A Coffee thread for the Café...

OK, so there hasn't been a good thread lately about coffee here, specifically about what kind of coffee bean you use or like to drink. After reading the thread about the CA camping trip, I realized that there were at least a few other pressed coffee drinkers here (woohoo). There was a thread recently that touched on what kind of coffee people liked, but it was more about how people drink their coffee (This one). The closest thread I found to what I am looking to discuss was this one from last year.

So, my question is this: What kind of coffee do you like to drink? Not just general brands, but specifically, what kind of bean, where do you get it from, etc. Also, how do you like to make your coffee?

I personally like to use a French Press for regular coffee, and I also drink espresso and cappuccino. I prefer the Kenya AA bean for pressed coffee, and a good dark Frech Roast for espresso/cappucino although the Kenya makes great espresso too!

I like to get my coffee from the Village Roaster in Lakewood, CO. They roast ALL of their own coffee, and it is by far the freshest way to get coffee except for roasting your own. Plus they have a coffee shop like Starbucks in the store. Now I know you're telling yourself, "Hey, wait a minute he lives in TX, so how does he get his coffee from CO?" My family all still lives there, and I either buy it when I'm there or have them bring it to me when they visit. I've also had it mailed. You can order online from them also!

Coffee drinkers, speak up!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I know I'm going to stir up disdain from real coffee drinkers, but unless it's fantastic coffee I like mine to be like hot, coffee ice cream. Super sweet, with loads of full-fat cream.

On the other hand, if it's really great coffee I often don't want anything in it, sometimes some Sucanat sugar.

So... what's the deal with pressed coffee? Why is that a good way to make it? (That's with the strainer-thing inside a glass jug, right?) I think the last time I had that the coffee was full of grounds. I guess I did it wrong.

Costa Rican or Tanzanian beans are my fav. Buy them as whole beans from local shop, grind them myself, drip-type coffee maker.

First of all, the grounds you use for a french press should be quite course (much coarser than for drip machines). They're best if you grind them yourself. Use an electric mill at it coarsest setting, or grind is a standard home grinder for 6 seconds.

The reason pressed coffee is so good is that you don't loose all the oils from the coffee going through a paper filter (simple explanation) which gives it a bolder flavor (I understand it also is somewhat higher in caffine as well).

I suppose I'm just not very sophisticated when it comes to coffee. I drink only one cup per day. For that reason I use coffee bags -- can't recall the brand -- doesn't matter to me -- it's in a red box. I dump 12 drops of sucralose in a cup, add 15 oz of water, and nuke it for 2:22. I then do the dunking thing. Presto, coffee.

No offense intended. It's just that the cup of hot stuff in the morning is not worth any more of my time. Now if you want to talk about wine or chocolate . . . but that's another story.

Paul

Starbucks: I like the Caffe Verona bean. Nice and smooth.

For my favorite drink,
Summer: Iced Grande Extra Caramel Caramel Macchiato
Winter: Grande Extra Caramel Caramel Macchiato

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Dan

*rushes in*

Tea! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif

*rushes out*

He lives in Seattle and he drinks tea!

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Saaby said:
He lives in Seattle and he drinks tea!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

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/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif indeed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

Dan

Tomas,
Slow down a little man! If you would have looked at the link to Village Roaster, you might have seen this: Tea Menu

A little bit for everyone...

Heh. I must be a bit of a beverage geek, since it makes me grit my teeth when there are coffee or beer threads, and the replies are full of, "I drink Folgers! Plenty of cream and sugar!" and "Coors is the best! So much better than Miller!" Probably the way most of you respond when someone says, "I have the best flashlight made! Maglite!" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I used to have favorite coffees, but lately I'm finding that the roaster has a ton to do with it. I used to think Costa Rican, Guatamalan, and certain Kona blends were my favorite, but I recently ran into a new roaster whose Sumantran is quite simply the best coffee I ever tasted (I've only tried one bag so I need to buy another to see if it's a fluke).

I must not be too much of a coffee geek, because I just use a regular drip coffee maker, though I've tried using both a burr grinder and gold-plated coffee filter with it, with mixed results.

I get whole beans, grind no more than a couple of days' worth at a time, and use around 1.5 tablespoons per 6 oz. cup. That's too strong for many people, so here's some good advice. You should always use the right amount of coffee grinds for your coffee. That means a bare minimum of 1 tablespoon per 6 oz. cup, and even that is pushing it. If you like your coffee weaker, add fresh water directly to the pot, instead of adding it to the coffeemaker's well to get steamed through the grounds. Why shouldn't you just add more water to the well? Because while that does make the coffee taste weaker, it also way over-extracts the beans, pulling in all kinds of bitter oils into your coffee that aren't supposed to be there ... which I suppose leads you to make your coffee weaker, which leads to worse-tasting coffee, etc. Over-extracting your coffee beans just leads to weak, bad bitter coffee. Use the right amount of beans and water, and adding more water directly to the pot, gives you a weaker version of properly-extracted good coffee. Pretty soon, you might find that it tastes so good that you like it stronger.

