Something About Coffee and Getting Out of the House
I'm cutting back on the coffee shops. I had been buying one or two ice coffees a day since I was vaccinated. That will add up to a fair amount of money by the end of a year. Even a conservative estimate would put the expense at over $2,000 annually. It's odd that we so easily spend fortunes on vices like coffee, booze, and streaming services — I'm subscribed to at least six such services at once! My decision to ease off the cafés isn't about money, though. The crux of the matter is I think I'm drinking too much coffee for my system and need to cut back.
Brewing coffee at home adds enough friction to the process to slow my consumption down to reasonable levels. My preferred method for making coffee is the pour-over, which demands time and attention in return for great coffee every time. The technique involves slowly flooding a basket of coffee grounds with warm water and allowing the liquid to seep through a paper filter into a carafe waiting below. I honestly couldn't tell you how this is anything more than a manual version of what a $15 drip machine is doing, but I've gone through several highly recommended drip machines of various price points, and the pour-over bests them all.
My homebrew is better than most of what's on offer from the local coffee shops, with the notable exception of Menagerie when they get the cream right, but I always get the cream right when making it at home. My coffee's excellence is undoubtedly the consequence of refining my ingredients, ratios, and process to get the results I happen to like best. It is possible my coffee is not so good by industrial or even common standards, but in my target demographic of one, it's hard to beat, which makes it even more difficult to justify spending the extra money to have someone make it for me, especially when I need to cut back on how much I drink anyway. On the other hand, going to the coffee shop is an excuse to get out of the house.
