Coffee Talk

Here is to all of you, enjoy.


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I prefer french press. Sometimes I buy whole beans and grind them, but mostly I don't. I'll wait 15-20 seconds or so, before pouring the hot water over the coffee in the press pot, since the water should not be boiling. 92 - 96 degrees C (195 - 205 degrees F) is apparently the perfect temperature. Then wait four minutes before pressing the plunger. Then pour it into a thermos (and/or a cup). I have different sizes of press pots (small/medium/large). I sometimes experiment with coffee syrups and milk. I rarely use sugar in my coffee, but if I do, it should be raw.

Ooohhh I love this thread!

I love my coffee however I have never had a fancy coffee machine or anything that resembles one. My favorite coffee is gold old Folgers dark with cream and sugar. Occasionally I will hit up the Starbucks for my mocha but I usually just have regular old Folgers in my cup.


I will have to try some of the coffee's mentioned here, esp the stronger ones. The stronger the better!

I consider anyone who need coffee/caffeine to wake up in the morning a weak and inferior human being...

:

reply to post by nick_napalm


Thankfully none of us needs it to wake up but rather to stay awake.

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Some Cardamom or cinnamon makes the coffee better. If you drink alot of coffee, you should be aware that high concentrations of cinnamon is not good for your liver and kidneys. Small amounts is ok, and tastes great. Put some on top of the milk foam or whatever.

Foolish mortals - how little you understand coffee..

The Kenyan Arabica bean is the king of coffee beans. It really is the best bar none!

Zingy, but with depth of flavour and a satisfactory caffeine hit, once you've tried it you can't go back to Colombian.

reply to post by Silver Star

Well I think it depends where and how the coffee is grown / harvested /brewed

Arabica doesn't necessarily = good

Unless you counting McDonalds premium coffee as good

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reply to post by davespanners


Over the years, I doubt anyone has ragged on McDonald's coffee any more than me. I considered it to be universally the worst, no matter where I purchased it, or time time of day it was purchased. A while back, and I'm not sure exactly when because I'm not exactly a regular at McDonald's, they changed brands or prep or something. Now it still isn't my brew of preference, but it's no longer really bad. Which is a big leap forward.

The interesting part about coffee, as is the case with many foods and drinks, is that setting seems to influence appreciation. For example I almost never drink fast food coffee because I haven't been at a ff 'restaurant' in years ... however every once in a while I'll go with friends at a really good diner for Sunday breakfast with the eggs and the bacon and the sausage and the french toast, and the cheap diner coffee seems to be the perfect compliment. It just works better with that kind of food and setting than a great french press fresh ground cup would.


God I'm hungry now ...

A very interesting property of coffee is that it seems to absorb the care and attention that is put into making it, and translate it into taste. Coffee made carefully tastes better.

Of course, there's really no absolutely 'wrong' way to make coffee: if you have a brand and half-asleep method that works for you, you can get an all-right cup o' joe pretty easily.

BUT, if you add a little care and time, just about anything you do can improve the coffee you make, and you can directly appreciate that improvement.

Here's the 'big five':
- Cleanliness. Keep your coffee making equipment scrupulously clean! That brown sediment layer doesn't help.
- Water. Use good water to avoid strange tastes. Distilled water isn't the best, some mineral content is good. I prefer non-chlorinate spring water.
- Grind. Get a mill grinder or something that makes all the little particles of ground coffee roughly the same size. Those cheap circular rotating don't grind coffee well at all.
- Infusion. Make sure the coffee grounds are in the water at the right temperature for the right amount of time, depending on how you're brewing. A rough rule of thumb is, the faster the water moves through the coffee, the smaller the grind should be.
- Bean. Yes, this really is listed last. Good beans are important, and it's essential that they be fairly fresh. But even if you have great beans, you can make lousy coffee by screwing up any of the above items too badly.


