easymode

We've all been talking about coffee, and I'm big on coffee since I drink it every day. I'll post what I do now for my daily coffee...

I think I went through the snob phase and I'm more in a Bourdain phase now... where I just like a cup of coffee and I don't care if it's from a diner or whatever... if it's nasty, I'll throw cream in there.

First, I've been kinda insane about coffee for years and years, so I'll share what I know so we can have a point of reference.

• Natural: They don't wash the beans, they just dry them in the cherry (the fruit portion of the coffee bean)... It takes 3-6 weeks and the coffee has more of a fruity flavor... sometimes wine-like, sometimes berries, lemons, etc. It has higher malic and citric acid, but lower chlorogenic acid (the one that bothers your stomach).
• Washed: They wash the cherry off the coffee bean and dry it. You lose a bit of the fruit flavor, but people say it's a "cleaner" cup. It's just good coffee, but I miss some of the extra layers of flavor when I have it.
• Honey Process: They wash the coffee bean, but leave some bits of the fruit on the bean... so it's a middle ground.

If acid bothers you, I actually prefer natural. Even though it tastes more acidic, it is less irritating for your stomach.

• Light - fruity, acidic, and the most complex. It has both the highest and the lowest caffeine. You really taste the bean with this one, so it better be good.
• Medium - rounded acidity, still great flavor like the light, but less complex. Medium caffeine
• Dark - can be smoky, lower acidity, higher oil, the roast kills most of the bean's character... low fruit, low complexity, chocolaty, molasses, etc. This is roast flavor over bean flavor... and big chains use this to maintain consistency (Starbucks Pike Place Roast - their default). Most grocery store stuff is dark or medium/dark

So, I always go for the light to medium these days, but you gotta be picky about the beans. As for caffeine... the most you roast the beans, the less caffeine... HOWEVER, that is just in the beans... a brewed cup of dark roast has about the same or more caffeine when compared to a light coffee because the beans are smaller, lighter, and more porous... so you need more beans to make your coffee. The bottom line is that it doesn't matter and anyone who says it does is looking at only bean vs bean, not cup vs cup.

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I get local beans from this place: https://www.cunninghamcoffeeroasters.com/
I always go for light roast and I prefer the natural process. I do like light/medium roasts too, but dark is kinda one-note, imo.

I used to order from Mocha Joes in Vermont. They are still one of the best and if you want to try extremely high-quality beans... well, here:
https://mochajoes.com/

Their prices have risen by about 40% in the past two years, which sucks, but they are still low for the quality.

Grinders:
If you like light roast and are not making espresso at home... this is the gold standard for under $200:
https://www.baratza.com/en-us/product/encore-zcg485

I don't recommend dark with, well any grinder. You have to clean them far more often due to all the oils. With light, you can clean it every few months.

Here's the kettle I use for pour-over:

https://cosori.com/products/electric-go ... e-co108-nk
ALWAYS boil it! Don't listen to people who say you're going to burn your coffee beans. That's nonsense. I do tea at 180F... coffee, boiling.

This is my coffee storage container:

https://christopherbean.com/kivy-vacuum ... -canister/

Coffee pour over thing: https://www.publicgoods.com/products/7- ... ter-holder

I also have a scale, but I only use it for pouring the water at the moment. If I get new beans, I'll figure out how much I need... usually 25g. For my current beans, that's 4 tablespoons.

As for bean characteristics. I generally go for Papua New Guinea, Honduras, Ethiopia... but there's lots of good stuff out there... Guatemala isn't bad usually... Columbia are generally kinda boring to me... not as complex and wild, but still OK.

Anyway, I have 1-2 cups like this per day.

TLDR
I but local natural process beans that are light to medium/light. I prefer about 25g of beans for 12.5 oz of coffee. I make the coffee with a cone and boiling water. It's good.

I had an espresso setup too... but I recently sold it all. I was never happy with the steam wand's strength, so milk didn't froth properly... I save cappuccinos for special occasions.

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So, what are you into when it comes to coffee?

Also, Coffee Talk was fun: https://www.gog.com/en/game/coffee_talk

I used to be a wanna-be coffee snob... wasn't particularly good at it though. Tried a whole bunch of stuff, ranging from Death Wish coffee to fermented coffee. Didn't really do much for me, given the premium pricing, but I didn't mind the tangerine fermented coffee.

