Coffee - do you and how do you consume it?

[Count Arthur]

If you ever feel like going down an amazing rabbit hole, might I recommend: https://gaggiuino.github.io/

I did come across the Gaggiuino, but as I'm in the UK, I decided to go with the Shades kit. Also, as a gentleman of a certain age, the tiny screen of the Gaggiuino would mean I would have to remember to wear my reading glasses every time I made a coffee.

 

[pseudoid]

...Mazzer burrs maybe precision ground, but clearly they let their drunk uncle put the labels on.

Yeah!
I almost did not bUy the NicheDuo because of the shoddy CNC work on the bottom of the bottom alloy 83mm burr-carrier!
Not.

 

[xray]

No matter what we do to prevent it, there will be rocks.
No different than cooking lentils or beans… it’s good practice to check for stones!

Found this today as I was about to portion out a dose of beans into my grinder. It might have come all the way from Central America.

 

[pseudoid]

The news media is attempting to make me (us?) feel guilty for my (our?) coffee pleasures.
Last one was an article about [argh] "Synthetic Coffee": Without an iota of doubt, I can honestly say "over my dead body!"

None-the-less and since misery loves company, I aim to make you feel that guilty feeling in your gut, as I should:
"Worldwide, people consume two-billion cups of coffee a day...". << Do you bear any guilt, yet?
"...The average Arabica [coffee] tree produces only one to two pounds of coffee a year..." << Feeling guilty, yet?
"...That means every two-cup-a-day coffee drinker requires continuous production from around 20 coffee trees..." << Guilty as charged, yet?
"...Around half of the land best suited... will become unsuitable for that purpose by 2050, thanks to climate change...In Brazil, that figure reaches 88%." << Is time for you to confess, yet?

I won't make you more concerned or more guilt-ridden about "coffee rust".
I'll also spare you the rest of the details about the upcoming 'synthetic-coffees' that will probably be grown in Bioreactors...

 

[Danaxus]

Not sure what reason there is to feel guilty about coffee. It's a renewable resource after all. I drink, I poop, add some extra steps, voila, a new coffee tree!
Quantity of consumption isn't important if the resource is renewable, so long as you don't accidentally break the cycle (i.e. consume the coffee to extinction).
Maybe the media needs to focus on a few really key issues, rather than scattershot clickbait.

 

[majingotan]

Not sure what reason there is to feel guilty about coffee. It's a renewable resource after all. I drink, I poop, add some extra steps, voila, a new coffee tree!
Quantity of consumption isn't important if the resource is renewable, so long as you don't accidentally break the cycle (i.e. consume the coffee to extinction).
Maybe the media needs to focus on a few really key issues, rather than scattershot clickbait.

It's political and economical if you do a little due diligence and both influence the direction of coffee in the future

 

[antcollinet]

"Synthetic Coffee": Without an iota of doubt, I can honestly say "over my dead body!"

Depends how good it is. If I can't tell the difference to my locally roasted standard blend, and it has no "alternative" chemistry in it, then I won't care if it's synthetic.

 

[xray]

It's political and economical if you do a little due diligence and both influence the direction of coffee in the future

It's also an issue when native rain forests are cleared to plant coffee trees.

 

[pseudoid]

Depends how good it is.

You - my member friend - seem more adventurous than I can ever be.
My demi-god is already the greatest... synthetic, schmenthetic!

 

[antcollinet]

You - my member friend - seem more adventurous than I can ever be.
My demi-god is already the greatest... synthetic, schmenthetic!

If it helps, I'm not expecting synthetic to be good in the remaining years I have. Which hopefully means in the next 30 or so.

 

[dfuller]

I did come across the Gaggiuino, but as I'm in the UK, I decided to go with the Shades kit. Also, as a gentleman of a certain age, the tiny screen of the Gaggiuino would mean I would have to remember to wear my reading glasses every time I made a coffee.

The Gaggiuino only really has benefits if you're trying to get the most out of lighter roasts. I mean yeah the steam is a little better but it's still pretty terrible...

 

[Somafunk]

The news media is attempting to make me (us?) feel guilty for my (our?) coffee pleasures.
Last one was an article about [argh] "Synthetic Coffee": Without an iota of doubt, I can honestly say "over my dead body!"

Doesn’t apply to my coffee consumption as my beans come from a roasting company that has a direct and very close/personal relationship with the small scale farmers who produce the beans, I can name the farmer who produces my beans and I am very happy to pay a premium for freshly roasted beans each month with the knowledge that every cup I drink helps them directly.

 

[gwing]

Doesn’t apply to my coffee consumption as my beans come from a roasting company that has a direct and very close/personal relationship with the small scale farmers who produce the beans, I can name the farmer who produces my beans and I am very happy to pay a premium for freshly roasted beans each month with the knowledge that every cup I drink helps them directly.

Would that perhaps be Rave coffee where I get my beans and who also have that sort of relationship with the growers?

I also buy them green and roast my own but that's another story ...

 

[gwing]

None-the-less and since misery loves company, I aim to make you feel that guilty feeling in your gut, as I should:
"Worldwide, people consume two-billion cups of coffee a day...". << Do you bear any guilt, yet?
"...The average Arabica [coffee] tree produces only one to two pounds of coffee a year..." << Feeling guilty, yet?
"...That means every two-cup-a-day coffee drinker requires continuous production from around 20 coffee trees..." << Guilty as charged, yet?
"...Around half of the land best suited... will become unsuitable for that purpose by 2050, thanks to climate change...In Brazil, that figure reaches 88%." << Is time for you to confess, yet?

I'm not feeling at all guilty yet but this did arouse my interest.

