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Hot sauce is great. Light your asshole on fire for the next 3 days hot sauce, not great. Atleast for most yet same situation. Mention you like hot sauce once and it's the easy go to gift

Same goes for sex.

You've got to be kidding me.

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"oh, you like hot food! Then you must love the ghost pepper chili!"

No, I like how the heat adds to the dish. Too hot (spicy) detracts from the food and makes the meal unenjoyable.

Aw man I dove into a jar of ghost pepper honey last night. Some of us love the self-torture

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Dark and extra dark roasting is the way to hide the intrinsic poor quality of a bad batch of coffee beans. Also, pour-over/filter coffee generally requires a lighter roast than espresso, but a lot of people like the acidity of lightly roasted beans in an espresso.

People who know about coffee drink light to medium roasted beans.

Well now you tell me!

My new lever machine needs a dark roast as it's difficult to use, but I'm learning.

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Saw a LPT years back that stuck with me about getting the expensive version of a cheap item, e.g. a $20 pen is way nicer than a $20 shirt.

You probably need a darker roast on the lever machine because it's hard to get a lever machine to a hot enough temperature even with preheating. Darker roasts extract easier so it makes up for the lower temperature.

That's why you're supposed to dilute the cask strength whisky with a (more than) few drops of water. Or not if you like it that way.

My problem is during tax season it’s not uncommon for me to drink 1 pot or more a day of coffee. My office has a standard Mr Coffee, and any light roast or coffee with anything more than light acidity upsets my stomach. The darker the roast, the smoother it goes down for me. And I definitely need the coffee when I’m down the office about 10-14 hours a day 7 days a week. Energy drinks don’t do much for me and they have way too much sugar.

I find it hard to believe that every dark roast is just a bad batch of coffee beans. I understand how it can be used in that manner, but are you saying that for dark roasts they just grab the cheapest beans and burn the hell out of them?

Meh. I do think as an LPT this is overly specific and only applicable to a few things. But it’s a good and accurate reminder of the typical “if someone has a hobby/interest, they know what they like more than you do.”

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Or you need a better grinder, have your considered that?

I love Taco Bell, and I get way too many ghost-pepper Death by Salsa flame-anus gifts. I don't even like hot sauce. Thanks. Merry Christmas.

Niche zero.

Only had it a few weeks. Learning as I go. Had a few wonderful shots from it and some awful. Santa got me more toys for it so I've plenty to be messing with :)

In general, if someone is passionate about something that you aren't gifts pertaining to that thing are dicey.

My wife spins wool into yarn, which she weaves on her looms, or makes into socks with her knitting machine. The number of skeins of hobby lobby yarn and Wal-Mart knitting supplies that she's gotten as gifts are staggering. She won't use any of that stuff.

I drink tea. A lot of tea. I generally get loose leaf from the tea seller in our town, and spend a fair bit of time discussing my selections with the guys that run the place. That box of Bigelow holiday sample teabags isn't going to light up my day.

We appreciate the effort and the thought, though!

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Reminds me, in a more gruesome example, of the movie 127 Hours. Aron Ralston heading out for a quick trip to hike, as an afterthought grabbed the cheap fake Leatherman tool. Within hours he was using it to gnaw away at his arm's flesh and bone and really wishing he'd taken the time to grab something with a better blade. Gift a good Leatherman, Gerber, SOG, etc instead of the cheap ones at the Home Depot checkout. 💁🏼‍♂️

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Exactly. Never buy people things for their hobby unless they ask for it or you know the brands they use.
I craft and do make up. People are so sweet to give me supplies, but it’s never stuff I can actually use.

Good dark roast is typically made of a robusta/Arabica blend and is usually split-batched to keep it even or dried slightly beforehand to help it get darker faster.
French roast, generally, is the “throw it in a pot and burn the shit out of it” variety. Other dark roasts aren’t typically like French roast.
Like, look at Peet’s Arabian Mocha Java. It’s a dark roast that’s smooth and slightly sweet. The smoky notes are subtle, and the cocoa helps balance everything. It’s been roasted long enough to draw out a deeper flavor, while still maintaining a mild body.
Generally speaking as well, if you notice “froth” or bubbles on top of your coffee, it’s a pretty good sign that your coffee is of high quality and the beans were properly taken care of during the preparation process.

That's a pretty good grinder

Unless it’s cannabis bring me the extra strong lol

>high proof liquors just burn too much.

That, Sir, is in the mouth of the bequaffer.

I get anxiety over gift gifting, I second guess everything. I’d love to pick out a nice gift for someone something they’d love and actually use.

Seriously! I get hot sauce all the time. There are only 3 hot sauce types I buy and use regularly. I always get some weird sampler pack with the hottest novelty hot sauces that I never even try.

This. This is the lpt, something that is really applicable and indeed could help bring a nice gift on a budget. Original lpt in the post sounds like complain that person did not like the gift and that's it.

Honestly, in my experience, the best gift is something personal. I try to think about conversations I’ve had with people and the experiences we’ve shared through the year, and that’s my launching off point. I actively avoid hobbies, due to not usually knowing enough to confidently gift them anything.
Like, my friend loves hedgehogs. I’ve gotten them a few different hedgehog-themed items over the years. One of the first experiences I’ve had with a new friend was at a cafe, and they ordered a taro latte just to try. They love boba and scented candles. I found a taro boba scented candle off Etsy. One of my friends has repeatedly commented on my mug hoard, so I bought them a mug similar to the one they always choose at my place.
Even if it misses, it’s still appreciated and shows you put active thought into them.
And, ultimately, your friends and family will be grateful for anything you gift them (or, should, at least).

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Very good point. And if you really want to do it, get an expert opinion. I have a close coworker who is huge into expensive Scotch. I was in Scotland and felt like I had to bring him something back. I was at a loss until I thought to seek out an expert at a local bottle shop. Got a great recommendation at a reasonable price, something local and rare. Coworker was very impressed.

Pain builds character, amirite?

I bought a $20 pen and $20 nail clippers back in 2015 and they're still my go-to. Bonus is that I've never lost them because they're too "expensive" to lose. Obviously they're high quality items given the price point.

i feel like most LPTs are so passive aggressive 😂

Yeah extra strong cologne doesn't quite send the right message

I know this is an invasive question. But how do you relax with that type of schedule? Like what do you actually do?

I literally got 8 different hot sauces and a hot sauce making kit. 3 different people sent me them lmao

So 8-9 months out of the year I’m essentially a half time stay at home dad, drive the daily 4 hours taking 2 kids to and from school, my wife works from home but she has a stressful job as an engineer. 3-4 months out of the year I prepare tax returns. On a good day I can knock out 12-17 returns in a day. Last year I did somewhere between 850-900 federal state and local income tax returns. There is no relaxing during tax season, you can relax either on April 16th, or when the extensions are completed. I wake up, work, come home, help out the girls to bed and crash

I like computers and I really like extra strong computers!

Agreed. The Gravy train dog biscuits now come with extra gravy flavoring and my dog won't eat them. They just doused them with extra chemicals and he knows it lol

I see u smoke otherwise youd say stronger equals better.

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I used to be known for liking chess. People have gifted me novelty chessboards several times in my life... *sigh* Don't.... don't buy novelty chessboards for people. Never in my life have I ever seen a novelty chessboard that was fucking reasonably playable. Not in person, not online.

They're terrible.

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Ooh if you haven’t done this hedgehog themed item yet there’s some people on Etsy that sell a quartz with little eyes so it looks like a hedgehog. I love hedgehogs and crystals so I think it’s just the cutest thing.

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