What a great thread topic.
I'm a coffee geek from way back. My wife loves the smell but can't suffer the taste, so I became a coffee snob by accident by only needing to brew a couple cups a day. Before that I was a cup o' joe in the chowhall Marine.
Posts suck without a pic so...
This build has gone through a lot of iterations, but at one point I needed to lock it to a rack every day. Note the top tube protector (which worked wonderfully). Counter Culture in NC does some great roasts and are very technically competent with their consistency.
My current jam is a Rancilio Rocky grinder and a clever coffee brewer with water heated to 199-201 for the beans I use. The beans? OK, this isn't a political comment and has literally nothing to do with their branding (which doesn't bother me), but I have a subscription to Black Rifle Coffee (BRC) for three bags of Just Black every two weeks. Despite living in Paris I can't find a dark oily roast (my preference) on the continent to save myself. Even the "espresso" roast here is barely a medium back in the U.S. I used to have a decent solution from the UK but Brexit killed that. BRC does an exemplary job of delivering on schedule, and has some very good QC on their roasts despite their incredible growth rate over the last few years. I've only had two bags in four years come in tasting off. I'd call that success given how much coffee I've gone through.
I waver between using cream and sugar but am on a "nothing added" kick the last few months. The BRC stuff when brewed right doesn't need it.
On a barely related note, one of the best cups of coffee I've had was in a tiny shop in Shibuya Japan where the guy used a coffee sock to brew:
