OT: Coffee

[NewJerseyGuy]

Bought one of these simple Chemix coffee makers years ago -- sort of got lost in the divorce shuffle. This thread reminded me I should dig it up. Best coffee I have had has been made in this thing. Definitely best coffee I've made at home:

http://www.chemexcoffeemaker.com/

Had blue mountain years ago -- good stuff.

Good thread. Thanks!

 

[DJ Spanky]

Slept in late this morning, just ground my first batch and am brewing right now.

just enjoyed Jamaican Blue coffee for the first time. Was wonderful. Thinking of buying a grinder, cause I'd like to have ground coffee more. Is it better to get a cheap one or an expensive one?

Al, avoid a cheap blade grinder, they're not worth it. This is the one I have, best Father's Day present Tyler & Corey ever got me:

Capresso: Disk Type Burr Grinder, Stainless

Jamaican BM is very good but not $50 a pound good. Japan buys up something like 80 percent of it which is the main driver in price from what I understand. Try Jamaican BM blend from Magnum (orange bag) available on Amazon. It's much cheaper and actually better in my humble opinion.

interesting. I had Blue Mountain a long time ago and it was ridiculously good. but as you say not $50 /lb good so I havent had it since. Will have to check this option out.

I love Jamaican Blue - I remember when we were at Sandals Ocho Rios they served it all the time, great coffee. But way too expensive at $50/lb. Corey likes to buy me Jamaican Blue style coffee from Harris Teeter when they visit Virginia: it's good, but I don't have the heart to tell him it's not the real thing. I'll have to check out that coffee on Amazon - I've had those Magnum bags before, not the JMB, Kona and another, but they were ground.

You can get green mountain kcups for the keurig coffee machine, which are sold most anywhere. The keurig has made it easier for me to consume coffee, though not sure about the environmental impact of all those kcups.

Keurig cups are a disaster for the environment - even the creator of it now wishes he hadn't.

 

[alphapapa]

@rutgersal The Virtuoso line / Capresso are best out there. Under 50, the Cuisinart does a good job & is easy to clean.

Just don't get a blade grinder.

 

[RuLaw2004]

Does anyone have a good espresso roast to recommend? I've been drinking lavazza super crema, but looking to try something different in the same price range. I like illy, but it's a little pricey for the amount we consume.

 

[JMORC2003]

I love coffee, not quite a connoisseur, but I know between the "gourmet sh*t" and the "freeze dried tasters choice". Also not a fan of keurigs or Flavias. Way too weak and don't get hot enough.

Milk to add some fat, that's it. No sugar.

Not a Starbucks fan. I agree with the poster above about it tasting over roasted. Call me crazy, but some of my favorite coffee is from a cart or deli, in a paper cup, on a cold day. Few things are as satisfying as that.

 

[phs73rc77gsm83]

100% whole bean Royal Kona is great but pricey.

 

[Scarlet Craig]

Does anyone have a good espresso roast to recommend? I've been drinking lavazza super crema, but looking to try something different in the same price range. I like illy, but it's a little pricey for the amount we consume.

Lavazza Perfetto Espresso Roast is what I drink. Melitta also has a decent Espresso roast (Toscana or something).

 

[miklosru]

agree completely. from just a coffee standpoint their coffee sucks. Maybe they overroast so people order the more expensive triple latte fluffacinnos.

The size of the coffee chain and quality do not correlate. Starbucks filled a huge need by offering a place to sit down for a short break, lunch, rest, etc. in cities that did not exist. I remember that in NYC in the early 80's there were very few coffee hoses. You had to go to the west coast to find more, especially in San Francisco. If you have travelled to Europe, you found one at every corner in the center of major cities. There was a major unfilled need since people longed for an alternative places to bars to socialize or just rest for a while. Starbucks positioned itself also by introducing the bolder, dark roasted style coffees that they were sure to become successful. It was never their coffee, but a clean place to sit down for a short time for few bucks that was the most attractive to the public. They knew that people acquire taste for their bold coffee rather quickly. The example was the quite boring Budweiser lines of beers and the bland, hardly drinkable Miller Light, which have gained such a large market share. They figured out that advertisements would work well and people who wanted to be part of the image Starbucks projected will come and eventually like, even love the taste of their coffee. They were right, the best sellers are rarely among the best, whether you are talking about drinks or books, they are simply products that appeal to the masses or if you are smart and have big pockets, you can brainwash the masses to buy your product even if there are much higher quality f products are on the market. As I wrote earlier, the choice is yours, you can buy wild fish or farm raised fish, you can buy processed food or natural food, you can buy organic chicken or mass produced chicken with antibiotics that do not even work anymore, you can by GMO or non-GMO products and the list can go on and on. Going back to coffee, if you work in the Financial District, as I do, you could get great coffee from Financiers at three locations and the pastry there is second to none!

