Espresso Enthusiasts

[Shrink]

Oh, dear.

When I read words that include 'salt-of-the-earth' or 'regular-guy' (is there a female equivalent? Gender awareness and issues aside, I doubt it would describe me, anyway), I know that something is coming down the tracks.

Reverting back to coffee: What are the differences between the French Roast, and the Diesel Blend coffees?
[doublepost=1470748185][/doublepost]But, I do, somehow, seem to recall that it was a 'regular guy' - albeit an aficionado - at expert level - of the arts of coffee and espresso making - who started off the discussion which referred to our 'orangy, fancy schmancy' coffee post and mugs.

They are similar bean blends, with different roasts. The French Roast is a bit darker, and therefore a bit more bold, than the Diesel.

Apologies for the unintended gender specific "regular guy" usage...make that "regular person". Of course, I am both a "person" and a "guy".

 

[mobilehaathi]

They are similar bean blends, with different roasts. The French Roast is a bit darker, and therefore a bit more bold, than the Diesel.

Apologies for the unintended gender specific "regular guy" usage...make that "regular person". Of course, I am both a "person" and a "guy".

Are you? I don't know. Maybe we should tighten those neck bolts. Now, where is my wrench...

 

[Scepticalscribe]

They are similar bean blends, with different roasts. The French Roast is a bit darker, and therefore a bit more bold, than the Diesel.

Apologies for the unintended gender specific "regular guy" usage...make that "regular person". Of course, I am both a "person" and a "guy".

Oddly enough, when I see something that markets itself as 'Diesel' anything, a mental image of something thick, and black, and oily comes to mind. Therefore, I would have assumed that this coffee was by far the stronger (or more robust) of the two, although I already know that French Roast tends to be pretty strong.

As for language, - and how it is used - it is one of my absorbing interests, almost a passion.

Viewed from here, "regular guy" (and I know that you were using it ironically) is one of these expressions that infests political discourse in the US. The real irony is that those who invoke it the readiest, or are most loud in its usage, can rarely be described as 'regular guys'. But I find the need to pretend - or to try to give the impression that you are a 'regular guy' (when, manifestly you are - one is - not) is quite fascinating. This tendency is far less pronounced in Europe.

Are you? I don't know. Maybe we should tighten those neck bolts. Now, where is my wrench...

Hm. A loose neck bolt? Perhaps.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Viewed from here, "regular guy" (and I know that you were using it ironically) is one of these expressions that infests political discourse in the US. The real irony is that those who invoke it the readiest, or are most loud in its usage, can rarely be described as 'regular guys'. But I find the need to pretend - or to try to give the impression that you are a 'regular guy' (when, manifestly you are - one is - not) is quite fascinating. This tendency is far less pronounced in Europe.

Oh, now, are you familiar with the "nice guy" phenomenon?

 

[Shrink]

Hm. A loose neck bolt? Perhaps.

...and not too much between the ears, either.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Oh, now, are you familiar with the "nice guy" phenomenon?

I have seen it referred to - what context do you mean here?
[doublepost=1470752540][/doublepost]

...and not too much between the ears, either.

Ah, no.

Not at all.

Your erudition, wit and vast life experience shines through your posts....

 

[mobilehaathi]

I have seen it referred to - what context do you mean here?

Well, in short, he is a self-obsessed self-proclaimed nice guy who blames women for their lack of interest in him. We probably shouldn't go on about it in this thread.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Well, in short, he is a self-obsessed self-proclaimed nice guy who blames women for their lack of interest in him. We probably shouldn't go on about it in this thread.

Ah, yes. Harris O'Malley (aka Dr Nerdlove) - yes, my reading matter is exceedingly eclectic, but this is a pretty good blog - has written about this phenomenon.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Working at home today, brewing lots of coffee, and preparing for an extended trip to the mountains starting tomorrow.

 

[Shrink]

Enjoy the coffee...and my envy for your trip to the mountains.

Of course, for me, roughing it means slow room service...

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Working at home today, brewing lots of coffee, and preparing for an extended trip to the mountains starting tomorrow.

Enjoy the trip to the mountains.

I'll admit that I am ambivalent on that sort of thing; while I like scenic views, I suspect that I like them best when viewed from the windscreen of a car.

Long hikes - Germans (with long, limber limbs, and effortless loping strides) use the verb 'to hike' when describing mountain walks. I used to think that this meant a gentle stroll in the mountains. Perhaps with something like a shepherd's crook to assist the walking process.

No. Experience has taught me that it didn't. Rather, it meant - means - eating up vast distances in time and space, using one's limbs for advanced forms of locomotion.

