John_N wrote in post #17792887
Damn you know you're stuff.
I guess hobbies are all the same - I was reading the part where you say start round 200-300, but really want to drop a grand and I thought, yep I've heard that before - so many times when talking about cameras (but scaled up to 2000-3000
)
Na, I'm just pedantic at times and tend to research what I buy - I'd rather not buying something cheap and wait until I can afford the proper stuff rather than buy twice.
I can also be a bit snobbish at times - and coffee is one of those points.
On the other hand, if I just want a quick drinkable coffee with no a priori knowledge, there is little than can go wrong with coffee (although sometimes it may have a faintly stale taste if the branch pre-grinds the coffee beans...)
If I am in a place with time to pick I can spend time to find some good coffee 
.
There tend to be two major problems with espresso based coffee when you buy it:
1) a sauer/sour coffee with an acidic taste (not quite sure what exactly causes that)
2) a bitter coffee - generally cause by burnt beans (looking at you Starbucks...)
I would generally say you can get the best coffee in independent cafés - I think it was Store Street Espresso in London (not far from the British Museum) where I had a nice Piccolo (it was more frothy than La Bottega - but both are good in their own ways, neither is inherently better, however my sample size for London is 1 while for Leeds it is "many" 
).
If you want a reliable coffee from a chain, Costa tends to produce the most consistent good results. Café Nero is also good and varies, some are better than others.
Starbucks is only a good choice is you want a sugar overdose (White Moccha is equivalent to nibbling on sugar - good when you are very tired) or when it is the only suitable choice due to location. (But I am guilty of getting coffee from Starbucks too...)
Other chains like Café Grand and the "railways chains" tend to fall somewhere into the middle.
From what I have gathered, the most important aspect of any coffee is apparently the grind - this is then followed by the machine with regards to temperature, pressure - and every water is different.
La Bottega for example had a lot of time to perfect their coffee - in fact it took them a little time to perfect it when they had to replace a grinder.
As to spending money on coffee:
This returns to the problem at the start - we have a crappy little espresso machine at home, but the caffetière will always make better coffee - and costs less to use (buy once, just wash plus coffee as running cost).
Some people swear by an aeropress - I have had aeropress coffee at La Bottega in the past and its nice, BUT its more work plus it needs filters, my caffetière costs less in the long run, if you use a metal filter/sieve with an aeropress, you get the same result it just takes more time... - I stick to the caffetière.
Mokka cookers/"Espresso cookers" or whatever you want to call these little pots are also a nice choice - BUT its is too easy to get a sauer coffee from that, plus I have never figured out what the correct coffee grind is... some say not too fine because it blocks the filter, others say espresso fine... oh, and they are impossible to use on a gas cooker (unless you have a camping stove) as they are too small for the smallest hob - but can also produce a good/great coffee at an affordable price.
And yes, many things can become expensive, but with the right choices you only need to buy once (and maybe pay for the odd unfortunate) repair.
I also really like Beyerdynamic headphones - DT990 Pro for home use and at the University I used T50p - but you buy them once and that's it - if they break or if a part breaks, you buy spares or have them repaired.
I guess cameras are the same... started with a 400D - then got a 5D MK II with a 24-70 to start in 2010 - I got a 100mm macro only in early spring 2014 (?).
Unless it is something that is truly limited, just take your time getting the things you want.
And just because I mentioned snobbish - did I say that I prefer to write with a fountainpen? On the plus side, it is the same one since Spring 2007 - A level notes, A level exams, university notes, university exams, then phd notes - same pen .
(Makes me think, it was a good choice, I went through a few fountainpens in my school time in Germany...)
As a little extra - it is really funny, but a flat nib as opposed to a ball nib can give you nicer handwriting, on the downside, it isn't as forgiving when scribbling quick notes, I'm speaking from experience here. Once for the fun of it, during my A-levels I switched pens between pages - it was funny how my handwriting was neater with the flattened nib... (Though I don't handwrite enough nowadays and my notes are real scribbles, well, as long as I can read them... )
And heck, if people asked me to write a dream list... oh, I'm sure I could write a long one - for example I'd love to have my own cluster with some quantum chemistry software, unfortunately, not something I will be able to afford in any time-scale of the foreseeable future... (The software is 10000$ for a site license unless one goes open source, but the interface for the one I like would be worth every penny of that price.)
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