Are you a fan of espresso, cold brew, aeropress? Do you try new beans and roasters regularly, or stay with what you know and love?
I generally prefer filter coffee (with a re-usable filter, no oil sucking paper!) or plunger, but currently have only the plunger because of lack of space. A good syphon can also be supurb. I’ve also started roasting my own beans - I’m definitely a long way from expert, but am getting pretty solid results and am am slowly improving.
Gaggia Classic Pro here with the 9 bar spring mod and a VST basket. Using a Baratza Encore grinder. The quintessential “Dipping my toes into espresso” bundle.
18g grams of beans in, 36 grams of liquid out. Froth and pour in 100ml of full cream milk.
One teaspoon of cheap instant coffee and two splendas, milk.
I tinker with roasting my own coffee (tend to go on the lighter end, highly recommend a hive roaster).
I then grind it (used to use a hand grinder, but doing that for espresso got somewhat painful after a few years) and use a manual espresso press (cafelat robot) to make the coffee.
If I feel like a milk drink I’ll use a bellman stove top steamer to steam the milk.
Because I’m broke, I’ve used the same stainless steel Moka Pot for 15 years drinking whatever ground coffee I can get my hands on for a fair price. It’s had 3 new seals put in and uses a Bialetti size.
It was dropped once and the handle is bent but it keeps on keeping on. I see no need to change what’s working. Sure, it could taste better but it’s been consistent.
I even used the same little steel coffee tin for 15 years too but it got left behind on a trip. Shame, it had been picked up so much that it had dents on the tin in the shape of my hand. Luckily, I found that exact same tin like 13 years ago and kept it so I’m back in my tin.
Moka pot is real coffee to me. I find everything else some sort of compromise - even buying coffee from a barista with an espresso machine. Espresso machines are comparable in coffee quality, the compromise you are making is price for time. That goes for caffe machines with a barista or the fancy machines you can get at home.
I’m surprised to see how few coffee drinkers seem to make coffee on the stove. It’s the real deal, and while it takes 5-10 minutes longer, it’s the cheapest way to get good coffee.
On the topic of stove coffee, have you ever tried Turkish coffee?
If you happen to be in Melbourne, I ❤️ Istanbul on Lygon St does a good Turkish Coffee with Turkish Delight.
