Freshly roasted coffee beans. A bag sets me back maybe $13 or so and gets me approximately 10 cups. Not what I would call outrageously expensive but I enjoy it a whole lot
May I share with you that I roast a lot of things and it’s mind-blowingly easy, it saves a lot of money, and it’s a lot better than buying roasted from the store!
I used to use my oven, but it’s literally as simple as raw almonds 325 in the air cooker for 15 minutes sometimes. Depends on the ingredients, I’ve never done coffee but I think I’m going to do that this afternoon!!!
edit: I couldn’t find coffee beans that weren’t roasted (i never thought this through) so I bought the lightest ones and tried roasting them at different temperatures. It just kinda wrecked them.
Unfortunately, I believe coffee might be a different beast. I’m not sure you will be able to achieve desirable results with that type of equipment.
In fact, James Hoffmann recently made a video on whether it’s possible to roast coffee beans in an airfryer recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyLXmbTnJIY (tl;dw: not if you want good coffee)
Oestrogen (joking but also serious)
On a more serious note, a raspberry pi to run pihole and gobble up all the ads for all devices on my home network
If you use your phone a lot (or if your battery is old and you haven’t replaced it), a power bank is very useful.
A reputable powerbank (such as those from Anker) cost just under $20 USD for 10,000 MAH
It’s worth it for other people too, the fun putting a “W” sticker in front of the logo is endlessly entertaining.
Found the brit
#busted
What wanking does to a mf smh
A bamboo back scratching stick. I bought dozens back when Pier 1 existed and sold them for 75¢. Most are still around.
Bidet attachment.
For 20 bucks really? Is it a handpump model you dip directly into the toilet water?
Aww damn. Prices went up since I bought mine, but it was $20 when I got something similar to this one :
Please use URL Check to de-spy your links
What is it? Why?
https://www.amazon.com/SAMODRA-Ultra-Slim-Minimalist-Non-Electric-Adjustable/dp/B08QHTVDM3
That’s the link. Everything after the ‘?’ is information encoded in key=value pairs separated by an ampersand (&). It’s harmless on its own and it’s useful for rendering pages. But big corpos now attach extra info about your browsing session for analytics and advertisements and who knows what else. TikTok, Facebook and Amazon are the most notorious for abusing this. In FB, for example, they use an “fbid=” parameter associated with your account and YouTube uses “si=” so they can track who gets the link from whom.
As a rule of thumb, if the link is obnoxiously long, it’s tracking something.
Wow that’s crazy thanks
You’re welcome! Sorry, I had to edit for clarity. Hopefully it’s better explained now and less wordy.
Yes
$20 can buy many peanuts.
Explain.
Money can be exchanged for goods and services
Explain
D’oh!
Explain
Money is a thing that people agree has value and therefore can be traded for other things of value
Explain
$20 total or per day? If total, then a dumb stylus for my phone. If per day, then junk food. As an American my retirement plan is to die from heart disease.
Strap wrenches as jar openers, got a two-pack years ago (large and small) for less than $20 and end up using one every couple of weeks
I use a small sheet of that no-slip shelf liner stuff for jars.
We got an Un-Skru under-cabinet opener and it’s pretty great
Pet jumping spider.
Honestly 10 star pet. They eat a small bug every other day or so. They look adorable. They will recognize and react to you, and you can even train them to accept handling. They come in a wide variety of colors.
Downsides are that you’ll probably end up getting more than one (do NOT co-hab them!), or that they only live for 1-3 years. If you enjoy having the spider though, you can look into other arthropods like tarantulas, or vinegaroons (which look scary, but are harmless and have very sweet dispositions).
Do you just… grab one off the street?
You can, but for ethical reasons, I would recommend not doing that. There are plenty of sellers online and at expos who sell captive bred spiders.
Not a pet but a couple weeks ago I had a big fly buzzing around my room and annoying the shit out of me for like 4 hours while I was working from home. Then I heard it buzzing against my window in a weird way and I turn around and there’s a big ass jumping spider just murdering the shit out of it. I’ve never been so happy to see a spider in the house. It hung out in the corner of the window for like an hour after that and then it was gone and I haven’t seen it since.
