OT: Share your hobbies beyond being an audiophile

[rando]

On 1/27/2018 at 12:51 PM, coot said:

Once had a friend whose mantra was a hobby should be something that does not cost anything.

 

Free or nearly free activities can really bring out the best in people.  For some people an acceptable adult use of free time that allows for ballsy maneuvers and reckless destructive abandon is very freeing.

 

Watching Bathurst is certainly all of these things.  (Free international broadcast of full event by official race organization)

[Norton]

Cycling and, since my knees seem to be packing up, I've taken up  Kayaking in the past year.

[patagent]

On 1/24/2018 at 11:56 PM, Bob Stern said:

 

Temple and Counter Culture are among my favorite roasters, too!  I also recommend Lusso's Brazilian espresso blend:

https://caffelusso.com/coffee/espresso/

 

Hi Bob,

 

Coffee and espresso is my other big hobby.  I currently have a 2014 Cremina paired with HG One grinder.  

 

My favorite roaster these days are all from NorCal: Four Barrel, Red Bay, and Ritual. 

 

 

[Bob Stern]

@patagent:  In the year since my post that you quoted, Temple lost their two head roasters, so I dropped Temple.  I currently like Sightglass Ethiopia and Chromatic Columbia (but haven’t seen the latter in a while).

 

Gear is Breville "double boiler" and Kafatek Monolith Flat.  I have a Decent Espresso machine on order, but I'm waiting for the next version with buttons instead of relying entirely on bluetooth-connected tablet.

 

Do you work as a patent agent?  Does your avatar have a brass rat?

[AudioDoctor]

To add to my previous hobbies of track days and otherwise spirited driving, flying which has now become a job, and sailing which I still do for fun, and coffee. I have added cooking with my SO, and noticing how gracefully and beautifully she does everything, which is probably my favorite hobby.

[firedog]

Espresso/coffee. I've gone much the same route as audiophilia over the years, gradually upgrading till I've gotten to a high end setup that I probably won't invest in improving. Rocket R58 double boiler machine; Ceado E5P grinder; and Behmor 1600 plus roaster.

I also bake and work with dogs.

[Superdad]

Whoa! $2500 coffee grinders and $3K+ espresso machines?  And I thought hi-fi was a pricey hobby... (I admit both the Kafatek Monolith Flat grinder and that Rocket machine are quite aluring simply from an industrial design standpoint.) 

Guess I’ll stick to my French press.  Thinking about an Aeropress.  And yet my brother has a vintage percolator that makes some of best home coffee I’ve ever had.

[firedog]

2 hours ago, Superdad said:

Whoa! $2500 coffee grinders and $3K+ espresso machines?  And I thought hi-fi was a pricey hobby... (I admit both the Kafatek Monolith Flat grinder and that Rocket machine are quite aluring simply from an industrial design standpoint.) 

Guess I’ll stick to my French press.  Thinking about an Aeropress.  And yet my brother has a vintage percolator that makes some of best home coffee I’ve ever had.

Well I also have an Aeropress and a couple of moka pots. I definitely recommend the Aeropress. I prefer it to a French Press. It makes a good cup and is easy and quick. I use mine every day - in fact I'm drinking a cup made with it now. It's great  when you just want a quick cup. Not so useful if you need several cups.I have 6 different types of coffee makers at various price levels from tens to thousands of bucks.  Also 2 grinders, one more modest, one expensive.   Each type of coffee device makes a different style of coffee.

The espresso hobby is a lot like audiophilia - you get the bug and then start to upgrade equipment so that you can get close to perfection. And there is definitely a steep diminishing returns curve on the dollar. At least in the espresso hobby you just have to please yourself and you don't have to worry about fights between objectivists and subjectivists, as it is all subjective.  There are, of course, hobbyists who measure/computerize everything - weights, temperatures, etc. and make coffee in a "scientific" way. 

My grinder and espresso maker together cost about $4K. I'm the first to admit that's a lot. (There are btw, also $7000 home espresso machines....). I'd say you could get most of the way to the level of what mine does for about $1000. The difference is convenience, features, and consistent results.  Much less expensive equipment can also get you great results. The better stuff means you get great results a lot more often, with less effort. 
 

The roaster actually saves me money as I save about 40% on the price of  beans by buying green beans instead  of buying roasted, and mine is always fresh. Over a long period of time, the roaster pays for itself and for some of the other equipment. 

[One and a half]

2 hours ago, Superdad said:

Whoa! $2500 coffee grinders and $3K+ espresso machines?  And I thought hi-fi was a pricey hobby... (I admit both the Kafatek Monolith Flat grinder and that Rocket machine are quite aluring simply from an industrial design standpoint.) 

Guess I’ll stick to my French press.  Thinking about an Aeropress.  And yet my brother has a vintage percolator that makes some of best home coffee I’ve ever had.

 

No coffee machine can compete with raw horsepower.

 

 

[mav52]

Lets see,  fresh and saltwater fishing, restoration of classic cars, golf., kayaking, my new grandson.

[mansr]

7 minutes ago, mav52 said:

Lets see,  fresh and saltwater fishing, restoration of classic cars, golf., kayaking, my new grandson.