And, for all of the siren lure and multiple attractions of nature red in tooth and claw, I really want bathrooms with hot and cold running water and flushing thrones no matter where I am; I can cope - have coped - without them, - for work - but, masochism is not my default setting.

Communing with nature - unless nature has been persuaded to share her bounty - has never struck me as a way to spend a holiday.

Enjoy the coffee...and my envy for your trip to the mountains.

Of course, for me, roughing it means slow room service...

Slow room service..........I like that definition of roughing it.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Enjoy the trip to the mountains.

I'll admit that I am ambivalent on that sort of thing; while I like scenic views, I suspect that I like them best when viewed from the windscreen of a car.

Long hikes - Germans (with long, limber limbs, and effortless loping strides) use the verb 'to hike' when describing mountain walks. I used to think that this meant a gentle stroll in the mountains. Perhaps with something like a shepherd's crook to assist the walking process.

No. Experience has taught me that it didn't. Rather, it meant - means - eating up vast distances in time and space, using one's limbs for advanced forms of locomotion.

And, for all of the siren lure and multiple attractions of nature red in tooth and claw, I really want bathrooms with hot and cold running water and flushing thrones no matter where I am; I can cope - have coped - without them, - for work - but, masochism is not my default setting.

Communing with nature - unless nature has been persuaded to share her bounty - has never struck me as a way to spend a holiday.




Slow room service..........I like that definition of roughing it.

Heh, yes, well, my excursions would unlikely to be considered leisurely by most. Last time, on my longest day, I walked round trip about 25 km with about an 800 m net elevation gain (achieved mid-day at 3300m, then back down). Masochism isn't my cup of coffee either, I just don't experience it that way.

Ahem, the real "problem" is that I tend to resort to tea in lieu of coffee up there.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Heh, yes, well, my excursions would unlikely to be considered leisurely by most. Last time, on my longest day, I walked round trip about 25 km with about an 800 m net elevation gain (achieved mid-day at 3300m, then back down). Masochism isn't my cup of coffee either, I just don't experience it that way.

Ahem, the real "problem" is that I tend to resort to tea in lieu of coffee up there.

Nothing wrong with tea! Although last time I was on the mountains I drank water.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Heh, yes, well, my excursions would unlikely to be considered leisurely by most. Last time, on my longest day, I walked round trip about 25 km with about an 800 m net elevation gain (achieved mid-day at 3300m, then back down). Masochism isn't my cup of coffee either, I just don't experience it that way.

Ahem, the real "problem" is that I tend to resort to tea in lieu of coffee up there.

Well, enjoy your long striving mountain reducing time there. Not really my cup of tea - or coffee!

Me, as long as running (flushing) water is nearby, a good book, and - yes - coffee - I can handle mountain views. And gentle strolls.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Well, enjoy your long striving mountain reducing time there. Not really my cup of tea - or coffee!

Me, as long as running (flushing) water is nearby, a good book, and - yes - coffee - I can handle mountain views. And gentle strolls.

I have to admit that I also greatly enjoy the forced disconnection from the rest of the world. No phones, no internet, no contact with anyone who isn't right next to me makes for a relaxed and happy haathi.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I have to admit that I also greatly enjoy the forced disconnection from the rest of the world. No phones, no internet, no contact with anyone who isn't right next to me makes for a relaxed and happy haathi.

I'll be honest, that I don't actually mind 'an enforced disconnection' with the rest of the world.

It is the lack of basic facilities which add to one's quality of life that one sometimes finds in the mountains - or similarly remote places - that would seriously interfere with my possible enjoyment of it.

Even now, I don't have a smart phone, and make a point of travelling with my 'dumb phone' (an antique Nokia) as seldom as possible.

But when communing with nature includes primitive plumbing - and an enormous degree of planning and motivation just to be able to access, let alone use, the damned things - then, I am back to a dream world of asphalt beneath my feet, cobble stoned streets and as many aqueducts as the subject population might be persuaded as are good for them.

 

[Shrink]

But when communing with nature includes primitive plumbing - and an enormous degree of planning and motivation just to be able to access, let alone use, the damned things - then, I am back to a dream world of asphalt beneath my feet, cobble stoned streets and as many aqueducts as the subject population might be persuaded as are good for them.

...and 5 star hotels with excellent room service.

Forget the wheel, or fire...Humankind's greatest invention is room service.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

...and 5 star hotels with excellent room service.

Forget the wheel, or fire...Humankind's greatest invention is room service.

Cough.

You read my mind, sir, you read my mind.

I have long thought that the provision of (hot) running water and flushing (why did that spell check think I wished to write 'flossing'?) thrones far exceeded the wheel in terms of critical historical importance.

As for fire, well, warmth and rare fillet steak can, to my mind, be found in the 'plus' side of the ledger of human enterprise, activity and achievement.

