Now you got me excited about coffee discussions. Do you have any favourite types of coffee (i.e. blends, single origin, roast level, etc.)? What flavours are you into?
Also I’ve been watching Hoffman’s videos. I feel like so much of what he says and shares matches my experience and it’s kind of affirming, lol. I watched his moka-pot tutorial and it’s so close to my method that I’m kind of pleased.
A lot of my enjoyment of James Hoffman videos is vicariously experiencing coffee equipment through him and laughing when he tries something that disastrously fails his impossibly refined pallette as is the case with him trying this Aldi espresso martini cheese.
I resonate with a lot of what he says as far as flavor profiles although being an American who got weekday Twinkies in his elementary school lunches, I do have a much bigger sweet tooth than him.
I feel fairly out of the loop with espresso machines, so I started checking him out when I decided I was going to purchase one. A lot of what he recommends goes into a tier higher than I’m comfortable spending which is why I thought I’d see if folks had recommendations over here.
Some of my young adult gigs were coffee (Starbucks, Caribou, etc.) and I even briefly worked at a smaller coffee shop a few years ago as a second job to pay some bills. So while I do have depth in coffee making, I don’t have breadth of coffee tasting. Specifically I don’t have much of any experience with specialty coffee. I couldn’t tell you which region is responsible for my favorite beans. I can, however, tell you which brewing methods I prefer.
I do not enjoy the high acidity levels that often accompany coffee which is why I prefer cold brew to iced coffee. I have a little cold brew press with a metal sieve that I make occasionally- regularly during the summer. I also enjoy an espresso shakerato (no alcohol needed! Just a good drink!) which is at least in part driving my decision to purchase an espresso machine. I like a frothy cold coffee beverage. The place I work now has a vanilla iced latte that I’m loving, and I feel like my first goal with an espresso machine will be to replicate it at home.
Lol, I think he and I would get along. I don’t have high expectations for Aldi products in general!
Is there a particular video you are thinking of when you say this? I watched the video that was a survey of American tastes, which seemed to gravitate toward fermented and naturals, which I expected but isn’t what I’d label as particularly sweet. More tart and fruit forward. Is there another video where he talks about regional tastes?
His thought on equipment seem to align with mine quite a bit. Does he have a video of his home setup? I’d love to know what he owns for personal use.
I think the problem is that under a certain budget you’re just going to get a machine that won’t last. I’ve owned budget machines and they usually break with regular usage after around the two year mark. And without replaceable parts, you end up spending more in the long run. But I still think that to keep within your budget, try to splurge on the grinder to get a consistent and calibratable grind, and then buy a machine that fits in the remainder of your budget, as long as it has a non-pressurized filter basket, with the plan to upgrade later if you’re really into it.
Chicago indie roasters have a tendency to favour roasts that are low acidity with caramel notes. I love it, even though I’m a fruit forward naturals kind of person. Metropolis Redline is a great example, it’s why I mentioned it before. My brother can’t handle acidity, and he loves Redline. We used to import it before the tariffs made Metropolis cut off shipments to Canada.
I pretty much exclusively make cold brew for my partner, because that’s what she primarily drinks. She likes a medium roast with warm chocolate notes and low acidity, and so cold brew works wonderfully for that. Are you brewing batches, or single serve with your setup?
Have you considered a moka-pot as a first, much less expensive, solution? It’s not true espresso, but you can make a great drink with a moka-pot. You could start with a small pot setup, and a manual frother before deciding to splurge on a true espresso setup. I frequently use moka pots (in fact Hoffman’s brew method is remarkable close to the one I devised for myself years ago). My setup is simple, a small 4 cup stainless steel Bialetti and a Timemore Chestnut Nano. I usually drink a cortado or black, so I’m only occasionally steaming for the former. When traveling without access to a steaming wand, I will mostly drink black or a cafe con leche/cafe au lait. However, I do have access to a manual milk frother at a couple extended family homes and I’ll make other people frothed drinks. It’s not quite the same as true steamed milk, but it’s also not bad.
Bialetti Musa:
Timemore Chestnut Nano:
Generic manual milk frother:
Have you watched Hoffman’s video on his budget setup?
Lol, ok I think his personal machine is a Victoria Arduino E1 Prima Single Group Espresso Machine. That’s a crazy machine. That’s basically a commercial machine built for home use. Beautiful piece of equipment.
Is that good or bad? 
Haha. I thought it was good. I’m just a dummy nodding along to some good info.
So now we just need to add a coffee tour of Chicago cafes to our plan to do a bar hopping tour of arcade bars when we couch surf at George’s!
If a game were a person, what would its favourite drink be? I’ll go first with a softball:
Super Mario Bros. - home made wine from Nero d’Avola grapes, hand pressed and fermented in oak casks. A bit too sweet thanks to the home process, but still has good complexity, both in body and flavour. Full bodied with tasting notes of black cherry, black plum, licorice.
Call of Duty definitely orders an Old Fashioned because he wants to signal his masculinity.
I love long islands of any sort. Also any mixes with Coca Cola are good.
I’m a big fan of Chick-fil-A’s* Frosted Lemonade and have the inspired idea of making a boozy variation of it at home. Here’s the recipe I’m going to try tonight-
1.5 oz limoncello
1.5 oz vodka
3 oz fresh squeezed lemon
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
1 scoop of ice
I’ll post a photo with my thoughts later. I’ll probably make it like 5 hours after posting this when I’m home from work and ready to have an adult beverage.
*Chick-fil-A is evil and so is basically every fast food joint. You don’t need to respond by telling me they’re bad. I know!
I think this is a solid first attempt at this idea. However I have thoughts on how to take it from a drink that I have to explain to a friend that “this is my version of a boozy Chick-fil-A frosted lemonade” to my guest saying “wow, this is just like a boozy Chick-fil-A frosted lemonade”.
Chick-fil-A’s Frosted Lemonade has a grainy quality and whether that is actually preferably or not to the smoother consistency I got with my first try, a less creamy consistency would be more in line with the real deal. So I’d decrease the ice cream, maybe like a 2/3 or 3/4 size scoop. I made two of these, one for me and one for my wife. The next time I make this for me and my wife, I’ll use a scoop and a half instead of two hearty scoops. In place of the missing ice cream, I’ll add some extra ice, maybe a cup and a half per serving instead of a cup. I’ll also add maybe 0.5 oz of simple syrup since basically all the drinks sweetness is coming from the ice cream and you want to replace it with something.
You need to boost the vanilla in order to have something that isn’t decimated by the limoncello. Next time, I’ll probably do a teaspoon of vanilla extract per serving to ensure the vanilla is as present as I’d like it to be in the finished product.
I fixed it! It tastes remarkably like a boozy Chick-fil-A frosted lemonade. I would say that you could watch the blender a little more carefully than I did and pull the drink the moment everything is incorporated so you can keep the signature grainy ice texture. Regardless, here’s my final recipe:
1.5 oz limoncello
1 squeezed lemon
1.5 oz vodka
1/4 tablespoon vanilla extract
0.5 oz simple syrup
3/4 scoop of vanilla ice cream (I’m trying to be precise, but you can aim for a small scoop)
2 scoops of ice
I checked online briefly to see if anyone else has tried this and didn’t see any other results so let people know you learned about this banger of a summer drink from me!
I’ve never actually tried it. It’s pretty exclusive to Chicago, yeah?
I saw it one time in Wisconsin and when I asked to buy it, the liqourman asked me if I was a cop.
