[ghporter]

Especially when their speakers’s drivers have dried out cones, and their turntable (“‘Cause vinyl is always better”) is has a cheap-@ss cartridge with a crappy stylus…. But those speaker cables will make it all better.

Any music lover that does actual research would know the frequency ranges their speakers can handle, then decide on cables based on diameter versus frequencies carried, and connector types instead of being “oxygen-free” and such. (I’ve edited this part a couple of times for clarity.)

We just recently donated our simple, basic espresso machine because we hadn’t used it in who knows how long. It made good espresso, but we found we preferred other types of coffee drinks. Having a machine that imports the beans itself, roasts them perfectly, grinds them with nuclear precision, then makes a perfect shot of espresso from that wouldn’t change the fact that we just don’t care for espresso that much. Which makes me think that a lot of the aficionados really don’t like espresso, but they just can’t admit that so they keep buying fancier and fancier machines hoping they will eventually like what comes out of them.

[Laminar]

What’s a good coffee shop in Chicago? I’m here for a few days.

[subego]

Intelligentsia.

https://www.intelligentsia.com/pages/locations

There’s a consensus it’s among the best, but I don’t bother comparing other places because I live right by one.


If you’re downtown, there’s one in the Monadnock building, which is the world’s tallest load-bearing brick building.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monadnock_Building

[Laminar]

Tried their double espresso. Hot baked bean water.

We stayed in Pilsen and tried the espresso at A Cup of Joe, same thing.

Went to Sip and Savor in Bronzeville on our third day and liked that espresso, tasted more like coffee and less like hot beans. Though I did have to wait at least 10 minutes for it to cool before I could even sip it.

Best food was the fajitas at Cantón Regio, even though their salsa was mid. I don't know if they purposely gave the gringos the bland stuff but was expecting better.

The Shedd's chicken sandwich was better than MSI's.

Also how dare they close the fucking bean. IT'S THE BEAN.

[subego]

Well, I was supposed to make it for you.

[Laminar]

Wait is the swear filter off? I wasn't expecting to see the f word there.

[Laminar]

shit damn hell fuck

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Wait is the swear filter off? I wasn't expecting to see the f word there.

It’s been off for at least a year now.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

shit damn hell fuck

Most people say this after they miss out on my coffee.

[subego]

What did you think of the MSI otherwise?

A genuine highlight of my formative years was going there to be indoctrinated with modernist propaganda.

[Laminar]

It was great - we have reciprocity through our local science center so admission was free, but we did splurge for the 007 exhibit.



11yo liked the exhibit enough that he asked to watch a James Bond movie.

Lots of highlights.


It was fun for me to show my family what I do at work, the Toymaker 3000 is basically my everyday life.



Lots of dramatic play happening on the trains and airplane.

Kids' favorite part of the whole vacation was the hotel pool in Naperville.

[andi*pandi]

parents plan amazing trip with new experiences
kids: like the cable tv in the hotel room, the hotel pool, or don't remember it at all

kid: I've never been there.
Me: yes you have. Dont you remember?
them: no

[subego]

The toymaker they had in my era.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

11yo liked the exhibit enough that he asked to watch a James Bond movie.

Moonraker.

My reasoning is he will enjoy it more at this moment than any other because it becomes more stupid with age.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

parents plan amazing trip with new experiences
kids: like the cable tv in the hotel room, the hotel pool, or don't remember it at all

Our AirBnB had a Roku TV so we were still able to stream YouTube and Hulu. The hotel TV had cable, which was I think their first time experiencing cable. It was made worse because the on-screen TV guide hadn't been corrected for daylight savings so it was wrong and the Sponge Bob episodes it promised were already over. We watched Bob's Burgers.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

The toymaker they had in my era.

The Henry Ford museum in Detroit has one that molds a 2008 F-150.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

Moonraker.

My reasoning is he will enjoy it more at this moment than any other because it becomes more stupid with age.

He specifically asked to watch one of the modern ones because he was afraid the special effects of an older movie wouldn't hold up. I let him know that good practical effects hold up well, and Bond movies typically don't have a bunch of CGI, but I don't remember much about the Brosnan movies which is probably the era of peak bad CGI.

Mmm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Yl9SahZJF-E

We watched No Time to Die.

[subego]

Has he seen the original King Kong?

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

The hotel TV had cable, which was I think their first time experiencing cable.

Beyond the issues with the guide, what did they think?

I would imagine it seems pretty boring compared to a phone or a Switch.



Edit: no friends with Luddite parents who still have cable?

As a kid, one of my best friends didn’t have TV. Every time he visited it was like a mini-Rumspringa.

It should come as no surprise he was way the hell smarter than everyone else. Also a brilliant DM.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

Beyond the issues with the guide, what did they think?

