Do you indulge when listening to your rig?


I was curious how many audiophiles have a glass of wine or beer when listening to their system. I myself on occasions have done this with excellent results, although it's not a habit. If you were going to have a serious listening session would you, or would not have a drink. Thanks for viewing this thread!
phd
The trick is actually the Frieling press. All others pale in comparison. It's fully insulated, even the top. The coffee only has to steep for 4 minutes so it's very hot when you pour it. I boil water in a LeCreuset kettle on the stove.

Read the reviews of the Frieling on Amazon.
Donjr, My unit is not insulated so by the time it's ready to drink, it has cooled.

Frieling looks interesting so will pick one up.

Thanks!
Kinghifi, You won't be sorry. The entire unit is stainless steel. Not one plastic part. It's built like like the company gets what we want. It's very expansive but from what I can tell, it will last forever. The reviews (if you read them) are fully justified. It's only too bad you have to spend that much money to get a well though out unit. It changed the way I drink coffee. I grind 42-44 grams of coffee for it. The Cuisinart auto drip is retired. One thing is that it reveals bad coffee so experiment and find your favorite.
FWIW, another plug for the value of roasting your own beans.

One of the things that had always bothered me about commercially roasted beans was that in order to avoid the acidic and burned flavor of strong black coffee you had to drink it hot. Like drinking ice cold beer. The high (or low with beer) temp covers up a lot of flavor (Sometimes good flavors, sometimes no so good.), as does the roast times used to get 'dark' roasts cover up a lot of not so subtle flavors available in the different beans using substantially less time (Medium or light roasts).

I'm now roasting most beans to a 'medium roast' (there are a lot of gradients and technical terms, just like audio) and can easily enjoy my coffee to not only my taste, but to the last drop, even when it is very cool. No acid/bitterness!

When you get bored with pursuing the last measure of audio perfection, if you love coffee this is a very worthwhile pursuit and it is a considerable challenge, but not nearly as expensive.

Albertporter, FWIW I don't find the Technivorm drip pot all that messy and it certainly makes a great pot of coffee in 5 to 6 minutes. Much is made of bean grinding and the equipment used. I agree but it is IME an area where one should keep an open mind. I have two high quality burr grinders, but still prefer my old Kitchen Aid (made in India) blade grinder. I think it is because the mix which includes more fines than one would get with a burr grinders to be used for a drip brewer.

For those folks interested, but challenged and not up to roasting yet, don't think that having a scale to weigh your beans and a brew system that produces 200 degree water is a waste of time, just as having a vacumm pot to transfer the brewed coffee to immediately after it is done. It makes for consistent results and forms a basis for easy experimentation with various coffees, brew times, and grinds.
"Bean Freaks Hijack Audio Thread." Details at 11.

Thankfully it's coffee beans and not Fava beans. I need my liver.