A good cup of Joe

dreadnut

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I like my coffee fresh ground and fresh brewed, I have a coffee mill and a Bunn coffee maker. I use dark, oily beans and brew immediately after grinding.

Mrs. Dread, on the other hand, to save time in the morning, will often do 2 things I would never do: 1. Re-heat yesterday's leftover coffee in the microwave, and if there's not enough left, 2. Pours fresh water over yesterday's grounds. Yuck.
 

FNG

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We've had good luck with getting coffee beans at Costco. I think we're drinking Costa Rico beans, three pound bag for about 16 bucks.

We make a pot then right into a thermos. I hate burnt coffee!
 

Brad Little

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We have three coffee drinkers and each of us has different tastes. My wife and daughter use Keurig pods, I use dark beans (as dark as I can find) ground just before making my morning cup. I have a gooseneck coffee kettle with a thermometer that indicates the best temperature for pouring over the grounds in a cone lined with an organic paper filter. Also use filtered water. Great cup of Joe. I guess if I were still working I'd grind it the night before.
Brad
 

Westerly Wood

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I like my coffee fresh ground and fresh brewed, I have a coffee mill and a Bunn coffee maker. I use dark, oily beans and brew immediately after grinding.

Mrs. Dread, on the other hand, to save time in the morning, will often do 2 things I would never do: 1. Re-heat yesterday's leftover coffee in the microwave, and if there's not enough left, 2. Pours fresh water over yesterday's grounds. Yuck.

i do more like Mrs Dread when necessary. it is not a bad play. you get used to it. but i too, like to brew fresh most mornings and i do get an americano later on in morning at work. Americano for me is my regular cup of coffee.

at home i do 4 scoops for 6 cups water.
 

Nuuska

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Hello

My coffee habits raise some folks eyebrows, too.
We both drink coffee with milk.
In the morning I make more than needed. Have a clean coffeemaker where you put fresh water in container, filter over glass can. Rest is automatic. So far normal behaviour.
After my wife and I have poured first cups, I turn the unit OFF - no need to simmer that coffee on heat plate.
She usually takes one cup only - I usually take two or even three mugs.
By the time I take second mug, the coffee in the can has cooled off a bit - so I warm up the milk in microwave .
By the time of third cup I warm up the milk first - pour in the coffee - and warm the mix up.

In the afternoon I repeat the third cup procedure. And it is good enough. Say 9 if morning first is 10

But if you make the mistake of heating the old coffee first and the adding milk, it will taste horrible. This has to do with tannic acid and milk protein quick heat-up behaviour - I heard the explanation once.
 

chazmo

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I use coffee as a (good) excuse to leave the house since I work from home everyday. So, even though I drink it all day long, it comes from the coffee shops. I'm not particular about it at all, but every once in a while I go for a cappuccino, which I really love.
 

dreadnut

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Yeah, I have the Bunn with the thermos type carafe, no burner under it. If you fill it with hot water and dump it just before brewing, it'll stay hot 'til afternoon. (Coffee that's been kept on the hot plate all day is something I also hate.)
 

F312

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Contrary to popular belief, roasting coffee beans does not increase the caffeine content. While dark roasts have a richer, stronger flavor, they often contain less caffeine because the roasting process actually reduces caffeine by 10 percent to 15 percent. A dark-roasted bean typically will have 15 percent to 20 percent less caffeine than a lighter roast of the same variety. Roasting of coffee beans lasts only 10 to 15 minutes, but involves temperatures in excess of 350 degrees.

Ralph
 

Brad Little

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Contrary to popular belief, roasting coffee beans does not increase the caffeine content....

