Caffeine matters—coffee creation method of choice at your startup? | Hacker News Reader

Caffeine matters—coffee creation method of choice at your startup?

4 pointseak48 comments

The basic tradeoff seems to be: Quantity + speed vs quality + effort

We still haven't found the right balance. Here's our results so far:

# Nespresso Pros: stupid simple; good-quality espresso Cons: pods are costly and wasteful; can't get quantity you always want

# French press Pros: high quality coffee (when combined with our burr grinder and fresh beans) Cons: takes too much time and effort (set up, operation, cleanup) for every cup

# Melitta / other single-cup drip Pros: basically the same as the French Press Cons: ditto

# Drip coffee pot Pros: easy; mass quantities Cons: haven't found one that makes coffee well enough; doesn't taste good

# Local coffee shop Pros: great coffee Cons: huge fucking waste of everyone's time

The current best alternative I can imagine: ->Create a big-ass french press (size of a small child) and get a massive vacuum-insulated thermos to keep all the coffee warm for quite awhile.

^I mean that only half tongue-in-cheek

Anyone figured out a better solution?

This just showed up online: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-coffee-maker/

We're going to try ordering this: http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV1800TH-Thermal-Brushed-Alum...

Sounds promising.

Also, forgot to add in my post that we have a Moka Pot too. Tasty cup of espresso, but it's stove top and takes awhile.

A few AeroPresses + electric kettles work well. Faster and easier cleanup than a french press and tastes better than pretty much every other method IMHO. It's really an easy/cheap espresso machine more than a drip coffee solution though. Americanos for people who want a big cup of hot coffee.

http://www.amazon.com/Aerobie-AeroPress-Coffee-Espresso-Make...

We use a Breville espresso machine and a 12-cup Mr Coffee plus a Breville grinder. It works great. The Mr. Coffee seems out of place next to the sleek Brevilles but it holds its own. We auditioned 3-4 other coffee makers and settled on it b/c it works, doesn't leak, and is fast. The taste, to me, is really good. We use the "Kicking Horse Kick Ass" coffee from Amazon and go through 2-4 bags a month w/ three people (and more for espresso).

We've got a coffee maker from Jura (www.jura.com) at the office, which works pretty well. Just make sure it's full of beans and water and press the magic button. Basically all the advantages of the Nespresso minus the costly and wasteful pods. The only con is that it isn't really super fast and if everybody wants coffee at the same time a line tends to form.

Also remember the Jura we had in the office. It worked well at first, but if it is not used for some days it starts to mold inside :(

Gallons of Coca-Cola for me thanks :-)

What about a real espresso machine (with standard pods)? You get all the Nespresso pros, and you can choose between a variety of options for the coffee you want to put in.

Hire a barista.

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