counterpoint to point

listen, i have this friend who believes that drip coffee in all its forms is the true test of a coffee; whereas espresso simply touches one tip of the iceburg.

i couldn't disagree more, and here's why. if you show up at an upmarket sports car dealership and ask to test drive the best vehicle they have on the showroom floor you're not going to drive it to the grocery store parking lot to see how it parks. you're not going to bother with parallel parking. and you're certainly not going to be asking about gas mileage and maintenance schedules. why not? because you're prepared to drop a bunch of clams on a kick-boody tiger of a car and you don't care about a value market family sedan. you want the formula one experience, baby.

that is where we want to live: up there soaring with the eagles, not poking around the feed lot with the turkeys. hey, anyone can get their hands on run of the mill specialty coffee. we're talking about the best of the best, and because of that we need an apparatus that can deliver the goods in the most appropriate medium. that medium can only be the medium of espresso.

i mean, sure, everyone agrees that the press, the aerobie and especially the clover will deliver a remarkable drip cup that delights the senses. but even still, those may be the equivalent of seeing coffee in black and white or grayscale, whereas an excellent espresso is the full millions or colors range of high def television in all its glory. it is upfront, in your face, pedal to the metal all throttle coffee at its most urgent and most glorious. yes, it requires a ton of great equipment. but if you want to drive at formula one speeds you need a formula one car, pure and simple. do you think the f-1 people give up because theirs is an endless pursuit toward greater perfection? hardly. so why should we settle for coffee using the same old parameters day in and day out as you would with those regular brewing methods? why not shoot for the moon?

and why not demand greater and greater good from the fuel for the formula one machine...the beans themselves?

now that you've read my point counterpoint on drip versus espresso, what do you think? thanks, steve, for letting me pillage your topic and explode it so brashly.