The coffee thread

[AlbergSteve]

I can see how it would be a pain to fill the portafilter. I've been using a Rancillio Rocky(doserless) for the last 8 years and it's been great. I've been getting african beans from a local guy at $4 a pound and roasting my own with excellent results. The Miss Silvia has been pulling yeoman's duty for the last 8 years as well!

 

[My_3_Girls]

Cool! I didn’t realize you actually started the thread! We should throw a link in the beer thread.

During the week, I’m running a Bunn A10, which is a commercial maker small enough for home use. I think they were mostly marketed toward small cafes and restaurants, which wanted a single-pot system, but it works great for home. I highly recommend this machine, if you’re a daily coffee drinker, and want a machine actually capable of hitting optimum extraction temperature without getting into the crazy Italian machinery. It’s not a great machine if you don’t use it daily, as it keeps the water hot, and the boil-off rate is noticeable when you don’t use it for a day.

+1 on the Bunn - although it looks like they've updated/changed model numbers - My Bunn worked for about 7 years, always on, operates the same way....town water started poking holes in the reservoir. When the leak was bad enough, bought another exactly the same. Pour water in the top, put my shoes on, and by the time I'm tying the second one, a full pot is brewed.

I don't get too fancy on the coffee. I've found a good Maxwell House blend - Smooth Bold - that's pretty OK by me. When I can't find that specific blend, I mix MH French Roast or Intense Bold with MH Columbian on a 50/50 basis. When I feel like a treat, I'll grab some from a local roaster, $15-20 a pound....I know, I know....life is short...but.

 

[begreen]

Fortunately coffee is big out here and there is a lot of competition that keeps the prices more reasonable from the local roasters. When they have a sale we stock up. We also get Wake Up blend, roasted organic beans in the jumbo container from Trader Joes. These are arabica beans from small farms in Latin America and sometimes we pick up a bag of Colombian or Sumatran coffee beans from Costco (3# for $15-17).

My sister has a Bunn and they buy their coffee from Dunkin' Donuts!

 

[Dobish]

Fortunately coffee is big out here and there is a lot of competition that keeps the prices more reasonable from the local roasters. When they have a sale we stock up. We also get Wake Up blend, roasted organic beans in the jumbo container from Trader Joes. These are arabica beans from small farms in Latin America and sometimes we pick up a bag of Colombian or Sumatran coffee beans from Costco (3# for $15-17).

My sister has a Bunn and they buy their coffee from Dunkin' Donuts!

I buy my coffee from Dunkin Donuts and have a french press

 

[Ashful]

I don't get too fancy on the coffee. I've found a good Maxwell House blend - Smooth Bold - that's pretty OK by me. When I can't find that specific blend, I mix MH French Roast or Intense Bold with MH Columbian on a 50/50 basis. When I feel like a treat, I'll grab some from a local roaster, $15-20 a pound....I know, I know....life is short...but.

If you’re buying ground, you may want to check out DallMayr Prodomo. Best price I’ve found is from GermanDeli.com, but Amazon also carries it.

https://www.dallmayr.com/deen/

Only trouble is, you may have trouble transitioning back to Maxwell House, after you get used to Dallmayr!

 

[Ashful]

My sister has a Bunn and they buy their coffee from Dunkin' Donuts!

I really don't know how the coffee maker market is today, but when I bought that Bunn about 8 years ago, there were really only three brands available in the US that could hit and hold an acceptable extraction temperature. There were a lot of claims that the major name brands (Krupps, Mr. Coffee, Braun, etc.) had all turned down their brew temp to limit scalding liability, and lots of forum post from people measuring brew temp on various makes and models to prove the point.

It came down to Technivorm, Bunn, and one other brand (maybe Chemex?), as the only three brands that were worth consideration, at that time. The Technivorms approved for sale in the USA (UL issue) were all too tall to fit under my cupboards, and there was something else I can no longer remember that had me turned off the third brand, so it came down to the Bunn. No regrets, but all of these machines were fairly expensive, at the time.

The sad thing about it is that my 1990'ish Krupps did just fine on brew temp, and I think it was under $40! I blame the Lawyers.

 

[SpaceBus]

I buy my coffee from Dunkin Donuts and have a french press

I was buying whole bean from dunks and making it in my press for a while.

 

[Dobish]

I was buying whole bean from dunks and making it in my press for a while.

always the whole bean.... i have the ground stuff at work since we have a keurig and I refuse to use the pods.

 

[SpaceBus]

always the whole bean.... i have the ground stuff at work since we have a keurig and I refuse to use the pods.

