I went down the rabbit hole. I bought a Rok cheaply on ebay and a Chinese hand grinder. I spent ages messing around trying to get things right. Often it makes an amazing espresso, but also it makes not so good tasting drinks and you wonder what you did wrong. Making it takes 5 - 10 min. On forums people say that the Robot is great, but that is a considerable investment that seems way over the top to me. After all, in the words of poet John Cooper Clarke “It’s a hot drink”
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Me too. Bit sad here in the Springs, got neighbors three doors down I’ve never met. Probably the fallout of fewer generational families, or somesuch.
I’m developing an informal study of coffee rituals. Oh, not the Japanese-style of tea rituals, more the social dynamics. For instance, you can go to most any decent breakfast place in town and find “Kaffeeklatsch”, gaggles of at least two old guys enjoying the company. My neighbor and I (well, I do know at least one…) do this every month or so.
The railcar group meets for work every other Saturday. 10:30 is ‘coffee break’, lasting usually about a half an hour, primarily talk about the on-going work but the conversation can and does wander. Similar with work sessions at the railroad itself in Antonito, but those are early-morning, before work starts.
Another in Antonito occurs at the restaurant that serves breakfast (there are two, the other is a lunch-dinner Mexican affair). If you go in early enough, you can observe the town patriarchs in the corner by the kitchen, sipping coffee and conversing in Spanish. Restaurant manager even put up a little ‘curmudgeon’s corner’ sign on the wall by the table.
Writing this waiting for my wife, we’re meeting our twin 19yo granddaughters for breakfast, and coffee. Dialogue at these is mostly one-way, listening to the youngsters’ plans and dreams. Over coffee.
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