by Ayanda Dlamini
Fikile Dlamini, otherwise known as @_humaninng_ on social media, is a spirited and adventurous individual. Coffee forms as a huge part of her online persona. She’s known for filming videos of herself hiking, skating and making coffee, in beautiful and scenic locations around Cape Town. She also lives by the mantra: “Today is like coffee, it will be as good as you make it (so make good coffee!)”.
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Why is an AeroPress your equipment of choice?
I enjoy AeroPress because it’s easy to work with, especially if I’m skating somewhere or skating between places, it’s something that I just throw into my backpack or a small bag and it fits perfectly. It’s also wind resistant, this is important for me because Cape Town is so windy. An AeroPress keeps everything inside when the wind is crazy, the coffee and the water are enclosed in the chamber piece, which comes in handy with CPT weather. My AeroPress is just more durable and convenient, it’s compact, it’s not easy to break and I can take it anywhere. Having a V60 round can be quite difficult to navigate at times, especially because the nature of my travel involves a lot of skating and hiking. I really love my AeroPress, it was also my first ever alternative brewing equipment I ever had, and my collection just grew from there.
Why is carrying such elaborate coffee equipment important to you, as opposed to making it at home ready to drink in a flask for travel?
I always want to have my coffee fresh, I have the ability and skill to make fresh coffee anywhere I can and where I want too, so I mean why not? Making coffee at home is great but that’s something we do all the time. If I can carry my coffee fresh and still experience the phases of it, for example smelling it when it’s hot and sipping it through the stages of hot to cold, there's just something special about that experience. Being with my coffee wherever I am and brewing it in any space that I’m in. There’s something about this experience that serves as a moment of peace for me. I want my coffee to travel and see those experiences with me as well. It’s just more fun for me to make my coffee anywhere I want to. I’ve realized I have this ability to make coffee wherever I am, and with whatever tools I have on hand, so sometimes I kind of just want to challenge myself to see, where else can I make a cup of coffee with a good view. So this is just a part of my life that I’m exploring right now.
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Why is documenting your adventures important to you ?
Alongside my love for coffee and adventure, I really love taking pictures, taking everything in, capturing those moments. Cape Town is really beautiful so there’s a lot of places and spots that you can’t help but want to capture the beautiful scenery. My adventures are often a great way for me to be away from people when I need it. It’s that brief relief from life that I enjoy capturing on camera. I think my name on instagram encapsulates this, I’m just a human documenting the human experience.
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What’s your recipe ?
When people ask me for recipes, I feel like I’ve become like a parent. When you ask them for a recipe for a meal you like, their response is almost always along the lines of “measure with your heart”. So it’s the same for me in the sense that, sometimes my measurements depend on how I’m feeling. Generally I’ll stick to the foundation of the first recipe I learnt, which was about 17g’s, if I’m aiming for a 250ml pour, I bounce between 17g’s and 20g’s, 22g’s if I’m feeling adventurous that day. It’s really an intuitive thing for me. I also weigh my coffee before I leave the house, and often carry my hand grinder (at the moment it’s broken so I pre-grind) and that’s generally my recipe.
Equipment used:
Recipe:
Hope your next coffee tastes as good as Fikile looks dancing on wheels!!!