"The average Arabica [coffee] tree produces only one to two pounds of coffee a year..."
That does sound a lot of tree for just a tiny bit of coffee (and my consumption is rather more than the quoted 2 cups a day) but it is only the Robusta coffee which comes from a tree, Arabica comes from a bush which is starting to sound more comfortable already

It seems to be difficult to get an agreed average coffee yield per tree (or bush) and I have found articles, often from vested interests, that put the yield as anywhere between two pounds and ten pounds per (let's just say tree for simplicity). I haven't found a source that I'm comfortable is unbiased but the best I have is the "Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee" which might be genuine and who put the yield as 2 to 4 kilos i.e. five to ten pounds per tree. Where do you get your one to two pound estimate from?

I feel tempted to comment on the land usage aspect as well but I think that will be even more difficult to unravel ...

 

[Somafunk]

Would that perhaps be Rave coffee where I get my beans and who also have that sort of relationship with the growers?

I also buy them green and roast my own but that's another story ...

Yep, that’s them. My current fav is the Papau New Guinea Baroida but I also like the Rave Strong AF blend, I have a 1/2kg of Baroida and a kg of Strong AF arriving tomorrow which should last me a month

The Baroida estate was founded by Ben Colbran in 1962, and he was one of the first to cultivate coffee in the Eastern Highlands of the country. Now his son Nichol owns and manages the farm and mill where the coffee cherries are processed. The family have become closely in-tune with the unique climate and soil conditions of PNG, and have adapted traditional Kenyan methods of farming. High rainfall and frequent flooding make coffee cultivation very tricky, so the Colbran family implemented a system of drainage ditches and shade-cover in the form of indegenous trees. They have been coffee pioneers in the region, and have even begun processing coffee cherries for neighbouring farms.

 

[pseudoid]

Where do you get your one to two pound estimate from?

Someone earlier speculated that such information is just click-baits; and now you?
So, I pulled-out those stats (as I posted and verbatim) from my most-trusted media resource.
Unfortunately it turns out that since this source is a daily, paper media; I could not find that click-bait button within the article for confirmation!

 

[gwing]

Someone earlier speculated that such information is just click-baits; and now you?

Not at all, I was genuinely interested in your comments and therefore did a bit of research. I found the statistics quoted to be widely varying from one another,, and your estimate way at the extreme low end of those, so I just asked the question in case you had actually found a more reliable source than I did.

This is ASR after all - surely a request for identifying the source for numbers quoted is sort of predictable?

 

[rdenney]

KEEP IT SIMPLE:

The time it takes me to brew a pour-over (ceramic Vario filter) is less than the time it takes to clean up complicated coffee makers.

I use Melita supermarket coffee ($7 a pound) and grind it just before making my brew. I like my Capresso burr grinder.

I have the least expensive Baratza grinder, which isn't all that cheap compared to department-store brands. But I make up for that using a plastic Melitta cone instead of something made from ceramic. Uses a Melitta #2 filter.

What was the epiphany for me was freshly roasted coffee. After buying my grinder, I tried various whole-bean varieties from Costco and the fancy grocery store (Wegman's), and generally enjoyed them. But then I discovered a local roaster, and after a bit of experimentation have settle on Sumatran Mandheling in a medium roast (first crack), left to settle for at least several days after roasting, but no more than two or three weeks. It isn't that cheap, but I make up for it with those plastic cones. (That's classic audio-enthusiast arithmetic from forums other than ASR, of course.) That coffee has spoiled me against stuff that was roasted months ago.

A few posts back, someone mentioned that Starbucks invokes the gag reflex now. I do understand that--it's over-roasted, stale, overly strong, and extremely bitter no matter what bean they are using. But drug users can't always be picky, and I travel all the time (without grinder and cone, though when I'm able to travel in my motorhome, those go with me). So, I still buy coffee at Starbucks when in other cities because shut up that's why. It makes me appreciate coming home that much more.

Rick "has said all this before" Denney

 

[rdenney]

The news media is attempting to make me (us?) feel guilty for my (our?) coffee pleasures.
Last one was an article about [argh] "Synthetic Coffee": Without an iota of doubt, I can honestly say "over my dead body!"

None-the-less and since misery loves company, I aim to make you feel that guilty feeling in your gut, as I should:
"Worldwide, people consume two-billion cups of coffee a day...". << Do you bear any guilt, yet?
"...The average Arabica [coffee] tree produces only one to two pounds of coffee a year..." << Feeling guilty, yet?
"...That means every two-cup-a-day coffee drinker requires continuous production from around 20 coffee trees..." << Guilty as charged, yet?
"...Around half of the land best suited... will become unsuitable for that purpose by 2050, thanks to climate change...In Brazil, that figure reaches 88%." << Is time for you to confess, yet?

I won't make you more concerned or more guilt-ridden about "coffee rust".
I'll also spare you the rest of the details about the upcoming 'synthetic-coffees' that will probably be grown in Bioreactors...

No, it makes me proud. It's not the coffee plants rendering the land unsuitable--if anything--they are preserving the land assuming the farmers are trying to (which is their guilt trip, not mine).

Coffee is one of the few commodities that can be grown by small farmers (usually tenant farmers, it is true) with some semblance of financial reward, and it's far more sustainable than many of the habits of those of younger generations who pride themselves on their environmental consciousness without any apparent awareness of what they actually consume.

And coffee is grown in places that need the money. That those countries don't always have efficient or somewhat corruption-free economic systems is, again, their guilt trip and not mine. It would be better for those farmers if we didn't buy their products? I hardly think so. I'd rather they grow coffee than, say, coca or opium poppies.

Rick "synthetic coffee probably feeds some chemical company whose time is better spent making cases for BPC audio junque" Denney

 

[ryanosaur]

Rando-tangential: vanillin, artificial vanilla flavoring, is a byproduct of paper manufacturing.
*insert vomit emoji here