What kind of coffee do you like to drink?

My husband smokes, so he doesn't even know how coffee really tastes. We just want caffiene, and we're not too fussy how we get it. I buy the cheapest "fair trade" coffee I can find.

several varieties are on the shelf, everything from locally roasted Ethiopian Yergochevitz (sp?) to Chock full of Nuts......
I use a french press and grind most days.

Darker roast are my personal preference......

I had to give up caffine but I still drink a few cups a day. I prefer Belatage in the AM and either Illy or Melitia in the afternoons. The Belatage is really smooth and has a VERY Low acidity which is good for the stomach. The other two are just for the flavor and to have something warm to drink.

I love coffee, its automatic drip for me & on week ends a cappucino

Mostly Fair Trade & Organic, dark roasts, mostly decaf. I enjoy a variety of Peet's coffee as well. Generally I grind my own using a burr grinder, and well more than 75% of the time the French press method is used, otherwise Melita filters do the job.

Lance

Love using the bodem (sp?) with some fresh ground. I managed to pick up a few caribbean local whole beans when I was last down there during the summer. I'm not very creative with my coffee though, the occasional shot of baileys or disarono, I like my coffee uncomplicated. Just 1 sugar and 1 milk or cream is all I need. During the summer, I sometimes will take the extra coffee left, add some sugar, a little vanilla, concentrate it down till its a syrup and allow to cool, just add milk with ice and you got some instant ice coffee.

I use a cafetiere (? is that the same as the Americans call a 'French press', I wonder?)

I like Italian blends from my local AMAZING italian deli call Valvona and Crolla.
I also like Jamaican Blue mountain.

Yergecheffe is one of my favorites. Darn stuff tastes like blueberries.

I use a Keurig machine. Quick and always fresh. Problem is it's addicting and those K-cups are almost 50 cents each.

I also have one of those Cona vacuum brewers I got from Sweetmarias.com. I first saw one used at Victoria and Alberts and decided I HAD to have one. :)

I like Dunkin the best. I will not go into a Starbucks either. I like drip in morning and French press PM. I do like some of the coffee creamers like Italian Cream.I dont like all of them , some taste fake and have a chemical taste. :beer:

just catered a party where the hostess had a built into the wall espresso maker.....unfriggin real......biggest hunking fridges too, these were HUGE.

We mostly do espresso in the morning and after dinner. Linda likes lattes, I like the straight stuff. We use several different blends for the espresso machine (20 year old Pasquini Livia 90) mostly "medium" roasts (between first and second crack). Our espresso grinder is a Moka, bought at the same time Livia.

Although we blend our own, and don't use commercial blends like Illy or Lavazza, I'd like to point out that one of the things that makes European blends different from Americans is that the Euros use some robusta beans, while the Americans tend to use 100% arabica. Our blend is usually built on a Brazilian base, has around 10 - 15% Indian robusta, and is finished with this or that as the mood strikes. Sometimes a Central American altura, sometimes a Pacific. The machine is set to run at around 201* F, everything else being equal -- which it never is.

About once a week we use Linda's Cuisinart automatic drip grinder -- we mix a dark roasted bean or blend from Trader Joe with La Llave, Bustelo or Legal. Nice change. The Cuisinart has a built in "propellor grinder" which works pretty well as long as the grinder and fines path is kept very clean and dry. It's nice to wander around with a mug of regular joe.

We also use a Bodum "French press" now and then (and yes Ishbel, it is a cafetiere). The Bodum likes the beans well roasted, indeed. We use another propellor grinder for this pot, which wants a very coarse grind -- the propellor grinder seems to work well enough for this brewing method.

BDL

I am blessed with a few terrific coffee sources nearby. Bombadills Cafe a block from my apartement in Ypsi, MI serves Vail Mountain roasted coffees out of Colorado. The company regularly visits the plantations to check on the crop which comes from all around the globe.

My favorite are the Ethiopean blends which are bold enough to shine through Vail Mountains delecate roasting. They roast low and slow at high altitude so the coffee maintains the sweet base that the flavor should be built upon. They also do Jamaican Blue Mountain which is accoring to some, the premier coffee on the planet. It's indeed great but I prefer the Ethiopean which seems more earthy.

Two blocks away, The Ugly Mug roasts their own bean and succeeds in roasting very dark batches. Just under burned I would say, it may not be technichally correct but it's great as far as I'm concerned. I ussually get the straight Esspresso.

Then there is Cafe Luwak which doesn't sell the famed critter poop coffee except for retail and twice a year tastings. The owner and managment aren't very sharp with the bizz so I just buy it retail and make it myself in a manual drip. Good, very nutty and bold without any of the oft accompanying bitterness.


And down the road Zingerman's roasts their coffee perfectly, well as perfectly as a jacka$$ like me can measure. They do extensive mail order and I suggest both the drip and the esspresso to anyone. They are helpful and knowlegable about their product. These are the people that import Iberico Bellota Jamon, they were the first to do so in America for retail. Great company.

Kouki,

When you say Melitta -- what do you mean? The pods? The paper filter drip maker?

BDL

I believe that on a global basis the consumption of tea far exceeds that of coffee.

As far as our house goes, my wife drinks tea, I like any sort of various dark, robusts roasts steeped in a french press.

mjb.

