It’s amusing how I turned into a coffee junky these days, yet coffee for me was somewhat exotic and distant, maybe a bit irrelevant too even a few years ago, just before the Covid pandemic. In South Asia, tea has been the dominant hot beverage for the last few centuries. Long story short, the British wanted to beat the Chinese in the tea exporting/cultivating business during the colonial period, and my ancestors, the skinny, poor sods were made to do it for them. The British aren’t here anymore (their ghosts surely are, I see them every day in education, law, bureaucracy, etc), but tea stayed. Flourished. Morphed. And even gave birth to a wide range of types, yes, that includes ‘chai’, which is a mislabel. Urgh, we call them ‘cha’ (and dudh cha is milk tea) as it rightly should be by its Chinese birthright (I'm not Chinese, no bias of that sort). I drank tea for 28 years. And then suddenly, switched to Coffee.
This blasphemous act that trampled the family tradition surely made my grandpa tremble in rage in his grave wasn’t really a conscious process. During the lockdown, tea vendors were forced to close shops. Well, some of them kept a back door open as we are terrible at following the law, even if it kills us—however I’m scared to die, so never tried those. And me being a lazy bum, I was trying to avoid making tea myself, so I started to sip those store-bought mixed coffee sachets by Nescafe. And of course, THEY WERE HORRIBLE! But I didn’t know that back then. It was good enough.
Eventually, the pandemic was showing its effects on the economy, those nescafe sachets got rebranded, and became lighter in intensity. After trying a couple of different brands, I had to resort to making my own coffee with instant coffee jars, milk, and sugar. I could just switch to tea but I think I got hooked by then. I tested all sorts of instant coffee brands that were available at the super shops and within months came to a conclusion, Davidoff had some of the best instant coffee—taste and smell-wise. I have so many empty Davidoff jars now that I repurpose them to keep other ingredients.
I am not sure what drove me to ground/brewable coffee after that, perhaps a desire to taste “actual” coffee and my friend @surrealfia getting me a collection of ground beans from 12 countries around the world helped. Now I get my roasted coffee beans from a local cafe chain named North End, they do have some amazing-smelling beans! I use French press and moka pot, and these coffee brewing methods are far different in taste and smell than instant coffees. I wouldn’t say superior, just different. Still, there’s something missing I feel like. Perhaps, I need to buy an espresso machine to be a proper coffee enthusiast! Tea is still on the table, however, mostly black these days.
Anywhoo, hello, this is supposed to be my introduction post to the community. I am in my early 30s and a 3D visualizer by profession. It’s been nearly 3 years since I’ve joined Hive and after a break, this is the first post in a while.
I’m a traditionalist when it comes to art. I believe each person ultimately finds their own art form to devote to and by engaging with it, gives meaning to life. Literary classics and arthouse cinema have been my poisons and source of life simultaneously. I feel guilty wasting time if I somehow find myself disconnected from both of the art forms for a prolonged time. Both Seneca and Thoreau’s disapproving stares haunt me! If you find this strange, this is the lunacy I am referring to in the title of the post.
Anyway, currently I’m reading a few books, The Magic Mountain by Thomass Mann is perhaps the most notable—a speculative fiction in its tale and philosophical in its intention. A young man of 24 goes to a sanitarium for a few weeks to visit his cousin where the patients are a multinational, multicultural people and the main form of treatment is “rest cure”. Mann takes a humorist approach in describing the daily lives of the patients—colorful, never mundane, the bourgeois society, and their questionable treatment methods. The young man cannot leave when his visiting period is done, yet no one is forcing him to stay. This novel reads like a semi-thriller sometimes.
That’s all I had to say, thanks for reading, and have a nice day!
A few of my friends are regulars in this community and came to know of it through them. I like what I see here.
All the photos are taken by me.