 

[bac2therac]

I love coffee, not quite a connoisseur, but I know between the "gourmet sh*t" and the "freeze dried tasters choice". Also not a fan of keurigs or Flavias. Way too weak and don't get hot enough.

Milk to add some fat, that's it. No sugar.

Not a Starbucks fan. I agree with the poster above about it tasting over roasted. Call me crazy, but some of my favorite coffee is from a cart or deli, in a paper cup, on a cold day. Few things are as satisfying as that.

yes I drink too much coffee to use a Keurig and why would I want weak coffee with a set amount

 

[bac2therac]

the football stadium is desperately in need of premium coffee stands and also at the RAC,,,,do not know why the school is resisting it so much

 

[29PAS]

I've been making and drinking cold brew coffee for about 35 yrs with a Filtron system and have yet to find a method that is better. It's simple and just requires some planning ahead in that you "brew" it for 12-24 hours. It cracks me up that cold brewing gets "discovered" about every 5 or 10 years.

http://www.filtron.com/Filtron-30L-Cold-Water-Coffee-Concentrate-Brewing-System_p_8.html

Best part is you can use pretty much any beans and you'll get a smooth, less acidic cup of coffee and you determine the strength by the beans you buy and how much you use. Ikea Dark Roast is my current favorite.

 

[rootgers2011]

Also, anyone have a rec for a good burr grinder? Had two inexpensive ones that both broke within a year so now back to a blade grinder. Would like to get back to burr but not it's going to break in a year.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001802PIQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use this, its not perfect, but its alright for $40

 

[phs73rc77gsm83]

I've got Gale Boetticher's setup--perfect.

 

[Plum Street]

People in this thread admitting to paying sometimes $10 a pound or more for coffee. Cmon that's insane . Can get a better value on steak or drugs. I guess life was good under obama

 

[RUBeta]

Check out Devocion in Brooklyn, NY. You can stop by or order bags from their website. They work through farmers in regions of Colombia's mountains, much of the areas virtually untouched.

They then overnight the coffee to Brooklyn and roast the coffee on site within 10 days. Most companies complete this process after 4-12 months of receiving the coffee. Thus, you are virtually having the freshest cup of coffee available anywhere. It really is an amazing dedication put forth by these guys. Check it out ...

I go to Devocion in Williamsburg almost weekly. Their coffee is very good as is there space to sit, read, or do work.

 

[RU05]

You can get green mountain kcups for the keurig coffee machine, which are sold most anywhere. The keurig has made it easier for me to consume coffee, though not sure about the environmental impact of all those kcups.

supposedly they have a reusable k-cup. Though Im sure that takes away the convenience of it.

 

[RUtix4me]

"I dont give two $hits what I drink"

$300 a pound.

 

[FanuSanu52]

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001802PIQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use this, its not perfect, but its alright for $40

How long's it take you to grind enough for a pot?

I got a "ritual" manual grinder. Got good reviews but it takes like 15 minutes of elbow grease. Not sure if defective or that's how it works, but it doesn't get much us. I need a cup of coffee to get the energy to work it:flushed:

 

[FanuSanu52]

I think I might give the capresso a try. Got some good reviews here and price seems right.

Think my first 2 were Cuisinart and Mr Coffee and they averaged about the same price ... and 8 months before burning out.

 

[LC-88]

the worst coffee is Dunkin Donuts..awful, I like WaWa because they allow you to fix your coffee your own way

Do not blaspheme. DD rules, so does Tasters Choice instant. Who has time to brew coffee? I'd drink paint thinner before Starbucks.

OK, so I'm not a coffee connoisseur, just a guzzler. Good thread.

 

[RUSK97]

100% whole bean Royal Kona is great but pricey.

Agree. Wonderful coffee. Rich in body with smooth flavor and no aftertaste. I've had it in the past, but like Jamaican Blue Mountain, it is much too expensive. It averages north of $30 a pound from what I've seen.

