A Rambling on Coffee: A Change of Preference

August 22, 2020

Thoughts

Ok, so I have always been a Chemex fan for a long time. If Apple were to make a coffee maker, it'd be the Chemex. It makes great coffe, and ultimately makes a great instagram photo. It was my preferred pour over method until COVID caused a shortage of their proprietary filters that I had just run out of.

Then, one day at the local coffee shop, I saw that cheap, plastic, $10 V60 sitting on the shelf and I thought to myself, "well, Chemex filters are like $15 or something, so why not grab this v60 and pack of 02 filters for like $15 and try it out?".

Now, understand that I have had V60 pour overs before from coffee shops. It was never as good as the chemex pour over I made at home, and this meant to me that Chemex > V60. What I learned very soon though, was that it wasn't the V60, it was that I preferred my home technique better than most coffee shops.

The next morning, I made my coffee in the V60 pour over using George Howell's technique and I was BLOWN AWAY at how good it was. Full bodied and full of flavor. I was hooked. I now understood why so many coffee shops had moved away from the Chemex and were using V60s (note: it's also more cost effective I'm sure).

This caused me to realize that maybe I didn't really know my real preference or that maybe my preference had changed. Soon after I tried the french press again, and what do ya know? I enjoyed it as well (instead of thinking it was a bitter, oily mess full of sediment)!!

Needless to say, question your preferences. I encourage you to try again what you hated a year ago. You may be pleasantly surprised.

George Howell V60 method

https://www.georgehowellcoffee.com/brew-guide/hario-v60-02/