Keurig is awful

 

[Dobish]

i know. we went from having a bunn industrial to a keurig. I actually stopped drinking as much coffee because of it.

 

[begreen]

Keurig is awful

Truly a blight on the planet. Billions of these single-use plastic pods are now filling landfills. Enough to circle the earth over 10 times!
http://action.storyofstuff.org/sign...dfills-could-wrap-around-planet-over-11-times

 

[maple1]

I am OK with Keurig - that is, using a reusable pod and my own coffee.

 

[begreen]

I am OK with Keurig - that is, using a reusable pod and my own coffee.

Yes, if that had been the concept from the start it would have turned out better for the planet. The creator of the Keurig has expressed regrets for the environmental impacts of his product.

 

[SpaceBus]

I find even with reusable pods the coffee is still burned and doesn't taste as good as a French press. To me a Keurig is all of the work of a press (reusable pods) without the taste.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Here's an interesting article on coffee from the Pilot (Norfolk, VA)a few months ago. Good read.

(broken link removed to https://pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/article_501417c2-f98d-11e8-b85f-4f997a34b154.html)

" … those in the local coffee and tea industry say, Hampton Roads is becoming a major player.

There's good reason.

Last month, about 377,000 bags of raw beans, most weighing around 150 pounds, sat in warehouses across Hampton Roads, according to the Green Coffee Association, a trade group based in New York. That's about 57.3 million pounds of coffee, enough to brew around 2 billion cups of joe."

Wow!

BTW, our cats HATE the coffee grinder more than the vacuum.

 

[SpaceBus]

Here's an interesting article on coffee from the Pilot (Norfolk, VA)a few months ago. Good read.

(broken link removed to https://pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/article_501417c2-f98d-11e8-b85f-4f997a34b154.html)

" … those in the local coffee and tea industry say, Hampton Roads is becoming a major player.

There's good reason.

Last month, about 377,000 bags of raw beans, most weighing around 150 pounds, sat in warehouses across Hampton Roads, according to the Green Coffee Association, a trade group based in New York. That's about 57.3 million pounds of coffee, enough to brew around 2 billion cups of joe."

Wow!

BTW, our cats HATE the coffee grinder more than the vacuum.

I bought a hand grinder because I couldn't stand the noise.

 

[Ashful]

I find even with reusable pods the coffee is still burned and doesn't taste as good as a French press. To me a Keurig is all of the work of a press (reusable pods) without the taste.

That’s why these threads are interesting to me. I enjoy French press, on occasion, but it’s not my favorite coffee. I will agree it beats any Keurig coffee I’ve ever had, though. I’ve never tried reusable K-pods with my own coffee, though.

I think the grind coarseness is one of the biggest factors in how I perceive coffee, whether it’s affecting flavor or body. I know people love the way the oils come they on the French press, but that doesn’t really do anything for me.

My favored brews, in order

1. Macchiato- 2 oz expression with 1 oz steamed whole milk. Really, it’s just a tamed expression double shot, sort of a latte on steroids.

2. Expresso straight shot, although I rarely actually take my coffee this way, it’s great on occasion.

3. Classic latte, 2 oz shot with 3+ oz steamed milk.

4. Pour over, from my beloved Bunn. This is NOT a drip machine, even though it’s often grouped in with them by resellers, there is really no “automatic pour over” segment into which they can categorize it. Pour over requires a very high grounds to water ratio (at LEAST 1:15), due to the short extraction time.

5. French press. Coarse grind, 1:12 coffee/water ratio, steep 4-5 minutes at 200F.

I don’t drink enough drip, percolator, or Keurig to even put them on the list.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

That’s why these threads are interesting to me. I enjoy French press, on occasion, but it’s not my favorite coffee. I will agree it beats any Keurig coffee I’ve ever had, though. I’ve never tried reusable K-pods with my own coffee, though.

I think the grind coarseness is one of the biggest factors in how I perceive coffee, whether it’s affecting flavor or body. I know people love the way the oils come they on the French press, but that doesn’t really do anything for me.

My favored brews, in order

1. Macchiato- 2 oz expression with 1 oz steamed whole milk. Really, it’s just a tamed expression double shot, sort of a latte on steroids.

2. Expresso straight shot, although I rarely actually take my coffee this way, it’s great on occasion.

3. Classic latte, 2 oz shot with 3+ oz steamed milk.

4. Pour over, from my beloved Bunn. This is NOT a drip machine, even though it’s often grouped in with them by resellers, there is really no “automatic pour over” segment into which they can categorize it. Pour over requires a very high grounds to water ratio (at LEAST 1:15), due to the short extraction time.

