MTGNexus

toctheyounger wrote: ↑

2 years ago

You'll never look back, trust me. Get you some good beans and you'll never pay for coffee outside of your house again. We've had a variety of machines off and on for the last decade and we'd never be without one now. Most cafes here in Auckland that I've been through can't make a decent coffee to save themselves.

I've spent plenty of time working on brewed coffee over the years, so I'm already pretty far down this particular rabbit hole. I've mostly put off espresso because I didn't want to get anything unless I was getting something decent and most of those machines and grinders run more than I was interested in spending to try it out. Luckily, we have some great roasters around here so beans are definitely not a problem.

Only issue with a manual machine is that they can't do steamed milk, so I'm probably looking at a stovetop steamer if I want to do anything other than straight espresso. Not really a problem for me but it might be nice to have to offer guests at some point.

I've been drinking coffee made with an old fashioned percolator for basically since I married my wife and she got me hooked on it. So since 2005 or so.

I'll drink a cold brew every now and then but I never go out of my way for anything but the percolated stuff.

I just realized that EDHrec finally implemented the ability to look further down the list of the most popular commanders, all the way to the bottom. Silent fist pump commencing.

pokken wrote: ↑

2 years ago

I've been drinking coffee made with an old fashioned percolator for basically since I married my wife and she got me hooked on it. So since 2005 or so.

I'll drink a cold brew every now and then but I never go out of my way for anything but the percolated stuff.

I more or less grew up drinking coffee, starting with cups that were mostly cream and sugar around 7-8 years old (if there was any truth to coffee stunting your growth I gave up a promising NBA career). I picked up a pourover to save some space in the kitchen just out of college and that was pretty much the start of the slide. Now my wife and I are up to ~13 different ways to make coffee and the first thing we look up when traveling is local coffee roasters.

SocorroTortoise wrote: ↑

2 years ago

pokken wrote: ↑

2 years ago

I've been drinking coffee made with an old fashioned percolator for basically since I married my wife and she got me hooked on it. So since 2005 or so.

I'll drink a cold brew every now and then but I never go out of my way for anything but the percolated stuff.

I more or less grew up drinking coffee, starting with cups that were mostly cream and sugar around 7-8 years old (if there was any truth to coffee stunting your growth I gave up a promising NBA career). I picked up a pourover to save some space in the kitchen just out of college and that was pretty much the start of the slide. Now my wife and I are up to ~13 different ways to make coffee and the first thing we look up when traveling is local coffee roasters.

Im impressed since some coffee implements are outrageously expensive, that you follow on with a MTG addiction

EonAon wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Im impressed since some coffee implements are outrageously expensive, that you follow on with a MTG addiction

The trick is to spread them both out over a lot of years

The actual secret on the coffee side is that even the really nice stuff is a lot cheaper if you go for manual options and the cost of entry isn't actually too bad for brewed coffee (not so much espresso). Starting from nothing, you could get a pretty good daily setup for ~$30 (5-6 for a pourover, 20 for a stovetop gooseneck kettle) as long as you didn't mind grinding beans when you buy them. There are some burr grinders out there in the $25 range too, but I've heard mixed things about those and skipped that step when I was upgrading so I can't really comment. A lot of the additional cost has come in incremental upgrades once I knew I was interested and they were going to get used. Paying a couple hundred for a nice hand grinder is a much more palatable expense when it's going to get used daily for years by multiple household members. That's even more true when a comparable electric machine is going to cost three times as much and need a lot more maintenance in a shorter time frame. My wife and I are both into coffee, so a lot of them have been gifts either to each other or as a joint gift to ourselves for anniversaries and such too. It definitely helps that we both work and don't have kids.

None of that is nearly as true when you start talking espresso. I've tried a couple of the $100 range consumer machines, which is about as cheap as you're going to find something with an actual pump as opposed to steam, and there's a noticeable quality difference. There's a reason it's taken me a long time to start down the espresso path despite a lifelong love of coffee.

$30 12 cup percolator

(course the dang thing is $40 now, thanks inflation...that was 3 years ago!)

pokken wrote: ↑

2 years ago

$30 12 cup percolator

(course the dang thing is $40 now, thanks inflation...that was 3 years ago!)

The best coffee is the coffee you like to drink! I can't go back to the stuff I was drinking in college now, though. I'm fully committed at this point.

Truth be told I like splenda drops and milk

No judgment here. You should drink what you like, even if I might roll my eyes a little at the people drinking milkshakes who claim they can't go without coffee.

I'll never understand you Americans and your perc coffee. It isn't nice.

Also on the complete polar end of the spectrum, Starbucks. What in the holy calorie dense %$#% are these awful drinks? They're not even coffee anymore.

(clearly I'm less tolerant of people's weird beverage predilections than Socorro)

I'm quite new to the coffee world myself, though I've been surrounded by it for years - my mom's partial to it, and an espresso machine has been part of the decor for over a decade now. I liked the taste, but never really fully took it on board. Then last year during a visit home, I started regularly drinking a morning cup with the family over breakfast, and Santa caught wind of it and brought me a burr grinder and a moka pot The morning coffee with family thing continued over the internet.

I used to think that all the coffee nerd stuff was audiophile tier nonsense, but there might be something to it. At some point a friend mentioned that some coffee guru he follows says that hot water should be used in a moka pot, and I gave it a shot out of curiosity. This led to a discernibly better coffee. As such, I'm considering going down the rabbit hole and experimenting with other expert knowledge.

All coffee is bad.

DirkGently wrote: ↑

2 years ago

All coffee is bad.

You love to stir the pot don't you.

Venedrex wrote: ↑

2 years ago

DirkGently wrote: ↑

2 years ago

All coffee is bad.

You love to stir the pot don't you.

Better to stir it than drink it. (the pot of coffee, ofc)

I've been drinking percolated espresso coffee since I was 10 and just can't stand the folgers/starbucks crap other people drink. I import my coffee from Puerto Rico but I've never tried grinding my own beans before. Does grinding them fresh really make the difference?

Don't mind me, I'm just over here popping in another K-cup.

DirkGently wrote: ↑

2 years ago

All coffee is bad.

This is why.

Well, personally, I am a teatotaler.

Meh I don't do Coffee or Tea, but I don't knock on them either cause whatever wakes people up and gets them moving is good enough for me.

*enjoys his starbucks frappuccino*

Hermes_ wrote: ↑

2 years ago

*enjoys his starbucks frappuccino*

If you like staryucks drinks I'd recommend trying wendys new cold brew frostychino. I was pretty surprised how good it was for 2.79 or whatever

DirkGently wrote: ↑

2 years ago

All coffee is bad.

This. Also, I've seen so many coworkers literally addicted to it and using it as a sleep substitute.

The only coffee I really miss is the french press I used to make on occasion. Otherwise I'm much better off without it. Folks still make it around the office all the time and it smells like diesel exhaust to me now.

Coffee is gross, but I find coffee-flavored things to be good. Like ice cream.