05 Aug 2025
Sorry I just need to take one post to talk about my little coffee brewer. This isn't an ad or anything but like, if you got a V60 you know.
I’ve had so many different kinds of morning caffeine that I’ve stopped having for various reasons. I used to be a two-rockstar-recovery-a-day guy a decade ago and my heart should have exploded. I’ve bounced around others like canned iced teas (way too expensive) and hot teas (ok but not a lot of caffeine) and Coke Blak when they brought that back as Coke + Coffee. I started hankering for black coffee but I didn’t want that Coca-Cola with it, and after ordering coffee from elsewhere I finally decided to look into brewing my own coffee.
But, I never had to before. We don’t have a coffee machine here, and I’ve never had one in any place I’d been in. I’m a victim of circumstance. I’m also going to be the only one drinking it, so brewing a big pot didn’t seem economical, and also how many beans is that going to use anyway? Shit I have to grind those, right? I probably don’t want a cheap garbage one an-
Hold up. That beauty pictured above catches my eye online. A ceramic funnel you put a filter in, and the base of the funnel rests on a mug. One scoop of grounds goes in, pour hot water in the grounds a few times on the top, and out comes extremely good coffee. Simple and easy, this was what I was looking for. Plus, I already have an electric kettle so I don’t need a second thing that boils water.
I found out a local coffee shop chain (Ladro) had them in stock, so I headed on over, grabbed a ceramic V60, filters, and a bag of Ladro coffee beans (and a free coffee for it hell yea). Overall like fifty bucks or so, not bad. They didn’t have a grinder, but the specialty coffee shop across the way did so I went to go check out what they had.
They, uh, did not have anything in my price range. Respect to the engineering that goes into a good grinder, but I needed one less than a hundo. Thank you to Fred Meyer, when I need a KRUPS “It Works” electric grinder for like thirty or fourty bucks I know you’ve got my back. Ten second grind and it’s done and good.
If you get one of these and you never brewed any coffee before ever, you may be scared of something that happens right at the start. I was too, as I had loaded the coffee grounds into the V60 that now sat atop my morning coffee mug. The paper filter for the V60 was pre-rinsed, I like to do it but the jury is out on how effective it is. The electric kettle had finished running, and I poured in a good estimate of 50ml of water for the first pour, which would sit for 45 seconds. And I let it sit. And it developed a weird pit in the center.
Don’t panic! You can prevent this on the first “bloom” pour by swirling the water and grounds while it drains through. The grounds should all settle somewhat evenly at the bottom if you do this. If it does happen though, just aim the water spout in the second pour at those grounds stuck on the sides and knock ‘em back down. Then swirl and get them re-distributed again.
I repeat the pour-and-wait process four more times, and I’m left with a hot cup of joe. Took about three minutes of pouring, but it tastes great and I get a huge ego boost for doing it all manually. It’s extremely elating when you go through the “make beans in water hot” process and get a cup of caffeine back out, and for extremely cheap too. I made another one almost immediately just so I could get more practice in.
It’s been about two months now I’ve had this and I still love it. It doesn’t take much time in the morning to kick the kettle on for hot water, then spend a couple minutes pouring after that’s done. It could be an hour or two after I made a cup that I’m making a second one, so it making one-off cups is perfect for me.
It’s an extremely chill morning ritual and it’s serving a valuable need of getting me caffeine for cheap. The Ladro roast I’ve run out of now, but it had a nice cherry scent on the grounds I’ve been missing. I got a breakfast blend from PCC and it’s good, but I’ve got other coffees on the docket that I’m excited to try like a bag of Dunkin’ Donuts whole-bean coffee. I do not see DD much at all anymore so it’ll be a nice nostalgia trip.
If you want to learn more about the V60 and brewing with it, here is a video by James Hoffman called A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique that lays out the best technique for pouring into one he’s worked out (and I use it so it’s gotta’ be good). If you want a ceramic V60 there’s a link to Hario’s site in an image credit above or you can check your local coffee shops. At some point I need one of those kettles with the long spout but I want to see if I can get that electric too.
I hope this encouraged you to try brewing some coffee, maybe sniffin’ the grounds right after you grind them which is pretty great. Thats one of the best parts other than the caffeine. Brew a nice cup and just take it in before burning your tongue with it.
This is the fifth post I’ve made this month, and if I make two more posts I will have doubled in a week how many posts I’ve made in five years lmao. Thank you to Blaugust for giving me a bit of encouragement to make regular posts because god knows I wouldn’t if I wasn’t being told to give it a good try.
Also check out these blogs also participating in Blaugust that I know!
The Virtual Moose
Midnight Reading
