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Coffee - do you and how do you consume it?

I do consume coffee, primarily for focus and productivity. I prefer freshly brewed black coffee or espresso, avoiding excessive sugar to preserve flavor integrity.. My intake is moderate, usually one to two cups daily, timed earlier in the day to minimize sleep disruption. I value both cognitive alertness and nuanced taste profile.
 
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delta76 said:
Made about 8 shots with this today, really enjoyed it (the making of espressos, not the espressos themselves as the hopper is still full of old coffee beans the seller used to demo the machine).
I have been strictly single dosing for more than 2 years now but now I understand why people paid a lot more for a professional grinder. No fuss approach essentially. Quick, precise, to the point. Grind, tap, tamp, pull. 4-5s of active working. The shots are almost perfect, visually. All the RDT, WDT, distributor things can go straight out of window!
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Yep, single dosing is great for home but pretty poor for shop use unless it's part of your slow bar (i.e. pourovers).
 
dfuller said:
Yep, single dosing is great for home but pretty poor for shop use unless it's part of your slow bar (i.e. pourovers).
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Some specialty shops do single dose but definitely not the majority. For most cafe, throughput is king. SD only matters if you care about that retention or change beans a lot, which are non issues in commercial settings
 
delta76 said:
Some specialty shops do single dose but definitely not the majority. For most cafe, throughput is king. SD only matters if you care about that retention or change beans a lot, which are non issues in commercial settings
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It's done for slow bar (low cup-per-hour rate) and batch (where you're probably grinding 200g or so a go so is it really single dosing), but that's it. Nobody is doing single dose espresso - as you say, the throughput isn't there.
 
dfuller said:
It's done for slow bar (low cup-per-hour rate) and batch (where you're probably grinding 200g or so a go so is it really single dosing), but that's it. Nobody is doing single dose espresso - as you say, the throughput isn't there.
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Pretty sure this cafe SD https://share.google/LtyaUpkI7bu8vvkJo

I have no affiliate with them just ordered once from them when I visited Barcelona last year. Good coffee, nothing special (but very hard to impress me now)
 
KellenVancouver said:
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It's been ages since I had to have anything to do with or even think about Starbucks, thank goodness, but back when social forces would place me in one I had a theory about why Starbucks coffee is so extraordinarily bad. It needs to punch through the milky confectionery. I really love espresso coffee and drink it three times a day so when I would drink one at Starbucks it was always a slap in the face. Even their drip coffee needs lots of milk to make it potable and I say that as someone who only drinks black coffee.

So if your business is caffeinated milky confections then the espresso needs to be extremely robust to be noticeable in the flavored syrupy mix. And the higher quality beans and blends needed for a good espresso on its own are a cost you don't need.
 
Multicore said:
It's been ages since I had to have anything to do with or even think about Starbucks, thank goodness, but back when social forces would place me in one I had a theory about why Starbucks coffee is so extraordinarily bad. It needs to punch through the milky confectionery. I really love espresso coffee and drink it three times a day so when I would drink one at Starbucks it was always a slap in the face. Even their drip coffee needs lots of milk to make it potable and I say that as someone who only drinks black coffee.

So if your business is caffeinated milky confections then the espresso needs to be extremely robust to be noticeable in the flavored syrupy mix. And the higher quality beans and blends needed for a good espresso on its own are a cost you don't need.
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Yes, Starbuck's coffee products are HORRID! (As well as anything else about them, IMO).
 
delta76 said:
Pretty sure this cafe SD https://share.google/LtyaUpkI7bu8vvkJo

I have no affiliate with them just ordered once from them when I visited Barcelona last year. Good coffee, nothing special (but very hard to impress me now)
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Yeah, technically - albeit with an EK43, which will grind an 18g dose in about 2 seconds.
 
EJ3 said:
Yes, Starbuck's coffee products are HORRID! (As well as anything else about them, IMO).
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Milk based drinks are fine - syrup based ones are not.

Starbucks milk based drinks can be OK - 100% dependant on the barista. Mostly they are trainees who have been on the job 2 weeks and will quit 2 weeks later - which is why it is pretty consistently shit.

I have though - on rare occasions - had good coffee in a Starbucks.
 
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antcollinet said:
Milk based drinks are fine - syrup based ones are not.

Starbucks milk based drinks can be OK - 100% dependant on the barista. Mostly they are trainees who have been on the job 2 weeks and will quite 2 weeks later - which is why it is pretty consistently shit.

I have though - on rare occasions - had good coffee in a Starbucks.
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I, unfortunately, had to go to Starbucks in S. Korea because it was kind of the in thing when I was in Pusan, among Korean friends. If I was by myself or with other than Korean friends, I would go to any Korean coffee shop,which would be much better than Starbuck's.
 
Multicore said:
It's been ages since I had to have anything to do with or even think about Starbucks, thank goodness, but back when social forces would place me in one I had a theory about why Starbucks coffee is so extraordinarily bad. It needs to punch through the milky confectionery. I really love espresso coffee and drink it three times a day so when I would drink one at Starbucks it was always a slap in the face. Even their drip coffee needs lots of milk to make it potable and I say that as someone who only drinks black coffee.
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partly this and also partly because it's easier to maintain perfect consistency (despite seasonal/regional/biological/quality variations) and to hide quality lapses if you burn the beans to a blackened char. The resulting coffee all tastes the same, pretty much, not super far from the Italian arabica-robusta blends that inspired Starbucks' founders in the first place.
 
I don't have much use for it but McDonald's coffee is ok and in a pinch I can be grateful for it.

A couple of years ago I was in Budapest for a couple of weeks and the coffee in restaurants and cafés is generally made with espresso-like equipment or a moka at home but it comes as something more like a big old americano and quality is so-so and variable. So I found the McDonald's and got coffee there. Filter coffee. Mmm. It's very weak but tastes fine.

On a road trip in the USA it's a low risk option to get an acceptable cup.
 
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Multicore said:
I don't have much use for it but McDonald's coffee is ok and in a pinch I can be grateful for it.

A couple of years ago I was in Budapest for a couple of weeks and the coffee in restaurants and cafés is generally made with espresso-like equipment or a moka at home but it comes as something more like a big old americano and quality is so-so and variable. So I found the McDonald's and got coffee there. Filter coffee. Mmm. It's very weak but tastes fine.

On a road trip in the USA it's a low risk option to get an acceptable cup.
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That's exactly what McDonalds built their reputation on: consistently mediocre (but consistently not bad).
A known quantity, as opposed to taking a chance on a place that MAY be better but COULD be worse.
And not just for coffee.
 
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I never travel without a hand grinder & v60. Water quality is the only occasional weak link.
 
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In the past few years, Breville seems to be trying to make a move to go upscale.
Breville.jpg

Their webpage checks many -latest buzzword- boxes that may please even those who enjoy cold extraction and cold brews.

This has been a PSA and not an endorsement!
 
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