Coffee > Beer

Because I quit drinking over two years ago, which obviated the practice of obsessing over beer, coffee has become my favorite beverage.

It took me decades to realize this but I don’t like dark roast coffees. For a very long time I would brew my coffee as strongly as possible, with the darkest roasts I could find, and then add cream and honey. I was certain that lighter roasts meant weaker tasting brews. Why would I want that, I thought.

I honestly can’t recall any one thing that made me start to question my ways. There were times when coffee made me feel nauseous or over-caffeinated (or both). When that happened I would temporarily switch to yerba mate as my morning hot beverage, but I always came back to coffee. But what got me curious about lighter roasts? Maybe an article I read. Or maybe I got curious first about pour overs and realized then that dark roasts weren’t working for me.

That’s probably it. I guess. What I know is that I started to experiment. With roasts from different regions and grades, with water temp, coffee-to-water ratios, grinds, etc. I read all the articles I could find (and I continue to do so, because complacency paves the road to mediocrity).

What I have more-or-less settled on is that I love coffee from Costa Rica. I like coffee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Every once in a while I’ll get a bag of beans from Guatemala or Ethiopia. I no longer do blends. I have my ratios, grind levels, and temperatures dialed in to exactly how I like them. Doesn’t mean I don’t vary some of them occasionally, just to make sure my technique is solid, but I like how dialed in my morning brew is these days.

Ultimately, what I have realized is that I pay more attention to how my coffee tastes than ever before. And often I start looking forward to my morning cup of coffee before I even fall asleep the night before. Which I can do because I’m no longer giving in to the soporific effects of beer and whiskey.

Things I know about my process:

• Preferred pour over vessel: Hario V60
• Favorite regions: Costa Rica, DR Congo
• Water temp: 200º
• Ratio: About 17:1 — I brew into a 20oz Yeti cup that holds about 560 grams of water, and I grind around 34 grams of beans
• I add a heavy tablespoon of honey because I find it accentuates the subtler nuances of lighter roast beans

Things I’m still learning about my process:

• I think I have my grind where I want it but I continue to change it slightly just to experiment sometimes
• I know I don’t like roasts that tend to the chocolatey side of the spectrum, but I’m still actively trying beans from different regions to explore other taste profiles