alphahydro

i never gave a shit about coffee until i was in colombia visiting family. did a coffee farm tour and the guy made some coffee for me that blew my mind and then i fell down the rabbit hole.

i think for most people a grinder that takes conical burrs is more than fine. if you prefer a chocolate-y coffee, you should imo def get conical burrs and save yourself money and heartache but if you get insane and you start importing nordic roast washed geisha beans and you want your coffee to have the body of tea, with gentle acidity, you really want flat burrs, imo. in my mind, imagine your grinder smashed up rocks to a certain size. and then you put those rocks in a sieve and ran water over it. a conical burr tends to create more "coffee" dust and sand, which fill up the gaps between the larger rocks/coffee bits. if you have enough dust and sand, you get the same basic water flow when you run water over teh rocks, regardless of your "grinder" setting. If the rocks are golf ball size or baseball size, the water flow is about the same if you have enough sand in there. conical burrs tend to create more "sand," and flat burr grinders tend to produce less "sand." with less sand, the size of the "rocks" has a larger impact on the water flow, and you can get (a) more control over the water flow and (b) the ability to create faster water flows. But both of these also make the whole thing more frustrating, because it is easier to mess up. it feels like you get more consistent results with a conical burr grinder, because you get the same basic slow flow no matter what you do. and for a lot of coffee, this is what you want anyway. slow flow tends to bring out the chocolatey/toffee/carmel sweetness that is created by the maillard reaction that occurs during roasting. and for most beans, you want that sweetness to cover up the fact that the beans aren't that good otehrwise. it's like dousing cheap sushi in soy sauce, or oaking cheap wine grapes for a long time. but if you have great beans, roasted really well, you want a faster flow and more control over teh flow, so you can extract the coffee in a way that doesn't mask the acidic notes with the toffee-sweetness. i recently brewed some washed geisha from leaves roaster in tokyo, and i know this sounds nuts, but the beans smelled like a fukcing field of flowers and the coffee didn't taste like coffee. it was like a honey-lemon tea with almost zero notes of what we think of as "coffee" flavor. hard to brew something like that with conical burrs, because they create so many fines, it slows the brew and masks the acidity with that carmel/toffee sweetness. anyway, yeah, for most people, just get a conical burr grinder. what i like about that technique in the youtube is it takes some pressure of having the perfect grind setting.

FWIW, before discovering that TETSU recipe, I used to stress over pour ratios and grind size. I don't adjust grind size anymore. I start with the Ode at my standard grind setting, the hario switch (like $30 on amazon) and Tetsu's recipe. If I want to tweak the recipe to get more or less acidity, I just adjust the starting temp up or down. that's it. And it's better than what I can get by wasting a bunch of coffee dialing in a pour over. I brew a wide variety of coffee, from super light nordic roasts I get shipped to medium roasted stuff I buy locally. for medium roasts, I find the ode and the hario switch are best. For super light roasts, I also have a next level pulsar, which is a slightly different version of the hario switch Tetsu used in the video above https://nextlevelbrewer.com/shop/nextlevel-pulsar-brewer/ and it brews a little differently. but honestly, it's only better, imo, for extreme coffees. I'm insane, and I also have a meticulous espresso machine on order, and I'll prolly mess around with some of the pourover 2.0 type recipes, but I think if you get a decent grinder and use Tetsu's recipe, you will be set for anything other than the most extreme roasts.

