My journey with coffee actually started over 20 years ago in Australia. I had the chance to work in a small shop there, and if you know anything about Australian coffee culture, you know they don't mess around.
Look, I get it. I’ve been there. You walk into a specialty cafe, see that gleaming, chrome-plated Italian beast on the counter, and you think, "If I just had that machine, my morning sludge would taste like that $8 latte down the street."
The Moka pot is one of those brewing methods that always seems to remind me of camping, it’s analog, and it produces a cup that is rich, bold, and incredibly close to espresso, without the need for a $3,000 machine on your counter. You can also use it almost anywhere with a heat source and some water.
The Nespresso Vertuo Plus is one of those machines that looks clean, feels convenient, and promises great coffee with almost no effort. I get why people consider it. I have spent years trying, testing, and upgrading home coffee setups, and I understand the appeal of something that claims to take the guesswork out of brewing.
Why I Recommend the Fellow Ode Gen 2 (And the Baratza Encore if You’re on a Budget)
Why I Recommend HubSpot to Every Mission-Driven Organization I Work With
If you’re just getting started with making better coffee at home, there’s one tool that will make a bigger difference than you think: a good burr grinder. And for me, the Baratza Encore was that tool for over five years.
When I moved back to Hawaii, one of the things I didn’t expect to miss so much was my favorite coffee. You can find some incredible Kona roasts locally, but I was used to variety, all the flavors and profiles I’d come to love during my time in Australia and travels around the mainland. For a while, I figured I’d just have to settle.