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James Hoffmann's coffee videos

Started by holyzombiejesus, April 29, 2022, 08:56:07 PM

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holyzombiejesus

These keep popping up on my Facebook and Youtube recommendations and I always end up watching 2 or 3 of them. Thing is I'm not sure if I like Hoffmann and want to be him or if I want to watch him get physically attacked and lose some teeth. Possibly both. Dunno if this makes sense but I think I dislike him for all the things I like about him. He's just so clean and neat and precise. Kind of smug too but also genuinely passionate and knowledgable. I don't really give a shit about coffee and I hate his mother of pearl effect spoon but if he had a tv show, I rate I could binge watch a whole series in one sitting. Also, he was born in the same town as me (Stafford) so it's almost like we're related and he might give me some of his money. I enjoy imagining his life although he also strikes me as a little enigmatic and hard to pin down.



https://youtu.be/xb3IxAr4RCo

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb0O2CdPBNi-QqPk5T3gsQ

Zero Gravitas

Yeah I had mixed feelings about how annoying he is, but then I saw a video of him in competition:


And he's a sweet little coffee nerd.

Pretty good advice on using the Clever Dripper, I'm never going to touch a goose neck kettle though.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I call him The Snooty Man. He seems pleasant enough, but I can entirely understand wanting to rough him up a bit.

Being a gourmet is one thing - that's all kinds of food - going all Brian Sewell over one specific drink is another. Spending hundreds of pounds on a machine to make one specific subcategory of said drink, just so he can tut at how obviously bad it's going to be, is another thing still.

Also, I know slurping like he does is supposed to aerate the flavours, or whatever, but it sounds grotty (especially as he speaks so quietly and slurps so loudly).

touchingcloth

I thought the backing music on that sounded a bit Midlakey, and then the vocals started.

Martin Van Buren Stan

I like his videos a lot. I'd love to see a vid where he does a blind taste test of coffee made the "proper" way VS the normal way. Eg he always says it's important to bloom the coffee, would he be able to differentiate between bloomed and unbloomed cups?

Zero Gravitas

Quote from: Martin Van Buren Stan on April 29, 2022, 09:25:32 PMWould he be able to differentiate between bloomed and unbloomed cups?

He does seem like quite a dedicated empiricist, having totally thrown out most of the cargo-cult shit people do around AeroPress prep when he did a video on that. I'd be surprised if he hadn't done multiple double blinds.

hamfist

I like him a lot but find it challenging to imagine how he fucks

Quote from: touchingcloth on April 29, 2022, 09:18:24 PMI thought the backing music on that sounded a bit Midlakey, and then the vocals started.

Richard Norris & Erol Alkan remix

Fr.Bigley

The guy is a tool, I imagine he sneers at everything you mention you like. Rides a fixed gear bike I bet.

imitationleather

I think he gives really good advice in an easy-to-understand way. He's probably a bit too overly clean to party with me but what can you do?

Martin Van Buren Stan

Quote from: Zero Gravitas on April 29, 2022, 09:29:13 PMHe does seem like quite a dedicated empiricist, having totally thrown out most of the cargo-cult shit people do around AeroPress prep when he did a video on that. I'd be surprised if he hadn't done multiple double blinds.

Would love to see a vid on it then

touchingcloth

Coffee's easy. Take out of bag, pour hot water over. No need to fanny it more than that.

Martin Van Buren Stan

Yeah I agree. I sometimes wonder if these coffee experts are just brainwashi themselves into disliking decent coffee so they can spend thousands on fancy machines, grinders and beans.
.

Norton Canes

Been watching some of these

Drink it from the fucking cup

Sorry

thenoise

Quote from: hamfist on April 29, 2022, 09:30:09 PMI like him a lot but find it challenging to imagine how he fucks

Probably a lot of gentle talking and noisy slurping.

thenoise

Annoyingly the algorithms have decided that I'm the sort of person that would enjoy the videos of Mr Hoffman and, even more annoyingly they are absolutely right.

imitationleather

Can someone get that pic of me with the gooseneck kettle up plz?

fancywookiee

I got into him off the back of a collab with Tom Scott last year and have enjoyed a lot of his output. I had quite a lot of coffee stuff but didn't really know how to use it properly, so that's been pretty helpful to watch technique guides. Bought a reasonably fancy grinder off the back of it, but I'm not going to complain as it's put me in a pretty good place with regards to having a very pleasant cup of coffee to start my day with.

Not going to lie, I do find it funny when he gets frustrated trying to use absolutely dreadful coffee makers or trying 50 year old coffee that's horrible. I think it's the combination of his general poshness in the face of objectively awful stuff.

The algorithm also threw Morgan Eckroth (MorganDrinksCoffee) into my feed and they've done some fun videos too. Some very silly ones involving trying to make meme drinks from tiktok, but a couple are just nice little guides for things like, if someone's new to coffee shop culture and doesn't know what various drinks are. They just won the US Barista Champs also with some very interesting beverages, like a lime and mango coffee tonic (not flavours I'd previously think of pairing with coffee).

thugler

Enjoy his stuff. But basically find 90% of whether I'll like a (non espresso) coffee is in the beans. Good fresh medium/light roasted beans pretty much always tastes good to me whether i fuck up the brewing slightly or not. And vice versa, i can't brew niceness into crap or old beans. I do kinda want a proper espresso machine but also think it would be  a huge pain in the arse.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: thugler on May 01, 2022, 11:53:17 AMEnjoy his stuff. But basically find 90% of whether I'll like a (non espresso) coffee is in the beans. Good fresh medium/light roasted beans pretty much always tastes good to me whether i fuck up the brewing slightly or not. And vice versa, i can't brew niceness into crap or old beans. I do kinda want a proper espresso machine but also think it would be  a huge pain in the arse.

