Is there a difference between the taste and quality of a coffee obtained from an automated coffee maker as opposed to one prepared manually?
Since many years I have used the handy turkish mocha wooden grinders to prepare my coffee. Using them is an old, time-consuming and arduous shore, especially in societies where any product on the market is available ground and where most of the grinders used domestically function electronically. Several weeks ago I stopped using this antiquated grinders to go even a bit further back in time. Some friends and acquaintances I have met during my travels and those I have hosted myself are surely surprised about the absence of my wooden grinders, but it is a fact: none of them are part of my baggage now. However, this instruments absence in my daily coffee rituals and research has nothing to do with a new concept aiming to discard of its use. It is merely chance that I have landed in the situation where I use my two arms and hands with a mortar weighing some 3,3 Kilo. Pretty much a sport, but considering the fact, that I counted 473 circular movements while making coffee some months ago, it should be clear to the reader, that pleasure for me has little to do with laziness – it is the opposite.

Before: Wild coffee from Ethiopia (Espresso roast), cocoa, cinnamon, clove and Hawaiian black sea salt
As I started working this way several weeks ago it was necessary for me each time to make a conscious decision of taking the Mortar and the Coffee in my hands. Starting the procedure was constantly accompanied by knowing it would need much more time and energy for me to drink the first drops out of my espresso glass. But the drive to experiment and discover with the palate the real quality of what I was doing or trying to achieve was greater than any scariness about possible aching muscles. And every movement has been worth it, not only for the sake of taste.
Time plays a crucial role with a mortar, not only due to the time needed to obtain the necessary coarseness, but because this is something one needs to learn when striving for a good cup of coffee. Grinders have usually a range of possibilities between coarse and fine for a reason. The importance is perceived at the latest when taking the first sip. If the result is a good one, the strenuous effort has been worth it. Luckily only the beginning brings difficulties along, for the longer one beats with a pestle, the better one is with the mortar, resulting in even more than just physical, timely and tasted differences.
In my opinion, humans love immediacy and immediacy influences greatly our decisions – it does not matter if these occur on a common daily basis or previously planned, no matter if complex or simple. Read More…








