@PC – Do one arm at a time. Support the other hand on something semi-sturdy (or fully sturdy) of about equal height.

I’m a coffee snob and can make my own (drip) easily from freshly roasted beans. Much better than any but the better shops (Blue Bottle). Starbucks coffee is substandard, although if necessary, I can make decent coffee at home from a bag of their roasted beans.

I prefer to support non-chain stores, but have not found that Peets’ quality has suffered now that it has expanded. The original one is still on Vine in Berkeley, and the second one was in Menlo Park (still there).

Hotter and too much acid is leached out:bitter coffee. colder and blah coffee.
Tip courtesy of the starbucks brochure included with the only pound of Starbucks I ever bought.
Also, use a tea strainer to separate grounds from brewed coffee. save price of filters or a french press.

I’ve done my share of ‘mushin’ to obtain the perfect cup of coffee at home, and my recipe is pretty basic:

1) Freshly-ground beans to taste
2) 195C water (measured with a thermometer to be precise).
3) 4 minutes exactly in the French Press.

I am consistently able to get better coffee from this method than anything at Starbucks or other coffee shops, and unlike traditional coffee makers, there are no electronics involved to break down and keep me from a good cup of bliss.

Many of the old timers would not allow their coffee making equipment to ever be washed, including their mugs. I don’t hold to this as I have found that the coffee oils tend to turn sour when the pot and mugs are reused with a washing. Some will only rinse their mugs and turn them upside down.

I fully agree that going to a coffee shop daily is way out of line in cost. I can make the same or better (to my taste) coffee right at home. My wife likes the chilled and exotic coffees so we just get the ingrediants for that and again make it right at home.

As for the roasting method, it seems pretty good, but possibly in an oven-type situation would give you a more uniform roast . . .Well, if I have a chance to play with it, I’ll let you know!

As for the coffee, mastering the art of roasting your own beans sounds fun–and I love the smell of coffee! I’ve tried the system of making coffee through a cloth (I actually draped mine inside of a colander and placed it over my coffee). But my coffee was not so good. I prefer the ‘French press’ (which the French call the ‘presse italienne.’ I bet that if you wanted to, you could build one quite easily or get one free or cheap.

By the way, I haven’t ever tried roasting my own beans, but I’m always annoyed at how hard it is to find ‘fair trade’ coffee and I often feel I’m taking someone’s word on the ‘fair trade’ part of things . . .roasting my own would probably give me new options in my search for coffee suppliers–and I would be able to improve my attempts to boycott the super market. Yes, I could just boycott by giving up coffee, but that makes me sad

@MoneyEnergy – I wouldn’t put it in exactly those words (yet), but yes, I am aiming to increase flexibility and adaptability to deal with things like peak oil, first and foremost.

@AlexK – “When in doubt let it out” On the jib, we have telltales on both sides. The jib is like an airplane wing (if we are on a beam or a broad reach we always run the spinnaker) so the angle of attack is what matters. To wit, if the telltales on the leeward side are fluttering (straight up usually) indicating a detached flow it means that the AOA is too large (an airplane wing would be going too much upward without enough speed) and the sail is stalling and so the sail is eased out. If the AOA is too small, the sail acts more like a flag (and it flutters); here the windward telltales would flutter indicating a turbulent flow on the windward side and so the sail is trimmed in to increase the AOA. This means that as the boat speed increases the wind comes more from the forward direction and so you trim it in. You want the sail to be right next to stalling without actually being stalled. That’s where maximum lift is generated; like an airplane. (At least this is as far as I understand it.) Of course the helmsman can change the AOA relative to the wind just be changing course and that is how you would do it if you were cruising since it is less work. In racing, the helmsman sets the course and the sails are trimmed to that.
On the J/105 we also have rails on either side that determines where the clew line is being pulled from. If we set it forward, trimming will pull the jib down which is good for light air to flatten the sails but restricts the control over AOA. For heavy air, it can be set further back to control AOA.

WRT the mainsail, I know how to handle the mainsheet and traveller for various conditions, but the cunningham, backstay, and outhaul are more mysterious too me. (I know what they do, but I can’t apply it.)

In terms of knowledge, I’d say I know a little about mainsail and jib trimming and how to make the boat go 0.1 kn faster, but little about most of the other stuff, especially docking operations under power, or in particular anchoring. Also, I am still clueless about tactics.

@George – I manually drip water on top of the grounds in the filter.

Or are you simply following orders at this point?