Aye, I don’t concern myself with weight, time, etc. I know that three scoops of fresh beans into the grinder is the right amount for my pourover. I leave the timer set to 20s which is more than enough.

The wee box for grounds is a bit of a faff, right enough. I’m just used to it now.

After G's rec for Lavazza Espresso, can someone recommend a pre ground strong coffee?

When we move into our new home once it’s refurbished, I’d like to get myself a good coffee machine and some beans. Will ask for recommendations nearer the time - in around 6 months probably! In the meantime, I do coffee bags. Had some instant recently cos I needed a quick one and omg it was disgusting!

Elf, the Lavazza espresso instant is quick and actually quite nice

If I wasn't doing machine, I'd swear by pour over now. As easy as instant, infinite times better.

$64 cup of coffee (yep one cup) at Queens in central london for anyone?

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/expensive-coffee-london-gbr-scli-intl/index.html

Absolute wank. I suppose they serve their wine in coffee cups?

Dinostar77 wrote:

$64 cup of coffee (yep one cup) at Queens in central london for anyone?

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/expensive-coffee-london-gbr-scli-intl/index.html

They can shove it up their hole.

This is a mayfair cafe/wine bar, selling coffee made of super ultra mega award winning omg high score beans which themselves sell for £2000 a kilo. A £50 cup of super fancy coffee, prepared as it is, in limited quantities available just seems like expensive wine or whisky, but for people who like coffee. 

You fucking boomers.

Smiley winky face, obvs.

Yeah I agree, people are free to spend their money on whatever, but I'm always interested in the reactions these types of stories generate because they're so varied. 

For instance, people tend to acknowledge that for something like kobe beef, or some high end tuna at a sushi place, or a vintage wine, that although the price is high, you are paying for some combination of craft, time and scarcity. Even though you can obtain all of those items at a much cheaper level if the primary motivator when you want them is "Where can I get half decent, affordable, X"

For me personally, I don't think a crop of coffee, single origin from one farm, grown over a season, which then wins an international award is any different to the above examples - time, craft and scarcity are all there. If a news outlet runs an article saying "$64 dollar coffee in this cafe" as a headline, people's perceptions immediately jump to a $64 cup of costa though.

It's interesting, I wonder what it is about foods which have an established "connoisseur" part of their industry which differs how people view those items compared to others. Wait, I think I just answered my own question there.

Edit: Sorry Davy, completely forgot to address the other parts of your post, because hilariously I have not drunk enough coffee to start functioning yet this morning, at this late hour! The coffee that's being sold is from auction and its the auction they hold for the winners of the Cup of Excellence competition, which is the fancy pants, big coffee growers competition, whoever wins that, that's like the best coffee that year. As it's a full blown fair trade thing the growers do receive a majority percentage of the auction price back. As for my own coffee habits, I am very lazy, so I have a little delonghi burr grinder to grind up beans (I don't buy fancy beans I am a shit) and then use a french press to make coffee because they are reasonably minimal cleaning and maintenance as I use it 2/3 times a day so it only needs a good rinse and then a wash at the end of the day. People don't like french presses because the cleanup is a ess, but I think that comes from using the finer ground coffee from shops, using a coarse grind, there's very little coffee solids and no sludge on the press, a good rinse under the tap usually cleans the whole arrangement out in one piece for me.

Recommended decaff instant coffee for missus? She like lavazza intenso instant normal coffee. They dont do an instant decaff. Has to be instant decaff.

I've become a coffee snob. I can't do instant anymore. Decaff instant is an extra level of nope.

Don’t put it in the dishwasher. Don’t grind too finely. Don’t fill the water past the valve thing. Don’t use a gas ring that’s bigger than the base. Rest is obvious, go crazy!

Pre heat the water

Perfect. Got one of those laa-di-dah quick boil kettle/taps button press thingy, which spits out very hot water, just a little off kettle boiled temp. Will experiment soon.

Cheers chaps.