[yifanl]

I mean, for better or worse, we've accepted pour-overs are the way to go at home. I have a 60 dollar setup that's been great for me for 6 years. I'm sure I could be convinced a 600 dollar setup tastes better and is more convenient and whatever, but I don't care too much when I just need to serve myself and my roommate.

But this article is about the cafe setting, where it'd be irresponsible to limit customers based on how fast you can handgrind beans, and that's where salesmanship works its magic. And yes, some of it's pure snobbery, but even that's a marketing point if you're the only coffeeshop on the block with the all-copper setup :P

[Kirby64]

The not-so-secret truth is that espresso isn't an 'upgrade' from pour overs, it's just a fork in the coffee road. They're different beverages altogether. Pour overs/drip/brewed coffee is not necessarily worse, and in many cases can exceed espresso quality depending on the bean and other equipment.

The trap a lot of people get themselves into is thinking they'll "upgrade" to an espresso setup (usually spending $500+ to do so), only to be disappointed compared to their even modestly priced ($60, as you say) pour over.

The absolute peak of pour over setups only really needs to cost maybe $300-400, and most of that is in the grinder. Anything more is essentially a waste. But espresso can easily get you into the $10k+ range with expensive machines, silly grinders, accessories, and more.

[fy20]

Or just do as the Italians do, and make coffee in a 30 year old mokapot, using ground coffee bought from a store.

[mock-possum]

I’ve never been able to get a cup of coffee I’ve liked out of a mokapot :(

[dagw]

Two mistakes I made, and often see people do, when first using a moka pots is a) use an espresso grind on their coffee and b) to tamp down the coffee in the basket like you would when making espresso. Once I started to use a slightly coarser grind, halfway between espresso and pour over, and stopped tamping down the coffee (just tap it lightly to make it level is enough), I got much better results. Also remember that moka is not espresso. Too many people think they can replicate an espresso using a moka pot and just end up disappointed with the results.

[matrix87]

> we've accepted pour-overs are the way to go at home

I do espresso, that's just my preference. If the shot comes out right, it has these flavors that are really hard to describe (can't find an appropriate word here)

But consistency is hard