Coffee Doesn't Care About Your Gear

Hello!

I have this.

(Clicking.)

And this. And this. And... I'm sure I'm forgetting something too.

I'm standing in my coffee lab looking at all my coffee gear, and I keep asking myself the same question:

Why does coffee need so much help?

My journey with coffee started simple. A brewer, a filter, a cup. That's it.

I could make fantastic, good tasting coffee. No problems at all. Simple recipe, couple pours here and there. A bloom. Done.

But now?

Now I have TDS meters to measure extraction percentages. Distribution tools for espresso to prevent channeling. Particle analyzers to check grind microns and see exactly how precise my grinder is. Fast filters because the brew is coming down too fast, which probably means channeling. So then we slow it down, collect everything together, create even extraction.

I have ceramic droplets, different shapes (donuts, starflowers, whatever), that sit inside my V60 to control flow rate and supposedly bring out different flavor profiles. I have a melodrip for gentler pours. I have boosters, some really fine, some backing it off, all with varying degrees of... clog ability.

And I'm not even close to having all of it.

What Are We Really Doing Here?

It's interesting if you really think about it.

Specialty coffee has always tried to push the envelope. Try to get better. We try to find things that we don't like, that we struggle with, things that make us advance our taste in coffee.

And all these tools and gadgets? They're not just made because somebody wanted to make money.

I know that's part of it. That's the way we see it from time to time.

But it was all about making this beverage just a little bit better. So we can taste clarity just a little bit more. So we can grind the coffee finer and understand what it's doing to us.

That's the reason why we have all of this stuff, right?

But here's what I keep coming back to.

A lot of us, quite a bit of us, are still using a coffee maker, some coffee, and water. That's it.

And they're happy.

The Rabbit Hole Question

I'm not saying this stuff is bad. I'm guilty of it too. I am in the rabbit hole. I see it for what it is.

But it does get you thinking. Why?

Why do we need a TDS meter to see what the extraction of the coffee is? Really think about that. It's kind of gnarly, right? Kind of crazy.

Or particle analyzers that tell us our grind size down to the micron. So we can know if our grinder is grinding at 400 microns or 450 microns.

Does that actually help us make better coffee? Or does it just give us more things to obsess over?

Because here's what I'm noticing. The more gear I add, the more my coffee ritual starts to feel like work.

Instead of looking forward to making coffee in the morning, I'm thinking about which droplet to use. Should I check the particle distribution today? Did I calibrate the refractometer? Is this the right water for this roast level?

And maybe, maybe, all of that makes the coffee 5 or 10 percent better.

But is it worth it if I stop enjoying the process?

What Coffee Actually Wants

You know what I realized?

Coffee doesn't care if we use third wave water versus tap water. Well, coffee does care. At least your palate does care.

But coffee doesn't care.

It just wants to be enjoyed. It just wants you to see it for what it is. See the personality for what it is.

Can you push it and massage it, get the most out of it? Yes, you can.

With simple tips and tricks and knowledge that you get from wherever. Yes, you will.

But the biggest takeaway here is that coffee doesn't care if you just use a filter and a kettle and you're calling it a day.

It doesn't care if you're using a precision grinder in order to bring out more of what you want out of the coffee.

It does not give a fuck.

It just wants to be brewed.

It doesn't care about its extraction because of the way you poured. It just wants you to drink it.

And at times, a lot of times, we get kind of carried away about what's out there, what's new in order to enhance our coffee.

The Law of Diminishing Returns

Coffee really doesn't need that much help.

It needs water at a decent temperature. It needs a grinder to grind the coffee to your liking. And it needs you to be present for a little bit of time.

That's it.

But we keep adding. More tools. More variables to chase. All in the name of getting a little bit closer to this perfect cup.

And there is a law of diminishing returns.

Like picking on boosters. We've created a situation where the filter is way too fast. And now we're trying to dial it back down. They have other boosters out there with varying degrees of clog ability. Some really fine, some backing it off.

It's interesting. It seems like it's a marketing pool, a lot of it.

Does it help? It does.

Does it get us a couple degrees closer to where we want to go? Sure, it does.

But why can't we just make a cup of coffee and be happy?

The Consistency Trap

I think part of the reason we want this stuff is consistency.

When you're consistent and you brew a cup of coffee, it's fantastic. And you start to wonder all the things that you've done in order to make that happen.

And then when you try it again, it is not the same.

That's kind of like where you're at with this. You're bamboozled. You're wondering what happened. Why didn't it keep doing the same thing that it has been doing before?

So we buy the TDS meter. The particle analyzer. The refractometer. So we can understand. So we can replicate. So we can be consistent.

But then we realize something uncomfortable.

All of this precision doesn't necessarily make us more consistent. Sometimes it just gives us more things to blame when the coffee doesn't taste right.

Where Does It Stop?

There's new drippers out right now. New UFO, more like a deep 27 but faster and steeper. The Hario Neo that supposedly increases clarity and body and all that shit that people say happens when you drink coffee.

I don't know if that's true.

I've played around with different brewers. And what I've realized, or come to realize, is that coffee just wants to be drank.

If we were really honest with ourselves, it should be about the coffee. It should be about the seasonal aspect of that coffee. If we're gonna taste something different in that coffee.

It can also be the things that we've learned throughout our journey, throughout that year of understanding coffee in general.

We're just trying to understand it for what it is.

But as I sit here and think, not so much about the state of coffee, just where we're at right now, I keep asking myself:

Where does it stop? Where do we really go from here?

When precision, when invention, when just trying to get better for better's sake... are we too far down this rabbit hole?

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here's what I keep coming back to, and I don't have a clean answer for this.

I think all of this is just noise.

We're not realizing that, but this is just noise.

Because at the end of the day, it's about the coffee.

Not the TDS reading. Not the particle distribution. Not which ceramic droplet we're using today.

The coffee.

But here's the thing I can't shake.

I know all of this stuff came from frustrations. Frustrations in the industry, frustrations at home, frustrations in competitions. We're just trying to get that much closer to making this coffee bean absolutely amazing, mind blowing.

And we've come a long way with technology, with advancements.

But then we realize that all of that is subjective. What if we don't taste the notes that we're accustomed to tasting? What if we realize that we don't like that type of coffee?

What if we don't understand, or get to the point where we realize that we don't need all of this stuff?

The Real Question

So here's what I'm genuinely asking myself, and I want to ask you too.

Are we into the coffee? Or are we into the gear?

Are we chasing better coffee? Or are we chasing the feeling of optimization?

Is the ritual still bringing us joy? Or has it become a checkbox of variables to control?

Because if we come back down to reality, to where we are with all of this, maybe we can just sit down and enjoy that coffee for what it is.

And if it's good, great.

If it's not, sucks. That's fine too.

Move on. Live another day. Enjoy it. Express it. Do whatever.

But I still think about that.

Do you think about that?

With all the stuff that's out here, why does coffee need so much help?

Or does it?

It shouldn't.

Your Turn

I don't have this figured out. I'm still in the rabbit hole. I'm still buying gear and testing things and trying to understand what actually matters.

But I'm trying to be honest with myself about what I'm actually chasing.

So hit reply and tell me:

What are you actually into? The coffee, the gear, the ritual, or something totally different?

Has adding more stuff made your coffee better? Or has it made the process feel more like work?

Where's the line for you between helpful tools and just noise?

I read every reply. And I'm genuinely curious what you're thinking about this.

Because maybe we're all just trying to drink the damn coffee.

Oke