Those DMs again - and some other updates

Hey there wonderful patrons.

I know I posted about DMs here but a moment ago, and here I am posting again - apologies.

The last time we spoke I was getting around 250 DMs a month. That has... crept up somewhat. At the current run rate it would make July a 400 DM month, which is a lot. If I spend an average of 2 minutes on each one, then it quickly just soaks up a lot of hours. That isn't sustainable, scalable or perhaps the right way to allocate the limited time I have when I want to make so many videos! 

A few things:

- If you've sent me a DM, thank you! I'm not trying to make you feel bad - I actively encouraged them last time I posted!

- Please do DM me in future, this is not me shutting that down.

However, there are a few categories of DMs that I should address:

- Ideas for videos: I love these, please send these. 

- Weird coffee things you've seen: I also love these, please send these.

- Recommendations: These are trickier. If it hasn't been on the channel, then I probably haven't spent enough/any time with the bit of kit to be able to offer you much insight. I'm on a learning journey with a lot of domestic equipment but the breadth of choices exceeds the breadth of my experience.

- Brewing questions: I will obviously try and help here. I just might be a little slower to reply.

- Anything else/saying hi/miscellaneous: Send me a DM! Again - I'm batching responses once or twice a week so replies may be slower.

If you feel I'm getting this wrong, let me know in the comments. This is new territory for me, I appreciate the support you all give me a great deal and want to find a balance that works for everyone.

In other news...

The success of this Patreon has opened up some exciting doors for things to review - in particular high-end grinders. They're so much money, I'm extremely interested in whether they live up to the pricetags. I've placed at least one very exciting pre-order this week, and hope to place another on Saturday. I have a feeling that I'm going to sad to let these things go. I'm tempted to work my way through all the high-end grinders (Monolith, Lynn Weber, EK43S) but I'm also working on the next espresso machine comparison series (there'll be a poll soon for those tiers to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious in the up to around £500 category.

The French Press technique poster is now live, drawn by the very talented Ashley Elander Strandquist. I really like this one. You've probably spotted the upcoming V60 one too, that is just going through final print trials.

The channel has been really busy recently and, while there's one more this week, I think the pace may slow a bit for the rest of the month. The review of the Pakt goes live soon, and then the next review this month will either be the Flair Neo or the April Pour Over Brewer. There'll be a poll...

As always - thank you! You're an amazing group and I feel lucky and grateful for your support.

Best,

James

P.S. There is going to be another World's Largest Coffee Tasting! We've pretty much set a date (around World Coffee Day which is October 3rd, so probably the Saturday that week), and we're working away on the logistics to try and make sure it is a smoother, more enjoyable experience for everyone. But shhh! For now, this is just between us...