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#024 - Coffee – how the adventure begins

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Coffee, rabbit holes and home espresso – how this adventure starts
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It started innocently.
With a question: “do you watch any coffee channels on YT?”.
And then it went straight on — to another passion, another piece of gear and another technical curiosity.

And so the informal “IT café” was born — a conversation that turned into a mini coffee research session.

1. Where pour-overs end and espresso begins
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Everything you can do without a pressure espresso machine had already been done:

  • pour-over,
  • moka pot,
  • hand grinder,
  • aeropress,
  • chemex.

The last step remained: espresso.

And here comes the classic issue — the entry barrier.
Professional machines standing in Italian cafés cost amounts that are completely beyond reach for a beginner. Even used models can cost many times more than the entire home setup for alternative brewing.

2. YouTube and the beginnings of searching for information sources
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It all started with one video — about how extraction works and why the scale, grinder and fresh coffee matter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjJqOgFyCxI

Then came more channels, full of practice, theory and equipment tests.

What follows from this coffee theory?
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  • if you want to reproduce the taste → you need control,
  • if you want surprise → you can skip the scale and rely on intuition,
  • taste is one thing,
  • texture is another,
  • the ritual is yet another — and many people working remotely have those 10–15 minutes to pause over a coffee.

3. Grinders and uniformity
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The basic starter kit looks like this:

  • hand grinder (e.g., popular pour-over models),
  • aeropress,
  • chemex.

And then the question appears: “so why are good/very good grinders so… expensive?”

The key answer: grind uniformity.

The simplest analogy is frying French fries:

If you throw both tiny and large pieces of potato into the oil at the same time, some will burn before the rest even start cooking.
It’s the same with coffee — too big a difference in particle size leads to uneven extraction.

That’s why good grinders matter — they allow you to control the flavor in a repeatable way.

4. Machines, modifications and… DIY upgrade kits
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After the pour-over stage, espresso usually comes next.
And here an entire world of equipment opens up:

  • compact home espresso machines,
  • lever machines,
  • single-boiler,
  • dual-boiler,
  • thermoblock-based designs.

Each solution has its advantages and compromises:
single-boiler machines heat up slowly, dual-boiler machines use more electricity, and lever machines require practice and caution.

And then comes another temptation:
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mod kits for espresso machines, such as:

  • open-source controller projects,
  • pressure profiling kits,
  • electronics replacement,
  • custom control panels.

Examples of such initiatives:

Do you need this?
No.
Is it interesting?
Very.

5. A few practical (and less obvious) truths about espresso
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  • Cheap espresso machines can still make surprisingly good coffee, if the water is excellent quality.
  • Bean freshness has a greater impact than the price of the machine.
  • Even grinding matters more than the number of features.
  • Professional machines make a difference — but require time and energy to maintain temperature.

An interesting example was a situation where excellent coffee came from a very simple machine, cheaper beans and water from a local source.
Sometimes it’s the conditions that create the magic, not the gear.

6. Chemex – fears and discoveries
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Chemex stirs emotions — it looks almost too “clean”, too aesthetic, too minimalist.
Some people even worry whether it’s “real coffee” at all.

And yet:

  • it gives a clear, delicate brew,
  • allows you to discover flavor nuances,
  • teaches patience and precision.

And it often turns out to be a great counterbalance to dense espresso.

Summary: coffee as a lifestyle
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It starts innocently:

  • moka pot,
  • hand grinder,
  • scale,
  • first aeropress,
  • then chemex,
  • then a YouTube video,
  • then the desire to understand extraction,
  • and later…

…you start wondering whether to order a mod kit for the espresso machine and solder in your own electronics.

Coffee is not just a drink.
It’s a moment to pause, a ritual, learning, an experiment, and a small escape from everyday IT life.

And the best part is that even simple, inexpensive gear can make a coffee that stays in your memory for a long time.