5. French press. Coarse grind, 1:12 coffee/water ratio, steep 4-5 minutes at 200F.

I don’t drink enough drip, percolator, or Keurig to even put them on the list.

I refuse to drink coffee that has milk in it.

 

[SpaceBus]

I refuse to drink coffee that has milk in it.

Really? I find a few teaspoons of half and half or cream make the the coffee so much richer.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Really? I find a few teaspoons of half and half or cream make the the coffee so much richer.

No milk no sugar.

 

[SpaceBus]

That’s why these threads are interesting to me. I enjoy French press, on occasion, but it’s not my favorite coffee. I will agree it beats any Keurig coffee I’ve ever had, though. I’ve never tried reusable K-pods with my own coffee, though.

I think the grind coarseness is one of the biggest factors in how I perceive coffee, whether it’s affecting flavor or body. I know people love the way the oils come they on the French press, but that doesn’t really do anything for me.

My favored brews, in order

1. Macchiato- 2 oz expression with 1 oz steamed whole milk. Really, it’s just a tamed expression double shot, sort of a latte on steroids.

2. Expresso straight shot, although I rarely actually take my coffee this way, it’s great on occasion.

3. Classic latte, 2 oz shot with 3+ oz steamed milk.

4. Pour over, from my beloved Bunn. This is NOT a drip machine, even though it’s often grouped in with them by resellers, there is really no “automatic pour over” segment into which they can categorize it. Pour over requires a very high grounds to water ratio (at LEAST 1:15), due to the short extraction time.

5. French press. Coarse grind, 1:12 coffee/water ratio, steep 4-5 minutes at 200F.

I don’t drink enough drip, percolator, or Keurig to even put them on the list.

I actually prefer my coffee ground fine for the press. Like, it's Turkish fine ground for my press. I get a bit of sediment in the bottom of my cup, but I like it.

I also don't measure out the amount of coffee and just eyeball it with a table spoon. Usually three or four heaping spoon fulls is perfect. We even drink primarily dark roast.

 

[SpaceBus]

No milk no sugar.

I can do this with some coffee. I don't always add sugar, but I almost always add in some dairy

 

[maple1]

No milk no sugar.

Me also. Straight up.

I'm usually the only coffee person here.

During the week I usually use one of those Hamilton Beach single cup dealios. Gotta be quick - that does it and it seems to make decent coffee. Has a bold setting, I use that. Think they recommend a regular grind, but I like fine better - a bit of sediment is OK with me. Quick & easy to make it, and quick & easy cleanup & grounds disposal. Quick & easy is the thing with me during the week, drinks and food.

Weekends I might take the time to press. I have a single one of those too, generic, along with a 4 cup Bodum. At the cottage in the summer, it is press all the way.

When the kids are home for their 4 month summer stay, they bring a Keurig with them. (A dorm room staple, it seems). So I might have one of those once in a while, using my coffee & pod.

'Typical' drip makers aren't a thing around here, unless we get a crowd in which is rare. Then I might drag one out for the occasion.

FIL has an cheapish expresso machine (Oster?), but it makes a good cup also. Load it up with fine grounds, and hit two double shots and a single all in a row into a mug, using same grounds. Makes a bit of foam on top - it is actually very good, I find.

 

[begreen]

I actually prefer my coffee ground fine for the press. Like, it's Turkish fine ground for my press. I get a bit of sediment in the bottom of my cup, but I like it.

I also don't measure out the amount of coffee and just eyeball it with a table spoon. Usually three or four heaping spoon fulls is perfect. We even drink primarily dark roast.

I'm surprised that doesn't start to plug up the press. We always coarse grind for Bodum. If the grind it too fine it takes a lot of pressure to press the coffee which my wife hates. She drinks most of the coffee, so it's up to her. We also do single cup with a Melitta style filter and use a finer grind for that. Unfiltered coffee spikes my cholesterol levels so I tend to drink tea and just an occasional Melitta style coffee these days.

Anyone use a Bialetti? I poo-pooed them until we had some coffee at B&Bs in Italy. They are ubiquitous there and the coffee was excellent!

 

[PaulOinMA]

I bought a hand grinder because I couldn't stand the noise.

Which one do you have? Do you like it? Can you recommend one? Something that can grind enough for a pot in a reasonable amount of time. Thanks, in advance.

And … only black coffee for me. No sweetener, no dairy.