there are different levels of insanity when it comes to grinders, imo. I think it's more important to get the right type of grinder than the right brand of grinder. you can figure out what type of grinder you need with two questions, imo. First question is: do you want to grind fine enough to make espresso - if yes, you'll need a more expensive grinder with more power. If no, you can spend less. Second question is: do you want to grind fancy, lightly roasted beans - if yes, you'll want a grinder that will take a flat burr (imo). If not, you can save $$ on a grinder that uses a conical burr. (If you want to make light roasted espresso, you'll need a powerful grinder that takes flat burrs, and that's where it can get expensive.) bottom line: if you get the right type of grinder for you, I wouldn't stress about the grinder make and model too much. IMO, the most important aspects of a good cup of coffee are: get beans you like - this is largely a matter of personal preference. might be stuff at the grocery store. might be shipped from a specialty roaster overseas. use the beans when they are ready - you can get the best beans in the world, but your coffee will taste like ass if you grind too soon or too late after the roast. it's like wine or fruit; you gotta consume at the right time. rule of thumb, imo -the beans should smell really good to you right before you drop them in the grinder. imo, # 3 is actually brew method and recipe. I strongly recommend to everyone that they try the new TETSU RECIPE BELOW. It's the best of pourover + the best of French press. Since trying it, I don't use my pour over or French press gear anymore. If you don't have these 3 lined up, it doesn't matter what kind of grinder you have or how perfect your pour over technique is, imo. I know 1 &2 sound obvious, but a lot of people neglect 1 and 2. IMO, if you nail 1, 2, and 3, you'll realize the grinder isn't as important as YouTubers who hype up grinders say they are--as long as the type of grinder you have is right for you. FWIW, I have an Ode grinder (with SSP brew burrs) and a Lagom p100 grinder. The Lagom costs 10x as much as the Ode. And yes, I can tell a difference with pour over, but it's just a difference, not better or worse. In fact, most of the time, I prefer the Ode for pour over, because of the way those burrs work + my personal preferences. (the lagom is mainly for espresso) A big part of that is the recipe below -which is a must try if you use a French press / v60/ chemex. I think it's just better than the "older" technologies out there. THIS IS MY BS PERSONAL THEORY - people discovered recently with espresso that the second half of the pull needs to be extracted more carefully than the first half. once you have extracted the first half, the second half of the brew is where the shitty/off/bitter flavor compounds come out if you don't get it just right. different grinders and burrs create different distributions of particle size at different target grind sizes, so different grinders/ burrs will result in different water flows over the same amount of ground coffee. The different flow of water is especially relevant in the second half of the brew, where you need to get the extraction just right or else you get off flavors. With newer espresso machines, you can reduce the water pressure during the second half of the shot, extracting more gently in the "dangerous" part of the pull where you can get bad results. This guy above realized you can do something similar with pour over by integrating some percolation (pour over) and some immersion (French press) + reducing the water temp in the second half of the brew. My random bs theory is that extracting the second half of the brew more gently (by reducing water flow / temp) takes pressure of the grinder - because the particle distribution isn't as important when you are more gentle in the second half of the brew - you don't need to control the water flow as carefully at lower temps. that has definitely been my experience. with standard pour over recipes, I noticed a huge difference between my grinders and grind sizes. with tetsu's new recipe: a) coffee is better b) grind size and grinder/burr matter less

laguna is more picturesque and walkable. it's a beach town that started as an artist colony and has more art galleries and more one-off restaurants. you can park at surf and sand and not really drive all weekend. and still get good food/interesting bars/ beautiful beach. a lot of the beaches in laguna have coves, whereas in newport the beach is a long flat stretch of sand. they're both cool. you def need a car in newport, imo. i stayed at balboa bay club years ago and the only place you could walk to was a ferrari dealership and a taco bell. but within a short drive from balboa bay club, you can standup paddle or kayak around balboa; you can stroll balboa island; there is some decent food nearby. newport and laguna used to be pretty different, but the difference isn't as radical as it used to be. kinda like upper east side and west village. still, way more laguna residents are wannabe artists and way more newport ppl wanna own a yacht. idk if laguna has changed or i'm just getting older, but i don't like it as much as i used to. still, if i were vacationing somwhere, its a little prettier and a little more unique than newport, imo. if you go to the instagram pages, you can see the vibe each hotel is going for and teh clientele they are looking to attract. https://www.instagram.com/balboabayclub/ https://www.instagram.com/surfandsandlaguna/ catalina has a totally different vibe, as do huntington, dana point, and san clemente. i would just check out the one that seems like the best fit for you and your wife. again, keep in mind the weather might not be fantastic. to get from balboa bay club to surf and sand is a 15 min drive, so you could stay in one place and get dinner one night in the other. but i wouldn't try to do catalina + newport or laguna. and i wouldn't switch hotels between cities. just my $.02

this is really close to where i'm at. (with the added note that his resume has me at least cautiously optimistic that he can develop talent). a couple other minor points that have crossed my mind. 1) ppl are saying a lot of stupid shit on this thread because we don't have the information we really need. imo, to a large degree, we fans should judge position coaches by watching their players play. You can either teach/get guys to play the position at a high level or you can't. The proof is in the pudding, imo. Recruiting aside, imo, you are a good position coach if the players you have all look well coached. You can turn on the TV or show up to a game and see pretty quickly if a position group is well coached. Unfortunately, we can't do that here, so we are just saying dumb shit for the most part to kill time/release anxiety. If we had familiarity with WKU and it was one of those schools where they rotated a lot of DL and every DL player was playing at a really high level, people would prolly feel a little better about the hire. But we don't have that, so we are saying dumb shit. If we can get a good fraction of Bo Davis' development from him - and if that's enough to win games, I think that's more important than getting an ace recruiter who sucks at development. So, unfortunately, i'm chalking this hire up to TBD for now. second, one of the things he said in an interview that i thought was interesting is he focused in on being able to coach up different players depending on their skill level and needs. I know that sounds obvious, but - not defending this hire - made me realize that being really good at that is probably more valuable in the portal era at a school like Texas, where you have to manage the freshmen, the depth guys, and the all conference transfer that you are just getting to know. in general, coaching at the NFL probably helps here. I will add onto what CTJ said - I've been thinking lately that at a school like Texas in the NIL/portal era, we should have a strategic and tactical edge at our coordinator positions, we should have a HC that can roster build and adapt to changes in the game, and we need position coaches that can develop talent at the highest level. there's no excuse not to have that, with as profitable as the Athletic department is. if we get that, recruiting shouldn't be a huge problem, because the game has changed with NIL/portal. knock on wood.

no offense to gil, balboa bay club is fine but idk if I would describe it as "cool" - service is good but it's got a 62 year old Newport Ned vibe, imo. if you are willing to go down to laguna, it's a nicer place to visit, imo. all kinda depends on what you want from the trip. I know airbnb kinda sucks, but I would check out airbnbs on Balboa, in laguna, dana point, and San Clemente, depending on what you want from the trip. if you just wanna chill and unwind near the beach, that's what I'd do. south Orange County coast is a better place to live than to visit, imo. for hotels, if you want a nicer hotel, check out these places - blue = stay on the resort vibe. surf and sand = walk around laguna/beach town; Balboa bay = drive around Newport area. surf & sand (service sucks, but nice place to chill - walkable to nice restaurants, bars, random shops, etc in a beach town) montage laguna ritz Carlton/waldorf dana point pelican hill resort Newport coast Balboa bay club when I say check them out. not all of those are for me personally. but one may appeal to you. surf and sand would be my go to rec. or montage for someone bougie/older. there are also smaller boutique hotels in laguna, but they are hit and miss. my info might be outdated. haven't stayed in a hotel in Orange County in a minute. but I've frequented all those places and they are fine. just a matter of what you want. if you want to save some money, there are some cheaper places in laguna that have a great location but just aren't super nice on the inside. for me, if you are going out of your way to move from Costa Mesa to somewhere closer to the coast, I would go beach vibe. at the same time, keep in mind it may not be that warm in OC in 1 month. have fun.

it's a strange hire from my perspective, because you would think Sark has the ability to attract someone with a much more developed resume. I'm sure Baker has great recs, but you also want to see skins on the wall before you say it was a great hire, i would think. Below is some indication of his developmental track record, based on quick googling. prolly missed something or made a mistake or two. (I assume he can't take all the credit for these guys' development). 3 years @ WKU - (DE&DL coach) Conference defensive player of the year (DE) (3rd round NFL draft pick) DeAngelo Malone (3* recruit) All conference honorable mention (DT) (3rd round NFL draft pick) Brodric Martin (unrated coming out of high school) 1 Year UT-Chatanooga (DL coach) All conference; second team FCS all american; holds conference record # of sacks (DT) Bengals Free Agent - Devonnsha Maxwell (unrated coming out of high school[?]) Second team all conference Khayyan Edwards (unrated coming out of high school) Second team all conference Telvin Jones (unrated coming out of high school) 5 years Mercer (DL coach) All conference DE Isaiah Buehler (2*) I mean, at least he can talk to recruits about putting guys in the league and coaching in the league. At it seems like he doesn't suck at coaching technique. I'm in the wait and see camp. If there were no A+ hires available so Sark took a shot on a guy with big potential and great recs from guys like Fangio, it is what it is.

no one asks me, and I don't pretend to have deep insight into the transfer portal game, but I think it makes sense to wait until the next window in April rather than try to scramble to get someone off Michigan's roster now, unless it is a homerun DT. we could try to rush a transfer in the next 5 days, or we could wait until April when we have a DL coach there may be more coaching changes Including defensive coaches, and thus more players looking to make a change guys at programs where there was a coaching change may realize the new staff isn't as good as the old staff, including guys who gave the new staff a chance rather than portal immediately two of our DT will either have just been drafted or there will be a bunch of hype about their draft prospects guys on Michigan's roster now who are smart will wait until spring when there are more bidders (some schools already have closed enrollment) we have a little better sense of our own roster needs idk, just my gut reaction. I would be inclined to wait, absent some other special knowledge I'm missing.

why do they need to get their passports ready to visit jim in LA?

will be interesting to see if michigan announces replacement(s) immediately. (if not, what a shitshow)

i should say, this is massively off-topic, but my kids' favorite trip of all time was Mahali Mzuri in Kenya. and we've done some pretty cool shit. would be perfect for 6/10/15. If you are looking for a banger of a last trip, double check but I think they have amazing deals if your kids are 15 are under. i know it has nothing to do with snorkeling. but just popped into my head thinking about trips for kids those ages.

