are we also coffee connoisseurs? Or wine enthusiasts?


I was thinking when I made my espresso this morning.

But maybe enjoying music (and passionately committing to the rituals and the environment conducive to enjoying music) has more to do with wine? Scotch? Cognac?

or do you ears work best when....?

grislybutter

I have never had a cup of java so that is out.  I like wine and I have very good and expensive wine.  However, it makes me sleepy so I don't listen to music while drinking wine.  I am a collector of very fine whiskey, not scotch and I do enjoy a small glass of Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskey or Jefferson Ocean Cask Aged at Sea Bourbon while listening to Foy Vance, Fink, and a wide assortment of Jazz and instrumentalists.  

 

So many beer comments...

I think I got the microbrew wave when I bought my first 6 pack of Ballast Point's yellowtail (at a 7-11 a mile from the original factory) that reminded me of my once favorite beer: Pilsner Urquell. 

They were an "alley" brewery, and micro in every sense back then, and they definitely reformed the business but it's hard to be excited about microbrew anymore

 

French roast.  Grew up around a percolator that was Always at hand. 

Wine?  Prefer reds....  Beer, IPA's mostly.

Hemp at whatever level of astonishment...spouse can't even tell when I've 'been there', except my sense of humour tends obscure...which is normal for me, anyway.

Have sampled nearly everything else you can think of.

Been 'under the radar' most of my life.

We all have our 'pref's'... ;)

I am particular about coffee--enough to grind the beans of carefully chosen brands.

I am definitely a wine connoisseur, preferring California wines and being highly selective about them.

But I don't rely on either of these for listening to music, particularly.  On the other hand, cannabis can certainly elevate musical enjoyment, so I sometimes partake of that for a listening session.

Grislybutter: You are thinking of the Croatian wine master Mike Grgich. He did a huge amount of work (uncredited) putting California wines where they are today.

Croatian reds, b.t.w., can be astonishingly good.

Well I can't drink regular coffee anymore. Decaf only. But I do enjoy wine. Does anyone think the coffee could be improved by switching out the power cable to the Nespresso? Please, I couldn't resist a joke....

Gongfu cha. (Kungfu tea - the Chinese art of tea drinking).

Many of our audio get togethers turned into tea ceremony marathons over the past 20 years... ;) Been infected by a fellow audiophile...  It's absolutely beautiful. I have a modest collection of clay tea pots, about 10 or so. My tea Sifu has an entire wall covered with claypots.... and these are small to tiny pots... each pot dedicated to a single tea. Gongu cha is way stronger than espresso, not for the faint of heart. Cheers! ; 

Jose's Organic Mayan Blend whole beans, ground in a spice grinder and processed in a french press with good filtered water,  Add a little unsweetened Califia coconut milk/ almond milk creamer to smooth it out. When we drink wine prefer a Pinot Noir. Both are mellow tasting not strong, the way we like our music!

No alky...just coffee. All coffee. Espresso, cappuccino, latte...All coffee. Best is Turkish coffee. Then everything else. And always with music.

Coffee to get the brain turned on, wine or Guinness in the evening to help it turn off. I probably should join a monastery or something to get off of both

@grislybutter It was cheap and fairly tasty back in the 1980"s. Just like my stereo was. My taste in alcohol improved as did my music gear.

 

@thepigdog Egri Bikaver was the number 1 red wine for the entire duration of Communism, I think it killed more braincells than any other brand 

Oops, it’s Peet’s, not Pete’s. For beer it’s Grolsch. I like single malt as well as the next guy, but my daily drinker is Johnnie Walker Black.

@grislybutter I used to drink the "Bull's Blood" Egri Bikaver but no longer drink wine and that Hungarian red is hard to find. Now it's IPA or DIPA. For coffee it is currently Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, ground by me and then into the french press.

I heard about him at a wine tasting. HIs name wasn't mentioned but the story is the same. Some of those wine trunks have very deep roots and easily accommodate cuttings and grafting. 

All the best,
Nonoise

@jond, yes, also the first Sheriff of San Diego

Unfortunately 80% of Hungarian wine (<$2) is still junk though

@grislybutter That Hungarian would be Agoston Haraszthy who brought cuttings from European vineyards in the 1850s and 60s and considered one of the founders of the CA wine industry. Also Hungarian wine was improved immeasurably by the fall of the Iron Curtain and Western investment in it's vineyards.

I love coffee, but love wine even more.  You'd think I'd have a stake in Kirkland wine, but I don't.

Cannabis enthusiast here! Never liked the taste of coffee and am not drinking alcohol these days, 'cause beers I like (British cask-conditioned real ales) are too hard to come by.... 

