start here

I get it.  You want to make kick ass coffee at home.  Maybe you’ve already clicked around our kick ass blog, maybe you haven’t.

But you want to know how you can escape the condescending stares, save some cash, and start your own underground lair turned coffee lab.

Well, maybe you don’t even want an underground lair.

But you want to make some real coffee.

 

I’m with you.

 

But where do you begin?

Right here, my friend.  When in doubt, come here, we’re constantly growing as a resource.  We document our exploits, write the most hardboiled reviews you can find, keep things honest and free of undue pretense, and welcome contributions all day every day.

We also have a cat.  His name is Cicero.

If you want to get started right away here are a number of articles that are helpful:

 

You Need Information

The most important thing for you to focus on is your coffee education – a sojourn we have all set off on but never finished.  Your coffee education is the foundation of everything, and it all boils down to genuine curiosity.

There is so much to learn about coffee and no one knows everything, so as you learn new things don’t forget to share them here – we love to find out new stuff and try it out ourselves.

If you are at a complete loss, we have The Academy which is filled with no nonsense guides.  Really, by the time you’re done there you’ll wish me and Cicero were your high school teachers.

 

But What About the Gadgets?  I Want to Have Fun.

Right.  Who doesn’t?

And you can’t engage in home coffee barista madness without some kick ass firepower.  And by firepower I definitely mean coffee gadgets.

This is pretty much the crux of project vvlgar: using and mastering a variety of fabulous (and preferably inexpensive) coffee devices to extract perfect flavor every time.  DIY coffee gadgets are always welcome and wholly appreciated, anything that can help people get down to business without becoming coke mules or dealing with loan sharks.

Because nobody likes a loan shark.

 

Getting Started on a Budget

Get Yourself a Grinder

Get a grinder.  If you buy one thing this year – buy a conical burr grinder and pat yourself on the back.  Home Coffee Barista Madmen waste no time on blade grinders.

Why?

Because they are junk.  You are better off buying ground coffee than grinding it with blades.

But aren’t conical burr grinders expensive?

They certainly can be.  But we have ways around that.  Check out the Hario Skerton, or check out what we have to say about the Hario Skerton first.  It’s a manual conical burr grinder, meaning you hand crank it.

It makes you feel like a man, while grinding coffee to perfection, and chicks dig it.

Yes.  Coffee gadgetry and knowledge on the subject is a serious chick magnet.

 

What Will You Brew With?

There are lots of options here and I recommend checking out some of our hardboiled reviews and exploits before making any life altering decisions.  We started with a Hario v60, which is a pour over apparatus.  It’s how we invented v60 black diesel, a growing trend that is slowly becoming more popular than Justin Bieber.

For those not yet in the know, v60 black diesel is what you drink when you need to get things done.  Yeah.

There are so many options here I won’t bog this page down with descriptions – if you are new here check out some of those hardboiled reviews, figure out what you want to try, and go get one.  If you are confused do not fear – so were we.  Actually, we still are, we have no idea what we’re doing.

But we do make awesome coffee.

So if you get even the least bit confused, email me at projectvvlgar@gmail.com – or follow me on twitter and send me a bunch of rude inappropriate comments to make me blush.  Find us on twitter at vvlgar – or just click the twitter button on your side bar.

Whichever.

 

Rendezvous

That’s French for ‘don’t forget to drop comments, share your insights, and guest post about your riotous exploits in making kick ass coffee’.

 

 

Welcome to project vvlgar.

 

 

-peter