Here’s a beautiful short film my friend Josh sent me about the proper making of Espresso:
I admit it. I have turned the corner into coffee-snobbery. What is something you buy in snobtown?
Jan
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2010
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I’m a coffee snob too, but even more so a beer snob. Quality over quantity, 100%. Also a sparkling water snob. San Pellgrino is way better than Perrier.
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We are total coffee snobs. Obnoxiously so. We have a guy who roasts fair trade/organic beans for us in his backyard in the roaster he built himself. He mails it to us the day he roasts it, so we get it less than a week after roasting. Those are my favorite mail days.
It’s funny the guy in the video mentioned wine. Our coffee guy is definitely that way. When he writes about the different selections he has available, he uses words like “fragrance”, “notes”, “body”, and “finish”.
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I think traveling with your espresso machine across the USA could qualify someone as an espresso snob…that and if you once owned a coffee shop…could totally ruin you!! Here’s our LoveFeast Espresso Road trip! http://lovefeasttable.com/blog/road-trip-breville-espresso-machine-that-is/
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Cheese. It is so hard for me to buy processed shredded cheese after switching to the “good” stuff. A block of parmesan, freshly grated in my pasta, or a delicious goat cheese on crostinis makes me so happy. I could easily be a food snob overall if it weren’t for my random spaghetti-o cravings.
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beer
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Where to start Coffee and Tea- only PG Tips for me, bread too! I buy snobby dog food for my pups too but justify it since they are allergic to EVERYTHING!
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have you just turned your face to Portugal?
expresso is our national drink, we call it “bica”
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Lydia says:
January 25th, 2010 at 9:15 am
@Madalena, OK, now I REALLY need to get to Portugal. What a wonderful place that has espresso as the national drink.
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Soup and tea. We have a cup of tea every night before bed and I love ALL soups. Lobster bisque at our favorite restaurant and I just made the easiest white bean soup. Wonderful!!!
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definitely tea. I’ve got to the point where I special-order premium loose tea off the internet because I can’t drink the stuff in supermarkets anymore. the pre-packaged tea bags, in my experience, are prettymuch the bottom of the barrel, crumbs of tea.
the only kind I’ll drink from a box is American tea, from a tea plantation just south of Charleston (only tea plantation in america!) and I find it to be pretty good for lazy days when I don’t feel like getting fancy with it.
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Liz says:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
@Jennifer,
If you are a tea snob, I HIGHLY recommend Rishi tea. Most of their stuff is organic, and they’re direct trade, meaning they don’t deal with importers. They are actually going to Asia and sourcing the tea themselves. http://www.rishi-tea.com. I was fortunate to be trained by one of their co-presidents. Their stuff is super high quality and wins many awards. They are a really respectable company. If you have a Whole Foods near you, you can usually get it there, but you can also order it from their website, which they have many more varieties there.
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Yarn. I refuse to buy yarn at Walmart, for example. I will never ever touch a skein of Red Heart yarn, ever. It’s terrible. I will use acrylic, but only good soft ones, and that leaves me with only certain brands. Put me in a good yarn shop and I’m like a kid in a candy store. My favorite yarn ever is Alpaca, because it’s just so so sooo soft and absolutely lovely to work with. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good yarn store near me anymore, so if I want the good yarn I have to order it online. It’s not as pleasant as being able to touch the yarn myself, but I use a store that I know stocks good stuff.
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chocolate!
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A website you coffee snobs may enjoy!
http://www.coffeesnobs.com.au/
Love,
Me
http://www.youaretalkingtoomuch.com
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Stationary. I am such a snob when it comes to buying stationary. I get such enjoyment out of sending handwritten notes on well made or quirky cards. Writing the thank you notes for my baby showers has been an absolute pleasure!
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Makes me want a cup of espresso.
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tea. only buy certain loose teas from our local leaves and beans shop.
and meat. i only buy from a certain farmer i know.
