Medium

4 min readMar 14, 2024

I used to get crazy jitters from coffee. Like, heart pounding, world is caving in, my finances are in disarray, and everyone in my office thinks I’m a dork type jitters. Now I drink it unencumbered. What changed? I’m not entirely sure, but I spent some time in therapy (realized being a dork is fine), and only drink coffee on an empty stomach if I want some extra oomf on a morning call. My finances are still in disarray.

I take my coffee black and have developed a taste for the complexities of the bean. I’m absolutely not claiming that I have the ability to discern anything specific — but if the package says it has notes of caramel or stone fruit, bet your bottom dollar I taste it 🤣 Black coffee sets me in “go” mode in the morning. It tells my body it’s time to get that PA-PER.

My coffee setup itself is pretty simple. My girlfriend (yes, I have one) Philippa introduced me to the AeroPress last summer and I’ve been hooked ever since. The AeroPress device was invented in 2004 by a Stanford engineer named Alan Adler. Adler made his name in “high-performance sports toys,” and designed something called the Aerobie Pro Flying Ring which was used to set a Guinness World Record for the farthest thrown object (1,333 feet in 2003), so I guess he was building on his success a year later when he turned his attention to coffee. I’ve found that a cup of AeroPress coffee is smoother, less acidic, and ultimately more convenient than other ways of coffee-making. I was a Nespresso guy for a long time, but I like the idea of making my own coffee rather than becoming a cog in the pod-based digital nomad lifestyle.

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I make my AeroPress with 18 grams of coffee (medium-fine grind, although you can get beans ground specifically for AeroPress if you are odee). I don’t heat my water to a particular temperature, though I let the boiled kettle cool a little bit before I pour. My electric kettle boils to 212° and AeroPress recommends 175°. I pour enough water for the mug that I use, roughly to level 4, give it a stir, and press gently. Voila! A simple cup of joe. I like that this device optimizes for simplicity and ease — most store-bought coffee is a medium-fine grind, and you can get an electric kettle with preset temps. The scoop that comes with the AeroPress is about 16 grams — I use 18 because I like something a little stronger.

I keep forgetting to take a picture with the coffee, but just imagine it’s there.

The other part of my setup is slightly more complex. For Valentine’s Day, I’m all about a labor of love. Last year I built Phil a bench, and this year, she asked for an AeroPress holder. Her wish is my command 🙇‍♂️ so I got to planning.

Everyone I showed these to was like “huh?”

I’m up for a challenge, but this was both trial and tribulation. I went to a Home Depot the size of Texas and wandered around the seemingly deserted store looking for orange vests, only to find someone who said they couldn’t do cuts less than 12 inches. Was I going to give her the biggest AeroPress holder in the world? The guy who delivered the bad news pointed me down an aisle with a hand saw and table and said I could try cutting the wood to the right measurements myself. With nothing to measure or mark, I scoured the store till I saw a measuring tape that had been knocked underneath a display. Using a broken broom handle, I coaxed the measuring tape out and blew off the sawdust. A salvaged green highlighter (something borrowed, nothing new) would have to do for markings. I got to sawing. Obviously it didn’t work. These were the most lopsided pieces of wood I’ve ever seen (and I had to take woodworking starting in third grade, so I’ve seen some bad angles).

By this point, I had spent probably 2.5 hours in the liminal space of the Northeast DC Home Depot. I had nothing to show for it but chewed-up pine boards and a bad attitude. I took a beat, paced the aisles, hands clasped behind my back, and decided to call the hardware store a few blocks from my house. “Sure!” the voice on the other end of the phone said. “We do cuts under 12 inches.” Fuck my liiiiiifeeeeee. I loaded up another pine board (8’ in a small Subaru SUV with the seats down), got back in the car, and headed to get the new cuts done. And the stand came together perfectly! A true labor of love, and something I’m really proud of. Phil loved it, or at least she said she did which is more than enough. Lmk if you want the plans.