Drinking coffee out of a smaller cup

When I was at Union Brew Lab on Saturday, the coffee I ordered was given to me in a latte art pitcher. I was also given a mug into which I could pour the coffee on my own. I liked this experience because the act of pouring coffee into a mug, I found, was soothing. There’s something nice about pouring coffee that has already been prepared into a mug, ready for you to drink. I was able to pour coffee from the pitcher into my mug three or so times before I was out of coffee because the mug I was given was quite small (and there was quite a bit of coffee in the pitcher, to be fair).

This got me thinking about how I could emulate this experience at home. I thought about what I have at home and realised I have a smaller cappuccino cup from Loveramics that I had never used. I also had a large decanter in which I usually brew iced coffee, which would have been perfect for storing the coffee I made until I was ready to pour it into my cup. With all of this in mind, I decided to make a bit more coffee than normal, brew it into the decanter, and then drink the coffee out of my cappuccino cup.

I have done this for the last two days and on each occasion I have felt good. There is something special about preparing what is essentially a jug of coffee from which I can keep pouring. I got about three small cups out of the amount I was preparing and I could pour my next cup at my own pace. I could pour a small amount of coffee in as a top up. Or I could pour in new coffee as I finished a cup.

This may not sound engaging but to me drinking coffee in this way—where I brew into a large decanter and serve into a mug myself—has made me rethink how I want to drink coffee at home. It’s not so much about the quantity of coffee but rather the experience of pouring coffee from a jug into a mug. I don’t usually have this experience because: (i) I am brewing into a mug or; (ii) I am so focused on brewing I do not think much about decanting my coffee.

Next time you make a brew, I’d recommend you try what I have been doing:

1. Brew coffee into a decanter (preferably a bit more than you usually have).
2. Find a mug that fits about 200 mls of coffee in (you could use an even smaller mug, but I don’t think a mug near the size of an espresso cup would do).
3. Pour your coffee into your mug from the decanter at your own pace. To get the most out of this experience, you should have at least enough coffee to pour a cup and a half, but ideally at least two cups (which is easy if you are using a smaller mug than you usually do).

Thanks Union Brew Lab for introducing me to the idea of decanting my own coffee during the drinking experience.