for me this was the coffee called for by the situation I was in, hopelessly cramming control systems at three in the morning. The bad coffee is integral (don’t clap) to the experience. I’m participating in the ritual that is finals here, so this is part of that ritual. The fact that the coffee tastes like bitumen is just part of me taking the moment in. I know it’s shit. I want it to be shit. Let me enjoy the diversity the world offers.
You love the java jive and i do too
Waiter, waiter, percolator
No shade for folks that do things differently
Agrees in Aeropress
Love my aeropress. It makes damn fine coffee.
Aeropress my beloved. But I borrowed a friend’s tricolate once for a few months and that’s pretty easy too especially 2 to 3 drinkers.
It does doesn’t it, for something that’s essentially a plastic tube it works perfectly! Low-tech ftw
I haven’t taken the path down to espresso, but I am getting closer because I used a sage barista express for a weekend and it was fun.
I do use a drip machine. It is certified to get up to temperature, which most don’t - and for some reason that makes the ones that do get to temp US$300 or so, but mine was adopted at a very affordable price. Aeropress is less work for a single cup and better coffee. French press is easy, quick, and the cheapest option - unless following the Hoffman method, but that’s some gooood coffee.
Coffee creamer, however, is an unacceptable sin.
✅ Milk, cream, half and half
❌ “Creamer”
More accurately, it’s a coffee snob community, since only single origin is tolerated and preground enjoyers are dissed.
I would recommend against preground coffee in the US.
Thanks for the confirmation, haha.
Why did I read this?
I have a nice drip machine for daily use and a French press for occasional use. The drip is just easier to prep use IMO. I really do like having a good cup of French press sometimes though, usually on the weekend or if I need an early afternoon coffee. Both have their uses and both are good.
My partner often says I put too much creamer in my coffee, now I can show him your picture and say my cup is not so bad lol
