# Preface
When it comes to caffeinated drinks, I've spent most of my life either
drinking tea or lemonade, not coffee. It seemed that there's two kinds
of coffee drinkers, those who care about the caffeine (and therefore,
less about the quality or developing dependence) and those who care
about the beverage (and therefore were prone to go down the rabbit
hole of how to optimally prepare it). On top of this, the few times I
dared trying coffee, it wasn't well-made.
As of 2022, I've read an essay suggesting that coffee and coffee
dependence is an acceptable price to pay for a modest increase in
alertness and better performance in the morning. Some friends reminded
me that it's indeed possible to both find and prepare decent coffee,
so I decided to take the plunge.
# Drinks
## Milk drinks
I'm fine with drinking it black, provided it's properly brewed. When
this is not the case, milk does help smoothing things out. If I'm at a
good café, I dare trying out a cappuccino or espresso macchiato,
otherwise a simple coffee with milk does the trick.
## Non-milk drinks
Espresso seems very tricky to properly prepare. I really like the
crema some beans produce, too bad the Aeropress eliminates it through
filtering. Greek coffee preserves it, but also leaves the grounds in.
The Aeropress I use for making what's essentially an americano, but
I've yet to find coffee places making a decent one...
# Equipment
## Westmark coffee filter cone, size 4
This was the first setup I tried to produce (decaf) coffee grounds for
cultivation purposes.
- Place cone on top of cup
- Insert filter size 4
- Add pre-ground coffee
- Pour hot water over
- Remove spent coffee grounds
I never tried to actually drink the produced coffee, but I've been
told that it's acceptable. Presumably, this is what the term
"Filterkaffee" refers to in Germany.
Chemex is supposed to be an advanced version of this.
## French press
I've been offered this in a café. It's a charming setup. The only
tricky aspect is how long to wait until pressing down the plunger.
I've decided against buying one for home use because reviews suggest
it's a fragile design and the taste tends to be overly bitter.
## Aeropress with Porlex Mini II
Another cheap and simple solution. There are several tuneables to consider:
- Paper vs steel filters
- Duration of brewing
- Amount of beans
- Coarseness of grind
- Water temperature
- Inverted mode
Currently I've settled for paper filters, 20s of brewing time, 15g of
beans, 9 clicks (produces a medium-fine grind), 90C water temperature
and regular mode. Use of steel filters supposedly is close enough to
inverted mode, but without the risk of spilling hot coffee over
yourself (I've seen it happen once).
The results are nice, but the downside is more effort when preparing
multiple cups of coffee. The device supports up to 3-4 cups. For this
I pour the concentrate into a thermos can and fill up with the
remaining hot water. To grind large amounts of beans, I got myself a
cheap electric grinder, which produces a coarser grind (and therefore
needs a bit longer brewing).
My girlfriend pointed out another downside: Both manual grinding and
pressing out coffee unnecessarily strain her wrists. Therefore I
expect to have to go for a low-maintenance (easy to take apart, no
milk, no regular tuning required) filter coffee machine soon...
## Future ideas
- Try out Greek moka
- Try out moka pots
# Beans
## Regionally bought beans
Inconvenient to buy, but occasionally I've found good stuff.
### DONE Mahou Köln - No. 1 (mild, arabica/robusta)
I'm not sure this can be classified as mild, but not a fan.
### TODO Mahou Köln - No. 2 (strong, arabica/robusta)
### TODO Mahou Köln - No. 3 (decaf)
This could be good the occasional time someone wants coffee without
caffeine...
### TODO Mahou Köln - No. 7 (mild, arabica)
### TODO Mahou Köln - No. 8 (strong, robusta)
### DONE Helder & Leeuwen - ??? (robusta, malt notes)
I really like the shop, but made a bad first choice by going for a
robusta coffee with malt taste. Will have to go there again.
### DONE Moha - ???
They don't have many options with strong taste and were confused what
an Aeropress is, so probably not going there again.
### DONE Concrete Coffee Roasters - ???
Not compelling enough taste, sorry.
## Store-bought beans
Very convenient to buy, but tricky to find good ones.
### DONE LIDL - Lavazza Cafè Crema Gustoso?
1kg of reasonably priced beans that taste surprisingly good. Great for
coffee drinkers who need caffeine rather than taste.
### TODO LIDL - Insomnia Black
I kind of expect these to taste terrible