i use a french press and the "hoffmann method".
grounds go in the press, pour in boiling water. wait a couple minutes and stir gently. scoop off the foam. steep for a total of 5-7 minutes. press and pour.
i cant imagine paying $5 for a cup of subpar coffee.
You can whip out an aeropress in an airport, and can probably finnagle 200mL boiling water from one of the eateries or shops (I would assume that to be the bigger challenge as you can’t exactly start a fire at the gate, not to mention carrying a gas cartridge through security).
- caffeine pill to wake up, then coffee for the taste / comfort
- brew in the evening (at home when flying out, at the hotel when flying back in) and store in a quality insulated mug, using a zojirushi, freshly brewed coffee in yields too-hot-to-drink 10 hours later (but that’s nothing a travel mug and waiting a few minutes can’t solve).
- there’s also the flash-frozen thing which Hoffmann showed and seemed happy about, but I think it needs to remain frozen (it can’t be stored at room temp) which is not super convenient when travelling unless you have good logistics (or regularly travel back and forth so could have stashes at critical locations)
- similar situation (travel between known location), do better recon and find an acceptable coffee shop on the way (then hope they don’t go out of business)
Making my afternoon coffee that way on my front porch has been a ritual since the pandemic began.
(1) depending on how good you are, you'll be better than X% of the coffee shops out there. but the converse applies too: somewhere out there, i'd bet, there is a coffee shop making coffee as good or even better than your own.
(2) a least half the pleasure in going to a coffee shop is going to the coffee shop. it's nice to get out and experience some of the community around you!
I doubt the "better" part for people preferring the french press. It is not a complicated method. Now there might be one with better beans, but that’s always the case.
> a least half the pleasure in going to a coffee shop is going to the coffee shop.
Heh, depends, for me that does not sound like pleasure at all ;)
I do feel coffee is remarkably subtle. You can easily make a pour-over twice, using exactly the same method and same beans, and have different results. Which is crazy, but true. So there's a lot of room for technique.
Lattes are the same way. I enjoy making lattes at home using a moka pot for esspresso(ish) and a stovetop steamer -- and even though I've been doing this for years now, I'm still not consistent. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's just OK. Adding in the steamed milk is a whole new dimension that can vary in very subtle ways.
I think you're right, though, that the french-press is more of an old-school, give-it-to-me-good-and-hard-and-bitter method. Not as subtle, probably not as much variation.
I tried the hoffman method, it tasted the same to me, was a lot more work and the only advantage was fewer grounds in the cup, but I don’t mind those (barely any).
But yeah, I always drink coffee at home and if I’m somewhere else, I hope they have a french press as it is by far my preferred taste.
If you want an espresso-based drink, cost or kitchen space can make it much easier to just cultivate a relationship with a good shop (ideally, one that doesn't even OWN blenders).
If I can't have a proper espresso, I'll drink pour over.
Moka pots provide very little in the way of control vs. a proper espresso machine, and at best produce only about 20% of the pressure. The result is a VASTLY different beverage.
By your logic, an Aeropress is also "the same process" since it's forcing water through grounds under pressure, but nobody would call that espresso, either.
I adore proper espresso, but I have never enjoyed Moka pot coffee.
I also adore pour-over coffee, but no one would mistake any filter-coffee process for espresso.