 

[InGregITrust]

I have two super automatics. Bosch Benvenuto B30 and a Jura J9. Tons of brews on both. Love the Jura. Bosch unit needed minor repair but a handy friend helped me. Anyone use a machine like this?

 

[RobertG]

Lavazza Perfetto Espresso Roast is what I drink. Melitta also has a decent Espresso roast (Toscana or something).

My father who lives in Italy and drinks about 5 espressos a day swears by Danesi

Also if you are in Monmouth county go to Rook!

 

[RUJohnny99]

Another recommendation for Rook. They have about 8 locations now & their central roaster is in Long Branch. 5 lb bags of beans are about $14.
https://www.rookcoffee.com/

I have 3 cold brews going in my fridge, since it's essentially a 3 day process. My current favorite is the Rook Sumatra.

 

[SkilletHead2]

Coffee is one thing that changes dramatically from country to country, and all countries think that they are the only ones who have decent coffee.

Shocking differences here in New Zealand. You cannot get "a cup of coffee" here. You can get a latte, a cappucino, a flat white (NZ's iconic coffee) or a long black (shot with additional hot water). When you go get breakfast in a restaurant, there is nobody named "Flo" saying, "Can I wahm that up for ya, honey?" It took me years to adjust! Kiwis call a cup of coffee "filter coffee" or "American coffee" and outside of Starbucks (yes, they're here), it is very had to come by.

Just spent the day today with a coffee expert (his wife is a former student of Moms Skillethead). Learned a lot about coffee making. We have a nice De Longhi machine and he taught us a bunch of stuff about using it. One thing that folks often do is run too much water through the grinds. The good oils and flavor come out rather quickly, and then you get the bitter oils and taste after that. You're better off making a quick shot (like 10 seconds of running the water through under pressure, and then adding hot water separately rather than running water through for 30 or 40 seconds (which I had been doing). He suggested tasting the coffee from the first ten seconds and then from that last 20 seconds. He was right. Finer grind and shorter pressurized "drip" produces a better cup.

As to making foam, Nespresso (which is made by De Longhi) has a truly great foamer/frother. It's a black cylinder that has a spring like thing that twirls as the heat comes in through the base. Well worth the cost (maybe $100 in the States). So we get pretty close to barista quality coffee, made one at a time. We've amortized the cost down to an additional 25 cents a cup.

As to types, I hate anything that is fancy or flavored at all. Just want the coffee flavor coming through strong and clear. Unless, of course, it's an espresso after dinner with a small shot of Sambuca with a lemon rind twist. That is just hard to beat. Part of Moms Skillethead's Italian-American upbringing.

Good thread!

 

[RUaMoose_rivals]

Instead of a separate grinder get a coffee maker with the grinder built in. No more spilling the grinds. Beans in, one button to push easy breezy.

I briefly searched for something like you describe but was unable to find one. Can you provide a link? i use one of those cheap $20 grinders which works fine but I'm looking to upgrade. The grinder DJ Spanky posted would be a huge upgrade over what I have as well

 

[rootgers2011]

How long's it take you to grind enough for a pot?

I got a "ritual" manual grinder. Got good reviews but it takes like 15 minutes of elbow grease. Not sure if defective or that's how it works, but it doesn't get much us. I need a cup of coffee to get the energy to work it:flushed:

5-10 minutes. I'll usually grind a whole bunch at a time, filling that little jar, and then I keep it in the fridge for the next couple days. Some would say that defeats the purpose of grinding your own coffee, but whatever.

The jar holds enough grinds for about 2 34oz. French presses

 

[Owlfan_in_North Jersey]

RULaw,

Check out Cafe Britt. Costa Rican. You can go to their webpage to order.

 

[flavorguy]

A highly recommended Home Burr Grinder (FYI...I work in the coffee industry as a consultant)

http://www.kitchenaid.com/brand_small-appliances_coffee-products_burr-grinder.content.html

SCAA Certified Brewers:

http://scaa.org/?page=cert2

FYI # 2 - One of the best speciality coffee roasters in the US is located in Jersey City - Kobrick's Coffee... they supply many of the top NYC restaurants and coffee shops in the Metro North East...

http://www.kobricks.com/ourcoffee.asp

FYI # 3 - a lot of opinion and "mis-information" in this thread... I laughed about the air expressing of green coffee beans... green coffee beans are fairly inert regarding freshness until they are roasted. When roasted, you want to grind and consume as quickly as possible..
but no need to air express green beans... that's all marketing hype...