These days I have mostly settled for light to light-medium roasts, with stove top moka pots and sometimes pour-over through a filter. Been buying these two Indian brands for a while, and have been quite happy with them.

Barrel aged? How is that. Can you tell a difference? @ironclad_chomskyan

ward wrote: May 31st, '26, 11:46 Barrel aged? How is that. Can you tell a difference? @ironclad_chomskyan

There is a slight hint of rum/whiskey etc., based on what you buy. But I am not sure exactly what "barrel aged" means... as in how "barrel-aged rum" is different from normal coffee infused with rum flavor. I like the greysoul a lot better, to be honest.

I only bought the "barrel-aged" stuff out of pure curiosity. I am beginning to think that most of these "barrel-aged"/"tangerin fermented" stuff is just marketing talk for added flavor. The roasters who make the "barrel-aged" stuff all look like mid-2010s hipsters, and always try to push their merch. Last time I went it was "functional tote bags". What is a "functional" tote bag? Are there non-functional tote bags?

Coffee!!!

For my morning brew I just to a pour over with freshly ground beans. I personally prefer light roasts (more caffiene with more variety of flavors), my wife prefers dark roasts (because she's wrong lol) so we settle on a medium roast. Kona coffee might be my favorite brand.

I love adding a tiny splash of milk, but never any sugar. That's my goto no matter what.

I recently discovered adding a milk tea (brewed with black tea) in like roughly a 50/50 ratio is pretty awesome. The catch with that Is I have to brew the tea seperately and just have a big batch of it ready to go.

At my old apartment I would make turkish coffee using one of these guys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_coffee I don't have a gas range here in tokyo so I can't make those anymore. Also they were A LOT of work to grind the beans. Turkish coffee the beans get ground down more into a very fine dust.


Oh!!! I also used to brew mead ( a honey wine basically), and I made a coffee flavored mead. It.... sucked lol I have an idea of where I went wrong with it. I want to try again but, being in tokyo, brewing at home is illegal here. I gotta wait till i'm back in the states to try another batch.

Deadhand wrote: Jun 1st, '26, 01:26 Coffee!!!
At my old apartment I would make turkish coffee using one of these guys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_coffee I don't have a gas range here in tokyo so I can't make those anymore. Also they were A LOT of work to grind the beans. Turkish coffee the beans get ground down more into a very fine dust.

I find that putting beans into a good mixer gets me a fine enough dust for the Turkish style brew.

I can't add much to the actual coffee discussion since I don't drink coffee. I'm pretty sure this is because I can't smell but most coffee and teas just taste like warm kind of bitter water.

I did want to comment on Coffee Talk because I played it last year. I did enjoy the story and like a lot of the characters (especially Neil), but I do wish that there was a bit more gameplay to it.

I'm the opposite of a coffee snob. I like pretty much all coffee. I recognize that some stuff is objectively better, but I think it all has merit. I can drink some pre ground cheap stuff from a grocery store and some high quality medium roast from a local roaster and be satisfied with either.

Casey wrote: Jun 1st, '26, 17:58 I'm the opposite of a coffee snob. I like pretty much all coffee. I recognize that some stuff is objectively better, but I think it all has merit. I can drink some pre ground cheap stuff from a grocery store and some high quality medium roast from a local roaster and be satisfied with either.

But the real question... can you handle instant coffee? That's the one thing I can't finish. After a few sips I start to struggle... that and decaf.

ironclad_chomskyan wrote: Jun 1st, '26, 02:47

Deadhand wrote: Jun 1st, '26, 01:26 Coffee!!!
At my old apartment I would make turkish coffee using one of these guys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_coffee I don't have a gas range here in tokyo so I can't make those anymore. Also they were A LOT of work to grind the beans. Turkish coffee the beans get ground down more into a very fine dust.

I find that putting beans into a good mixer gets me a fine enough dust for the Turkish style brew.

Probably right, but I actually prefer manual grinders. They don't add anything to the coffee experience or taste, they just force me to slow down, be more deliberate and present. Sort of pumping the breaks right away so I don't just get up and go go go. Manually grinding beans for the turkish brew was a little too mindful and slow for me lol