Coffee

**Justso** · 10-10-2006, 10:40 AM

Ok, at the request of others, let's start a coffee thread?

1. What type/brand of beans do you like for your morning or evening (hell, maybe all day) cup o' joe?

2. What type of equipment do you like/use to make your perfect java?

3. How do you take your coffee? Cream/Sugar/Steamed Milk/Cuban Style?

4. How many cups of battery acid does it take to jump start you in the morning?

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Ok, I'll go first..

1. I have tried many different name brands, Starbucks, Gevalia, etc.., and the one I prefer is a brand that is out West called Peets..You can find it online at www.peets.com. I like their house blend and the french roast. It's dark & full-bodied. Just a great blend. Sadly, back East here, we don't have that brand locally available. I wish we did. I'm not a persnickety drinker in the sense that I won't drink cheap coffees. I will, I just prefer the better stuff. But it's not beneath me to drink a cup of Folgers if that's what someone offers to me.

2. I'm a bit nostaglic, I use a pyrex percolator for my coffee, which is super neato. I have never tried a French Press, but I've heard good things. One day I guess I'll go buy one. I grind my own coffee beans, as really there's nothing even close to how great fresh ground coffee tastes & smells.

3. If I'm drinking a full-bodied blend, I prefer the coffee with the warm steamed milk in the bottom of the mug with sugar and then pouring the coffee into the mug. If it's just regular stuff, then I'll do the cream & sugar mix after the pour. I never use any artificial sweetener.

4. I'm not an every morning coffee drinker. In the winter months I am, but in the summer & fall, I drink it at all times of the day. Sometimes in the evening, sometimes in the morning..It depends.

**MasonM** · 10-10-2006, 10:45 AM

1. What type/brand of beans do you like for your morning or evening (hell, maybe all day) cup o' joe? I use Maxwell House French Roast.

2. What type of equipment do you like/use to make your perfect java? I just use an inexpensive Black and Decker coffee maker.

3. How do you take your coffee? Cream/Sugar/Steamed Milk/Cuban Style? I normally put the sugar and non dairy creamer (I can't do lactose) in the bottom of the cup and pour the coffee in over it as it saves all that stirring and keeps the spoon dry.

4. How many cups of battery acid does it take to jump start you in the morning? If I am home I usually hav a pot in the morning. On the road just two or three cups as any more will make extra restroom stops necessary.

**fuerein** · 10-10-2006, 10:48 AM

I don't drink coffee often, but when I do:

1. No particular preference, but I don't like the blackened roasts ( I know that for a fact). I like darker roasts, but the blackened roasts are too much.

2. French press all the way!

3. Straight-up black

4. I don't drink often, mainly in the winter and then only a cup or two more and I get a headache.

**Lyrt** · 10-10-2006, 11:08 AM

1. What type/brand of beans do you like for your morning or evening (hell, maybe all day) cup o' joe?

Usually Moka Harrar. Hawai Kona Extra Fancy when I want luxury. I usually stock many different types of beans that I buy in Verlet (in Paris).

2. What type of equipment do you like/use to make your perfect java?

French Press (Bodum Eileen)
La Pavoni PRH for espresso
Elektra dynamometric tamper
Macap M5 grinder

3. How do you take your coffee? Cream/Sugar/Steamed Milk/Cuban Style?

Black. Sometimes one sugar.

4. How many cups of battery acid does it take to jump start you in the morning?

One big mug.

**sphughes** · 10-10-2006, 11:14 AM

Peets retail outlets are here and there in the Boston area.

1. I am real partial to a dark roast coffee. Currently I purchase my beans from www.wholelattelove.com. I am very addicted to Vivace Espresso Vita. This coffee is ambrosia to me and I grind it in my drip machine as well as use it when I am pulling shots of Espresso. I buy from WLL because they offer free shipping and it is dropshipped directly from the roaster, David Schomer.