The comments regarding Jamaican Blue Mountain are correct. It's a very smooth coffee, but outlandishly priced due to the world wide demand. Also - there is a lot of fraud - be careful of the words "JBM Blend". This means that only a fraction of the blend needs to contain JBM beans (or if its "JBM type blend", then none at all...) Comments about Starbucks are also generally correct - they have become so large, that except for the varietal coffee they serve at their flagship "Starbuck Reserve" tasting rooms, they are forced to use large purveyors of green coffee. Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee, but > 95% of their crop is cheap "robusta" coffee which is used in the mass brands like Folgers, Maxwell House, Chase -Sanborn etc. Most Vietnamese coffee literally tastes like mud (no exaggeration). In fact I am working on a project to "mask" this note to make Vietnamese coffee more drinkable. Robusta is used however as part of most espresso blends due to the "crema" it provides to the finished espresso beverage.

I briefly searched for something like you describe but was unable to find one. Can you provide a link? i use one of those cheap $20 grinders which works fine but I'm looking to upgrade. The grinder DJ Spanky posted would be a huge upgrade over what I have as well

 

[198hamilton]

I briefly searched for something like you describe but was unable to find one. Can you provide a link? i use one of those cheap $20 grinders which works fine but I'm looking to upgrade. The grinder DJ Spanky posted would be a huge upgrade over what I have as well

Mine is a Cuisinart. It was about $100 5 or 6 years ago. Try Bed Bath and Beyond. I'm sure your wife will have a 20% off coupon. It still works great and has a nice thermal pot instead of glass.

 

[RUevolution36]

Does anyone have a good espresso roast to recommend? I've been drinking lavazza super crema, but looking to try something different in the same price range. I like illy, but it's a little pricey for the amount we consume.

La Colombe Nizza or Savoia blend or Intelligentsia Black Cat are rather tasty. Stumptown makes a good espresso oriented blend that I forget the name of.

I'm a total coffee/espresso snob for my daily dose. Love trying the nice single origins, but it gets pricey. I order whole bean in bulk from La Colombe and grind right before pulling shots.

Starbucks standard blends are gross and over roasted, and their specialty beans are expensive.

 

[BellyFullOfWhiteDogCrap]

Don't forget to add your used coffee grounds to your house plants, flower or vegetable garden, or compost pile. You can even just toss them on your lawn. They make an excellent, all natural fertilizer.

 

[[email protected]]

Any coffee connoisseurs on here ? A fine coffee is like a fine wine. I am currently brewing some Guatemalan medium I got on Amazon. I buy coffees sourced from around the world including Kenya, Tanzanian, Costa Rica and Indonesia. The Guatemalan is very good I must say with notes of cherry and chocolate (you can barely taste these "notes").

I only brew whole bean. I grind the beans up right before brewing for maximum freshness and taste. A discerning coffee drinker like myself can many times tell where the beans are sourced. African coffees for example have a distinctive fruity and bull bodiness; Colombian coffee tends to have mellow acidity and balance. Central American coffees like those from Costa Rica: smooth and balanced. Indonesian coffees tend to be darker, almost "smokey" and a bit more bitter.

Coffee fact: Did you know Vietnam is the #2 exporter of coffee in the world behind Brazil? The ironic thing about that is I have never had Vietnamese coffee ( I hear Trung Nguyen is very good) and wouldn't rank Brazilian coffees in my top 3. Don't think I'll ever go back to Folgers or Maxwell House after drinking some of the finer coffees of the world. It's like drinking Sutter Home wine. There's nothing wrong with SH wine, there are just better wines out there.

Coffee is a derivative of an African word (Kaffa///sp.). Suggest you add Creamer to this discussion since we're recruiting him.

MO

 

[DJ Spanky]

Don't forget to add your used coffee grounds to your house plants, flower or vegetable garden, or compost pile. You can even just toss them on your lawn. They make an excellent, all natural fertilizer.

Really? That is something I never knew, and considering how much coffee I go through, I'm gonna have to try that.

 

[Botchie10]

Anyone have any opinion/experience and recommendations for using a French Press?

 

[BellyFullOfWhiteDogCrap]

Really? That is something I never knew, and considering how much coffee I go through, I'm gonna have to try that.