my $.02 on bora bora we took the overnight flight to tahiti from LAX. arrives early morning in Tahiti, so we just took a flight off tahiti to mo'orea later that day. that's what i would do again. on the way back to the states, we spent a night in tahiti, because our flight left early morning. got some airbnb in tahiti kinda close to the airport and the neighborhood was pretty sketch. something to consider. overwater villa is fine. imo you should do it if you are going to bora bora, but it's not life changing. so don't go in with crazy expectations. food at four seasons sucks, except the breakfast buffet. fare hoa beach bar is actually the best bet for lunch. the dinner show they have is pretty good. i'm not a huge fan of bora bora, because i don't really like hanging out at a resort, but the activities are pretty cool. we did the normal stuff, swim with sharks (very cool), skydiving, very cool. (my daughter went skydiving with me and she was prolly ~15 at the time.) reef snorkeling tour (pretty cool). snorkeling above eagle rays and manta rays. very cool, but we lucked out and saw a bunch of them. i definitely recommend the private tours for all this stuff. if you want to save a little money, my advice is to spend as many days in bora bora as you need to do the activities there. once you do the activities, there's not much else to do. though the landscape is beautiful. spend the extra days in mo'orea. we did swimming with whales there (tho not sure if the 6 and 10 year old can swim well enough -it's no joke), and did parasailing (with Mo'rea parasailing - very cool couple if they are still in business). no need whatsoever for travel agent, imo. you're pretty much stuck on a resort, and it's easy to book teh activities through the resort or tripadvisor. also, make sure you are going when the weather is supposed to be good. have fun! (you didn't ask, but i personally would do kauai over bora bora with 6/10/15 year old). bora bora is basically just beautiful scenery and a few cool activities, some of which might be a little much for a 6/10 year old. depends on your kids tho)

slightly off topic, but deboer is in a tough spot at best, fucking nuts at worst (if he is actually pushing guys out). i'm not an expert re their roster, but it looks like bama lost to the draft and portal the equivalent of: back 7, edge both OT, C, 2 best WR, RB from their starters and a ton of depth. I thought deboer's toughest challenge was going to be trying to get as much experience as possible in april portal, then hanging onto his existing talent after they lose a few games next year. if they lose a few games next year, it's going to be open season in the following portal on a very talented roster that all the sudden could be very nervous about the program's prospects. i don't care how good of a coach deboer is, i don't see anyone winning in the portal era if you can't keep your core of good players together.

Any thoughts on this? Oatis is a need for Georgia also, no?

yeah, the taxes would be brutal. i was talking with a friend and she said she would see if anyone would loan money against it, if so she would die with it and let her heirs get a step up in basis. lol.

If you're using mm to represent million you'd be insane to keep it. yeah, the watch that i would/could have purchased for ~40k might now sell at auction for ~$5 million. the main reason for keeping it, i would think, is it's an opportunity to own and pass down something very rare and unique that i would otherwise never buy. extra special because i would have bought it as a commemorative keepsake. downsides would be - other uses for the money if collectible items like this are at peak values right now, might be a good time to sell. of course, if you leaned that way, you prolly would have sold it a long time ago. curious if anyone here thinks they would keep a watch under those circumstances.

got it. that's the info i was looking for. thanks.

I see. I guess I was wondering - if, for example, Michigan's players can leave due to coaching change opening the portal for 30 more days, but no one can leave from Texas because the portal is closed, would that put us in a pinch at all? also, if we pursue say a B+ player now, do we regret that if an A player at the same position comes available in a few weeks. just wondering.

yeah, I get it. questions - how many more transfers can we take? does it make sense to keep some powder dry (aside from Niblack) if we think more transfers are coming from UM and potentially other programs, depending on who UM taps to replace Harbaugh? Just asking. I don't know about roster spots left, who we might want, timelines, etc.

yeah, I'm about ready to buy tickets. lol. *knock on wood*

does jjmcarthy declaring suggest Harbaugh is gonna bounce (you would think so, no? esp considering rumors Harbaugh is interviewing plus the circumstances overall) assuming Harbaugh leaves, how many more guys can we take in the portal? does it make sense to wait to see what happens at Michigan before taking anyone else (other than Niblack)? perhaps there will be LB/DL available from Michigan and/or the program whose coach leaves for Michigan? In any event, we might be able to aim higher at DL (assuming new guys come into portal following coaching changes) once we announce the new hire (assuming the portal stays open as the coaching carousel turns).

lol. yeah, it's actually a strange thought experiment, but would you keep or sell that dufour if you were the first purchaser? i would want to keep it (I was going to buy it to commemorate an important event, and it would be cool to own and pass down such a rare watch). Otoh, i'd feel stupid insuring a watch for $5MM.

Fjordgård, Norway. (second photo is from the ridge on the left, looking back toward where the first photo was taken)

I'm jealous of you guys who get to pause and take photos. 99% of my photos have my kids in them. the rest are basically snapshots as we're on the move, or set up shots when I am getting the camera ready before I take the pic. the highlands around sacred valley, Peru (first one shot from car window while traveling.)