Caribou Gear

Coffee at home

If you're anything like my dad then you make sure you put the best quality oil in your truck every 5,000 miles (not 10,000), while at the same time drinking some subpar, garbage coffee. My engine doesn't get Folgers, that's all I'm saying (with all due respect, of course)
 
“The best part of waking’ up...”
Is knowing the best woman I ever laid eyes on is grinding me a small batch of Costco’s finest as I stumble into the kitchen.

What brand the beans are is waaaay down the “shive a git” list. 😁
That’s the damn truth. Though my early morning perception of such is dependent on that quick and massive infusion of coffee into my system. My wife calls my pre-coffee morning persona, “The Grundel.”

Yes, I know what a grundel is.
 
My $200 DeLonghi electric burr grinder is my favorite appliance (with second being my Zojirushi rice cooker).

I am also a huge fan of the Chemex. I have a French press, single cup pour-over, and an AeroPress, the last of which accompanies me pretty much everywhere, particularly overseas in place where there is no reliable access to power. But IMO, the Chemex - and pour over in general - makes the best cup; while the AeroPress is more versatile and offers a broader range of styles and tastes.

For AeroPress fans, if you haven't tried/went inverted yet, Google it. It'll change your life.
 
We've got a system.

Everything starts with green beans from Sweet Marias, my roaster started out life as a heavy gauge stainless whirly pop, but over the years I've added a motorized stirrer and augmented the heat with a heat gun. It'll do about a pound at per batch and we go through about two pounds per week. Once I've pulled and cooled it, the beans get transferred to a stainless sealed jar.

1612749598491.png

We've used a moka pot, french press, chemex, aeropress, vacuum pot, and cold brew, but one the third kid was on the way we decided it important we have good coffee available within 30 second, so we picked up a nice espresso machine and grinder and I put it on a smart plug so it's ready to go when I wake up.

When the alarm goes off the system goes into action, it's about 6 minutes from start to finish.
  1. Start the cocoa, add milk to the automatic milk heater/frother and some chocolate protein powder.
  2. 1612749552022.png
  3. Once the cocoa is running - grab some hot water from the espresso machine to preheat the coffee mugs.
  4. Assemble the kids cocoa cups while the mugs are warming.
  5. Grind the coffee (Eureka Atom 60) and pull one shot in each mug (20 g coffee, 30 g water), while the second shot is pulling steam the milk (ECM Synchronika).
  6. 1612750090947.png
  7. Pour the cocoa into the kids cups, pour the steamed milk, head back up stairs. The wife gets the rosette, they get prettier once I'm actually awake.
  8. 1612750164226.png
 
We've got a system.

Everything starts with green beans from Sweet Marias, my roaster started out life as a heavy gauge stainless whirly pop, but over the years I've added a motorized stirrer and augmented the heat with a heat gun. It'll do about a pound at per batch and we go through about two pounds per week. Once I've pulled and cooled it, the beans get transferred to a stainless sealed jar.

View attachment 173171

We've used a moka pot, french press, chemex, aeropress, vacuum pot, and cold brew, but one the third kid was on the way we decided it important we have good coffee available within 30 second, so we picked up a nice espresso machine and grinder and I put it on a smart plug so it's ready to go when I wake up.

When the alarm goes off the system goes into action, it's about 6 minutes from start to finish.
  1. Start the cocoa, add milk to the automatic milk heater/frother and some chocolate protein powder.
  2. View attachment 173170
  3. Once the cocoa is running - grab some hot water from the espresso machine to preheat the coffee mugs.
  4. Assemble the kids cocoa cups while the mugs are warming.
  5. Grind the coffee (Eureka Atom 60) and pull one shot in each mug (20 g coffee, 30 g water), while the second shot is pulling steam the milk (ECM Synchronika).
  6. View attachment 173172
  7. Pour the cocoa into the kids cups, pour the steamed milk, head back up stairs. The wife gets the rosette, they get prettier once I'm actually awake.
  8. View attachment 173173
 
We've got a system.

