Home Barista Snapshot: Ken O’Day
Health economist, home coffee roaster, and home barista from Washington
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Being a Home Barista means a lot of different things—but one thing we’ve found to be true over the years is that coffee truly forms community. That’s why we love home-barista.com and the vibrant community of Home Baristas it’s developed.
To celebrate everything that comes with being a home barista, we’re partnering up with the team at home-barista.com to highlight different Home Baristas and their morning routines.
If you’re looking to take the next steps in your Home Barista hobby, be sure to check out the home-barista.com forums—they’re filled with great info and conversations, all centered around making coffee at home.
To kick things off, we’re talking with Ken O’Day. Ken is from Washington and was one of the very first Linea Mini owners. Enjoy!
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Ken, tell us a little bit about yourself…
I’m a health economist and crunch a lot of numbers on spreadsheets for work. So my coffee hobby is a nice diversion. Aside from good coffee I enjoy good IPAs. I also like cycling, running, and reading in my spare time.
What does your home coffee setup look like?
I’ve got a Linea Mini in black. As one of the first Linea Mini owners—I’ve had it for almost 4 years now, and it has cured my desire to upgrade my machine, and allows me to really focus on the coffee and my technique. The Linea Mini has worked flawlessly, and I’ve only needed to perform some basic maintenance. In that time I’ve been through a few different grinders, but I’m really happy with the Eureka Olympus e75 with RedSpeed burrs. Together it’s a great combo.
What are you currently brewing at home?
I’m a home roaster as well as a home barista, so really a full home cafe I guess. My roasting label is Camas Coffee. At the moment we’re drinking a blend of natural processed Mexican and Ethiopian coffees that I roasted, it’s a dark chocolate bomb that pulls incredible espresso shots.
What role does your home coffee ritual play in your day?
It’s a way for our whole family to have a little quality time together as we start our day. I make my teen son a mocha cappuccino and my wife and I drink macchiatos with oat milk.
What’s your favorite part about making coffee at home?
I’m not a morning person so coffee really helps me start my day right. Plus I work from home so it’s nice being able to walk downstairs when I want something from the cafe. The service is pretty quick but the barista is grumpy sometimes.
Where can we find you?
I gave up social media but I can still be found lurking on home-barista.com.
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Know a home barista that should be featured? Let us know! Email [email protected] with your recommendation