2. For my Drip coffee, I use a Melita Grind and Brew that I have had for a few years; a real nice machine that has the internal grinder. When I am jonesing for an Espresso, Cappucino, or Latte I use a Solis grinder and a Saeco machine. Very capable system....

3. Skim milk only.....A touch of Cinnamon in the Cappucino

4. I prefer 2 cups in the morning before I leave the house, if I have the time.

Now I am craving a cappucino...Damn.....

-Scott-

**peacefrog** · 10-10-2006, 11:19 AM

I'm an addict, not a connoisseur. I usually grap some Dunkin Donuts on my way to work. At home on the weekends I toss some Chock Full o Nuts into my Mr. Coffee.

**Dapper_Dave** · 10-10-2006, 12:13 PM

I like a french press myself and I usually have cream and sugar.

Has anyone any experience with Tully's brand coffees based out of Seattle? I ran across them at amazon and am considering including them in my Christmas baskets.

**Steelforge** · 10-10-2006, 01:06 PM

1. What type/brand of beans do you like for your morning or evening (hell, maybe all day) cup o' joe? Starbucks House Blend, or Starbucks Peaberry, I grind the beans myself at home with a burr style disc grinder.

2. What type of equipment do you like/use to make your perfect java? Either my Krups Espresso machine, or occasionally a press.

3. How do you take your coffee? Cream/Sugar/Steamed Milk/Cuban Style? Splash od semi-skimmed milk, and 1 spoon of sugar.

4. How many cups of battery acid does it take to jump start you in the morning? To be honest, none. I naturally wake up early so I don't really need to drink coffee as such, but I do like a nice cup some cold mornings.

**PalmettoB** · 10-10-2006, 01:16 PM

Type/brand: Millstone Kona blend or Highlander Grogg from a small shop in PA (they do mail orders) http://www.greencastlecoffee.com/. (They have all sorts of tea for you tea drinkers.) I do like grinding the beans, but I just use a cheap Mr. Coffee grinder.

Equipment: Black and Decker 12 cup coffee maker.

How do I take it?: Leaded and black.

(no unleaded...why bother?)

How many: one or two. I also like it at night in the winter months.

**ada8356** · 10-10-2006, 01:18 PM

Most (98%) of my coffee drinking is at the office and provided by the Company:

1. Community
2. Some three warmer job that has the water fed directly into it... makes a fast pot since the water is already super hot.
3. Black
4. Probably one pot before lunch... maybe one or two cups after.

**BroJohn** · 10-10-2006, 04:59 PM

1. What type/brand of beans do you like for your morning or evening (hell, maybe all day) cup o' joe?

I roast my own. I buy coffee from www.ccmcoffee.com in FL; one time they sent my bean order as green not roasted. Postage made it not worth returning, so I learned to roast it. Most 'blends' just cover up some inferior beans, so I buy premium, and mix to suit after roasting. I slow-roast to medium, and feel that most premium roasted stuff out there is 'over-roasted.' I like Brazil Santos, Columbian Popayan, and some of the milder African stuff --Kenya AA and Ugandan.

2. What type of equipment do you like/use to make your perfect java?

Drip, I use a Presto Scandanavian. Have a Capresso espresso maker (rarely used) and a high end Capresso grinder (heavily used and highly recommended). I don't do French Press. My favorite method is to brew coffee in an original Silex, Sunbeam, or Cory Vacuum pot/maker. I have 8 original vac pots acquired over the years with plenty of spare parts. Vacuum brewing makes the richest, smoothest coffee that you can make, by far, period. Vac pots require a lot of interaction, and clean-up is time consuming. That's why vac pots were abandoned in favor of Percolators (which make the worst coffee, by far) in the late-'40s, '50s, and '60s --convienience of the Percolator.

It's sort of the coffee equivalent of going from mug and brush and DE to cartridges and goo in the shaving world.