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I am incapable of using premade pie/tart crusts. I always make mine, and I never use shortening – all butter, all the time!
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I’m a snob…. about not being a snob… I am cheap and like finding deals and I let everyone know and I dislike when people purchase anything full price! I’m nuts.
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Beer, coffee, ingredients..especially chocolate for baking. Cheese…I just like good stuff LOL
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Very Cool! I love seeing how people make things.
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I am sitting here with my major grocery store cheese and all I want is triple cream brie from Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s is 122 miles away. I want my good cheese darn it! Store brand is fine for ketchup and toilet paper, but not for cheese!
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Art. I only buy original art pieces to hang on my walls. Sure, a print may look nice but it will never hang on one of my walls. I think I have over 50 pieces hanging in my house at this point.
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I don’t drink coffee (or have snobby tendencies to purchases… I don’t think) but that was cool. You never think about all that goes into the process of things until you watch it being made. Sort of gives you a new appreciation for it. Makes me wish I drank coffee.
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My husband got me a fancy Nespresso Machine for Christmas, and i adore it! We have to buy the coffee capsules for it online, since only one store in Norway is allowed to sell them, and it’s a two-hour flight away from here… The capsules cost about 60 cents a pop. But it’s so great to have an easy way to make my own latte in the morning.
I’m also a bit of a tea snob. We only buy loose tea at our local Tea shop.
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wow.. what a great short video. That guys definitely KNOWS his junk about coffee.
very cool.
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Pens. I write a TON during my work day and I have a definite pen fetish. I had a $150 Cross pen for awhile but someone ganked it. Shame on me for leaving it in my desk drawer.
I refuse to use those cheapy Office Depot jobs. I prefer metal case, pocket clip, refillable cartridge and must perforn in the rain and upside-down.
I buy pens in the $20-30 price range. Not a huge expenditure but for a pen I think that’s pretty snobby.
Great post.
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I have to take this moment to say that I’ve been to the Intelligentsia roasting and training facility in Chicago, and it was amazing. They really do have fantastic coffee.
I think I’ve mentioned this to you before, but I worked for a year at a local coffee shop owned by the head judge of the World Barista Competition. Talk about pressure. I know how to make espresso, that’s for sure. I’m a lot more intuitive about it though, and not as scientific, but more or less, I did everything the same as the fellow in the video.
Other snobbery: Well, I get paid to sell snobbery, as I work in the cheese department at Whole Foods. Oh, and beer and wine and chocolate. Pretty much it’s my job to fling all things luxury foods onto the general public, and therefore I’m required to taste and know what I’m talking about. Yep. Life is hard.
And I’m incredibly picky about what ingredients I cook with. Again, I’m lucky enough to work at Whole Foods so I can get great stuff at a discount. I’ve been hearing a lot about people I know deciding to eat more “clean” and am realizing that I guess to some extent my kitchen has been “clean” (with the occasional box brownie mix) for awhile now. Pizza crusts are homemade. Milk is organic or rbgH-free. Produce is most often organic. I’d say half the reason I buy this way is just the work-culture that I’m in, but honestly, the food just tastes a million times better.
So, in the end: Food/Coffee snob.
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I dunno…seems like a lot of coffee to waste for just one small cup.
I’m a snob, though when it comes to my needlework. I like to buy only stitching fabric that is hand-dyed. I don’t like just plain white or off-white stitching fabric. Also, my stitching thread is usually either high-grade cotton or silk. A skein of silk embroidery floss can cost $6.00 and up. I don’t buy a lot of them, though. Most of my embroidery floss is cotton.
I used to have a pen fetish when I was a secretary. I had a couple of Cross pens once but lost them. I had a great-aunt who was treasurer of Cross Pen Co. back in the 30s’ or 40s, so my family always leaned to Cross Pens. I will buy another Cross Pen someday.
