Saturday Morning Coffee Talk - My Coffee Setup

wde1978 · Mar 9, 2024

I am a coffee nut and am constantly journeying towards a better cup. Here's my setup (and my recommendation for you).

Coffee maker: Oxo 9 Cup Drip Coffee Maker. I used to have the Bonavita Drip Maker, and it was great also. I also do pour overs using a V-60, Kalita, and Chemex. All of those are great (Kalita is my favorite) but I have been able to achieve similar results with these two drip machines and it's obviously way easier.
Grinder: Fellow Ode 2. I used a Baratza Encore for years but recently upgraded to the Ode 2. It's been a game-changer. The grind is super consistent and I am picking up the brighter tasting notes.
Water: Distilled water using GC Water's A & B Formula. It contains the right amount of Sodium Bicarbonate, Potassium Bicarbonate, and Calcium Chloride. There is a whole rabbit hole you can go down if you want to start engineering your own water but the A & B Formula has produced great results for me. If you do nothing else, get your water game right.
Beans: obviously taste is very personal but I have enjoyed buying from Brandywine, Onyx, Saint Frank, and Greenway. I almost exclusively drink light roasts, although will occasionally enjoy a medium roast. If you want to buy local and support an Auburn guy, check out Prevail. Not as good, but still worthy of drinking, are local roasters Seeds, Cala, and Santos.
Cup: Lastly, I drink out of an Ember Mug. It keeps my coffee nice and hot and is a joy to drink out of.

It's been a lot of effort, and is the result of years of journeying, but the joy is in the journey. I am confident that in the years to come, I will continue to evolve my setup.

Last thing to say: if you drink cheap coffee and have a simple setup -- and you thoroughly enjoy your coffee -- just keep doing it the way you've been doing it. I find that people that drink cheap coffee and enjoy it don't actually enjoy the kind of coffee that I brew -- and that's perfectly okay.

Cheers!

MCTIGgER IV · Mar 9, 2024