☕ Brewing coffee as proof-of-work.
Over a year ago, I decided to replace my automatic coffee machine with a manual espresso machine, and since then, I’ve been grinding freshly roasted coffee beans by hand. This change was a revelation not only because of the taste, but also because I realised: my coffee brewing actually works on a proof-of-work principle!
⛏️ How so? Let me explain.
The automatic coffee machine is the perfect analogy for the fiat money world. One push of a button, minimal effort, and you get a cup of coffee. Fast, convenient, but let’s be honest: a bit soulless. It’s like central banks printing money – there’s no real work behind it, just a button press, and that’s it. 💸
In contrast, the manual espresso machine embodies proof-of-work. Think about it: first you need to acquire freshly roasted coffee (the “minable” raw material). Then you grind the beans by hand, which takes time and energy – even with a good grinder, you have to work for every single gram. 🥵 After that comes tamping, where you need to press down the coffee precisely to ensure an even extraction. Then you set the pressure, monitor the water temperature, and time the shot to achieve the perfect 25-30 second extraction.
This whole process takes about 10 minutes – just like generating a block on the Bitcoin network! ⏳
The essence of proof-of-work is that you invest labour and energy into achieving a valuable result that cannot be bypassed or faked. Manual espresso brewing is just like that: you can’t cheat, you can’t skip steps, because the final result – a perfect espresso – only comes if you do everything right. And when you take that first sip, you feel that this cup of coffee was truly worth the effort. 😍
In blockchain, PoW guarantees the security and value of the system because miners sacrifice resources (time, energy, computing power). In manual coffee brewing, I am the miner, my arm is the hash algorithm, and the coffee is the block reward. 😎
Plus, the unpredictable beauty of the process – how each espresso turns out slightly different – reminds me even more of the challenges of mining.