Frustrating because after Bob's Burgers ended there was only news, grown up movies, sports, or reality shows and even then most channels seemed to be showing commercials at any given time. We turned it off and went to sleep.

Edit: no friends with Luddite parents who still have cable?

Not afaik. If he's at a friend's house they're playing outside or playing video games. Our direct neighbors moved in during Covid so we didn't go in their house and they didn't come into ours, which kind of stuck? Neighborhood kids all play outside. In-laws' house is the only place where watching a show is the best option and they have Fire TVs so still no cable. My parents' small town municipal telephone company is trying to get out of the cable business so my dad is figuring out how to go streaming, not sure if that's happened yet. But my parents are very activity-based with the kids so there's no time for sitting around at their house.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

small town municipal telephone company is trying to get out of the cable business

How many more dead memes can we stack on top of this.

[subego]

Deliveries were screwed up because of the holiday, so I’m reduced to Colombian. Not bad, but not good enough for me to make a habit out of it.

[subego]

My stomach can’t handle it so I’ve pretty much stopped, but had some in season Alaka washed Ethiopian. Excellent.

Also glad I could still make it properly. I’ve been worried since I haven’t been testing.

[subego]

Set up standard issue for my dad. Ninja drip maker on the “rich” setting. Melita paper filters. Baratza Encore grinder set to 21. 60ml of Ethiopian per 500ml water

Review was “better than I was expecting”.

[andi*pandi]

A friend gave me an old fashioned looking percolator type coffee maker. The coffee goes in a little metal basket, no filter, and then the water boils and steams it? For some reason this method does not give me stomach issues as the mr coffee does. The taste is smoother. However sometimes the grinds escape the basket.

https://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beac...-8858951?psc=1

[Thorzdad]

It doesn’t steam the coffee. The water boils and rises up through the center tube, spilling out onto the grounds. As the grounds get saturated, the coffee drips through the basket back into the boiling water, to be recirculated back up the tube back onto the grounds.

[ghporter]

Percolated coffee is brewed differently from drip. With drip, the water goes through the grounds once. A percolator recirculates what’s already been through the grounds over again - often many times. One thing this may do is change the oil content of the final result, which may be why andi doesn’t have the same stomach issues with perked coffee.

I think there’s a kind of distinct flavor to percolated coffee. It’s not as much “different” as that it has different tones and notes. And yes, it can be smoother, even if it’s just as strong as Starbucks likes to make their drip coffee.

[subego]

After only a few weeks, my dad managed to mess up the grinder to the point it needs to be taken apart.

Upon reflection, I probably should have gotten him a Nespresso.

[andi*pandi]

I gave my parents a grinder years ago but they go thru enough coffee that the store ground stuff is never not fresh.

I'm again going to cause the coffee purists apoplexy because I discovered eggnog makes really nice coffee creamer.

[ghporter]

andi, eggnog in coffee is NOT some sort of aberration. It’s WAY better than “flavored coffee whitener products”. Ewww.

Once again I’m considering getting a burr grinder, but also again I have limited funds. All the recommendations from the past seemed to be wonderful tools but with bigger capacities than I need, and “elite” pricetags. What’s a decent, small capacity burr grinder that doesn’t cost $100 (or even $60 if possible)?

Also, compared to a blade-type grinder, what does a burr grinder sound like (loudness and character/description)?

[christ]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

andi, eggnog in coffee is NOT some sort of aberration. It’s WAY better than “flavored coffee whitener products”. Ewww.

Once again I’m considering getting a burr grinder, but also again I have limited funds. All the recommendations from the past seemed to be wonderful tools but with bigger capacities than I need, and “elite” pricetags. What’s a decent, small capacity burr grinder that doesn’t cost $100 (or even $60 if possible)?

Also, compared to a blade-type grinder, what does a burr grinder sound like (loudness and character/description)?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TIMEMORE-St...28&sr=8-8&th=1

[subego]

Motorized ones are loud enough you have to stop talking or yell over it. Not hearing damage loud though.

The character I’d describe as “wood chipper”.

[ghporter]

A “wood chipper” sound in the morning would certainly wake us up!

Amazon US has the same manual grinder, which is interesting. On the other hand, there’s a Cuisinart powered grinder for $50 that looks like a good choice too. Plus not having to wonder if I’ve ground the beans enough would be a plus.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I guess it depends on how picky you are. I would argue that super cheap grinders aren’t as good as just buying quality pre-ground coffee.

[ghporter]

My issue with pre-ground coffee is how fine (or not fine) it’s ground. The local grocery chain’s pre-ground offerings are considerably coarser than ground Gevalia coffee. We have bought Gevalia for literally decades, and we’re spoiled by their consistent quality and grind. I don’t have a way to measure how fine their regular coffees are ground, but it’s somewhere between grocery store grinder “fine” and “espresso”.