Everything starts with green beans from Sweet Marias, my roaster started out life as a heavy gauge stainless whirly pop, but over the years I've added a motorized stirrer and augmented the heat with a heat gun. It'll do about a pound at per batch and we go through about two pounds per week. Once I've pulled and cooled it, the beans get transferred to a stainless sealed jar.

View attachment 173171

We've used a moka pot, french press, chemex, aeropress, vacuum pot, and cold brew, but one the third kid was on the way we decided it important we have good coffee available within 30 second, so we picked up a nice espresso machine and grinder and I put it on a smart plug so it's ready to go when I wake up.

When the alarm goes off the system goes into action, it's about 6 minutes from start to finish.
  1. Start the cocoa, add milk to the automatic milk heater/frother and some chocolate protein powder.
  2. View attachment 173170
  3. Once the cocoa is running - grab some hot water from the espresso machine to preheat the coffee mugs.
  4. Assemble the kids cocoa cups while the mugs are warming.
  5. Grind the coffee (Eureka Atom 60) and pull one shot in each mug (20 g coffee, 30 g water), while the second shot is pulling steam the milk (ECM Synchronika).
  6. View attachment 173172
  7. Pour the cocoa into the kids cups, pour the steamed milk, head back up stairs. The wife gets the rosette, they get prettier once I'm actually awake.
  8. View attachment 173173
Looks like a meth lab in there.... Holy shit.
 
CoffeeGoat knows what’s up. Thanks for the advice a few months ago. I picked up my first home roaster in December and I’ve been cookin beans several times a week ever since. It’s a huge cost savings considering I was paying $18 a pound for roasted beans, and now I’m paying $5-7 for green. My family and friends pitch in a few bucks for me to roast for them, and it covers most of the expenses.
 
I was a part owner of a coffee house in the 90's in Casper, WY, so I'm going to tip my beret wistfully to the side, pick some lint off my Guatemalan sweater, tighten the straps on my Birks & adjust my Lennon glasses to drop some wisdom about coffee.

It doesn't matter how you brew your coffee, or what beans you use. What matters is your ritual. Coffee is far more than an addictive stimulant, it's a culturally defining beverage around the world. And that's the beauty of it.

From the Greek & Turkish coffees where you can chew the end result, to the aluminum flavored percolators at the VFW gun show, coffee is about interpersonal interactions & history of the human race. Wars were fought over it, entire nations had to change the beverage of choice from coffee to tea in order to meet the supply & not cause a collective myocardial infarction. People have been meeting for coffee to discuss the days events since it was first introduced to the world in Middle East. The coffee houses of the Levant & middle east are famous for their community bazaar aspects, Revolution against tyranny is born in the coffee houses of Egypt, Lybia, etc. As Muslims do not drink alcohol, the coffee house becomes the central repository for community engagement, rather than the pub or the bar. In Central and South America, it is their livelihood and an economic giant as they rush to supply the world with beans and strive to do so in a sustainable fashion, while producing some incredibly rich & aromatic coffees. Impoverished communities use coffee to grow and build better futures for kids in places like the Dominican Republic and elsewhere.

The coffee shops of New Amsterdam were breeding ground of revolution during the Colonial Times (Sorry, Brits). They were the scene of cultural revolution in America during the 1940's, 50's & 60's. Their resurgence gave us truly awful poetry & people like Ani DiFranco in the 1990's but around it all, coffee has given the western world community. The cup of coffee around a kitchen table is the universal sign for patience & empathy while listening to differing ideas between landowners & sportsmen. The shitty pot of percolated Yuban at the back of the meeting room, next to the stale Danishes & 4 day old donuts is where the side conversations happen and politics get sorted out.

That cup of coffee in your hand is more than just a beverage, it's a sign that you're not going to battle with anyone, as your wagging finger is occupied trying to keep your powdered creamer & equal from congealing and making a snot-glog of grossness in your throat.

While the east had tea, and elaborate ceremonies around the consumption of it, the west had coffee houses, personal coffee services and while no ritual exists such as the Japanese Tea Ceremony, the cup of coffee is far more than a caffeine deliver system. It's a sign of friendship & understanding, it's a sign of peace and reflection & it ties us to our collective past as people of the earth.