What did you do with your old grandson? Is there a used market?

[mav52]

6 minutes ago, mansr said:

What did you do with your old grandson? Is there a used market?

 

Well considering he's 1 month old 😀

[rando]

Coffee has transcended being a hobby and turned into a sport for many people in the US.  Never got there myself, but I did drink a lot that would've otherwise been wasted on people too worked up to enjoy it.  Cured me of any latent hipsterism.  

 

Too lazy to dredge up a certain yellow fixated Dutch member balking at my mentioning a $500 home grinder that could be finessed into producing a consistent result. He wasn't having any of my remedial help. 20 cups a day per person is a lot to start worrying about advanced preparations. 

[wgscott]

On 1/18/2018 at 3:16 PM, mansr said:

How do you practise that as a hobby?

 

With coconut shells.

 

 

Apologies for the delayed response.

[Bob Stern]

For drip coffee, my favorite "machine" is the Clever, only $25–$30:

https://www.sweetmarias.com/clevercoffeedripperpictorial.php

 

It allows you to steep the coffee as long as you want, independent of grind.

 

We used an Aeropress for a long time before the Clever.  I find the Clever easier to use and clean, and it makes equally good coffee.  Since the Aeropress requires steeping, I don’t feel the taste it produces is different from drip coffee, even if it creates pretty "crema".

[rando]

I wondered if my post above cast a negative eye towards Peter. On the contrary, I highly enjoyed his response in light of how it meshed with his cooking hobby.

 

Snowshoeing has become a late Winter occupation this year.  Thanks too a decently long stretch of Artic cold and then snow nearly every body of water is traversable. That is a lot of terrain here. 

[AudioDoctor]

I have caught the occasional Nurse at Target perusing the selection of various coffees with great care wondering which one the rest of the Nurses and Drs in the ER will enjoy the most.

 

We in the Medical profession (and those of us recently out of it) are somewhat serious about our coffee.

[biosailor]

In the light of a recently retired, I propose another hobby: TIME!

 

After having retired from a most demanding job in science full of a crammed agenda, meetings, project discussions, and lecturing, I am delighted to start a day without a fixed agenda, enjoying a good cup of coffee and reading the papers from A to Z. What a luxury of being able to drift into a day and ask myself what Iam going to do to make it a good day. I am fully enjoying this initial part of my retirement.

 

I am fully aware that such a delightful state doesn‘t last for ever. I used to be a fanatic skier, but being away from skiing for more than 20 years, I dislike the ever growing industry around skiing: artificial snow, leveling out ski tracks, ever more ski lifts. And seeing the damage this development does to the fragile balance in the mountains, I totally refuse to go skiing again. Instead, I took up snow shoe hiking. What a delight to climb a mountain slowly and quietly and fully being immersed in the landscape! See the attached picture of my last tour in the central parts of Switzerland. I so much enjoyed my new activity, that I‘ll take up ski touring as my next endeavour.

 

I keep thinking about filling my free time with more and more hobbies, so keep up the good suggestions in this thread!

[fas42]

Watching crazy YouTube videos like this,

 

 

[rando]

Some of the auto hill (dune) climbs in the Arab nations are over the top. Tuned to the edge of blowing up and running on the best petroleum products known to man.  

[Ralf11]

On 2/23/2019 at 12:23 AM, biosailor said:

In the light of a recently retired, I propose another hobby: TIME!

 

After having retired from a most demanding job in science full of a crammed agenda, meetings, project discussions, and lecturing, I am delighted to start a day without a fixed agenda, enjoying a good cup of coffee and reading the papers from A to Z. What a luxury of being able to drift into a day and ask myself what Iam going to do to make it a good day. I am fully enjoying this initial part of my retirement.

 

I am fully aware that such a delightful state doesn‘t last for ever. I used to be a fanatic skier, but being away from skiing for more than 20 years, I dislike the ever growing industry around skiing: artificial snow, leveling out ski tracks, ever more ski lifts. And seeing the damage this development does to the fragile balance in the mountains, I totally refuse to go skiing again. Instead, I took up snow shoe hiking. What a delight to climb a mountain slowly and quietly and fully being immersed in the landscape! See the attached picture of my last tour in the central parts of Switzerland. I so much enjoyed my new activity, that I‘ll take up ski touring as my next endeavour.

 

I keep thinking about filling my free time with more and more hobbies, so keep up the good suggestions in this thread!

 

 

Free Your Heels; Free your Mind

 

 

[kumakuma]

I'm also into coffee.

 

I bought this cool ceramic filter on a recent trip to Japan:

 

http://39arita.jp

 

Also visited the UCC Coffee Museum in Kobe:

 

https://www.ucc.co.jp/museum/english/

 

 

[Ralf11]

coffee, like air, is not a hobby

[fas42]

On 2/24/2019 at 1:25 PM, fas42 said:

Watching crazy YouTube videos like this,

 

 

 

In an era when people lust to cotton wool all 'hazardous' activities, this is refreshing to watch ...

 

 

[Ralf11]