He really isn't having fun, but the chicken was..

Our three year year-old is now 27, and the dog in that photo treated him like he was his own..

Long sense passed, that giant chocolate not only shaped my son’s life, his memory continues to shape ours. We’ve never forgotten him, and we have a new pup with his bloodline, even though we’ve had several in between..

He took great care of “our” boy.

2 years later, his brother in the same truck-

A couple of years apart but those brothers are inseparable

When they don’t want to wait to play fetch

These two always ready to play

Right at double digits, no electronics. Just a tiny Yamamoto baby craw and 1/16 oz weight. In transparency, I had Ai blur the background as my Son is my guide and didn’t want to give away his spots — Clearlake Ca though

Sorry to repost, but I was unable to add more photos and y'all had so many questions. Below are all the links to just about every question I was asked and the process:

Apple ear buds in the photo for scale:

 Links for all items per request at the bottom

Tiny Travel AeroPress Coffee Kit- complete with heater

What the tiny kit includes

• Travel bag with pocket for extra filters
• AeroPress with Flow Control cap
• Tiny immersion heater
• 1zpresso Q Grinder
• 15 g light-roast pre-portioned coffee bean. 5 days fits in the cup, but it easy to bring whatever. Yo
• Small SS travel cup
• Tiny RDT spray bottle
• Small thermometer (not needed but nice)

Workflow with immersion heater:

Step 1 — Prep the beans

• Open a 15 g portion of light-roast coffee and pour the beans into your cup. The cup can hold up to a week’s worth of pre-portioned beans, so there’s no need to bring a scale.
• Give the beans a light spray of water for RDT, right in the cup, then pour them into your grinder.

Step 2 — Heat the water then grind and assemble

• Fill the cup with bottled water and insert the tiny immersion heater.
• Plug it in and let the water heat while you assemble your AeroPress
• Grind the beans and dump into AeroPress. By the time the coffee is ground and ready, the water should be at or near a boil.
  • For light roasted Geshas and similar with the Q heptagonal I am backed off almost all the way where the adjustment screw is flush with the adjustment dial about 80 clicks.

Note: Boiling water is too hot for the brew, so let it cool slightly or check it with the tiny thermometer.

Important: Always unplug the immersion heater before removing it. Never set the hot heater on anything that could melt or burn.

Step 3 — Brew

• *Pour the hot water directly from the cup into the AeroPress, the water will not leak out, The Flow Control keeps the brew contained. 
• Place the AeroPress back on the same cup
• Let the coffee steep for 2 minutes.

Step 5 — Press

• Gently press the plunger all the way down. Stop before the hiss..

Links:

• AeroPress JSHandCraft bag: $35

- JS Hand Craft AeroPress bag with filter holder

• Grinder 1Zpresso Qs with folding handle Heptagonal 40mm burrs (7 spoke, not the newer less clarity 8): $117

- Rogue Wave Qs

• Immersion Heater Norpro 559: $29.95 for 2

- Heater 559

• SS 10oz cup to fit 5 does of single packed beans and the bigger Flow control cap: $19.99

- 10oz SS Cup

• Tiny 8ML Spray Bottle RDT: $6.99

- RDT 8ML

• Tiny Thermometer, Folding keychain sized by Thermoworks Fun-size: $19.99

- Fun-size-folding-probe-thermometer

• Flow Control AeroPress cap: $24.95

- Flow Control Cap

• AeroPress Clear: $49 but the gray is often around $31

- AeroPress Clear

• Single portion 15g to 30gr vacuum bags 9x13cm: $65.43 500ct

- Mylar heat sealable barrier vacum bags

• Alternative without a sealer, nice if you are pre-grinding, 2oz reclose-able with valve: $26.99 for 50ct

- Resealable with vent bags

• Vacuum sealer with retractable snorkel: $248.99

- Retractable Nozzle Vacum Sealer

FWIW, I have a Stagg EKG and V60 setup for traveling in my Sprinter camper van.

I brew 15g/240ml, almost exclusively with UL or light-roasted beans, so the volume they take up is incredibly consistent. I measured it over and over, and if I fill the kettle to the line I marked, I’m always within about 5ml of my 240ml target—no scale needed.

The goal with my travel setup is to carry as little as possible, especially anything fragile.

 

 

What’s your hotel kit?

Everything I need for up to a week fits into this little kit, with basically nothing breakable—other than the bottled water. Electricity? I’ll take that too. 😂 kidding aside it will run off a lithium power block -

I can always bring more beans.

The Flow Control cap lets me heat water directly in the same stainless cup with the immersion heater. I keep my pre-portioned beans stored in there, then use that same cup to brew into. One cup. Zero dishes. Maximum coffee nerd efficiency.

The QS grinder with the folding handle semi-locks into the AeroPress, which makes the whole thing easier to handle. Filters live in the little pouch up front.

And I usually bring an assortment of beans, because apparently drinking the same coffee two days in a row is unacceptable. 😂

So every morning is basically like home: “Hmm… what are we drinking today?” :::

I took the laundry out. I had to laugh.

The Glitch cheat card from Japan, tried to brew on its own!!

Those few grains are probably worth eight bucks lol

It sure can look ugly - maybe slight more woodie, but damn a good Geisha is still a good Geisha-

Scale says 3 minutes but draw down was 2:25

Sure the V60 for special lots of Geisha etc..

But not much better that a simple easy to clean AeroPress XL with flow control when you’re after a 20 oz mug of sweet, silky mouthfeel bolder medium plus roasted coffee

What do you do when you have a large collection of high end coffees you want to reference and preserve for the long term?

Right now, I have around 100 coffees that I’ve tasted, sorted into a LOT of individual single-dose bags, and cataloged with ratings, tasting notes, cost per cup (some are crazy), and other details.

Keeping them individually vacuum packaged makes it easy to go back grind frozen, and do A/B comparisons months later without opening and letting condensation kill the balance of the coffees.

For a few of my absolute favorites, I’ve gone further and stored several pounds frozen so I don’t have to watch them disappear forever.

How do you handle those rare coffees you love when you know they’ll eventually be gone? Do you save larger quantities, keep a “library” of samples, or just enjoy them while they last?

FYI grey items were gross and not stored-

Edited to add for clarity:
This is more of a reference library, which is why I single-dose most of the coffees. It lets me go back months later and do A/B comparisons on some of the better lots against new stuff.

For my everyday favorites, though—like Edernoman Toledo Charry 2025 (Copa de Oro Winner) from Passenger, where I have about 6 lbs, or a couple of large lots of Geishas that I drink regularly—I package them in larger bags to save time.

One rule I always follow: I never put a partially opened bag of frozen beans back into the deep freezer. 😂