Ralph
Yep, knew that, one reason I drink dark, also find it tastes better, at least to me.
Brad
 

adorshki

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Had a buddy who managed a "euro-style" café back in early '80's when gourmet coffee was just starting to be a "thing"; they had fresh-roasted varietals for sale and served pastries and crepes.
Anyway, discovered the joys of Ethiopia Mocha Harrar and Guatemala Antigua and real Colombian and Sumatran.
Did the cone filter thing on weekends, but finally drifted away from it in early '90's, it was an economy thing.
Experimented with the name brands and settled on Yuban (it was 100% Colombian back then) for quite a while and snickered at the Starbucks addicts when that craze hit, "been there, done that".
But Yuban ain't what it used to be, as explained below, and I just go for whatever's on sale between Folger's and Maxwell House and even Safeway's (surprisingly good) house brand.
Splurge on 100% Colombian once in a while but never dark roast anymore.
Generic "Breakfast Blend" is usually the nice light "clean" flavor I prefer these days.
Some surprisingly mis-understood facts about coffee:
Caffeine is actually destroyed by the heat of roasting as Ralph said.
Your light and medium roast are gonna give you the best jolt if you like that.
Caffeine stimulates your pancreas to release insulin.
Sugar in coffee is a good thing to moderate the jitters.
As coffee sits overnight (or even just on the hot plate) the acids break down the oils that give the flavors. (I used to reheat my leftovers at work, too, but not anymore)
Also for my tastes I discovered I preferred the nuttier chocolatey tastes that were better preserved by a medium roast.
Ethiopia (where coffee was discovered and first cultivated) and Sumatra of all places, were the kings, there.
Finally, the good Arabica strains are under pressure from Coffee Berry Disease and Coffee Leaf Rust and it's pressuring the small high-quality varietal producers out of production; the industry as a whole is moving towards robustas and hybrids that are disease resistant and which they claim taste almost as good as real arabicas.
But I got refined taste buds and I'm here to tell ya it just ain't so, joe.
So if you're wondering why your everyday brand name coffee don't seem taste as good as it used to, it don't.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-015-0446-9

Now you know why....
 
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Westerly Wood

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I like Maxwell House and Folgers in a pinch. I will even drink hotel room coffee with the powder creamer.
Right now, Costco has this Idaho roasters coffee, 2.5 lbs for $11. It is fine.

I don't go to Starbucks, not that there is anything wrong with that! I am not a protester. :)

that being said, my fave coffee is D&D, just their medium roast is great. I can drink that stuff black.
 

crank

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We use a Cuisinart burr grinder/drip coffee maker that has a stainless steel carafe and no heating pad to burn the coffee.

Mostly we buy Starbucks beans a Costco. I prefer a medium roast like Pikes Place or Breakfast Blend. Because we like it a bit strong we add a tablespoon or so of ground coffee to the basket before grinding/brewing. If Robin is traveling I set the machine to grind/brew 10 cups and fill the water level to 8 cups.
 

adorshki

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I like Maxwell House and Folgers in a pinch.
Yep those are my go-to's for everyday work brew these days.
I just buy an extra can or 2 whenever they go on sale.
Oh yeah that reminds me, another thing:
Since I use my "good stuff" so slowly, weekends only, I actually keep it in the fridge, albeit sealed in plastic bag and mason jar to prevent moisture exposure, the real enemy..
After all cold helps preserve those all-important flavor oils.
 
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The Guilds of Grot

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I don't drink coffee but my wife is very particular about hers.

We buy this at Costco.

341b5f17f942a6d6e2306b09c373138c.jpg


Then it is fresh ground in a burr grinder, (not a blade grinder, you get inconsistent particle sizes and dust!)

baratza-burr-grinder.png



Then it's into the French Press with barely boiled filtered water!

36661742490890p


A half of spoon of sugar, a splash of heavy, (whipping) cream and she's ready for the day!

(Needless to say, we have a hard time finding acceptable coffee while traveling!)
 
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adorshki

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I also prefer the roasted Sumatran beans.

I don't recall seeing it for a while, there might be a geo-political reason for it, but I suspect you'll like the Ethiopian if you get a chance to try it.
"Equal but different"
:friendly_wink:
 

GAD

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This is my "coffee machine". It's a Pavoni hand-pump espresso machine.

PavoniChrome.jpg


This is my grinder that I hacked to make a finer grind:

Pavoni_Grinder_Small.jpg


If it's not espresso, I'm not interested. If I am forced to drink regular coffee then I'll use a french press. Most regular coffee tastes like hot water with a brown crayon melted in it to me.

I don't do anything halfway.
 
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