I like espressos (especially mochas) but they take a bit of work to prepare a single cup. With drip brew, I can do very little and get unhealthy amounts of caffeination into my corpse. Also, I pour ungodly amounts of creamer into my coffee. That Mason jar is quite literally half coffee half creamer.
Never bothered with espresso, it’s not my thing. I keep it simple. French press, Hario v60, or Clever dripper. Gets it done.
That and I have multiple kettles. An electric kettle for my daily, but also a small stovetop gooseneck and another standard kettle for when I’m traveling or in the worst case if I don’t have power and need to heat with fire.
While I like the idea of having a French press because it makes my kettle more handy, I don’t like the idea of switching to a coarser grind. I like a mild coffee brewed from a little bit of fine grounds and the drip maker does that well. Plus you use a lot less beans over time.
I’m not sure what you mean about using less beans over time. I weigh my grind on a food scale and use the same amount regardless of brewing method and grind size.
I just find drip machines to be kind of gross and hard to fully clean. Plus, there’s the plastics. My main brewing methods (French press and Hario) are stainless steel.
You can make stronger coffee using less bean by grinding finer, I thought that basically how espresso works. In any case it creates more surface area for the water to interact with the bean during brewing. You are probably right and I should just pour over or something, but I am indeed a lazy bastard.
Same. I tried espresso at specialty cafés a few times and it’s too intense for me. I much more prefer pour over, but my hone setup is an aeropress though.
If my non coffee weirdo friends offer me coffee usually it will be a café latte or anything I can add milk myself to hide the burnt coffee flavor 😬
Although I have to say in my country there’s plenty of non mega corp coffee chain (like Starbucks) that are using quality blends and cheaper than mega corps. And they’re local/regional companies.
Only time I’ve enjoyed espresso was in an Americano. But they’re not worth the trouble IMO, since you’re essentially just using espresso to make a regular cup coffee.
I still occasionally get burnt coffee now, but it’s partly due to the process, as I’ve been roasting my own beans for several months now. It takes some batches to figure out roughly how much time and how fast I have to keep it moving (stovetop roast in a stainless steel popcorn popper), and the process can vary a bit depending on the bean variety, so it feels much more art than science. I’ve had some really good batches, some mid, and some bad ones. All drinkable though.
Ethiopian beans seem to handle just about any roasting method with aplomb and generally turn out great (fantastic for me, as Ethiopian Sidamo Guji is my favorite bean region). Mexican Terruño is easy as well, and is happy up to a medium to medium-dark while still keeping its profile. These are go-to beans for me since they’re tasty and easy to roast.
I’ve had mixed results with Kenyan beans, some regions are rather finicky, and even within the same batch I’ve had some turn out great and others mediocre. They seem more prone to smoking and burning due to high amounts of chaff. And Peaberry can be great, but is hard to roast because it’s difficult to get first crack right since the beans are very small and have low moisture content. They may not crack at all.