As some of you know, my most recent long term period abroad involved working in a country that can only kindly be described as 'challenging'.

Those of you who read what I write in the 'privates' section of the forum, (and the system is not allowing me to renew my subscription to same for now - it is due to expire at the end of this month) will know that domestically, due to my mother's advanced dementia, my life has been somewhat challenging, too.

Thus, when travelling from one challenging challenge to the other - and back again - I decided to fly Business, at least let the journey between the respective challenges be a source of wholesome pleasure. This meant that the airline (Turkish) used to put me up in some wonderful hotels in Istanbul.

And, yes, seriously good room service is such a pleasure.........

 

[Shrink]

I just received my fourth Friis canister.

My goodness...if this is not exciting, I don't know what is!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I enjoyed a surprisingly good double espresso at the railway station this morning, - standing at the small coffee and water stall which sold it to me - which was open a few hours before Starbuck's (yes, well, needs must and all that) opened.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I enjoyed a surprisingly good double espresso at the railway station this morning, - standing at the small coffee and water stall which sold it to me - which was open a few hours before Starbuck's (yes, well, needs must and all that) opened.

I hope that wasn't your only breakfast!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I hope that wasn't your only breakfast!

As a matter of fact, it was. That and water. Lots of water.

 

[Apple fanboy]

As a matter of fact, it was. That and water. Lots of water.

That's bad. Come on at least a bowl of cereal.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

That's bad. Come on at least a bowl of cereal.

I don't eat cereal, ever. (Or, hardly ever; say, once or twice a year).

This morning, I didn't have time to make a cup of coffee at home, - and mornings such as today's are the reason I have a small jar of pre-ground coffee to hand - I just don't have time for grinding beans when I am in a hurry and have to juggle half a dozen to a dozen things in my head at a given time; this morning, I hadn't time to prepare - let alone drink - my freshly squeezed juice, either.

So, coffee, freshly squeezed juice, and toast (French bread), with honey, jam or cheese, is what I would normally have had in the days when I am not so rushed.

Now, almost every other morning I manage fresh coffee, freshly squeezed juice, and some version of toast. Even then, the phone is ringing.

(Today, when I was in an embassy arranging a visa, when my phone rang. It was the hospice nurse, who had visited yesterday, with, yes, information, important information, but - for once - I was attending to my own affairs, and needed to be able to give it my full concentration.

A lazy breakfast is usually the proverbial 'Full English' - but I only ever have that when Decent Brother is around.

If I have time, I will have bread (French bread) with either cheese, or homemade jam (but not by me - bought in the market) or honey.

Organising other people's lives takes up so much of my mental bandwidth, that if I manage to get out he door with the documentation I need and my paperwork in order, I'm doing well.

Mind you, if I am staying in a good hotel, I make a point of allowing myself a full (the spell check wanted to write 'fun' instead of 'full' - both will do) so, a full, fun hour to greet their breakfast buffet, to which I do full justice.

I love people cooking breakfast for me, and if someone offers, I will always happily accept; dinner I can manage perfectly well (I am an accomplished cook), but preparing breakfast for someone else is a huge chore, as I am not naturally a morning person.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I don't eat cereal, ever. (Or, hardly ever; say, once or twice a year). I don't have time to make a cup of coffee at home, or have my freshly squeezed juice, either. Or toast (French bread), with honey, jam or cheese, which is what I would normally have had in the days when I am not so rushed.

A lazy breakfast is either the proverbial 'Full English' - but I only ever have that when Decent Brother is around.

If I have time, I will have bread (French bread) with either cheese, or homemade jam (but not by me - bought in the market) or honey.

Organising other people's lives takes up so much of my mental bandwidth, that if I manage to get out he door with the documentation I need and my paperwork in order, I'm doing well.

Mind you, if I am staying in a good hotel, I make a point of allowing myself a full (the spell check wanted to write 'fun' instead of 'full' - both will do) so, a full, fun hour to greet their breakfast buffet, to which I do full justice.

I love people cooking breakfast for me, and if someone offers, I will always happily accept; dinner I can manage perfectly well (I am an accomplished cook), but preparing breakfast for someone else is a huge chore, as I am not naturally a morning person.

I never used to be a morning person, but the older I get the more I find I am.
Many of the people I work with get out of bed at the last possible minute, then rush to get to work (rarely on time), then make breakfast, or worse eat crisps and the like.

Me I like to get up (I'm always awake early), shower and eat before I leave the house. Tea if I have time. Otherwise I take one with in my travel mug.
Mind you takes me two minutes to make a tea.
From what I read on here, you guys must have to get up three hours before your due to leave to make a coffee!
If only there was a quicker (I) way!