Drip coffee with finer ground beans extracts more flavor per volume of grounds, so grind size makes a difference. It’s possible to re-grind coffee, but a blade grinder is not the tool to do this.

And we recently bought some Ethiopian beans. I’ll probably get good results with my blade grinder grinding about 4 tablespoons (about 60ml) of beans. But… It never hurts to see, right?

[OreoCookie]

I finally got (another) coffee grinder for Christmas. Buying beans and getting your own coffee grinder is the best and cheapest way to improve your coffee game. Depending on the coffee bean and roast, you really need to change how coarsely or finely you grind your coffee.

[Laminar]

I've had good luck buying beans at a coffee shop and asking them to grind for me to my coarseness preference. Their grinders cost thousands of dollars - way better than the one I got off Amazon.

[subego]

How much of that money is going into quality of grind versus longer duty cycle? When do we reach diminishing returns on the $1,000 model?

Regardless, to me, ground coffee will noticeably diminish in quality after about four days

[MacNNFamous]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I've had good luck buying beans at a coffee shop and asking them to grind for me to my coarseness preference. Their grinders cost thousands of dollars - way better than the one I got off Amazon.

You need a burr grinder, not a blade. Makes the grindings super consistent in size, for smoother taste.

When I worked for Bunn Brewing redesigning their entire line of equipment, I learned the secret to good coffee: Water quality, and burr grinders. The rest doesn't really matter much in comparison to those two factors.

[andi*pandi]

Interesting!

[ShortcutToMoncton]

That’s what I was getting at — a super cheap grinder (burr or blade) is unlikely to be anywhere as nice as a commercial grinder at a local quality coffee shop. A blade grinder will probably just get you grounds spread out over many different sizes with zero consistency. Most people think that gives poor results.

If you want to actually grind coffee yourself then getting a nice burr grinder is step 1. You can get something like the Encore for fairly cheap on the used market, but it’s definitely not quiet. You want good and quiet, you pay for it.

Or else commit to buying freshly ground coffee in small batches once or twice a week, and use sealed containers…?

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by MacNNFamous 

You need a burr grinder, not a blade. Makes the grindings super consistent in size, for smoother taste.

Yes, I have a burr grinder. Not all burr grinders are created equal. The one I have is very inconsistent in grind size, and was incapable of producing consistent fine grounds for espresso. It's fine for pour-over, which is all we use it for now.

[MacNNFamous]

This is what I have, I am happy with it

https://coffeechronicler.com/gear/gr...rinder-review/

I don't have an espresso machine like Laminar because I'm not as fancy

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by subego 

How much of that money is going into quality of grind versus longer duty cycle? When do we reach diminishing returns on the $1,000 model?

I think even spending a little money goes a long way. Since my wife's and sister's budget were tight, I asked them to get me this manual grinder, the Timemore Chestnut S3. It is nicely machined and oozes quality when you touch it. It is a joy to use. According to the review, it starts to struggle with really fine grinds, but I'll solve that problem once I have saved up enough money for an espresso machine.

I could have asked for an entry-level electric grinder instead, but I felt like a quality manual grinder is the better choice. The only negative so far is the amount of coffee I can grind in one go, the chamber is slightly too small, it'll only hold 30–32 g of coffee whereas I prefer to use 35 g for the amount of coffee I typically make.

PS Do not simply search for “grinder” …

[subego]

I got my grinder back when I was slamming two entire pots a day. Electric was a must.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by subego 

I got my grinder back when I was slamming two entire pots a day. Electric was a must.

I can't drink that much these days. (I'm getting old.) Otherwise my sleep is completely effed.

A big plus of the manual grinder is that it is much quieter than the electric one I had before. Since I typically get up at 4:30 during the week, that is a huge positive. Otherwise I might have to get a more expensive electric grinder just not to wake up everyone in the house and our neighbors.

[subego]

The two pots a day was a few years in the past. My stomach can barely handle a single cup now.

It’s sacrilege, but I’ve actually been drinking a bottled Frappuccino in the morning.

[ghporter]

So does “entry level” mean “small volume” or “few features” or what?

[subego]

I gather louder, and has trouble with fine grinds.

[Laminar]

Within the "burr grinder" category, you have both conical and flat burr grinders which each have their pros and cons. But cheap (<$100) electric grinders are usually false burrs. These have cast or sinter-forged burrs that cannot be as sharp as individually-machined burrs, so they produce an inconsistent grind because they're doing more hammering or beating the beans than they are cutting or grinding.

Machined conical:


Machined flat:


Sintered flat (note the lack of sharp edges on each burr):