People who come to my house are often amazed at how good the coffee is, and mostly that's because I buy good beans, grind them fresh, use good water, and use the proper amount of water and beans. Even the cream and suger crowd sees a huge improvement -- they can pile on the cream and sugar until it's the right strength, but underlying it all is freshly-ground, properly-brewed delicious coffee.

Joe

Good advice about only grinding a few days' worth in beans. I keep the whole beans in the freezer, although I have heard mixed opinions about whether to do this or not.

Yep, the freezer and fridge tend to dry things out, and you don't want all the goodness dried out of your beans. I've taken to keeping my whole beans in an air-tight container on the countertop, and my grinds in an air-tight container in the fridge. That seems to be working out well so far.

What I like to do is the coffee smell test. You know how great fresh coffee smells. So take 3 airtight containers, put some beans in each, put one on the counter, one in the fridge, one in the freezer, leave there for a few days, then grind a small batch of all of 'em -- whichever smells best will taste best!

Joe

Hmmm... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif Good idea (err, experiment) I'll have to try that!

And for the record, tea-wise, I prefer green teas, specifically the highest-grade lung ching and pi lu chun teas I can find. I also enjoy white teas, and oolong to a lesser extent. Overall I like mainland Chinese green teas best.

I brew my green teas in a traditional yixing red clay pot. Yes I know, I smirked too, but I'm here to tell you that it makes a difference. And as you use the pot it gets "seasoned", even dry mine now smells deliciously like green tea, and the tea is produces gets better and better as time goes on.

The key to green teas: DO NOT use water over 180 degrees. And if you're paying big $ for finer grades of green teas, consider dropping the temperature even more. 3 minutes steeping time tops, less for finer grades. Anything hotter than 180 degrees for a fine green tea, and you're asking for a bitter bad-tasting green potion. Oh yah, one more thing: you can do multiple steepings, up to 3 times on good green teas, and the 2nd and 3rd steepings will often taste better than the first!

Joe

I noticed the last time I went to Walmart, that Folgers now has a new can for their 39 ounce size. It's not a metal can at all. It's plastic, and sealed with a strip of foil. After you peel off the foil, you can reseal it with the plastic lid. It should keep it like fresh roasted for weeks.

I remember when coffee used to come in 1 lb, 2 lb, and 3 lb sizes. I can't remember which brand kicked it off, but they started putting their coffee in 13, 26 and 39 ounce cans, claiming their advanced grinding method put 16 ounces of flavor into 13 ounces. They even charged more for the 13 ounces than they had charged for 16. It wasn't long until everyone jumped on the bandwagon, and started putting their coffee out in 13 ounce multiples.

Wonder bread did the same thing when they decided that kneading bread was too expensive, and that bread buyers weren't that sophisticated anyway. They stopped kneading the dough and just started mixing it like cake dough. Then when they introduced it, they did an advertising campaign claiming the smooth texture from mixing it was better than the kneaded bread. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

Yes, I live in the Seattle area, and for years worked in an engineering office in downtown Seattle. Keep in mind that most engineering is "caffine powered."

I have fueled my engineering (and tech writing) with many gallons of coffee, both good and bad, and enjoy it. I've even enjoyed 'Air Force chow hall coffee' and 'Navy shipboard coffee' and 'Texas chickory coffee.'

How do I drink it, mostly straight up. If it is good coffee, why ruin it? If it is bad coffee, nothing is going to help it anyway.

These days, though, a excellent latté is a treat I enjoy.

In the 'local coffee house' competition, let me say first off that I do not care for the over-roasted and burnt flavor of most Starbucks coffees. That ends my discussion of Starbucks.

My favorite local roaster is Torrefazione. It is much rounder, more full, and more flavorful that many of the others, and has a background mellowness that I like.

There are a few other 'shops' that make a good cup, and since the pump in my off-brand Italian expresso machine has decided to pack it in after eleven years of yeoman service, I am reduced to having a barrista draw me one rather than making my own.

Anyway, for me these days, coffee is a "treat" not a staple. My usual drink is a variety of teas that I throughly enjoy. There is much subtltity, there, too.

Enjoy!

You could probably never guess what my passion is by my handle but....... I roast all of my own coffee. I buy most of my green coffee from Sweetmarias in Oakland, CA. They have a world of free information about coffee, home roasting, grinders and anything related to coffee. I also purchase beans directly from small Kona farms in Hawaii as well as a few other places.
If my coffee gets older than 5 to 9 days after roasting, it becomes compost. The beans I grind go straight from the grinder into the basket, I never grind in advance. Since green coffee beans can last a long time if stored properly, I have about 70# or more of greens on hand from at least 30 different countries and farms. I can travel the world and never leave home.
If you have never tried truly fresh roasted coffee, please give it a try. If you have a local roaster, the first question should be "What was roasted within the last two days?" From that group is where you finally make your selection.
Yes, I am a coffee snob and proud of it. I am also now a flashaholic thanks to the great group here.
Hope I didn't bore anyone too much,

javafool

...and on the seventh day God rested.

And on the eighth day he made a cup of coffee.

Caffeine is one of the good drugs.

Oh, by the way, putting sugar or cream in a "good" cup of coffee is an abomination. It says so in the bible. It's in the book of Hezekiah, around chapter 17, I think. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

James

Coffee, black....whatever's in the pot is fine thanks.

mike /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif