I like drinking coffee.
I prefer black coffee, and my experience revolves around it. I brew filter coffee at home. At a cafe, I will usually take a double espresso or a hand-brew, depending on my mood and subtle cues from the place. I have probably ordered a milk-based drink only a few times, so I am not a fan.
• Comandante C40 MK4
• Fellow Stagg EKG
• Hario Drip Coffee Scales
• Aeropress (Original)
• V60 02 Neo
• Bodum Chambord French Press
• Brita water filter
I have been fortunate to try a diverse selection of coffees. I like most taste profiles, as long as the taste is traceable and the cup tastes less like coffee, if you know what I mean.
I typically opt for something new, interesting, and funky, especially non-washed coffees. Currently, I am subscribed to Skylark, which I recommend quite highly. I alternate between their washed subscription and roaster's choice, which is often something a bit crazy. After getting used to those fermented lots, though, I often lean towards washed coffees these days.
My decaf method preference is Ethyl acetate > CO2 >> Swiss Water. If you didn't know, Square Mile Coffee have a half-caff: a 50/50 blend of decaf with a normal lot. I like it a lot, and it means you can drink twice as much coffee in a day. How cool.
I am in the UK. Water from my tap is around 250 TDS, and about 210 after Brita.
I don't vary grind size much across my brewers. I am mostly aiming for about a 3:00 drawdown on my V60 02 with 30 g of coffee, using my pouring approach, and I keep that as a reference. It is 26 clicks on my Comandante.
My brewing technique for my brewers mostly follows James Hoffmann's YouTube videos. However, I noticed that his recommendation to use boiling water tastes off with almost every bean I tried with Finnish tap water and filtered UK tap water. So, I dropped it to 93 °C and it got way better. I don't stir in my V60 with a spoon, either.
I've visited quite a few cafes, which is making me slightly uncomfortable. Here is a list of places that I enjoyed, selected with black coffee in mind.
• Society Café (12–16 St Michael's St)
• New Ground Coffee (6 Ship St)
• Paradox Design + Coffee (Market, Sheep Ln x Westgate St.)
• Substance (30 Rue Dussoubs)
• Tanat — Archives which used be called Kawa (96 Rue des Archives)
• One Day (Fredrikinkatu 51)
• Public Coffee Roasters (Wexstraße 28)
• The Holy Cross Brewing Society (Fahrgasse 7)
The coffee scene in Seoul is phenomenal, likely the best among the places I've visited. It is not only great in taste, it also visually appealing. Nearly all places I visited there had a menu of beans for drinks, and every second place had a geisha option. All of that at a fraction of London prices. I think Europeans aren't ready for it.
• KIHEI 키헤이커피 (15 Bongeunsa-ro 78-gil, Gangnam-gu)
• T.O.CH 토치커피 삼성점 (123-33 Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu)
• Bunker Company 벙커컴퍼니 압구정점 (23 Eonju-ro 167-gil, Gangnam-gu)
• GML seoul 지엠엘 한남 (22 Hannam-daero 27ga-gil, Yongsan-gu)
• mtl cafe & bakery Hannam (24 Itaewon-ro 49-gil, Yongsan-gu)
• Dorae Knot 도래노트 (72 Bangullae-ro, Mapo-gu)
• Low Key 로우키 연희 (433-8 Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu)
• SWING 스윙 (844 Sindang-dong, Jung-gu)