Post by Jonathan Yu

A delightful profile of the inimitable James Hoffmann: "Hoffmann knows people find his coffee pedantry amusing, but the monomania is not an act. 'Increasingly, people around me in my life refer to me as being eccentric,' he said, sipping his disheartening pour-over. 'I think I can take you down a rabbit hole of believing every decision you can make in your life can be optimised.' But Hoffmann has some sense of perspective. Spend more than £3,000 on a home espresso machine, he told me, and you are in the realm of diminishing returns. Hoffmann is not most people’s idea of a coffee snob. He does not scoff at the idea of an Oreo Frappuccino. At Prufrock Coffee in central London, the speciality coffee shop that he co-owns, they once had an upmarket version of the coffee elite’s nemesis, the pumpkin spice latte, on the menu. This diplomatic streak probably explains his popularity. If you’re exploring getting serious about coffee, Hoffmann will gently, but irrefutably, persuade you to wean yourself off the stale and muddy-tasting supermarket grounds to which he understands you may have developed an attachment. Some coffee hobbyists have criticised him for this: for being too accepting, too middle of the road." "Speciality coffee is unavoidable these days and Hoffmann’s mission is complete. London is now home to more than 50 speciality coffee roasters. Emerging chains like Rosslyn and WatchHouse are taking superb coffee into the mainstream. Today, consumers treat coffee like wine and expect to be provided with information about varietal, growing altitude and even the name of the farmer, as well as tasting notes. Still, Hoffmann is worried that it’s all far less permanent than it appears. Coffee’s flourishing in 17th-century London, he pointed out, was shortlived." https://lnkd.in/gF7tmNRk by Tomas Weber via Financial Times