Sleepy Hollow

How do we make coffee in my house (son and myself)? Let me count the ways...

Single cup brewer (not keurig, but can use pods or your own coffee in a filter, and brews much better, but doesn't make a big enough cup, so not used much anymore)

French press

Pour over

Turkish pot

Italian moka pot (just upgraded from a small one to a Junior Express)

Breville espresso machine

Cold brew in a quart mason jar (this is pretty much the only time I use pre-ground coffee, usually Yuban or something I found on sale)

My daily user is the espresso machine, where I make a double shot latte in basically a soup bowl with a handle (picked that up while visiting distant relatives in France). If I'm working that day/night, I'll make it in a 20 to 24 oz travel mug.

I like my coffee strong so that "additives" don't weaken it. I either get my beans from Costco (a dark roast, enjoy the ones they have from different countries), or, like Three Dog Night, I will roast my own. My brother has been roasting his for years, and invested in a nice, expensive, roaster. I haven't made the leap to "proper roasting equipment" yet, so I use a popcorn maker (the stainless steel Whirley Pop). My roasted coffee isn't as good as his yet, but I'm getting better with each batch (I started with a record of the temp I used, how long it took, lid open or closed, etc, and finally have a method I'm perfecting. Taking notes has allowed me to be more consistent.)

I came of coffee age when coffee houses were starting to become a thing in the 90s. We didn't have a Starbucks here then, but our own small, local brand hit it pretty big. Not willing to spend that kind of money on a fancy coffee, I started with just drip coffee and milk. Then, on a visit to Ireland, I discovered real cream instead of milk, and it was 10x better! (My son became a tea drinker that same trip after daily tea while we were in England). Early on, I'd had a small "espresso maker", but it was clumsy and didn't make a proper espresso, so I donated it. After our big Europe trip in 2015, my son asked if we could get a real espresso machine. I coughed up the money on a nice one, and have no regrets. We have two grinders--one on the espresso machine, and a separate one so we can grind more coarse for the other methods.

I rarely buy creamer, but do enjoy it on occasion. I made my own for years with sweetened condensed milk and cream or milk. My daily latte uses milk, coffee (double shot), and sugar. When I roast my own beans, I use about half the sugar I normally would. We almost always have cream as well, for the other methods of coffee making. I'll also buy the occasional coffee syrup when the local restaurant supply store has them on sale.

My son is a big experimenter, so we've also had coffee with cardamom seeds, or Vietnamese coffee, etc.

When we go to the Asian market "in the big city", I'll usually buy a bag of instant Vietnamese coffee, just for something different.

I usually just have one cup shortly after getting up (work a rotating shift, so sometimes that means 4 pm). If it's a really rough day/night at work, I keep some coffee pods there for the keurig (but I soak the pod for a minute first so that it will brew stronger/better coffee, because even though I use the strongest coffee pod I can find, that machine makes an incredibly weak coffee without the presoak) for a second cup.

I can't wait until my little dream house in the woods is a reality, so I can curl up on the porch in a quilt and drink my coffee on a chilly and crisp morning while enjoying my view of the trees. That's my ultimate coffee goal, no matter how I brew it.