My weekday coffee routine

I have asked a few people lately when they drink coffee. I am interested in this because I understand that we all drink coffee at different times, in different quantities, and in different contexts. I want to learn more about how others consume coffee. To keep the discussion going, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my personal coffee routine. This routine has stayed roughly the same over the last few months as I work from home. The major changes have been the equipment I use to brew, from brewer changes to, more recently, the purchase of a new grinder.

In this post, I'll give a rough schedule of my day-to-day coffee drinking routine on the average weekday. I'll talk about my weekend routine toward the end of the post. My weekend routine can be a little bit different to my regular daily routine.

First cup: 9:30am

I have my first cup at 9:30am. I am quite strict about timing because I do like to have a cup early in the morning but not too late. By 9:30am, I feel ready for my first cup. I have consumed coffee earlier and when I am out in cafes I sometimes have a cup at 9:00am or a bit later. But 9:30am is my first cup on weekdays.

I like to switch brewing devices quite a bit so I do not use any particular brewer in the morning. I am using the Kalita Wave quite a bit right now, which has been a favourite of mine since I purchased it. I am just learning to dial in my Comandante grinder so I am likely going to stick with the Kalita Wave a bit longer before trying to dial in for other brewing devices. Sometimes I use an Aeropress for my first brew. Sometimes the V60. Sometimes I even use the Aromaboy machine.

Second cup: 11:10am (or so)

I try to get a second cup in after 11am, excluding when I have a call that might put off my schedule. I have chosen the arbitrary time of 11:10 to make a second cup. I do not use a specific brewer at this time although at the moment I have been using the Kalita Wave as much as possible. Sometimes I change brewers for my second cup but I usually use the same brewer as I did in the morning. I don't like to have a lot of coffee equipment in the kitchen at once so I stick with one brewer and try to take any upstairs that I'm not actively using (the kitchen is small so space is limited).

Third cup: Between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm

I have my third and final cup around this time. I am partial to using the Chemex in the afternoon because a member of the household also likes speciality coffee and at this point I sometimes ask if they would like a cup. If I am using a new brewer or piece of equipment I sometimes do not use the Chemex in the afternoon because I can get very excited about new coffee equipment.

Weekends and wrapping up

On weekends, my coffee routine is slightly different. I sometimes follow the times above but there is usually something else that I am doing that means I'm not around to make as many cups of coffee. For instance, I have visited Edinburgh a lot since lockdown eased so I get my coffee fix at a speciality coffee shop (or a few!) in the city. I might go out for a walk and not have a cup. But I usually have at least one cup in the morning to set me up for the day.

That's my daily coffee routine (at least for now, as I'll expect my routine will change as routines do). I like having a routine around coffee because for me it is a ritual and a way to get away from my desk for a bit, where I spend a large percentage of my time as I work at home. Do you have a coffee routine like this? Are you the sort of person who drinks a cup as soon as they wake up? Can you not even think about making a cup of coffee before a certain time in the day? I want to know. I would love to hear about the relationships other people have with coffee. (And I would definitely love to hear from you if you just so happened to be drinking coffee while you were reading this post!)