Anyone think that manual "pouring techniques" are mostly fluff? - eviltoast

If you search YouTube for V60 brewing videos and guides you’ll find about three billion different ones. Some with agitation, some without; pouring fast, in the middle, making circles; 40-60 or 30-70 or whatnot.

I always think to myself that they’re mostly just fluff.

It all depends on grind size and temperature. Doesn’t matter how you pour (well, within limits I would think) as long as you get your temps and grind right for the pouring technique you’ve chosen.

Admittedly, I haven’t tried a ton of different ones, maybe three or four. But this is the feeling what I’ve got.

Maybe there are some edge cases, like Ethiopian coffees being more prone to clogging the filter so less agitation might be a good idea.

  • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    I think most of the stuff online about coffee is fluff. It’s just one of those things people get really into. Like craft beer.

    • I’ve been in so many niche rabbit hole hobbies it’s embarrassing. Most of all of them is fluff. I’m each, there are a couple or three really important factors, a couple extra differences that come down to personal preference, and then a whole bunch of shit which are purely person preference that people imagine make a difference but really don’t.

      In beer, you start to leave the realm of “makes a statistically measurable difference” when you start talking about serving glass shapes.

      In wine, heck… whatever for into a more than $60 bottle, and glass shapes are in that realm too. The wine bottle can be made from thicker glass; the label made of quality paper with art designed by an artist of some repute - it makes it all feel more luxurious, but it has no effect on the taste of the wine.

      Shaving starts getting silly with lather technique. Shaving is maybe the best example of this; you can get a perfectly good shave with the cheapest disposable razor and some dime-store shaving foam. A bunch of factors can make the shave more comfortable, Eco-friendly, or cheaper, but then most of it is just fluff.

      Coffee, we have tamping and pour technique.

      The gun community - heck, people still argue about 9mm vs .45 and the value of run & gun for civilians. George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin and I guarantee the it didn’t matter if it was 9mm or .45 APC, and whatever draw technique he used had no effect on that outcome, or the fact that Zimmerman is still wandering around free, in Texas somewhere.

      Linux distributions, and OSes in general, are no different: there are some key differences that matter, some more that affect the personal experience, and then a whole bunch of crap that really doesn’t affect the end result.

      It’s the fluff that makes it a hobby; it’s the fluff that puts ritual into it, and makes it more enjoyable for the hobbyist. Fluff is great - it’s when we start imagining the fluff makes a quantifiable difference in the outcome and start proselytizing and arguing about which is better that it becomes absurd.

      Come to think of it, religion is the same way. Each has a few main differences, but the holy wars are mostly fought over the fluff.