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Kristin says:
January 24th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
@Carol Alaniz, I just went to sneak a peak at your blog, and the pictures of your needlework are gorgeous! You deserve to be a snob about the supplies you buy for it! LOL I’m a little jealous. Makes my sad attempts at cross-stitching look even more pathetic.
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Carol Alaniz says:
January 25th, 2010 at 6:52 am
@Kristin, Thanks, Kristin! Have stopped buying thread, patterns, and other supplies though, as I have enough to last me two lifetimes!
Don’t be bummed about your stitching. I’m sure it’s better than you think. I’ve found over the years that stitching takes practice. When I first began with the hobby, I was horrible–stitching didn’t line up in even rows.
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You haven’t seen coffee snobbery until your best friend’s roommate buys a coffee roastery. Now my BF can actually choose, mix and roast his own beans. yikes.
The only commodity that i am a snob about is paper towels. I will buy whatever is on sale of anything EXCEPT i will only allow Bounty paper towels brought into my home, ever. Random, huh?
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Kristin says:
January 24th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
@Niki in Baltimore, Not so random, as I’m pretty picky about what kind of toilet paper enters my home!!
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[...] This Is Reverb » I love espresso… http://www.thisisreverb.com/2010/01/i-love-espresso.html – view page – cached Here’s a beautiful short film my friend Josh sent me about the proper making of Espresso: [...]
I have never been a snob of anything, until, I learned a bit more about coffee, from you.
Out of curiosity we bought a french press and an aeropress coffee maker. I won’t have coffee any other way now unless I’m in a hurry and don’t want to be bothered, which isn’t common. I really enjoy the aeropress, A LOT.
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I was born and raised in Italy and I think I know a couple of things about espresso. The thing is, in 90% of italian households coffee is not made with any expensive machines. We use what we call a ‘caffettiera moka’, or just moka. The best brand is Bialetti, and it’s available anywhere in the US. I think a bialetti moka costs 30-40 dollars in the US, but you can find cheaper brands that sell for 15-20 dollars. (http://www.bialettiusa.com/products.html) It is cheap and it works great. Every italian household usual had a few: a one-cup (an espresso cup, not the measuring unit!), a three-cup, a five- or ten-cup for guests. Hard water, like they have in southern Italy or in Rome somehow seems better, don’t bother with bottled water. An unwritten rule: NEVER wash the moka with soap, don’t press the coffee powder, and fill the water in the lower chamber only up to the valve. That said, buy yourself good coffee, Illy brand is the best you can find in the US and the best ‘commercial’ one in Italy (we have the coffee equivalent of microbreweries), and it needs to be ground superfine. This is FUNDAMENTAL. If you can’t grind it that fine yourself, buy ground Illy coffee in a airtight can. Then if you have money to throw out the window and you are a design snob, you can buy an Alessi moka. But it’s still cheaper than an espresso machine.
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I was a barista for a coffehouse that used Intelligentsia coffee – wonderful!
But I’d have to say I’m a running snob.. is that even possible? Yes.. but I try to tone it down. Really I do.
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Chocolate. The darker the better. I prefer 70% cacao or more and a nice rich flavor. None of this so called “dark” chocolate from the Hershey’s/Mars/etc. companies.
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OK. I must confess that video totally turned me on. I don’t know if its because I am craving a cup of that stuff or that he cares so much about making good espresso and I love that. Hmmmmm. Anyway, thanks for the video. I will have to watch that again.
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Will not enter overly well known international coffee chain store – too danged expensive. We buy roasted beans at Costco and grind our coffee each morning – that is the extent of our “snobbery” – not buying preground coffee at grocery store. Mostly I’m grateful God made coffee and Juan Valdez and the whole coffee process ’cause I NEED IT!
