morning brew

I don’t drink a lot of coffee but when I do I know what I like. I’m not a fan of dark roast unless it’s sweetened, and I like strong black after dinner but generally I prefer milky coffee but made with skimmed. I find cream in coffee too heavy unless, again, it’s sweetened. And preferably with a shot of whisky.

Coffee is a power shot to get me through the day. My first drink is a cup of tea – I need to rehydrate – but my first cup at my desk is coffee. When I used to make a cup and run I used instant but I got tired of people stealing my coffee. Nowadays I spend some time in the common room in the morning so I have time to make and enjoy a cup.

I bought a cafetière for work which is fine except now it’s chipped and a bit warped and it sometimes goes missing for a while. I quite like sainsburys mellow blend but I’ve been moving round various ground coffees. Aldi was not too bad, but most others are a bit rough for me. Then a friend wrote a very interesting Facebook post about coffee and it was explained to me that the problem was probably that my coffee was a) pre-ground, b) made in a way I don’t like. I had no idea that press, drip etc. gave such different results.

I decided to take out a Pact subscription for their fresh grind. Yes this is a cynical refer link , I confess to get the free V60 dripper. My first cup was a revelation. My coffee was smooth, fragrant and full of flavour. I dreamt of waking up the next day and being able to have another cup.

But… it’s a long time between cups at home for me and the coffee did lose some of its charm before the end of the bag. Although I am incredibly lazy I bought a manual burr coffee grinder and changed my sub to beans. I mentioned this in work.. “why don’t you go to Crosby Coffee?”

The wha’? The who? Where?

Crosby has a roastery. I did not know this. Plus they have a subscription option so I’ve swapped my sub with Pact back to ground and I’m trying whole beans from Crosby Not a referral link. This morning my coffee was their lovely trio blend. I’ve bought another dripper for work. Let’s see how it goes. I’m going to continue searching for a cheaper alternative for work although I’ve not had much luck so far (current rejects are Lyons ground and Lidl Columbian beans, although they are handy for checking my grind settings).