Not sure about Starbucks either. I've heard good things about Blue Mountain No. 1 though, which is only a little bit more expensive than normal non-instant at £8ish for a pack. I have also read about some coffee that's special because the beans are eaten and then partially digested and excreted by some poor jungle animal? I can't remember what either the coffee or then animal is called, but I remember reviews were raving about it, exceptional allegedly. Uni, Long, Spec - Care to weigh in on some suggestions in this field? Haven't had a good cup in over a year! Look at it this way, you're 8 (You're 15 right?), years off being me now. Work hard (or become a member of the East India Club - Contacts help!), and you can pursue quality at every avenue until you decide you hate your job.
Definitely agree on the knives and the hifi. Both rank as some of my most prized material possessions. I've got one Tojiro Senkou knife and it's a phenomenal piece of kit. Outside of those two things, whilst I have a general liking of high quality items, nothing drives the passions in quite the same fashion.
Mister Tad is your ideal man for this topic, but in his absence I can say a few basics: The rule for British coffee shops is that they're bad until proven otherwise. In Aberdeen I have found a grand total of zero places that can do good coffee. Most Scottish cities are similar, London is better but there's a lot of crap out there still. Anyone who ever says anything positive about coffee chain coffee knows nothing about coffee, that's a rule I've yet to have seen broken. So you're making good coffee at home. Now, see that <£100 filter coffee maker on your counter top? Well it's crap, so forget about it. Buy yourself a cafetiere and make your coffee in that, it'll be a lot better. Now the coffee itself - do you live in a civilised city? If so, go to your local coffee trader and get coffee which has been recently roasted and is ground to how the correct size the day you buy it (unless you want to buy a grinder, but you're not there yet). If you live in a barbaric cruel city you will not have a coffee trader and must resort to using the internet to buying coffee from a civilised city (I like this one). Finally, take water, boil it. Allow it to sit for a few seconds after boiling before pouring it. The cafetiere gets 1 tablespoon of coffee per cup (2 per mug) put into it. This can be level if you like weaker coffee or heaped if you like stronger coffee, but chances are you like weak coffee, most people like weak coffee. Let the coffee sit for between 2-5 minutes before plunging. Then pour.
I really enjoy cafetiere Lavazza in the morning, maybe because it's the first cup of the day.. I have no idea whether it is a good brand though. High street coffee sucks, the best I can find is Cafe Nero's flat white.
You're thinking of Cambodian Weasel Coffee - they eat the beans and vomit them up before they are used for coffee - Stephen Fry's gift to Charles and Camilla for their wedding - as he said - what do you get for people who have everything! Starbucks is not the pinnacle for me - actually the best coffee I have had was in Cuba - only drink South American coffee now when I have time to make proper coffee. have to make do with instant most of the time though. +rep for the thread topic as well by the way. Finer things in my life (besides SWMBO our little boy and pet parrot) a 1960's leather danish armchair - aged rather than worn and so comfortable.. a 1metre diameter round coffee table in the sitting room - the top is a single 2 inch think slab of solid oak - great when you have a toddler that is capable of going no more than 3 minutes without engaging in some form of mindless destruction a japanese kimono style tansu made in japan traditionally from paulownia wood - much nicer than an ikea cupboard! Parker duofold fountain pen - though I rarely write anything these days my 1996 Mitsubishi Pajero - can't be doing with new cars- just oceans of black plastic under the bonnet and all the driving feedback of a remote control car. a glass of single malt - either a 12 year old Balvenie doublewood, or some cask strength Springbank - with a drop of water to let the flavour out properly my eBook - most used gadget I ever bought. I need to read the shaving thread - I already use a brush and have done for years so a smaller step into the safety razor world seems likely And yes my SSD and mech keyboard at home make my work laptop unbearable.
Everything he said! Unfortunately I do live in a barbaric modern city and there are no coffee traders here, so I either buy beans online and grind them myself or buy grounds online. If I'm really desperate and out of both, I can get all right grounds in a large supermarket. There's still no substitute for properly roasted and ground beans though. I've always liked Colombian coffee and am using the deliciously smooth "Finca Santuario Heliconias" at the moment. I can't drink instant at all now, I'm back to drinking only coffee that I make at home and green or brown tea everywhere else. People who drink instant all the time find that strange, but believe me, once you taste good coffee you won't want to drink instant either!
Chain coffee shops, and every coffee shop in Wigan for that matter, are crap! But Lavazza at home is lovely!
Compared to the tub of freeze-dried instant shite at work, anybody can make decent coffee - even when there is only mud and dandruff to hand. First person to get the reference, wins some rep...
+1 eleventygazillionbillion and one Much as it sounds mawkish (and I *may* have had a couple of drinkie winkies ) but shirty is right - life truly does begin with children, it's only then that you understand the true value of things and which are merely possessions and which are things to be cherished and held close
Blackadder I believe? Edit: Beaten to it. For me: A nice pen is quite something, have gotten into the habit of using biro type pens at the moment since I often just chuck them into my bag for lectures, and the scribbling I do when I get to those lectures is hardly worth the effort of using something nice Pianos/musical instruments in general I think are fantastic. No house should be without a piano of some sort! Cannot wait until the day when I have a house of my own with a room dedicated to a grand piano, really would like Steinway. There's also something wonderful about a freshly oiled cricket bat
Tonight I had braised squid with steamed samphire and home made bread, washed down with an ice-cold white Bordeaux. The finer things in life are good food, good drink and a good woman (or a bad woman; it depends on how much fine you can handle). So if you find yourself at a good meal in good company, raise a glass and toast: to survival.* * Watch Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Bugger it, I'm feeling generous What's your take on the Aeropress? For me it produces some beautifully smooth coffee although it is quite time consuming. Worth every second of the process though.
<3 I, for shame, use Muji's 0.38 gel pens on a day-to-day basis for university work and lectures. However, my weapon of choice for everything else, and in the future for writing prescriptions/patient notes will be my Mont Blanc Meisterstuck in platinum and black. My only concern is leaving it my scrubs! As for pianos, my Steinway baby grand has to live at my parents' until I get somewhere big enough to live...which is going to be a while
Having a very thick rare steak whilst watching england win a football match, followed by a few of my favorite herbal cigarettes!
The finest things in life? Hmm... DACs with integrated headphone amps - unbelievable sound quality in a ridiculously easy to use package. Any utility object that has had some extra time and care taken to make it a bit luxurious - pens, knives, torches, watches, etc etc. Something a bit less cost-dependent - a comfy bed and half an hour to appreciate it. Doesn't matter on the cost, but when you hit that epic comfy level (for me it's exclusively in a morning) where you want for nothing, except a bit more time to enjoy it.
