Coffee has never been within the realm of my curiosity till only recently. I have always had a Cuppa Joe here and there without realizing the potential of the flavors that could be extracted from what I was drinking. My first real experience of coffee came to me in my freshman year at UW Madison in Espresso Royale. I actually had my first good cup of coffee just before doing my math homework. I was just hooked at how intricate and startling the flavors were.
Flavors come naturally to me as I really like to cook and come up with crazy dishes all the time. I just never had the opportunity to try a well brewed cup of coffee till I entered University. This initial dose of coffee provided me with the driving force that put me in search of the perfect cup of coffee and the ideal way of making it. I have always been a fan of using the traditional methods of making coffee, so a lot of my initial experimentation was based on the French press and stove tops.
There came a point, shortly after my sudden coffee interest, where I ended up in a state of addiction. Initially I thought I was addicted to coffee, but I wasn’t. I was addicted to finding my favorite coffee and the best brewing method. Fortunately Madison had lots of great coffee shops around and quite a few of them actually roasted their own coffee in house, so I was exposed to a lot of local coffee experience.
Towards the end of my University education I started up a company called Medarwin and to be honest I lived off coffee shops. I literally would organize meet ups with my fellow entrepreneurs at different coffee shops every day. I got to know the roasters and baristas really well. They helped me learn a lot about the different origins of coffee and how coffee gets roasted, which was very new and interesting to me at the time.
As a Mechanical Engineer, I naturally was very interested in the equipment used to make coffee. I would order beans from a different places every time and brew my coffee mainly using the Bialetti stove top espresso maker. I really liked stove tops mainly because I felt I had more control over how I brewed lightly roasted beans. A lot of it had to do with the extra heat that the stove tops are known for.
The heat build up on a stove top roasts the coffee in its own way giving it a very unique flavor.
I have always wanted to bring my coffee making experience to the next level and with a lot of research I found out about the Atomic. I just fell in love with the design and after some fanatical searching I found a BREVETTI ROBBIATI Atomic for a decent price.
Wow, when it arrived with my new Baratza Virtuoso, my coffee experience was brought up to the next level of infatuation and further experimentation. From my limited experience and immature experimentation I found a combination I have felt works best for me.
Beans:
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
Brazilian Bourbon
Kenyan AA
Favorite roaster - Intelligentsia
Gear:
Brevetti Robbiati Atomic Espresso stove top
Baratza Virtuoso
Aeropress
I have always been looking into innovation and new designs of coffee machines.
When I first got to know about the Atomic, I fell in love with the design and I just wanted one in front of me. I have had a very enjoyable experience with it, but I think it’s time for me to take on a new design and leave my Atomic in the beautiful state that it’s in.
