Duvel would certainly have been my favorite beverage if it weren’t for the existence of coffee. It’s hard to come by in DC, so imagine my delight when I found it at a random grocery store in Maui.

Finished reading: Craft Coffee: a Manual by Jessica Easto 📚

Re-reading each time I change how I make coffee: from AeroPress (early 2010s) to a Moka pot (late 2010s) to an ECM Synchronika espresso machine (yes, a pandemic purchase) to, currently, manual pour-over with Ratio 8.

Currently reading: Craft Coffee: a Manual by Jessica Easto 📚

Read this a while back, but always good to have a refresher.

• Counter Culture Hologram Medium Roast
• Baratza Virtuoso (now obsolete) at 17
• Ratio 8 with Chemex filter
• Gooseneck kettle, 96°C
• 50gm coffee to 850 gm H2O
• ☕️

☕️ Entered a recently opened shop with Counter Culture Coffee logo on the window. Turns out it was their wholesale department/training center, not a store. They apologized for the confusion and let me take a bag of freshly roasted beans. This is how you get a customer for life.

☕️ After a few decades of making coffee with various techniques (including a dual boiler ECM Synchronika) I realized that:

• Roast level and freshness: huge!
• Brew method and grind level: important, but not as much as the above.
• Burr v. blade, water temp, filter type: meh.