About a month after the initial pandemic shutdown started back in March, I slowly came to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t be doing any work in coffee shops in the near future. Along with thousands of other coffee lovers, I began searching the internet for tips on crafting that perfect cup of coffee at home. I am a gadgets person, and I love having all of the fun tools that go along with whatever it is that I’m trying to perfect. When it comes to coffee, there’s a deep and ever-expanding rabbit hole that any coffee drinker can sink into when chasing after the tools for the perfect cup of coffee. After reading a few articles about the perfect gifts for the coffee lover (all full of words like “authentic,” “artisan,” “home brew” and “enthusiast”) I finally came up with my list of what I wanted to gift to myself for my new morning ritual.

For my birthday I treated myself to a new pour over system. I bought a double wall Bodum pour over coffee maker, a Baratza burr grinder, a Fellow Stagg gooseneck kettle, and a set of six Bodum double wall glass mugs. The whole setup was a bit of a splurge, but again, I’m not spending money at coffee shops these days and who knows when I will again. I love having this system at home! It’s a little more work than just flipping on a coffee machine every day, but there’s something about the ritual of it that chills me out (before getting amped up with caffeine).

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Did anyone else go through a coffee shop crisis when the pandemic hit? Did you perfect your own barista ritual?