An electric ‘coffee grinder’ just for grinding up spices / seeds. Don’t use the regular coffee grinder, or your coffee drinking housemates will get super annoyed. The flavor, and nutrition is so much better when you cook with freshly ground spices.
A <$20 grinder wouldn’t be good enough to use on coffee anyway.
Conical burr or bust!
Roger that! Got one when my stepdad passed. He loved his coffee, and had an amazing grinder.
They work well on seeds, tho’.
For sure!
The difference is that you aren’t trying to percolate water through spices like you are with coffee, so the grind size isn’t so critical. With coffee, if the grind is uneven you end up with “channels” instead of the water flowing through evenly, so some parts of the coffee ends up over-extracted while other parts end up under-extracted, and you end up with more sour and bitter flavors than it’s supposed to have.
Or so they say, anyway. I’m not actually a coffee snob myself – I drink instant with a bunch of cream and sugar, LOL – I just like James Hoffman YouTube videos.
May I suggest a mortar and pestle, then you don’t have build up of contaminants in the burr, and blending of particulate from past grinds
Try grinding 60ml of flax, sesame, cumin, black cumin, and fenugreek in a mortar /pestle. It’s too much work. I’m a tool using primate, and I like powertools. For 5ml, even 20ml hand power is fine. The Chinese developed a thing called a “Brass Boat” for grinding up larger quantities, “manually”, actually by foot/ leg power. Alas, I can’t seem to find an image for ya.
I have several mortar and pestles and I find them very easy, you don’t need to be condescending, I kind of stopped reading your comment after the bitchy start.
Not meaning to be condescending, that’s what I grind every morning for my breakfast. I’ve tried hand grinders, and have a mortar & pestle, but they don’t work for me in that use case. shrug
There’s much nutrition in coffee?
Coffee drinkers, especially before morning coffee can be a tad bit intolerant of one’s spice experiments. It’s best to not goad the beast, at least until normal / optimal levels of caffienation have been reached, and beauty achieved.
I love spice and I love my morning coffee. I might try combining them as an experiment but I own two coffee grinders for a reason!
So called Turkish Coffee, which I used to drink on the regular in post grad, has cardamom, which is a great place to start. I’m always game for a little extra flavor. Just a touch of chili powder? Hmm, never tried it, but maybe Nigella sativa / Kalonji/ Black Cumin Seed would be a good add. LMK!
I mainly use mine to get the finer espresso grounds from regular coffee. Why pay premium?
Also used it for chemistry experiments, grinding coriander, all sorts of things.
After breaking 2, I finally got a decent one for $40.
Converting $20 to local currency, I’d probably go with this:
This is so-called “Liubao Tea”, a kissing cousin to pu’er tea. I did a review of my first batch(es) and it has rapidly (literally with one round of brews) reached the top of my circulation in teas.
The depicted tea is one aged from 1991 (the one I reviewed was tea stems from 2003) and is of one of the higher grades. A 100g package will set you back about $15 or so at today’s exchange rate. 100g is about 15-20 servings, and each serving can be brewed multiple times (even my tea stems can be brewed four times without loss of flavour), so it’s quite the bargain.
Save it for a time when you really need something warm, rich, and comforting. It will last forever as long as you store it in a cool, dry, dark space. And personally I think it’s a bargain at 15 bucks.
Also, if you haven’t tried it, loose leaf pu’er tea really is excellent. I get mine in tins from the local Chinese grocery store, and the one time they didn’t have any I drove around all afternoon trying to find a store that had some in stock.
I’ve tried them. I still prefer the compressed ones, but they’re pretty good, yes.
Where do you get it?
I get it straight from a collective representing the farmers in Liubao. There are some Internet vendors who sell it, though, so you don’t have to move to China. I can’t vouch for any of them though since, well, I don’t use their services.
