Coffee?

[CaliforniaMan]

Some random coffee thoughts...

I've got to have my coffee in the morning. When I travel abroad, I love to go with the local cuisine, but I don't feel right unless I get my mug or two of American style coffee every morning.

About a year ago I switched to an electric percolator. Got tired of the lukewarm drip coffee. In spite of what many coffee "experts" say it seems to me to brew a more flavorful cup of coffee than drip home brew methods.

I guess I need my coffee is as much emotional as anything else. First started drinking coffee when on a church camp in 7th grade. Found it so good waking up in the cool forest morning with a steaming hot cup of coffee. It was especially good because it was considered a little bit "sinful" too!

Then in my high school years working in the maintenance department of a school, the coffee breaks listening to the old guys talk about their WWII adventures, loved those coffee breaks.

Now there is nothing better than getting up in the morning and relaxing with my first cup of coffee, which is coincidentally what I am doing at this very moment.

 

[InParadise]

I drink 10 cups, (by the pot measure, but really that is only about 3.5 mugs,) every day. Brew it myself in a free Gevalia drip coffee maker, using very bold coffees. I drink mine straight up, and much stronger than most can take. Sis has to add hot water to dilute. Never liked coffee growing up, occasionally taking sips of Dad's with all that cream and sugar.

Caffeine is my drug of choice.

 

[Midpack]

...never had a foo foo frappalatte thingie)

...but it has become a very sterile place in terms of procedures. Very much like McDonalds today.

+1. We actually used to like Starbucks, but it IS like another fast food place now, so we only go there when there's no other choice nowadays. I wonder how long it'll be until they add 'would you like fries with your frappalatte thingie?'

 

[powerplay]

Tea! Sorry, not a coffee fan.

 

[DUFUS]

Had one sip when I was a kid.

And this from someone in Seattle!

I've had a few potfuls over time as an adult. I don't mind the taste, and can appreciate the ritual/etc. that others have, but it seemed to rip my guts asunder more times than not. I was never quite sure whether the caffeine ever did anything for me either, other than the HUGE headaches I got for a couple days when I stopped for good.

 

[M Paquette]

Coffee... Ah, coffee...

I generally have 4-6 cups of coffee a day. I usually have just one cup of 'regular' early in the morning, and switch to decaf for the rest. I buy roasted beans at Costco, their "San Francisco" brand prepared by Rodgers Family Coffee. They do a good job on the French roast varieties.

I grind my own beans with a Hario burr hand grinder. I used to use a little 'whirly blade' grinder, but the result from that thing included everything from big uncrushed chunks of bean to 'flour', the bitter coffee dust that can really mess up a good cup. I had a Cuisinart burr grinder, but like many modern products of that brand, it looked better than it worked (uneven grind, lots of static cling), and the motor burned out a winding after a year. The little Hario grinds a cup's worth of beans in just under a minute, and the grind is very even, with no 'flour'. Call it morning exercise...

I brew the coffee using a Saeco Aroma espresso machine. For regular coffee I pull a long shot, and add a little hot water for American style coffee. I do keep some of the Torani flavored syrups around for fun. Cost Plus has the big bottles for the price of the tiny ones in the grocery store.

 

[chilkoot]

Work used to involve a lot of driving, all over the L.A. Area. A Starbucks stop was always a nice reason for a break (or a rest stop). A few years ago I switched to, of all things, McDonalds just because I liked their coffee better.

Cream only please, no sugar.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

4-6 pot cups/day of Peet's Gaia Organic from Costco, w/FF milk.

 

[scrabbler1]

Had one sip when I was a kid.

Never had even a single sip of coffee. Never was interested in it. If I go to Starbucks, the only drink I can get is a hot chocolate, which is really good there.

Oddly, I do like the smell of coffee.

Then again, having no interest in coffee is consistent with my outlier personality. No cell phone, no job (retired, of course), no debt, no god/religion (atheist), no Facebook, no kids.

 

[Chuckanut]

I grind my own beans with a Hario burr hand grinder. I used to use a little 'whirly blade' grinder, but the result from that thing included everything from big uncrushed chunks of bean to 'flour', the bitter coffee dust that can really mess up a good cup.

Thank you for bringing up the grinder. Years ago I read a coffee snob article in the Atlantic (probably the same one that thought there was a special place in Helsinki for the guy who invented flavored coffees). The author was adamant that the best investment one could make was not a fancy coffee maker, but a good quality burr grinder. I got one and found out he was right. The coffee is much better than the grind from a swirling blade.

 

[Chuckanut]

Work used to involve a lot of driving, all over the L.A. Area. A Starbucks stop was always a nice reason for a break (or a rest stop). A few years ago I switched to, of all things, McDonalds just because I liked their coffee better.

Cream only please, no sugar.

+1 Starbucks drip coffee is not my favorite at all. But, they do pay their employees well and offer health insurance benefits even to part timers. So, I can forgive them the high price. Just today I heard a story about an early forced retirement. The guy works 3 days a week at SBUX to get his health insurance and some extra money until he can tap his retirement accounts.

 

[sailor]

I have few sips of DW's coffee every two years or so, just to verify that I still don't like it.
Also similar to scrabbler1 I like the smell of good coffee.

 

[Bikerdude]

Green tea with a half tab of NoDoz in the morning. Coffee with my afternoon cigar.

