daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
One of the perks of working in the office is easy access to the coffee machine. Actually, we have a coffee machine at home too, but it’s not as fancy as the one at the office. Our home espresso machine, which grinds whole beans for each cup, is far superior to the pods in the office. All that being said, I guess the office coffee machine isn’t really a perk.
I broke my old Hario decanter the other day, so I ordered a new Hario V60 Pour Over Starter Set. It’s such a nice size, and even comes with a pack of filters. It’s cute too! I love it.
I’ve started to drink more decaf coffee during the week, and grinding the beans by hand and pouring thru the filter has become a process I really enjoy! And I think the flavor is really good! I’m using a Hario filter and decanter which flows well so I am not waiting a long time like I have to do with my metal filter. I like that. Yum.
We’ve been upgrading our car-camping gear recently and one area that we were lacking in was our camp coffee prep. I’ve always pre-ground the beans at home and brought it with us in a plastic bag, but I decided to buy a Hario Mini-Slim Ceramic Coffee Mill so that I can grind the whole beans just before brewing. Freshly ground coffee is so much better than pre-ground!
This mill is hand-operated with a crank and takes about 2 minutes to grind 12 grams of beans, which is a good amount for one cup of coffee. On this mill’s measuring scale, that means filling it to the #1 marker. It definitely requires a little bit of muscle, so if you don’t have strong arms and wrists, a coffee mill such as this might not be a good idea. On the flipside, the extra exertion would be a good way to get your blood flowing in the morning. 😀
I need to mention that the coffee mill comes with a barcode sticker on it that absolutely sucks to remove. It tears and is super gummy, and the mess gets everywhere. Just getting it to the stage where I can use Goo-Gone on it took a while. What a pain in the butt!
I bought these instant coffee packets at the supermarket today. Each box cost less than a dollar, whereas if you buy “backpacking coffee”, you’ll be paying over a dollar per packet. Granted, the backpacking coffee is supposed to be much tastier, the price is over my threshold. 😄
