it’s official. i’m slowly but surely turning into one of those self-declared coffee geeks. i still have a long way to go (until about two years ago, i thought nespresso was as good as it got), but i love learning more about the magic liquid that creates fireworks in my brain and a party for my tastebuds.

i definitely owe my growing interest in coffee to my frequent trips to the states. in new york and los angeles i’ve discovered plenty of really good coffee roasteries and bars, and i am forever adding more places to my to-do lists. i love them all – handsome roasters, blue bottle, stumptown… but it always frustrated me a little that i had to leave all that good coffee behind whenever i returned to switzerland (belgium, on the other hand, has more than its fair share of good coffee places).

so i decided to take the next step and start buying beans. i was told grinding them yourself, right before you actually make the coffee, is way better than buying pre-ground coffee, taste-wise. then i partnered up with bodum, one of my favorite household brands because they produce super practical ànd beautifully designed kitchen supplies. (they’re half-scandinavian, half-swiss, so no surprise there!) they kindly offered me some of their coffee gear to fuel my hobby-turning-into-a-serious-addiction.

the above pictures show my first baby steps into grinding the precious beans i smuggled in from new york and using bodum’s adorable chambord french press. it’s the perfect size for about one or two cups of coffee, which turned out to be my personal limit. perhaps i made it a little too strong, perhaps these freshly ground beans are just way more powerful? but the taste, you guys. and the smell! i really wish i could send some of those delicious odors your way – i swear our apartment currently smells like a roastery, and of course i’m loving that.

grinding the beans was simple enough, especially with this travel size grinder (which looks really smart on our counter top in black). but i was a bit scared to burn them by grinding too long, so i might have left them a little too coarse the first time. ah well, i can’t wait to further experiment and adapt the process to my taste. the blue bottle beans, you ask? the coffee i made certainly tasted like a little bit of new york, so i’m a happy gal.