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)