Each way of brewing has it's own history and small rituals ascribed to it, and I think the kind of coffee brewing you chose says a lot about your personality but overall I like it all (except the really sugary drinks).

But I prefer2 double shot Americanos with 2 sugars to start a morning.

We've got French presses, a fancy burr grinder drip system, camp coffee percolators, and I'll gladly drop a box or two of the Via's into my pack for easy caffeine insemination. The key to silky smooth cuppa is to ensure you don't burn the bean. That means in roasting through extraction. Keeps those oils flowing free and your coffee will be delicious.

We got this bad boy for Christmas, and it's been pretty good at dropping shots. Great crema & extraction, plus the steam wand works well and the hot water features is very nice to have on hand. The burr grinder (The burr grinder doesn't heat up as much as the blade ones, so you don't burn the oils on the bean before extraction) does a great job as well.

1612797833818.png
 
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I was a part owner of a coffee house in the 90's in Casper, WY, so I'm going to tip my beret wistfully to the side, pick some lint off my Guatemalan sweater, tighten the straps on my Birks & adjust my Lennon glasses to drop some wisdom about coffee.

It doesn't matter how you brew your coffee, or what beans you use. What matters is your ritual. Coffee is far more than an addictive stimulant, it's a culturally defining beverage around the world. And that's the beauty of it.

From the Greek & Turkish coffees where you can chew the end result, to the aluminum flavored percolators at the VFW gun show, coffee is about interpersonal interactions & history of the human race. Wars were fought over it, entire nations had to change the beverage of choice from coffee to tea in order to meet the supply & not cause a collective myocardial infarction. People have been meeting for coffee to discuss the days events since it was first introduced to the world in Middle East. The coffee houses of the Levant & middle east are famous for their community bazaar aspects, Revolution against tyranny is born in the coffee houses of Egypt, Lybia, etc. As Muslims do not drink alcohol, the coffee house becomes the central repository for community engagement, rather than the pub or the bar. In Central and South America, it is their livelihood and an economic giant as they rush to supply the world with beans and strive to do so in a sustainable fashion, while producing some incredibly rich & aromatic coffees. Impoverished communities use coffee to grow and build better futures for kids in places like the Dominican Republic and elsewhere.

The coffee shops of New Amsterdam were breeding ground of revolution during the Colonial Times (Sorry, Brits). They were the scene of cultural revolution in America during the 1940's, 50's & 60's. Their resurgence gave us truly awful poetry & people like Ani DiFranco in the 1990's but around it all, coffee has given the western world community. The cup of coffee around a kitchen table is the universal sign for patience & empathy while listening to differing ideas between landowners & sportsmen. The shitty pot of percolated Yuban at the back of the meeting room, next to the stale Danishes & 4 day old donuts is where the side conversations happen and politics get sorted out.

That cup of coffee in your hand is more than just a beverage, it's a sign that you're not going to battle with anyone, as your wagging finger is occupied trying to keep your powdered creamer & equal from congealing and making a snot-glog of grossness in your throat.

While the east had tea, and elaborate ceremonies around the consumption of it, the west had coffee houses, personal coffee services and while no ritual exists such as the Japanese Tea Ceremony, the cup of coffee is far more than a caffeine deliver system. It's a sign of friendship & understanding, it's a sign of peace and reflection & it ties us to our collective past as people of the earth.

Each way of brewing has it's own history and small rituals ascribed to it, and I think the kind of coffee brewing you chose says a lot about your personality but overall I like it all (except the really sugary drinks).

But I prefer2 double shot Americanos with 2 sugars to start a morning.

We've got French presses, a fancy burr grinder drip system, camp coffee percolators, and I'll gladly drop a box or two of the Via's into my pack for easy caffeine insemination. The key to silky smooth cuppa is to ensure you don't burn the bean. That means in roasting through extraction. Keeps those oils flowing free and your coffee will be delicious.

We got this bad boy for Christmas, and it's been pretty good at dropping shots. Great crema & extraction, plus the steam wand works well and the hot water features is very nice to have on hand. The burr grinder (The burr grinder doesn't heat up as much as the blade ones, so you don't burn the oils on the bean before extraction) does a great job as well.

View attachment 173258
Namaste
 
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