You bet. I have a pretty decent sized vegetable garden, flower garden, and 4 fruit trees. I no longer buy any synthetic fertilizers, even for my lawn. Everything gets my homemade compost (shredded fall leaves, which I save all year in bags, kitchen scraps and LOTS of used coffee grounds). Many coffee shops will give you their used grounds. I have a place by my work where I drop off a 5 gallon bucket in the morning, and pick up a nearly full bucket in the afternoon.

 

[RUSK97]

RULaw,

Check out Cafe Britt. Costa Rican. You can go to their webpage to order.

Absolutely. When I honeymooned in CR, I was stopped by their coffee plantations in Heredia. Since then, they've expanded their offerings to include single-origin coffees from a number of Central and South America.

 

[RUSK97]

Any coffee connoisseurs on here ? A fine coffee is like a fine wine. I am currently brewing some Guatemalan medium I got on Amazon. I buy coffees sourced from around the world including Kenya, Tanzanian, Costa Rica and Indonesia. The Guatemalan is very good I must say with notes of cherry and chocolate (you can barely taste these "notes").

I only brew whole bean. I grind the beans up right before brewing for maximum freshness and taste. A discerning coffee drinker like myself can many times tell where the beans are sourced. African coffees for example have a distinctive fruity and bull bodiness; Colombian coffee tends to have mellow acidity and balance. Central American coffees like those from Costa Rica: smooth and balanced. Indonesian coffees tend to be darker, almost "smokey" and a bit more bitter.

Coffee fact: Did you know Vietnam is the #2 exporter of coffee in the world behind Brazil? The ironic thing about that is I have never had Vietnamese coffee ( I hear Trung Nguyen is very good) and wouldn't rank Brazilian coffees in my top 3. Don't think I'll ever go back to Folgers or Maxwell House after drinking some of the finer coffees of the world. It's like drinking Sutter Home wine. There's nothing wrong with SH wine, there are just better wines out there.

In the past three-four years, I've become bewitched by Ethiopian coffees. How can you go wrong sourcing coffee from its ancestral homeland? Everything from the light and floral Yirgacheffes and Sidamos to the rich and spicy Harrars. I tend to get mine from from coffeeam.com which offers single-origin coffees from around the world. Coffee truly picks up unique flavors from their terroir.

As another poster just added, the overwhelming majority of coffee production in the world comes from Brazil and Vietnam and the overwhelming majority of that coffee is robusta which ends up in the cans of Chock, Folgers, Tasters, etc. They strip pick the plants regardless of whether the berries are ripe and roast the berries with half of them with shells still on. I've had a lot of coffee in Vietnam (the country is coffee-obsessed owing much of that to French colonialism) and it is typically roasted very, very dark and ground to a fine espresso grind. It's brewed in a gravity drip metal pot that fits over each individual cup. It's then typically drunk with a healthy dollop of sweetened condensed milk (another French colonial leftover). This masks any sourness of robusta coffee, but you're still left with the intense aroma. So it's a pretty effective work around that makes crap coffee taste quite nice. Trung Nguyen is ok, but I prefer Highlands which is making a name with export-grade Arabica or Arabica-robusta blends.

Brazilian coffees are typically drank as cafezinhos which are little coffees (about the size of a triple shot) which are served with heaping teaspoons of sugar. I didn't spend much time in Brazil and unfortunately after going through about a dozen cafezinhos, I was left kinda unimpressed. Just my take though.

On my bucket list: experience an authentic Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

 

[Blitz8RU]

McDonalds und Dunkin Donuts coffee schmeckt sehr gut.

 

[BigRnj]

My son is into cold brew and pour overs. It's a lot of work (too much for me) but if you get good beans and fresh grind them you will see the difference. I'm a cream and sugar coffee drinker but I will drink his pour overs black.

I also just got back from Hawaii where I stopped in the Kauai Coffee plantation. They have a Kauai Blue Mountain bean (Jamaican sourced beans but grown in Kauai...sort of life growing Cuban seed Tabasco in Honduras for "Cuban" cigars at a lower price). It was pretty good, but my favorite was their Peaberry coffee, non-acidic and high caffeine content.

I also learned a bit...I always thought dark roast coffees have more caffeine. In reality high temp roasting reduces caffeine and increases acidity (at least that's what the coffe folks in Kauai said). So in reality there is more caffeine in a medium roast than in a dark roast of the same bean... same for light vs med