Literally a coffee thread … 😂

[JoyfulNoise]

I'm not a big coffee guy, I only usually drink it in the winter if I'm working outside. The wife drinks it every day, all day long. That being said, some of the pictures in this thread look very good to me, maybe espresso is more my thing.

Went through a somewhat geeky period with coffee a few years ago. Bought a burr grinder and an Aeropress. Spent a lot of time working out ratios and water temperatures trying to find the right extraction. Eventually realized I found more fun in making it than drinking it and I gave up messing with it. Wife still uses the burr grinder for her morning coffee, though.. with a B&D drip coffee maker from 1994. Just came across the Aeropress a few days ago and laughed.



Wow, it's a schooner!

I’ve always been a coffee drinker since my college days. I’ve never been a huge espresso fan but will drink it after a big family meal (I’m Italian ..) with a shot of anisette. I do like americanos (espresso watered down) and the occasional cappuccino …

Moka pots are fun for me because they bring back memories of my grandpa who’s was “fresh off the boat” Italian. He typically only spoke in Italian to my mom when he lived with us in his later years. I was a young kid so I was home and would sit and listen to them talk. My mom would make him coffee and they would talk while she cleaned up and took care of the house and me. I couldn’t understand anything they said but I know it was a special time for my mom as it was his last years of life and he got to be with his only child and connect in ways you don’t get to when your kids are young. He was a man of few words and tough hands having been a merchant marine and a dock worker all his life. So those vague memories I have are what I think of when the moka pot gurgles out a shot or two of espresso.

Thanks for sharing your coffee story. It’s a liquid that has literally changed the course of world history.

 

[JamesW]

It’s a liquid that has literally changed the course of world history.

"Coffee - the favorite drink of the civilized world." - Thomas Jefferson

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I’ve always been a coffee drinker since my college days. I’ve never been a huge espresso fan but will drink it after a big family meal (I’m Italian ..) with a shot of anisette. I do like americanos (espresso watered down) and the occasional cappuccino …

Moka pots are fun for me because they bring back memories of my grandpa who’s was “fresh off the boat” Italian. He typically only spoke in Italian to my mom when he lived with us in his later years. I was a young kid so I was home and would sit and listen to them talk. My mom would make him coffee and they would talk while she cleaned up and took care of the house and me. I couldn’t understand anything they said but I know it was a special time for my mom as it was his last years of life and he got to be with his only child and connect in ways you don’t get to when your kids are young. He was a man of few words and tough hands having been a merchant marine and a dock worker all his life. So those vague memories I have are what I think of when the moka pot gurgles out a shot or two of espresso.

Thanks for sharing your coffee story. It’s a liquid that has literally changed the course of world history.

Awesome story. Thanks for sharing that, Matt.

--Jeff

 

[Katodude]

Since we are off topic anyway.

In vino veritas.

 

[JamesW]

It’s a liquid that has literally changed the course of world history.

Like the Boston Tea Party where they threw all of the coffee off of the ships in Pearl Harbor.

 

[Sarah and Nate]

Getting better…

 

[Brentr]

Ok guys I guess I will have to chime in with my coffee bar set up not into moka but I used to have that kind of pot 44 years ago when I was in college.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Ok guys I guess I will have to chime in with my coffee bar set up not into moka but I used to have that kind of pot 44 years ago when I was in college.
View attachment 557389

But here’s the RO filtration setup so that you’re only using purified water ???

Love it!! Great setup. Do you charge your guest $7.99 for a 12oz latte

 

[Brentr]

But here’s the RO filtration setup so that you’re only using purified water ???

Love it!! Great setup. Do you charge your guest $7.99 for a 12oz latte

Actually I use my TFP test kit to test for water hardness. These machines have a tendency to build up calcium deposits over time if the water is too hard. It is not cheap however the wife drinks 1-2 cappacinos every day before work and 3-4 on the weekends. I also drink Carmel macchiatos so you can see it pays off in a few months.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Oh definitely !! It’s gotten ridiculous what most coffee shops charge nowadays. It’s way cheaper to brew your own coffee and it doesn’t take much to learn how. Of course you do have to invest the time in making the drink rather than just driving up to a metal box and barking your order into the speaker. But that’s a good opportunity to take time to relax and enjoy the moment rather than being rushed and hurried off to the next task. People pay $8 for a drink that they wind up gulping down and rarely spend time enjoying it. Starbucks has definitely set themselves up well for great profit making.

 

[phonedave]

Oh definitely !! It’s gotten ridiculous what most coffee shops charge nowadays. It’s way cheaper to brew your own coffee and it doesn’t take much to learn how. Of course you do have to invest the time in making the drink rather than just driving up to a metal box and barking your order into the speaker. But that’s a good opportunity to take time to relax and enjoy the moment rather than being rushed and hurried off to the next task. People pay $8 for a drink that they wind up gulping down and rarely spend time enjoying it. Starbucks has definitely set themselves up well for great profit making.

I work from home 80% of the time. It is faster for me to make things myself than go to a coffee place. If I am in the office we have a dedicated Starbucks in our building (as in, we own the building, we are the only company in the building, and we have a Starbucks in the lobby only for employees). Even then, when I am in the building, I get coffee. Just coffee.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I work from home 80% of the time. It is faster for me to make things myself than go to a coffee place. If I am in the office we have a dedicated Starbucks in our building (as in, we own the building, we are the only company in the building, and we have a Starbucks in the lobby only for employees). Even then, when I am in the building, I get coffee. Just coffee.

Yeah. It’s nice to have those perks at the office. A friend of mine worked on Wall Street back in the heady days of the late 90’s and their hedge fund office had a full espresso cart that just wandered its way around the office … folks didn’t even need to leave their cubes, the coffee came to them. I think if the managers could have rigged up IVs for everyone they would have just A-lined the coffee straight into their employees hearts … “The Wolf of Wall Street” is really a documentary … it’s all true …

 

[phonedave]

Yeah. It’s nice to have those perks at the office. A friend of mine worked on Wall Street back in the heady days of the late 90’s and their hedge fund office had a full espresso cart that just wandered its way around the office … folks didn’t even need to leave their cubes, the coffee came to them. I think if the managers could have rigged up IVs for everyone they would have just A-lined the coffee straight into their employees hearts … “The Wolf of Wall Street” is really a documentary … it’s all true …

In the early 90's I worked in Manhattan and the job I was in had me take training on the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) . About 20 of us went through 2 days of classroom training, and then on the second day, after the trading closed, they re-opened the floor for us in a mock-trading session, basically recreating the Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice scene from Trading Places (only we were trading Natural Gas futures). Open outcry trading was just as insane (if not more so) as depicted in that movie.

The 90s were an interesting time.