Is there a group identity for coffee drinkers who care, but compromise?

Question

On the surface, it seems that you can divide coffee drinkers into---very broadly---two groups.

1. Artisan coffee drinkers. You make pour-over coffee with a gooseneck kettle, you hot-rod your espresso machine, you roast your own beans, whatever.

2. Mass-market coffee drinkers. Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, flavored lattes, etc.

(At least, this seems true in the US, which is the environment I know best.)

My question is this: is there a group identity for people who fall between those two poles? I'm thinking of this person, who wants to use an Aeropress to make Maxwell House coffee, or someone approximating espresso in a moka pot, or someone making a Vietnamese coffee with Café du Monde, or someone who invests in good beans but brews in a decent-but-not-stellar drip machine. In all those cases you have someone who takes trouble with his or her coffee, but makes deliberate compromises based on cost/effort/time/whatever.

Answer 1

Based on the wording of your question; I believe there is no current classification for this denomination in the coffee market.

When you compare this with the electronics market; there are devices developed for the "prosumer" market which are targeted at professional consumers (average Joe that can make it rain), but are not used to their full capacity. For example, I can buy the latest Macbook Pro laptop and only use it for iTunes, or buy a high powered Microsoft Surface Studio PC and only use Microsoft Paint because Photoshop is too expensive.

To start generating momentum to classify this marketing group, you could say that this group of people (without trying to be offensive) would be classified as lazy prosumers?

Answer 2

Rather than 'care but compromise' I would call them inventive, eclectic and adventurous coffee enthusiasts as contrasted with the purists or puritans who believe there is a 'correct and proper' way to do things. You will find this great divide in every serious hobby field, including coffee and hi-fi audio which I am familiar with, but also in beer & wine, automobiles, computers and fashion. Adventurous users are both confident and willing to think out of the box. As you noted in comments, it's also about finding creative personalised solutions to practical challenges:

I like coffee drinks in the cortado / flat white family, but I don't have room on my kitchen counter for an espresso machine and a high-end grinder. Nor am I about to wait fifteen minutes for the espresso machine to come up to heat, etc. My solution: a double shot of Bustelo, made in the Aeropress, with hot (not textured) milk. Tasty, affordable, and space-efficient. – crmdgn [comment] Sep 22 at 20:31

The adventurous coffee enthusiast (as Google shows, the term is already in general use; if it is not yet a group identity, it should be!) is a bold innovator, not afraid to mix and match equipment and techniques, and is not particular about getting the 'perfect' cup of coffee -- for them it is more a matter of solving an interesting challenge or doing something new with the tools and materials available, in the field they love: as in, I have tried out so many unorthodox ways of making coffee (as also unconventional audio arrangements including the use of PA speakers in the home setting) for the pure thrill of tasting the resultant mix! Whereas a purist will not like to do so.

I have learned and understood a great deal about coffee by direct, sometimes unorthodox experimentation. I don't see it necessarily as compromising on time, money or effort, but rather an assertion of creative independence, the quest for that beautiful and unusual variation, or just the sheer love of everything coffee.