Comment by ineedasername | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ineedasername | Hacker News Reader

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The low latency approach is pretty much already encapsulated by the MVP approach to product design and incremental release schedule. Actually, considering the lower overhead of testing & implementation for small incremental changes vs. monolithic releases that are much harder to reverse course if there's a problem, the low-latency approach could also be the higher throughput approach.

Anyway, I am literally going to make myself one single cup of coffee now. No one in my house drinks it, so I have tried just about every method of making a single good cup of coffee. Right now, that balances towards very low latency but very low quality: instant coffee, because my tolerance for coffee latency is usually very low. (also low tolerance for cleaning up the equipment needed to make coffee-- garbage collection!) At some point the needle will swing back towards quality and I'll take the extra 5 minutes to do a pour over & deal with cleaning more stuff.

Lol, I alternate between aero-press and pour over depending on the grounds I currently have. My tolerance for latency for good coffee is high regardless of how urgent other folk are for my time! Not that I'm a snob about coffee, I have instant on hand for convenience as well, and I'll happily drink a poorly brewed cup too. It's just a nice ritual and something to optimize for fun.

If you're not very cost-conscious, you can get excellent instant coffee (e.g. Sightglass), but it'll cost you >$2.50/cup, much more than equivalent quality beans.

Yet another instance of fast/cheap/good, pick two.

I'll have to give it a try. I'm in no way willing to spend that much for coffee on a regular basis, but having a little on hand would be nice.

Right now I'm using Mount Hagen, which is a decent compromise on price/quality: it takes most of the bitter edge off compared to something like Folgers.

As a side note, instant coffee is an excellent way to make something coffee flavored, like in baking. I've even used it in small quantities to get a deeper, richer flavor in pumpernickel bread... I don't know how real bakeries do it, but it's the only way I've come close in taste to what a bakery produces.

Instant coffee is also pretty nice for making iced coffee at home, which is what I usually do with it. I prefer a coffee-flavored beverage versus actual coffee most of the time, so Nescafe Clasico and a decent creamer to take the bitter edge off works well for me. Also a lot cheaper than a daily Dunkin' run. :)

I'll have to try Mount Hagen for a change of pace sometime, though.

I also drink Mount Hagen as my midgrade instant coffee-- I tried several varieties a while back and decided it's my favorite of them. It's not mind-blowing "wow I can't believe it's instant" like the Sightglass, but it's very good.

For quick turnaround, the Keurigs and Nespressos have always been the best low volume quick turn around solution for me, but at the price point, the quality just isn't satisfactory for me. Obviously not the most eco-friendly (last I checked).

I no longer care about quick. I like good quality coffee and tend to take the time and machinery to make a cup to suit my tastes, usually espresso based, sometimes a French press. It likely borders on snobbery to an outside observer, but it's just me being picky and personal preference. I don't really care what someone else drinks or doesn't.

Yeah, keurigs seem to only choose 1 of the fast/cheap/quality "choose two" options.

It's too expensive and for my tastes, entirely too weak. We have one at work, and I tried a reusable pod with double the coffee and still wasn't a fan. That goes for most coffee though-- When I buy at Dunkin Donuts I have them add an extra shot if espresso. With instant I can actually control strength more easily than with other methods... Aeropress I would usually run the water through twice. And with french presses I can never seem to avoid getting a bunch of coffee grounds mixed it so the last few sips are extremely gritty.

As sibling said aeropress makes delicious single servings. Probably one of my favorite purchases in the 15-40 USD range.

If you're into other sources of caffeine, matcha can almost be described as instant green tea.

Thanks! I've heard of matcha as some sort of tea-like thing, but never really looked into it. I'll give it a try!

Have is very much not caffeine, but in appearance matcha reminds me of kava powder. I'd recommend it as an interesting additive (and mild anti-anxiety) when I make coffee smoothies with iced instant coffee and cashew milk (I much prefer regular milk but even skim has too many calories for me, and cashew is a little creamier to my taste than almond) The kava part is a bit of an acquired tasted, but adds a nice tingly feeling once you get used to it. It just needs a lot of shaking in a shaker smoothie cup, or a blender, to mix nicely otherwise it gets clumpy. Definitely a very high-latency option.

If you like coffee with kava (never tried but read about the effects) you might also be interested in yerba mate. Specifically chimarrão, the south brazilian green non-smoked variant. It is in the same tier as coffee caffeine-wise but to me it is more multipurpose as there is a sort of mild euphoria that goes along with it. I find I can quite effectively code and learn with it, but it is also an enjoyable drink for my leisure/relaxation time.

It is a higher latency option if using the traditional container along with a thermos as one has to wait for the water to cool under 80C. It is also higher throughput in the sense that one continues to refill their container with water from the thermos a number of times until the plant matter has given its all.

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