Ask any British person, Indian, Pakistani, Burmese, Thai, Chinese ( and the close ethnic groups to the mentioned)

TEA ROOLZ!

The best coffee I have had was from Burundi, also Cuban coffee is good, however that has been illegal in the US since 1959.

i am not a coffe drinker but was recently introduced to coffee with chamomile. its decaf and supposedly relaxes you. i enjoyed it very much and drink it when i'm feeling a bit restless.

Caffiene junkie here, :crazy: I can't function before my first shot of espresso in the morning Lavazza super cremma or Illy. I like the cafetiere too for a longer drink. Never really liked milk but Mrs Bazza loves her cappucinos. I don't do milk or sugar in coffee.

Simple for us...
Cappuccino each morning; espresso later on in the day. Illy or if not available, Lavazza.

The La Pavoni Espresso Si is a great little machine.

Seeking Realy Good Coffee

Every once in a while I get a "yen" for a really good cup of coffee...especially with a dessert. I don't use sugar nor any sweetener in coffee, but do use whole milk tather than cream. The coffee that I remember from my youth had a wonderful deep, dark, rich (not bitter, not weak) flavor. Don't like decaf, and don't want expresso. Just a plain 'ol good 'ol cup of coffee without any embelishments! (Coffee that can be bought off the shelf from your local supermarket or grocer.)

Does anyone know of a really good brand and roast that would give me the qualities that I remember? I was raised on coffee, but these days all coffee tastes like dishwater to me. Can't find what I remember and crave from the "old days"! Seems that "modern day" coffee has been slowly changed by the modern coffee processing. Has anyone else noticed the gradual change over time?

My Dad worked in a hotel kitchen and used to bring home the hotel brand. I also remember that in those days we used a vacuum method of brewing (two tempered glass balls; one over the other. When water boiled it was drawn up into the top globe; when finished brew was released back into the bottom one.)

There hasn't been a lot of change in American coffee blending and roasting over the years. The premium brands have moved to 100% arabica where previously they'd used a blend of arabica and robusta beans. Most American coffee still comes from Brazil. If I knew the particular brand, I might be able to research the changes -- but probably not.


If in the west, a good possibility that it was Huggins-Young. Yuban would probably be closest, or maybe Folgers. If there's a Trader Joe's near you we could discuss some of their beans -- they tend to be relatively well roasted and fresh as compared to some of the other whole bean coffees which are marketed more widely, such as Seattle's Best.

This brewing method makes the mellowest and roundest coffee. Bodum makes a reasonably priced and reasonably well functioning vacuum pot called the Santos. Cona and Yama are more expensive, less convenient and more fragile alternatives -- that make better coffee. There's a Belgian vacuum brewer called the Royal which is really spectacular looking, very expensive and makes a very good cup. The only reason I haven't brought it up on the CT Forum before is because I know what's going to happen if RP McMurphy sees it.

A return to vacuum brewing, combined with a relatively inexpensive burr grinder, and a decent blend like TJ's Moka Java, is probably the best way to get the coffee characteristics you most enjoy.

Two alternatives to vacuum are to use a gold mesh filter in a regular electric drip set up such as a Cuisinart, or to use a Chemex glass pot. For whatever reason the gold mesh filter baskets brew mellower coffee than paper liners. Chemex glass pots -- ditto. An advantage to the drip and pour over methods is that you can get along fine with an inexpensive propellor grinder.

The "French Press" method, which otherwise makes excellent coffee, is not particularly suited to brewing the type of coffee you seem to enjoy. I'd reject suggestions to buy one -- at least until you've tried it.


BDL

Royal Coffee Maker


WOW! Those are beautiful :o A nice example of form following function.



I have a candled coffee warmer that has a similar "look" to it as the Coffee makers above. It actually doesn't work that good, but it looks nice...it's a mix of glass and tarnished silver metal work.

dan

LavAzza. Sometimes through the french press. Mostly automatic drip.

What kind of coffee do you like to drink?

I just want to thank BDL for his very helpful answer to my post. As always, you have lots of good information to give.

How's that cookbook coming along? Am looking forward to it! :smiles:

Jamaica blue mountain if i can afford it, the real kind, not a us variety blend or "flavor"

I grind in my Capresso burr grinder to suit the brew method. Then I brew in Chemex or French press. I'll usually try a variety of different coffee beans. But I prefer my stock of home roasted green beans that I keep on hand.

I like a good espresso after a nice meal too
:beer:

>Does anyone know of a really good brand and roast that would give me the qualities that I remember? I was raised on coffee, but these days all coffee tastes like dishwater to me. <

Lisbet, there are many reasons why it's hard to get a great cup of coffee anymore. But one of the primary ones is quantity. No matter what brewing method is used, most people do not use enough coffee. The result: coffee-flavored water.

Another problem, IMO, is drip coffee makers. They're ubiquitous to American households, and, unfortunately, do not make a decent cup. The problem is that the grounds aren't in the hot water long enough to fully enfuse.

If you want a deep, rich, full-bodied cup of coffee, get rid of all the modern machinery and gimcracks and go backwards. Boiled coffee (which is not really boiled), what nowadays is often called "cowboy coffee" will give you the flavor you remember. Just be sure and put in enough grounds.