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18 February 2022
We've been drinking coffee (among other things) for a long time without making it a hobby. We just buy it ground in a can and in a bag, the same stuff, really, that Arabic bean roasted for espresso. But then what do you do with it?
Well, you brew it. And over 40-something years we have acquired a number of devices to do just that.
We acquired some as gifts but others we acquired just because we thought they were fun or performed magic tricks like frothing milk. They all still work, too.
There is the classic Bialetti moka in a six-cup size. And a more elegant Inox that has seen a lot of use. There's a one-shot Alessi a dear friend just gave us for Christmas. And a French press just because you can't go through life without a French press.
There is a tank that can make cappuccino and then we come to the really fun one, which we shot four ways. Instead of steaming the coffee into an upper chamber to pour, it sends it directly into four cups (not evenly, either).
We have found this a very amusing way to end a dinner with friends. The driver gets the fullest cup and the one who has been talking the most gets the smallest cup. It's like an awards ceremony.
You might notice that we had more than a little trouble with autofocus. The reflections, we suspect. And it didn't help that these were all shot at f4.5. When we were editing them, we thought we really should reshoot them tethered to a laptop.
But we had a sudden urge to make some coffee instead.