Currently drinking: A three-bean dry processed Yemenese + Ethiopian blend; dark roasted; french press. Yummy!

Originally posted by Ian McLean

- Cleanliness. Keep your coffee making equipment scrupulously clean! That brown sediment layer doesn't help.
- Water. Use good water to avoid strange tastes. Distilled water isn't the best, some mineral content is good. I prefer non-chlorinate spring water.

Odd you mention this. I remember a guy who had this old metal campfire coffee pot that probably hadn't been cleaned since the Korean War. It made really good camp coffee, but that may have been a function of the surroundings (open fire, in the woods, sausage & eggs etc) than the equipment. I'm not advocating using an uncleaned pot, but there was a day when no self respecting outdoorsman/cowboy would dream of cleaning the dregs out of the coffeepot.

I agree wholeheartedly about the water. Distilled water makes really crappy coffee. It almost makes the coffee taste "flat".

Another hint, if you're using a drip maker and paper filters, wet the filter before putting the coffee in it. It helps keep the filter from contributing its own flavor to the brew.

reply to post by Ian McLean


See now you're being interesting.

I've been using the cheap little circular grinder which does grind the beans to a fine powder, so I'm wondering why that is bad for the coffee? Do I want a coarser consistency?

And as we speak I'm having a cup of the illy moka espresso made specifically for the Bialetti percolator. I love this coffee, the only problem is that you can only buy it at Williams Sonoma for some reason and a container of it costs almost as much as the percolator.

reply to post by yeahright


Great tip about rinsing the paper filter, if you use a filter. The reason the sediment layers accumulate in coffee makers is that they act like a kind of 'glue'. Coffee's got 100's of different components in it, and some of those will stick to a sediment layer as it's brewing. This of course removes it from the coffee you get as a result, as well as some of the previous sediment being dissolved back into the current brew.

It's a matter of consistency. If you get a different tasting cup with every batch, it's hard to tell whether changes you make to the water or bean or grind are what's causing it, or if it's just a result of the extra-robust coffee you brewed yesterday.

Also it's a matter of preference. Do you like the taste that the accumulations add or create? There's an easy experiment: brew a pot of coffee, just without any ground. Use the same water, filter, etc, that you usually use. Let the result cool to room temperature, and drink the water. You might be surprised at how much paper, metal, etc., taste is being added.


reply to post by schrodingers dog


Those little moka octagons are great. I think they need a little coarser grind than an espresso; perhaps just below the point where the coffee starts to 'clump'. Otherwise they tend to over-infuse a little; the coffee is much more bitter with less crema. Espresso grinds are tricky to get perfect; most $50-$150 electric burr mills that are great for regular coffee are sorta fail for espresso grinds, and you have to start spending ridiculous money. If you enjoy the exercise, this hand grinder makes an excellent espresso grind for about $75.

Allegro Ethiopian Yirgacheffe this morning in the French press ... yum yum.

And I'm out of beans and need to go buy a couple of bags today ... any suggestions?

Mornin' btw ...

I visited Jamaica years ago, they had the most delicious coffee I have ever tasted.
They also gave you the option of raw sugar, which I always took. Now I'm craving Jamaican java...mmm.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


Yeah. Give this a try:
www.intelligentsiacoffee.com...

I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard it's good.

reply to post by Ian McLean


Ah thanks for the recommendation ... the only place I found that sells it in DC is a place called Chinatown Coffee Co. so I'm off to get it tomorrow. Since it's espresso I should probably use the percolator rather than the french press right?

Wow i am surprized nobody has mentioned Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

My fav is Guatamalan coffee and Italian Sumatra beans but I haven't had fresh ground coffee in quite awhile.
My fav way to make coffee is in a bodum.

I usually just hit the Timmies because they have nice girls that work there.
Its a nice visual at 6 am.

reply to post by Ian McLean


Okay so I went and bought a bag of beans of the Black Cat espresso and I'm having a cup now ...

It is very very very very very very good.