My bookstagram - https://www.instagram.com/la.vie.verbatim/
Buying an espresso machine will surely be a big step in the right direction hehe! I have tried french press in my early days when I didn't have enough money saved up for an espresso machine. However, if you aren't into lattes and cappuccinos, an espresso machine might be a waste. French press does a very good job. I have, for a few weeks, been pondering buying a Moka pot myself, we'll see!
It does cost good money yeah, and that's one reason to hesitate for me as well. It would be good though as I do love cappuccino the most. Try Mokapots doc, there's a page called Coffee Aroma on Facebook, I think I saw them selling recently.
Yep I know of the coffee aroma page. That's where I came across the Moka pot and have been considering it. But I think I will get myself a french press first because my espresso machine is in Chittagong and I only go to ctg on vacations now.
Damn! You do have a machine! Tell me more doc, how long it takes and how different it is compared to something like a French press. Or, is it similar to the coffee we get from cafes like Tabaq or north end?
I wouldn't say it beats the lattes or cappuccinos made by professional baristas with professional industrial grade machines, but it get pretty close - quite enjoyable actually!
The making of the coffee is quite fast, but it's the maintenance and cleanup later that starts to get tiresome after a while. The whole cleanup takes more time than making the coffee 😅
Comparing to french press, you definitely get a much stronger juice extracted from the ground beans no doubt.
I like what you do by recycling old containers ♻️✅
I've heard wonderful things about Davidoff, but I'm such a coffee snob that I'll be happy to take everyone's word for it 😆
That book that you're reading sounds interesting. I'm clearing space on my agenda to take on some good reading too:)
Im not surprised you've heard good things about them, Davidoff's are kinda popular among netizens, or so I've seen on amazon reviews.
Happy reading! What are you planning to read, by the way?
I'm not a big reader because I get distracted easily, but someone gave me this book yesterday, called Violeta by Isabel Allende. It's based on Violeta, born in 1920, and her hundred-year lifespan.
It sounds pretty interesting and I'm eager to read it...However, I don't realise that I have a little ADHD, until I pick up a book to read. Then, so many things that I want to do keep popping up in my mind.🙃
Ah, I am familiar with the distractions! They haunt me too. I try to minimize them by reading the book from the text and listening to the audiobook at the same time, two senses occupied, so I don't get derailed easily. It works for me. 😀
I haven't heard of the book before. Would be quite interesting to see world war 2, the civil rights movement, and other historical events through her eyes as personal recollections.
The "listen" function on PeakD is heaven-sent. I do that to help keep me focused.
Yes, I am intrigued to read about that part of her history too:)
Oh, on listening to the post, I've been using Edge browser's default read-aloud function for a while. It has amazingly natural voices from microsoft's repertoire. Works on any website. Or even PDFs, if you open them with edge.
Peakd one is good but i think they are using some open source voices, and these can feel robotic at times. Try edge sometimes and see how you like it.
Yes, it's bloody robotic. I've been trying to figure out how to change the voice. On my MacBook, it's a robotic man, and on my Android mobile, it's a lady's voice with a weird tone and accent 😆.
Listening is smooth and continuous from my Safari browser, but from Chrome, there are some odd pauses and missing some words when I listen on PeakD.
Thanks, I'll see what I can find.
Qoobee likes coffee beans... noted lol... I knew you liked coffee but when I got that collection pack, I thought it'd be ground coffee
It was ground coffee. Your collection I mean.
And the coffee beans I get from North end, they ask you if you want them ground or in some other textures.
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What an AMAZING office space Amor!!
I am rarely envious, but honestly, can we swap lives?
https://koacoffee.com/c/our-coffees/peaberry-coffee/
https://bigislandcoffeeroasters.com/blogs/blog/what-is-peaberry-coffee
Haha! I mostly work from home remotely, so I my home working space indeed looks like an office space. Books, plants and computers!
I'd gladly swap lives and go on those tours you make every other day! 😏😏
Haven't heard of these roasts, I wonder if I can get them in my country as well. 🤔
Coffee combined with books is wonderful😍
Like a match made in heaven ;)