@fiona_clark nailed it with the "gluten stops fighting you" part. I used to think resting was some old wive's tale but after cracking three crusts in a row I finally chilled one and it rolled out like butter.

Rustic grout lines, what's next, asking for crooked tiles to match the vibe? I had a client once insist her uneven floor was "character" until her cat tripped over a high spot. It's like paying for a haircut and saying "make it look like I did it myself with kitchen scissors.

Honestly I don't think a few extra minutes on a pour over is that deep. I've left my V60 go to 4 minutes before and it was fine but nothing amazing. Maybe your beans were just good that day and the timing was a coincidence. I've also had 4 minute brews come out bitter and disappointing so it's probably more about the specific beans and grind than some magic time hack. People get way too wrapped up in exact numbers for coffee.

Gotta push back on this one. You paid for a shortcut in a business that's all about grinding through the details, and shortcuts usually end up costing you more in the long run.

Honestly that brings back memories of my old build where I used toothpaste once as a joke because I'd run out of thermal paste and wanted to see if it worked. It did for like two days then my CPU started thermal throttling so bad I couldn't even boot into Windows. Took me forever to clean the crusty residue off the IHS after. Definitely stick with the pea method though if you're not trying to be dumb like me.