#Coffee Thoughts and Questions

It's cold out--too cold to smoke and review cigars. So consequently I am just sitting here reading and thinking; switching off between cups of diet Pepsi and auto-drip coffee.

Next week I have an appointment with the owner of cravenscoffee.com, Simon. He is giving me a tour of his roasting operation and then invited me for a cupping. OK, so this is pretty cool, I have never done an actual cupping before. @BaristaOnDutY and I have talked about cupping a bit, so to learn more I've been reading and reading and then reading more. After all this reading a few things are running through my head so I will throw a couple questions out here.

Not only do I review cigars, but in my own way I do coffee reviews too. Should I care about cupping?

I have read about the benefits and the fun, but what I care about is drinking coffee and how it tastes, either from my press or by doing a pour-over. Is this thought process wrong?

The second thing is; every blog mentions the importance of a high quality grinder. I understand this too point too, but again questions arise. I am trying to do my coffee reviews the same as I do my cigar reviews; from the perspective of the average-Joe. By trying to do things to stay within a budget. Not everyone can just throw $150 out there for a new grinder. That's like 10lbs of good coffee that can be purchased or three boxes of inexpensive, but good tasting cigars. For many people that's a years worth of supplies.

So the third question is... Should I replace my every-day-Joe blade grinder with higher quality unit or should I continue to do things the budget way?

I hope some of you weigh in on these questions.


Thanks CigarDan