3. How do you take your coffee? Cream/Sugar/Steamed Milk/Cuban Style?

A little cream. Sometimes a little sugar. Started drinking 'coffee' in VietNam where I'd mix everything in the extra pack from the 'C' ration all together --Hot (or not hot) water, instant coffee, creamer, sugar, chicklets, koolaid or lemonaid, the two-pack of lifesavers, etc. Stirred it all up and drank it.

Please understand that I'm much more 'refined' these days.

4. How many cups of battery acid does it take to jump start you in the morning?

I brew a 10-cup drip pot in the early AM, drink about half a cup, take the remainder to work with me. Home in evening, one or two cups of Vac Brewed. Life is good.

I'm interested in seeing the other responses to this thread.

--John Gehman

**zachster** · 10-10-2006, 05:26 PM

1. Beans: At home, Trader Joe's dark French Roast -- at the office we use Peet's since there's a Peet's downstairs; The TJ's costs about half of that!

2. I agree with Justso on the old-fashioned way of making coffee -- at home I use a small stainless steel Farberware percolater that I bought at a garage sale about 12 years ago. My guess is that it dates back to the '60s. It makes coffee fast, strong and hot! At the office, I insisted that we buy a Bunn thermal unit -- holds a pot full of water hot for the next use, so you can make a pot of cofee in 3 minutes! This is important when you have meetings with lots of people...

3. Black, like my lawyer heart...

4. I need the full farberware pot before I leave the house, otherwise I cannot function. Then I need one more cup when I get to the office. After that, I can actually get through the whole day without more (if absolutely necessary).

**Scorpio** · 10-10-2006, 06:47 PM

1. Puerto Rican, Cuban or Colombian bean homegrown bean.

2. I use a perculator, old style.

3. If by cuban style you expresso or as cubans call it "pocillo" which is drank
in a little cup. This stuff is potent. Sometimes a little cream and sugar.

4. Just a couple of cups is all I need.

Rafael

**Justso** · 10-10-2006, 09:11 PM

That's why vac pots were abandoned in favor of Percolators (which make the worst coffee, by far) in the late-'40s, '50s, and '60s --convienience of the Percolator.

This is something that I've heard over and over. I've tried coffee several ways and I just don't understand the bad wrap percolators get? I mean, I guess I'm not a coffee aficianado so my opinion is that of a dilitante.

The coffee I get out of my little percolator is very rich & smooth. Guess I'm just not refined enough.

**NMMB** · 10-10-2006, 09:55 PM

Oh... coffee... I love coffee.

Originally Posted by Justso

1. What type/brand of beans do you like for your morning or evening (hell, maybe all day) cup o' joe?

Most (though not all) of the coffee I drink is roasted by Just Us in Nova Scotia. It is fair trade and organic - and IMHO is some of the best coffee available in the country (perhaps the continent or the world even). I especially enjoy their Guatemalan and Rainforest Rhapsody roasts (a medium and a light roast respectively), though many of their other blends are exceptional as well.
I am also finding myself increasingly interested in espresso though I have yet to find a blend that really does it for me... I am presently using the Espresso Blend and Italian Roast from Just Us but they aren't quite what I want/need for my espresso (though, they are notably more satisfying than illy, IMHO). Any espresso drinkers have any suggestions as to a good roast/blend that might be available locally?

Originally Posted by Justso

2. What type of equipment do you like/use to make your perfect java?

I am presently using the following: Krups FME4 PRO AROMA SS drip coffee maker and a Krups XP 4020 Pump Espresso maker (similar to this one)

Originally Posted by Justso

3. How do you take your coffee? Cream/Sugar/Steamed Milk/Cuban Style?

I drink coffee black (as it was intended to be) - unless the coffee is so bad that it isn't palatable... in which case I may add milk and/or sugar... Also, I will sometimes make espresso drinks that are milk-based (late, etc) rather than drinking the espresso straight... but I do not like sweet espresso drinks and if I do make a milk-based drink I use skim milk.