Yep. Aeropress seems a bit more forgiving than a cafetiere as you can get more flavour out quicker without it turning bitter (although I still let it steep a bit using the inverted method). Although there is practically a religion around the thing it is a bit better than drip or cafetiere imo, but probably not as much as some would have you believe.

I absolutely love Thompsons Columbian Dark. It's over 20 quid a kilo though.

I think you're looking around 500+ quid for a proper high-pressure machine if you want to do espresso properly. A lot of the cheaper ones must be low pressure as they seem to do a worse job than a mocha pot. And then you've got half a science lab in your kitchen just to make a cup of coffee.

I think a good burr grinder can also make a difference, not because of any of the pseudoscience I've read about the dangers of blade grinders slicing rather than crushing - it's simply they're adjustable and can give a uniformity of grind, I've found tinkering with that can make a bit of a difference, too narrow and things get bitter I think, it's been so long since I found the setting I like I can't remember why I didn't like the other ones.

RDRR

I like him/his videos, thanks for sharing.

He didn't really seem very snooty or judgemental. The few videos of his I watched seemed to argue against conventional wisdom around convoluted aeropress techniques, as mentioned above, and obsessing over water temperature. So I felt vindicated having ignored all of that stuff on the basis of just being too lazy.

There a slightly scary statistician in our department at work, but ultimately his advice usually seems to end up being that, within reason, most approaches give a very similar result and that a lot of the steps people take to try to avoid confounds/do analyses 'correctly' are either not really beneficial or can, in the wrong hands, be very counter-productive. The coffee man reminds me of that. Maybe not very scary, but I haven't watched many videos yet. He did have a little servant man arranging cups of coffee for him in the aeropress video, maybe he treats that guy like absolute shit.

Alright, the 'ultimate French press technique' video is a bit more involved, but in fairness he doesn't seem to be arguing "do it like this or you're a dickhead."

Norton Canes

Watched a few more. The voice is mellow, smooth, mellifluent and soothing, with a slight sibilance developing at the end of some words. The look though is giving me far too much Gove. I'm going to try watching clips in durations of five, ten, twenty, thirty and forty five minutes, to see how the resemblance is changed.

Dex Sawash


Blue Jam

Heh, I actually knew him in a previous life, back in my DJing days. I remember him being a massive coffee nerd and it was nice when he started to get some recognition for his non-musical sideline and started having some early success for it. He was actually a really nice guy and I'm glad see him doing well!

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Blue Jam on May 01, 2022, 02:03:44 PMHeh, I actually knew him in a previous life, back in my DJing days. I remember him being a massive coffee nerd and it was nice when he started to get some recognition for his non-musical sideline and started having some early success for it. He was actually a really nice guy and I'm glad see him doing well!

There seem to be a few producers and DJ's who have branched out into stuff like this; High Rankin' has his Double Drop Coffee and Ben Kei founded Dalston Chillies.

Blue Jam

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on May 01, 2022, 02:11:33 PMThere seem to be a few producers and DJ's who have branched out into stuff like this; High Rankin' has his Double Drop Coffee and Ben Kei founded Dalston Chillies.

DJs are nerds, it's not surprising that they tend to have other nerdy interests.

I remember bumping into someone else I had known as a DJ and musician at a conference one time. It turned out we'd both quit DJing and our proper jobs and decided to go back to our studies and start a new career in biomedical research.

Captain Z

Quote from: fancywookiee on May 01, 2022, 02:02:42 AMI got into him off the back of a collab with Tom Scott

Ah, at last, an excuse to mention him.

Why is this boring grey man with his boring grey face and boring grey expressions all over my youtube recommendations? I think I once muttered "who the fuck is Tom Scott" under my breath and now no amount of scrubbing can remove it.

fancywookiee

Quote from: Captain Z on May 01, 2022, 02:33:15 PMAh, at last, an excuse to mention him.

Why is this boring grey man with his boring grey face and boring grey expressions all over my youtube recommendations? I think I once muttered "who the fuck is Tom Scott" under my breath and now no amount of scrubbing can remove it.

I ended up unsubbing from Scott the end of last year. He did another collab with someone kinda dodgy and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Hoffmann's video last week about Kopi Luwak was a good one, he's clearly more concerned with sustainability than tasting a meme coffee for clicks.

thugler

Quote from: Captain Z on May 01, 2022, 02:33:15 PMAh, at last, an excuse to mention him.

Why is this boring grey man with his boring grey face and boring grey expressions all over my youtube recommendations? I think I once muttered "who the fuck is Tom Scott" under my breath and now no amount of scrubbing can remove it.

Yeah find him vile. An incredibly boring person who is inexplicably successful on there.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Captain Z on May 01, 2022, 02:33:15 PMAh, at last, an excuse to mention him.

Why is this boring grey man with his boring grey face and boring grey expressions all over my youtube recommendations? I think I once muttered "who the fuck is Tom Scott" under my breath and now no amount of scrubbing can remove it.

Yeah he's like herpes, once he appears in your recommendations you never truly get rid of him.