There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
However my coworker has a scale and a V60 to make his coffee in the morning and he is just as happy. While it may not be the best cup it can be, it is still better than most coffee makers.
The full set up wasn't something I came into all at once either, so you can slowly work your way up to it piece by piece.
I managed to borrow a scale from the Geology department at my university, and a gooseneck I still haven't pulled the trigger on. It's like they start at 30$, hard to justify.
I initially thought a gooseneck kettle isn't necessary but I instantly debunked that thought after watching some videos on pourover coffee. It's really pricey though.
Scale is definitely the priority, I think you can get a pretty decent one for <$20 for these purposes. I really love my Acaia scale but that's a whole other level of coffee nerd-dom.
I've looked around Amazon and they go about that price or even higher. I don't mind settling with a cheap but functional one 😁
Good coffee is about repeatability, and this setup gives you control over all the variables. I don't think you need a thermometer, because water temp can be tracked as a function of how long you wait to pour it after the kettle boils.