Drip coffee has long been my go-to but most coffee shops still don’t do anything close to drip. Starbucks has been developing its clover machines, but they’re only found in the Reserve stores.
It has a few advantages over espresso: lower equipment needs, variad roasts (you can drip most coffee beans, even espresso roast), the paper absorbs some of the less healthy oils in coffee, and you can control the absorption speed).
Downsides are: it takes longer, in less-practiced hands the results can be uneven, there is a clean-up burden, too, and. of course, the flavor changes as the temperature decreases or spoils if you keep a constant heat on it.
I used to use a drip coffee maker… someone gifted me an autodrip coffee maker but that shorted out quickly from the steam… but for one person, it’s traditional drip all the way: ceramic filter, unbleached filter paper and hand-poured from a narrow spout.
I make both medium roast, dark roast & espresso coffee in the same method. That is the way!