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Just purchased a $300.00 machine a few months ago because we were spending too much at our local roaster’s place! Here is a link to their site and the most current quote from “the roasting room” – Feeling that we needed something deep, heavy and thick to get us through the winter, in the spirit of an Imperial stout, we are releasing this new ‘yet to be named’ espresso blend at 9am on Saturday, January 22. This new blend has a big earthy nose, rich mocha taste, and a sweet chocolate finish all backed up by a creamy mouthfeel. http://www.laveggiocoffee.com/ We are so lucky to have this place 10 minutes from our house!
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beer snob here.
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I did not realize how much of a snob I was until I watched this short video and made me think of all the things I really could not live without and pay a little for, never mind, a lot for and not even think about it. Coffee, purses, baskets, gum, shampoo, etc… Omg, I need to go to therapy!
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I am a movie snob… I HATE bad acting, unless it is (of course) Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti western. The poncho, boots, jeans, and well, the whole package makes up for the acting….
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I don’t think there’s anything snobbish about appreciating finely crafted coffee, or anything else for that matter. Having love for one’s work and having respect for someone else’s fine work is a beautiful quality of life that’s been all but hidden behind the shoddy manufacturing in today’s consumerism.
That being said, most of our family toiletries are from Kiehl’s, my worst (and greatest) indulgence.
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I am compelled to comment because I am thrifty and cheap, BUT I do buy the following snob items: Chanel nail colour – one bottle per year, the best butter I can get, high thread count sheets. The sheets are so terrific that last year my children, who can only ask for three gifts each, ALL asked for “silky kingdom” sheets – high thread count bliss. I can’t wait to read these comments. Wait, my daughter reminded me of one more, I tend to buy Sonic ice by the bag even though we have an icemaker in the fridge.
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Well, I’m sure it’s not expressos… don’t like them as a drink at all. But they’re AWESOME in cookies and cakes
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My hubby and I have become coffee snobs, ever since reading your post about the French Press! We were convince, got one, and have never turned back. Now we are so picky about the beans we buy and grind. So thank you, we never knew how delicious coffee at our own house could be!
And the hubby would like me to tell you he’s a beer snob as well.
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bed linens. must have beautifully soft sheets.
beer, coffee, real butter, cheese, and bread follow closely
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Bullets. Even though full metal jackets are cheapest I won’t shoot them. I like a nice soft hollow point.
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Oh wow this video is amazing. I worked for years as a barista at various places and did some training to become a “coffee master” in that time and watching this video makes me miss making good coffee all the time!!
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Where do I start. I am a snob in so many areas, except my clothes and my looks, anyway.
Wine, is the first to come to my mind. Dark, rich reds. A great California Cabernet. Served along side a medium rare juicy beautiful cut of Rib Eye.
Then sushi, real sushi, not the rolls, but the meat, yum, it has to be fresh and served on the softest, stickiest rice. No fancy shmancy sauce poored on top. Warm rice, cold sushi. Dipped in soy sauce with lots of wasabi. So much wasabi that it’s like a green soy paste.
OK I will stop, it’s only 8:15 Am and I am ready to eat dinner.
In Christ Alone!!!
Buffy
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Chocolate – why waste calories on something that is just OK?
Cheese from my local farm – amazing flavors, textures, and it reduces my carbon footprint
Beer – the subtle (and not so subtle) differences each brewmaster puts into his/her product, awesome!
Organic Locally Grown Veggies – they taste better!
Farm Fresh Eggs – the yolks are so orange, the flavor is so distinct.
Mayo – make your own in a food processor or blender, you’ll never go back to Helman’s again.
Bread – warm, bursting with flavor, crunchy crust, chewy crumb
Sheets – the highest thread count you can get, you will be amazed at how well you sleep and you will never want to leave the comfort of your bed!
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I have grown to enjoy good coffee but really enjoy it more in a latte or cappacino so I am not totally there yet…but give me more time. I do enjoy good breads and would have to admit that we grow some of the best beef you can eat.
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Call me a pasta snob. I am very particular about what pasta I toss with the sauces I make.
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