Originally Posted by Justso

4. How many cups of battery acid does it take to jump start you in the morning?

I drink coffee as much as I can, all day long...well, most of the day (from the time I get up to some time early in the evening - but I rarely have more than one or 2 after, say, 7pm)... In an average day I consume approximately 60 - 80 ounces (1.8 - 2.4 L)... wow, it seems like a lot when I read it like that.

**rikrdo** · 10-10-2006, 11:00 PM

At home:

French Market coffee thru a French Press.
Cooled and put in the fridge for Iced coffee later....
Sometimes an "espresso" thru my woefully inadequate Krups espresso machine.
A local beanery in Mentone CA makes some good joe. I cant remember the name offhand.

Away:

Local coffee house the "White Rabbit" makes a mean Red-Eye or,
if Im in really bad shape , the occassional Black-Eye

Im not really sure whose coffee they use.

I will go to Starbucks. But only if Im forced to.
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Does anyone own an AEROPRESS ?
Dinder recommended trying one. Im sure I will

**Queen of Blades** · 10-11-2006, 12:37 AM

At Home
1. 8 O'clock coffee, half-caf

2. Melitta One:One -pod coffee maker (I don't like the coffee pods available because of the taste and the price. So I make my own pods. Nobody else in the house drinks coffee so one cup at a time is sometimes perfect for me.)

3. 1% milk, and 2 packets of Sweet 'N' Low

4. None. Orange juice does a better job of jump starting me in the morning, but I still crave my coffee.

Out and About

Hot coffee, any way I can get it (most of the time it is horrible)

I adore iced mocha, with whipped cream. It was the only way I would drink coffee after I turned 16. And yes I did drink coffee before I turned 16. I used to sip from my mother's coffee, starting when I was 9 or 10. And yes I know it can stunt your growth

, I completely blame the coffee for me being only 5' tall. It cost me a whole 2 or 3 inches.

16, living in Tacoma, WA, coffee huts on every corner (even in the high schools) I was introduced to Italian Sodas and Iced Mocha. Oh yeah, Starbucks SUCKS! Over-priced and just plain AWFUL! Coffee is to the NW what gambling is to Vegas. It is everywhere you look.

I really started craving hot coffee about 3 years ago, pretty much as soon as I found out I was pregnant. Luckily I owned my own restaurant and simply had to upgrade my decaf to 100% Colombian decaf. The best decaf I've ever had in a restaurant. I'm tempted to call my old supplier to set up an account now, because I haven't found anything that comes even close to their coffee, regular or decaf.

**letterk** · 10-11-2006, 09:35 AM

1. One of my long standing favorites is Douwe Egberts, Redlabel coffee. It's a typical Dutch coffee and one of the best pre-ground coffee I've found. A local Dutch store imports it.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Ristretto Roasters, yet. DJ does a great job with his roasts. I particularly like Mexican Chiapas and Ethiopian Harrar.

2. I use a french press and a drip machine and an el cheapo grinder. I'm currently shopping for an espresso machine and grinder.

3. Black, unless I'm having a cappucino.

4. None. I drink it for the taste, not the buzz.

At work we have a Nespresso machine which I use occasionally.

**rsober** · 10-11-2006, 09:41 AM

I use a Bodem for brewed coffee and have a preference for Grumpy Monkey from Small World Roasters http://www.smallworldcoffee.com/Roaster/blends.htm

In the espresso machine it is always Espresso Vivace http://www.espressovivace.com/

**rsober** · 10-11-2006, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by sphughes

Peets retail outlets are here and there in the Boston area.

1. I am real partial to a dark roast coffee. Currently I purchase my beans from www.wholelattelove.com. I am very addicted to Vivace Espresso Vita. This coffee is ambrosia to me and I grind it in my drip machine as well as use it when I am pulling shots of Espresso. I buy from WLL because they offer free shipping and it is dropshipped directly from the roaster, David Schomer.

-Scott-

You may want to try buying directly from Vivace....they roast and ship it (fedex) overnight that same day usually. It ends up being lots cheaper and there is no middle man.