I both concur and disagree.
He says a couple of things that indicate while he might be a self proclaimed "coffee snob" he's also not very knowledgeable on the subject as a whole. That's normal for people who call themselves "coffee snobs" though, similar to people who call themselves "wine snobs". In general they may have deep knowledge in a very narrow slice of the coffee world, and even deeper passions regarding it, but not a wide ranging knowledge of coffee.
However, you're really asking about the setup right?
His setup is pretty good. Certainly capable of making a very fine cup of coffee with high clarity. For making good coffee his equipment choices are all great.
For an ideal travel set, though, I find it lacking.
I would switch out the Hario Pourover & Kalita drip kettle for the Clever Coffee Dripper. I would also add a combination thermometer/timer
, which is something he would have needed to truly get the most out of the setup he described; especially in a hotel room where water temperature control could potentially be very difficult.
The Clever Coffee Dripper (which he incorrectly calls a "Clever Coffee Maker") would be a more ideal travel option for a number of reasons:
- It's easier. Some hotel rooms would be nightmares to use a Hario Pourover in. Any hotel room (with a microwave) will be easy to use a Clever Coffee Dripper in. No mucking about with elbow room, lighting, etc. Travel can be stressful, unless you find taking several minutes of concentrated effort (with failure being a genuine possibility) to be soothing the Clever Coffee Dripper wins on this tip.
- It's far more flexible and forgiving. The Hario Pourover is much like using highly analytical headphones; it will magnify any flaws in the coffee beans & grind. So you really have to ensure you have very good beans on hand with the Hario. If you're on a trip and you run out of beans, forcing a trip to the local super market you are screwed as the Hario will make "OK" beans taste like crap. In addition not all beans work well with the Hario; some high quality blends and even single origin beans don't play nice with it at all. The Clever Coffee Dripper, on the other hand, is very forgiving by comparison. "OK" beans taste "OK" and all high quality beans taste good to great. The best "grocery store beans" will taste OK (or even good depending on the store) in the Clever whereas it's highly likely to be a disaster with the Hario.
- It's less bulky. The Hario requires both the Hario pourover and the drip kettle. The Clever Coffee Dripper doesn't require any fancy kettle at all.
Just my thoughts though.
