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Coffee
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Everything Else
1. It's hard to find good coffee anywhere else.
There’s no getting away from the fact that coffee shops are suffering in a big way right now and whilst I don’t want to be insensitive about that (and as coffee shop operators ourselves, we're also feeling that pain), the chances are that this strange situation the country/world finds itself in right now is also affecting you and your coffee habits too.
You’re probably not going out to work (not in the usual way at least) and even if you are there is nowhere open for you to get that great coffee that you’ve been used to - and that hurts, right? So, if you've ever thought about trying to make better coffee at home, this is probably the best time to do it.
Now, independent coffee shops are really going to need you after all this is over and hopefully you'll have one close by that you can support and visit regularly. People who work in coffee shops are the perfect people to share your new passion with too!
2. Coffee is less expensive than you think.
Ok, so one positive aspect of the first point is the fact that you’re saving some money right now. Aside from that though (and despite the fact that a lot of people consider coffee to be expensive), it compares pretty favourably as far as cost goes to other indulgences.
Value is about so much more than price, as we all know. It’s easy enough to spend under £2 on a coffee in the UK and the reality there is that if you do that, you’re being ripped off. The coffee you bought is cheap and nasty, it has to be for someone to be able to sell it for £2 and make any sort of profit on it.
In a speciality coffee shop, you may pay double that, but what you’re buying is in a completely different league in terms of quality and you’ll enjoy it so much more - but you're also paying for the time and skill it takes to make the coffee as much you are paying for the coffee itself.
Take things one step further though and it gets really interesting. Let’s say you buy 1 kg of our most expensive coffee (because you really probably should). Well, if you do - you can make a coffee at home that will cost you around 54p per cup. Yes, that’s right - our most expensive coffee for less than a quarter of the price that you’ll pay for some truly awful beverage from your local garage or wherever.
3. You can create beautiful moments of peace and tranquillity in your own home.
So, we’ve established that the coffee lovers options are currently severely limited and that coffee is affordable for a lot of people, especially if they make it themselves. The best bit though is the pleasure you’ll get from making and enjoying coffee at home. Firstly, there is the ritual. For me, I make my first coffee with an Aeropress early every morning, while the rest of my family are asleep. This ritual is part of my waking up routine and those few minutes of sitting down and waking up my body whilst experiencing extreme joy in the depth of flavour in my cup are moments that I cherish and look forward to. It’s the perfect start to my day and it could be the thing that gets your day off to a great start too.
4. It's a habit that will serve you long after this is all over.
Start now and by the time everything is back to normal, you could be making really good coffee - and not just for yourself. You’ll be able to share your new-found love for speciality coffee with your friends and family. You’ll no doubt have to get yourself a little set-up at work too. In fact, there’s no way you’ll be going to the vending machine or the local Costa again and so not only do the savings continue, but you get to drink decent coffee ALL the time (not everyone is lucky enough to live or work near a good independent coffee shop after all).
5. It's a fantastic new hobby!
Like a lot of things, it’s pretty easy to disappear down a rabbit hole when it comes to trying to understand how brewing coffee works - but at the same time, it’s also very simple and you don’t necessarily need a lot of expensive equipment to get going. In fact, you can get by just fine as long as you have a decent grinder and a set of weighing scales that weigh fairly accurately in 0.1g increments. Of course, like anything else, you can go to extremes and spend thousands trying to find perfection but it’s really not necessary, trust me.
So, there you have it. I hope I’ve helped you decide that now is the perfect time to get into driving better coffee. I’m working on some ‘keeping it simple’ brew guides that I’ll get out on the blog here in the next week or two. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch if you have any questions and I’ll be more than happy to help if I can. If you want to give it a try, get that grinder and those scales and find yourself some decent beans. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.
