I like espressos (especially mochas) but they take a bit of work to prepare a single cup. With drip brew, I can do very little and get unhealthy amounts of caffeination into my corpse. Also, I pour ungodly amounts of creamer into my coffee. That Mason jar is quite literally half coffee half creamer.
up front: everyone should do what works best for them. no judgement.
with that out of the way, yes, machines make coffee, and they’re easy. the biggest thing that keeps me from using one is the tubing-- if you don’t religiously run cleaning cycles (which is more $ for the cleaner chemicals), then you end up with internal tubing full of bacterial colonies, which, no thanks. that’s to say nothing of the reservoir. when did you last clean the reservoir of your coffee machine?
pourover = rinse out, air dry or towel dry, no moisture for shit to grow in
also, you talk about “grinding fresh for each pot” which i totally agree, but then you say “schedule the brew time” which means letting the “fresh ground” coffee sit in a coffee machine basket overnight, open to the world, which, as you know from working in coffee, negates the “fresh ground” bit. the coffee is fine, i pre-grind my own coffee. but i definitely taste a difference in coffee i grind immediately before brewing, and that which i grind the night before
cockroaches
i fucking hated that specific machine. i wish i never found out why.
Fair enough. And yes the cleanliness of those machines can be problematic and require more care, but not enough to be an inconvenience to most people. But I agree with you on that in general as well as the cost aspect.
I am aware that those two phrases negate each other to some extent, however grinding the night before is still infinitely better than store-bought, pre-ground coffee. Just pointing out the small steps someone can make to improve their current setup. No need to overhaul the entire system you have for yourself if a couple small changes can get you to a better end product.
My own experience in coffee has always just been “use what you have until you understand the reason for updrading or changing your equipment.” Make baby steps along the way instead of changing everything at once is always my argument.