@edcyn

wine indeed improved a lot in Hungary (my home country) in the last 2 decades, as they restored the tradition. The famous story about California's wine is that it was started by a Hungarian. Whoever did it, I am happy with the results.

Not a big expert in South American wines, but the ones I tried were all high quality

Though a little goes a long way for me, I also admit to being a wine lover. I don't have a truly deep knowledge of what is what, but I can say that the times I've been to France the red has been second to none. And yeah, spent time in Burgundy and Bordeaux. Did some wine-tasting, but never got much past just telling the waiter/waitress to bring us a half liter of local red, white, sparkling or whatever. Wine was excellent in Hungary, Chile, Argentina & Uruguay, too.  Northern California? Yeah! I even enjoy a good Rose.

that’s pretty deep, some of you are into coffee too.

I tried a lot of brands and stuck with Illy’s. I know it’s not from a farmer who reads Greek poems and has a goat named Ghandi; I leave that to the coffee shops. I am still in search for the best espresso that I can’t spoil with cream and sugar.

@edcyn: You just reminded me of the "cleanest" tasting coffee I've ever had---Kona. I don't remember the brand, just the taste. Made my regular (Pete's Sumatra) seem like mud.

johnto -- My La Pavoni eventually went belly-up and now statue-esqely sits atop my LP shelf. To be sure, me & the wife pulled lots of first class espresso from that machine but when it died there wasn't anybody around to fix it..Even the guy who fixed it several years previously no longer wanted to touch it..

 

Anyway, we replaced the La Pavoni with a Bezzera BZ13. It's pretty much completely automatic, as opposed to the Pavoni's demand that you have hands like Itzak Perlman or Arturo Toscanini if you wanna proper cup of Eye-talian Joe. I must report, as well, that the quality of espresso we brainlessly get from the Bezzera is outstanding. Truly in league with the stuff you might get at the corner bar in Milano. BTW, the beans we put into the Bezzera are the Illy brand, which we are able to get at the local Safeway. We grind the whole beans in a Rancilio grinder. The wife prefers one setting. I prefer another.

The wife and I are also extremely fortunate that we live on the Big Island of Hawaii. There are more than a few small growers, each of whom grow & roast their own version of the truth. Whether you do a drip or put it in the French Press, it'll make you smile.

I like coffee and drink good coffee made with a french press but wine is my job and my passion.

I get Yurgachef beans that have a blue berry note. Amazingly good.  I love wine but can't get past the martini these days because Thelonius sounds so live on my system

jh

I get my coffee from a nearby commercial roaster. Nothing like getting your coffee roasted the day you buy it. Nothing fresher (I'm spoiled). I only get Iwaki beans (Papa New Guinea), grind them myself and use the pour over method. Don't forget to let it seep for 4 minutes after pouring and that way, you get the most flavor possible.

As for wine, I stick to reds.

All the best,
Nonoise

I have a small roaster and buy green beans from Coffee Corral on the web.  I have a technivorm pot which brews water at the 170 temp!  Then I put on the music and just be present.  Yes!

NSMT 100's

Esoteric N05XD

Pass Labs XA25

Lol, My wife likes Caribou coffee and I like Peets or this place in KC, MO called The Roasterie. Neat place with tours and tastings. As for spirits, I alike Pinots & Tawny Ports and she likes just about everything.😅. I barely drink anymore, but she does give me a small taste of most things.

Wine and fountain pens. I used to be pretty into coffee… maybe cameras… yeah… I love my Leica M-10… I am eying a M-11.

As for wine - - I prefer reds and generally buy whatever's good and cheap at Costco.  This evening I'll have a bit of Monte Oton 2018 - a very nice Spanish garnacha.  Hard to go wrong at $6.89/bottle.

I buy whole roasted beans from Peets and grind them in a Baratza Vario.  Then brew in a KitchenAide pour over brewer.  Very fine results.

I have a manual Flair espresso maker. Dumped my ascaso when it broke after a year. 

after work, a glass of citrusy Chardonnay or local IPA will complement Van Morrison like a charm 

Coffee and no wine, do not roast my own beans I simply do not have the time, Community coffee is just fine. Stronger the better when it comes to brew. Do enjoy a Guinness Stout from time to time when I want to unwind.  

I drink coffee by the 'gallons' so I can't be bothered with Expresso but I do roast my own beans. Sort of like getting the right tone from my audio system I find it quite important to do the roasting myself. 

Love California Cabs (10+ years old) drunk while conversing with friends. 

No alcohol with audio! (Or drugs, etc.) :-)

I love the ritual of making espresso in my manual La Pavoni machine it's time consuming but worth it like cleaning and playing an LP.

I also enjoy roasting my own coffee beans another ritual process.