Suspect this philosophy is mostly aimed at the hobbyists/weekend warriors among us but I’d be interested to hear the pros weigh in as well.

Basically, replace “coffee” with “gear” - what do you think?

Is this just overthinking the "ignorance is bliss" mantra?

they'll put you in jail for this in most parts of (southern) europe!

hahaha... touche! but at the same time, in Italy for example, the price of coffee is regulated by the government, no? so the best and the worst espressos are at least the same price...

Yeah, give away your JCF's and Motherships, give em to me and experience the beautiful downgrade when I buy you a perfectly new Steinberg interface. Let the race to the bottom commence. You first.

i doubt it (even in rome i had espressi from €1.20 to 3.50 two years ago), but yeah: drinking bad coffee is next up to a war crime!

It's only regulated if you have it at the counter... if you sit, anything goes price-wise!

great - should become an admendment to the hague conventions!

Covfefe-gate?

Bad coffee will just make you appreciate good coffee more!

It's a pricey but good tasting habit that gives out some extra kick!

I love gear but wouldn't give up my coffee to have more.

I used to drink maybe 10 cups of coffee a day till about 20 years ago. I lost my taste for it and haven't had one since.
I have maybe 5 expresso's a year still though, don't know why.
I'm pretty happy so I guess drinking the bad (sales floor) coffee actually did make me a happier person by quitting drinking it and yeah, bought a lot of gear since.
Coincidence?

ZenPro Audio ships coffee with your gear purchase. The coffee is pretty good.

Zen Blend Coffee (USA)

umm... I love the smell of new gear in the morning.

Expectation management is definitely a key ingredient to being happy. Balance required though. Not sure setting expectations to the "sh-t coffee" level is the move when great coffee can be had for not much more.

Sometimes I pound my head on the wall, just because it feels so good when I stop. It may not be ideal, but it's cheaper than your cheap coffee.

yea..and it's good!

Is there anything that that doesn't apply to?

Starbucks, Pete's or the Tesla blend or I don't work.
7/11 will do, in an emergency caffeine withdrawal...
Enough Said.

Light

Temple

Good coffee only please.

I'll have to look into Tesla.

Frankly, my 8 o'clock in the Keurig, divine. Better than any Starbucks blend (which is what I did exclusively before the awesome xmas present! )

I successfully switched to tea about 18 months ago, I thought it'd be for a few months but I ended up preferring it. I'll have coffee here and there but tea on the regular. This tea was a game changer, the oppposite of cheap, its very high quality (though isn't any more expensive than coffee really): Yunnan Golden Curls Tea

I used to drink expensive teas for years, than about a year ago I switched to rather cheap dark coffees.

I still prefer tea, I think it's caused by lazyness, coffe is easier to brew, for good tea you need muse, and time, the right feeling for the exact brewing time and temperature which is different for each tea.
Also I need to walk some distance to the tea shop to get my preferred teas.
Really good tea is more expensive than coffee.

I have an odd way to prepare coffe though, I dont use boiling water only hot water. Saves energie and tastes better.

Yeah there's definitely a ritual element to brewing nice loose leaf tea. Its similar to weed actually with all its different strains and the various tastes and smells and effects of each.

Years ago, during her "Bad Romance" era peak, a friend of mine had Gaga come to work with him. On her rider she requested an electronic tea kettle with temperature control (essential for a tea drinker!), and she threw a fit when he didn't have it. He painted her as a ridiculous and entitled pop star acting insanely spoiled, and at the time I agreed with him, just throw some water in the microwave you spoiled *****.

NOW though, having become a tea drinker? She was entirely in the right! 1. Its on the rider you agreed to, so you do it, period, she's the most valuable asset in all of the music biz, WTF are you thinking not setting her up to do her absolute best while she's with you??!! But also 2. SHE'S RIGHT, period, that's not even close to an unreasonable request. If the tea drinking ritual is a significant enough part of your be-creative-on-demand process, which I absolutely can buy into (creativity on demand is a challenge in and of itself full of ritual for many), then he blew the whole opportunity by not spending $70 to have one there for her. Did he get a cut with her? No. He got an angry Gaga and a misplaced "spoiled pop star" story that'll fool many and make him look cool to non-tea drinkers but ultimately has no value at all. Not spending $70 potentially cost him millions upon millions.

LIES



That's not odd at all, it's actually the proper way to do it. Boiling water will make the coffee bitter.

You're doing it right!

The most expensive coffee: Kopi Luwak - Wikipedia

boiling?! this would put you in jail for at least two years!

(got a pavoni a few years back at a flea market: cost my an arm an' a leg to get it goin, exploded several times in my kitchen, took me years to hit the right temperature/pressure - and then my coffee dealer moved out of town...)

My dad used to use Maxwell House. 1 scoop to a pot of coffee. As bad as coffee can get. If I brought Maxwell House home, my wife would throw it in the trash. Then I'd hear about it for days.
L.

Yeah, I watch a lot of cat shows and heard about that. One cup would cost bass strings for a year

I test the water with my finger, so it's not very hot.

Blecchhhh. Too many coffees, too little time!

I don’t care how much they wash the beans, or how good it tastes, I’d never drink that poop coffee.

I'm not advocating it but it shows the price-performance ratio drops off towards high-end.