Coffee as an industry

dfk41

I have been around the domestic coffee scene since the start of the Millenium. Back in the day we did not have the choice we have now. We thought we made great coffee with our Gaggia Classic/MC2 combo. A cheap tamper, shite beans but we were happy. Then an INDUSTRY started to appear. The first of these industrial machines I can recall was the Quickmill Verona. Our own Davec had a hand in that working between BB and Quickmill. It was the first prosumer aimed dual boiler. If I am wrong, then someone please correct me but it is what I think was the starting point for the rot setting in!

Before long we were told that to make decent coffee you really needed this set up. I can remember Dave telling me that a coffee machine was far more important than a grinder. Indeed, his go to grinder was a Mazzer Mini. I have been trawling the depths and I cannot remember what happened to change his mind. At one point he owned a Ceado E92S which was a monster conical. Of course he modded it, more technique to single dose with a puffer system to try and dislodge the retention which was monsterous!

As time marched forward, the coffee industry started to grow. More and more retailers all needing to offer the latest miracle invention. Loads of machines and grinders sprang up! Then assorted paraphernalia started. Tampers with flat/convex/dimpled basis, different sorts of filter papers, sprayers, stirrers, levellers paper discs……>I could go on. Then the specialist grinders started. Even I became entrapped buying a Versalab. It was singularly terrible except it gave owner satisfaction.

Then the Niche Zero came on the scene and neatly upturned the apple cart. A grinder that was everything other grinders thought they were at an affordable price. Yet people still buy the latest incarnations costing multi thousands of £'s in the belief that it will make them better coffee. Again, I hold my hand up to having taken part in this.

I am about to try and replace the Niche Zero I owned with another. I have a modestly priced Sage Dual Boiler and a commercial Eureka Atom 75. I have regressed! Surely when you buy new kit you must buy the latest stuff……but why? The machines just do as they are told. The skill sets come from human intervention…….here endeth the sermon.

LMSC

Cracking post — and I’ve done my own pilgrimage in parallel.

I went from decades of Indian filter with robusta‑cum‑sikory, then gave up coffee entirely and did a stint as a tea‑totaller, before Dave, Mark and company nudged me into a proper quantum jump: £100 machines to a JX Pro + Aeropress + Clver to Duo + ACS Evo to a Decent complimenting filter brews.

Knowledge does make a huge difference.

Clodius

It seems like you enjoy the gear as much as, if not more than, the coffee itself. Nothing wrong with that, gear acquisition is a valid hobby in its own right and keeps things exciting. Plus, early adopters help fund the R&D that moves the whole industry forward.

Because of my background, delayed gratification is deeply ingrained. Even if I have the budget, I need to do extensive research before making a major decision or spending big on a hobby. My brake pedal is usually stuck on from the start.

dfk41

Clodius There is an element in what you say, but also a serious point. I think it will not be long before we see a £5000 grinder and £7000 home coffee machines being seen as normal. Perhaps not so much in the UK but certainly in the US. The ‘industry’ has and is convincing folks through social media advertising (and I class all influencers as advertisers) that the new normal is xyz….and very needed as folks chase the thing that they perceive as might give them a microscopic advantage, whilst they itch their increasingly large testicles (on the whole since it is a male dominated hobby, but not exclusively!)

Clodius

Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) is a recognised issue in photography and coffee has simply caught up because the hardware became equally complex.

The dynamic is identical: in photography, people spend thousands chasing f/1.2 glass and 60-megapixel sensors to pixel-peep at 200%, convincing themselves it makes them better photographers. In coffee, people drop thousands on ultra-flat burrs and custom pressure profiling to hunt down a 0.5% extraction yield increase.

In both areas, the industry preys on the same cognitive gap, confusing higher spec hardware with human skill. Once a hobby develops enough variables to measure and tweak, GAS is the inevitable result.

However, expense is relative to how much value or satisfaction you derive from it. If someone gets genuine joy or utility out of spending £5,000 on a piece of engineering, then the price is justified for them, regardless of what it costs relative to the rest of the market.

Adrianmsmith

Clodius

Its a good job you are not in to hifi

Some spend 5k on speaker cables and mains iec leads and they can honestly hear a difference 🤭😜

Adrianmsmith

Clodius The dynamic is identical: in photography, people spend thousands chasing f/1.2 glass and 60-megapixel sensors to pixel-peep at 200%

No point, it needed to be at f8 to be in focus. F1.2 was a big mistake!!

delta76

Adrianmsmith 5k? those are rookie numbers. Nordost Odin is like 50k$ for a speaker cable and you need a bunch of other equally expensive cables to make it “work” (obviously they claim you can’t have a weak chain in your link)
But I’m fine with super expensive machines, as long as people do not claim it makes better coffee just because of it’s more expensive. Above a certain price point (5k$ maybe), it’s about look, craftmanship, brand, basically a machine as a statement of the owner (hey look I have this huge machine which is super expensive, and a luxury kitchen to accommodate that). in a sense it’s no difference than you buy a luxury car. It’s your money, your choice, and as long as you happy.

I am however concerned about all the tools that keep entering markets every day. It set the bar high for beginners and makes espresso making unnecessarily complicated for someone who wants to enter the coffee. Everyone should be able to enjoy a good cup of coffee should they want it, and should not be scared away from doing so.

Gagaryn

Since I bought my machine and grinder (Vesuvius and niche zero) about 5 years ago, I have replaced nothing and bought nothing. All I buy is beans. Coffee is for drinking, it’s not a hobby for me. It is entertaining though, watching others buy things, sell them, then buy the same things over and over again. Weird hobby!

Uncletits

Gagaryn no names eh! 😂

John_Yossarian

Adrianmsmith The speaker cables you mention must be made of gold as I cannot see the justification otherwise. But the claim that they “hear the difference” is even more laughable given how imperfect human ear/hearing is and how quickly we cut quite a bit of the frequency we encounter as we get wiser aka older.

John_Yossarian

Uncletits very subtle indeed