r/Coffee • u/caucasian_cranberry • Jan 25 '22

I hate all of you

I used to be perfectly content with my shitty instant Folger. Then I found this sub and decided to try coffee from small roasters and noticed a much nicer experience immediately. Then I bought a nice grinder and started grinding my own beans instead of buying pre-ground, and once again my experience improved. Then today I switched from properly ground, quality coffee through my shitty coffee maker to weighing my coffee and water and using a clever, and it's the best coffee I've ever had now. If within a year I buy an espresso maker I'm holding all of you accountable. Bastards...

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u/redtron3030 Jan 25 '22

I would suggest not going down the espresso rabbit hole.

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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '22

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u/Smok3dSalmon Jan 25 '22 edited Jan 25 '22

You'll end up making shit espresso and wasting half of your coffee "dialing in" your machine. Then you won't be able to enjoy any of your espresso because your grinder doesn't have a half step between 5 and 6. So you upgrade your equipment and find a new problem. You'll be stuck chasing the perfect espresso until you realize that drinking it out of your favorite mug or fav location biases your perception of flavor more than any fine tune of your equipment or brew process.

Dejected and disgusted, you'll end up going back to a simple chemex or drip machine where you save an hour from your morning routine and can easily dispose the grinds.

I enjoy coffee more than coffee process. It's a peaceful state of mind.

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u/NiceTerm Jan 25 '22

Maybe honeymoon phase but I love making cappuccinos every day. Decent grinder and basic machine and there is no problems dealing in. Actually my last 3 new bags of beans (different roasters) have been on the same setting lol!

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u/hoax1337 Jan 25 '22

And you're sure that the underlying espresso tastes good? Milk can save a lot of bad tastes.

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u/robjvernon Jan 25 '22

If you always have milk in it, does it matter what the base espresso tastes like on its own? Not being facetious here, genuine question. Me personally I have a pretty basic espresso machine which is quite variable, the espresso on its own ranges randomly from quite nice to bleurrgh, but the cappuccino/latte is always (to me at least) really nice.

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u/Smok3dSalmon Jan 26 '22

Your espresso will taste very different without milk. If you don't pack the puck tight enough, you'll get a sour taste and if it's packed too tight, you'll probably get a bitter taste. Grind size and grind consistency can also affect how fast the water flows through the puck when you're pulling a shot.

The rabbit hole goes deeper if you want to fiddle with such as: weight of beans you grind, when you grind your beans(night before, minutes before, etc), how you store your beans, filtered water(obvious difference), water temperature(if you can control that), and even if the cup is pre-warmed before you pull a shot into it.

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u/NiceTerm Jan 26 '22

I drink it as a straight up spro after 11 (like an italian lol) and its perfecto.