Ah yes, the most convenient of currencies - dried leaf.
Excuse me, kissing what?
It’s an expression. It means “related, but not so closely that they can’t fuck”. Welcome to Dixieland, pardner
Cousin. Did I typo that?
What methods do you use to dry the tea leaves and stems after each brew?
You don’t. You finish your cup, you put the leaves back in, you pour hot water over top.
I see, so it’s only possible if you drink it consecutively. Do you use a strainer or put the leaves in the cup?
Yes. At work, for example, I make a cup in the morning about 10AM and then keep refilling and drinking until about an hour before quitting time.
The link provided a lot of answers to your questions. It looks like, similar to puer, to be drunk consecutively.
Oops, didn’t notice the link. I’ll check it out.
A beard trimmer. Shaving sucks and irritates my skin, plus I look like a baby without facial hair. But that’s only one benefit.
I have been using a beard trimmer to cut my own hair for the last 10 years which has saved me probably $2000 worth of haircuts (estimating a $25 haircut + tip every 2 months). Not to mention saving about 1 hour waiting at the barber every time. I only messed up once and had to do a buzz cut.
So you just buzz cut your entire hair essentially? I did that once and looked like a serial rapist
Don’t get a beard trimmer and also use it on your hair; get a hair trimmer and also use it on your beard. Specifically, get the kind that comes with an assortment of combs up to 1" (and then maybe even buy the 1-1/4" and 1-1/2" combs that are sold separately, too).
Only of you do it wrong, or you want to look like a serial rapist.
If you have a simple cut/style all it takes is a little practice to DIY.
It only takes a few minutes of YouTube videos before you can do a passable men’s haircut.
I cut my own hair during the pandemic and never went back to paying for it.
Same, saving way more than I’d have guessed. I go for buzzing, but I’m nearly bald on top anyways, so it just looks cleaner.
So you just buzz cut your entire hair essentially? I did that once and looked like a serial rapist
Buzz cut was only once because I messed up. Usually I do a trim, short on the sides and back and longer on top. It’s easier than it sounds - I just use a smaller mirror along with the bathroom mirror to see the back.
I’m sure it’s preferable to looking like a baby with facial hair
Agreed with almost every single part of your post. I have done the same thing for last few years. BUT I’m growing my hair out now that I’m retired and I am gonna be a hippie. Still use the beard trimmer daily tho!
Silk pillow case. Good for skin and hair.
A high quality mechanical pencil that takes girthy lead. I use a staedtler 925 2mm and it’s absolutely wonderful for taking notes and writing and has served me through high school, college, and work. It writes similar to a regular wood pencil but sharpening is optional
I use so-called “eternal pencils” now. They come in various “hardness” ratings (like pencils: B, HB, H, 2H, etc.) but even my “softest” (read: darkest with broadest tip) has been in use now for a couple of years without noticeable wear on the tip. That one is guaranteed to be usable for a decade. My hardest will likely stop working when the sun dies in four billion years or so.
Mini Swiss army knife. I don’t know how to live life without this on my keychain
I’ve got a Gerber Dime pliers-based mini multitool on my keychain instead.
3 times the weight though
I’ve had 2 Gerber Dimes they seem nice in theory but you can’t use the pliers for pretty much anything without them breaking.
Gonna get a Victorinox as my next tool
That is a pretty good point – I haven’t broken the pliers, but haven’t found them to be all that useful, either. My most-used tool by far is the “package opener.”
Swiss Army Classic for those shopping. eBay has tons, take you time, hundreds of cool designs.
Cool trick: search “TSA lot” and you can get knives by the pound. I got 50 one time, fixed, polished, sharpen, etc., gave them away for Christmas at the office.
SD mini is 20 usd I think brand new as well. It is so small you don’t even notice it on your keys. Everyone should have one. I buy them as gifts for people when I don’t know what to get and the amount of thanks I get down the line is wild
This probably sounds autistic but I have super long hair and I’ve managed to grow it longer than ever before because when I see an obvious split end I just hit it with the mini scissors
