Quick Luddite Notes

☕ Coffee is the number one commodity I care about

When I’m not drinking Nespresso capsules or Senseo pads, I prefer moka pot coffee. When in Romania, I can also use a filter machine for convenience. Wherever I am, I have struggled in recent years with the hectic availability of even the most popular brands of coffee that I prefer to drink. This is madness, not capitalism! (I’m a heavy coffee drinker.)

But I’m a cheapskate, and I hate when coffee goes from €6.49 to €9.99. Coffee prices have fluctuated wildly recently, so I usually find cheaper coffee in Romania—it used to be the other way around! But availability is even more crucial: I can’t always find what I want in supermarkets!

Here’s the coffee I drink most often. It must be 100% Arabica, except for capsules and pads, to which this rule doesn’t apply.

☕ Both in Germany and in Romania (throughout Europe, actually):

The first one has become increasingly difficult to find in supermarkets in Germany, and Illy Classico is usually found in grains and in the finest grinding, espresso. If I want it for moka or for filter, I need to purchase it online or buy it at the Romanian chain Mega-Image.

☕ Only in Germany:

☕ Only in Romania:

The availability of Juan Valdez’s coffee at DM in Romania is surprising. No other DM chain has it—definitely not the German one! This Colombian coffee is primarily meant for the US market. “Cumbre” has a medium-dark roast, and “Sierra Nevada” has a medium-dark-to-dark roast. Or maybe the first one is medium-to-medium-dark, and the second one is medium-dark? Either way, they’re properly roasted, unlike all that blond shite that some young shitheads prefer.

I drink my coffee dark. No sugar, no milk, nada.

I’m no longer that much into Nespresso capsules these days—I leave them to my wife. But I’m increasingly dissatisfied with the Senseo pads lately. They seem to result in coffee that’s too watery, regardless of how short I make it. How could I have liked such pads before? Even from Melitta, and even Harmonie—weak, but aromatic. Now I need something stronger.

Speaking of Melitta, they have changed their Montana® Filterkaffee 500g (100% Arabica) from a 4/5 strength to 3/5. Here’s the new 3/5 packaging. But most sellers have missed the memo and still list the old product. Take REWE, which still displays the old 4/5 packaging. But even Melitta still describes it in the text as “Kräftig und fein,” while the package now reads “Fein und ausgewogen.” All companies are now totally shitty, with an obvious lack of coordination between departments and a complete lack of care about what they do. Making money is all they care about.

I need better coffee. Italian niche brands that I used to find at TK Maxx. Not anymore.

Oh my, I forgot about my recent discovery and weakness! It must be Alzheimer’s.

☕ Tchibo Bio Äthiopien (250g, ground): €5.99 in Germany, 33.99 lei in Romania (let’s say €6.49). In Romania, it can be found at Carrefour (more expensive, as 39.95 lei is about €7.60).

I normally don’t drink Ethiopian coffee—I’m into Latin American coffees. But this one is extremely aromatic and, to my surprise, roasted to the perfect degree. I avoided it for so long (I only noticed it in Romania, at Carrefour, and I thought it was some shitty coffee that Tchibo didn’t manage to sell in Germany, but boy, how wrong I was!).