 

[Tom52]

Never acquired a taste for coffee. I saved a lot of money avoiding Starbucks over the years.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Coffee never passed my lips until age 28, when I began as a stimulant due to lack of sleep as a new mother. Initially I drank it with about one-third skim milk. Now I drink it black. I brew various ground coffees every morning (2 or 3 cups). I buy whatever is a dollar or two off at the grocery: Peet's, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Seattle's Best. I never drink coffee after breakfast except on very rare occasion if I am dining with friends in a restaurant. I might order a de-caf then while lingering over conversation.

 

[Walt34]

Occasionally if we're in a restaurant in wintertime mostly because it's a hot drink. Yes on the cream & sugar. DW has two cups black in the morning from a Mr. Coffee machine, Maxwell House Original Blend.

I DO NOT attempt conversation with her until she's had her coffee. That never ends well.

 

[veremchuka]

I don't like SB, I had it once and it tasted like the beans were burned. From what I have been told that's how their coffee is. If all I could get was SB I'd stop drinking coffee.

I used to drink it when I got to work, I'd make it in the morning and take a thermos. I never drank coffee before I was at work and even then sometimes it would be 3 or more hours since I woke up. I never needed coffee to function in the morning.

I quit drinking coffee about 4 or 5 years ago. One morning after retiring I got busy and forgot to have a few cups and by 11 am I had a killer headache. I cut back by 1 cup every 2 weeks and after 4 weeks I was done with coffee.

Last October I decided I missed coffee. I have been drinking black chai tea and got used to it figuring it was good for me, I buy it by the pound in the health food store. So I bought some Dunkin Donuts beans, ground them and it was wonderful. I guess I have gotten used to it cause it's OK but no big deal.

I still have tea for breakfast but just about every day, though not every day, around 3:45 to 4 I make 2 or 4 cups of DD black no cream or sugar.

If you are interested there's a great show on TV called Dangerous Grounds. I sure would like to taste these coffees this guy finds, they sound unbelievably good!

Dangerous Grounds | About the Show

 

[W2R]

I don't like SB, I had it once and it tasted like the beans were burned.

Starbucks coffee always disappoints me, for the same reason. I know it is popular, but to me it tastes a bit insipid and also like the beans were burned. The coffee that I make at home is SO much more to my taste.

 

[sheehs1]

g.

About a year ago I switched to an electric percolator. Got tired of the lukewarm drip coffee. In spite of what many coffee "experts" say it seems to me to brew a more flavorful cup of coffee than drip home brew methods.
.

Went back to a percolator this year too! Forget the Keurig or other drips.

Don't have time for the French Press....but son-in-law uses one.

Love my coffee in the morning....at least 3 to 4 cups until 12:00. Nothing after the noon hour or if so...it's decaf instant.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Went back to a percolator this year too! Forget the Keurig or other drips.

About a year ago I switched to an electric percolator. Got tired of the lukewarm drip coffee. In spite of what many coffee "experts" say it seems to me to brew a more flavorful cup of coffee than drip home brew methods.

I also have a percolator that I love.

Ignore the so-called experts. Percolator coffee tastes different than drip coffee. It has a nuttier more robust - richer flavor than drip coffee that drip -pots just can't achieve.

There are not that many of us but there are strong proponents of percolator coffee. Mix in your cream and the cup is still piping hot.

And oh - that great aroma in the house as the coffee is brewing !

here's a great read on the pleasures of percolator coffee.

http://ruhlman.com/2008/02/percolator-love/

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: February 6, 2008
When Monica Eng concluded her story about my love of Cleveland (she would also critique Elements of Cooking in a piece so thoughtful it would merit a marriage proposal were I not already fanatically devoted to Donna)—she described my coffee percolator and my skin-flint affection for Folgers. I subsequently got a few emails from percolator devotees and it renewed my desire to rid the world of the ridiculous automatic drip coffee maker, a sham perpetrated on an unthinking, convenience minded public.

</H1>

If you enjoyed that article here's his follow-up article:

http://ruhlman.com/2010/11/percolator-re-love/

 

[rodi]

We have a stove top perk pot - liked you use on a campfire grill. That comes out some weekends.

We also use the moka pot a lot more than our espresso maker. Our Saeco espresso maker lasted about 7 years before we broke a part - and the replacement part never fit quite right - so we tend to pull out the moka pot when we want something more espresso like. (I know that moka pots don't have the milibars of pressure to make "real" espresso - but I like the taste of what they produce.)

But day in/day out - it's our undercounter drip pot with a stainless carafe... We go through it fast enough the that the thermal properties of the carafe keep it warm enough for us.

 

[imoldernu]

coffee?

alternative... chicory, with a touch of absinthe.

 

[mpeirce]

My wife is the family coffee connoisseur. She's a devoted Peet's Coffee fan and was getting beans from them mail order ever since we moved to Ohio. The UPS guy always knew what he was delivering...

Last year Peet's opened a store a few miles from us and she is quite happy to be able to buy fresh beans there.

I drink what she drinks ;-)

 

[NYEXPAT]

If they had "intravenous delivery", I'd buy it. I drink about two pots a day usually 4 cups for breakfast, several expresso's while out doing errands or sitting in Cafe's with friends and another two cup's at 8:30 pm with my YW when she get's home from work. I like it dark and sweet (like my wife). In my little neighborhood we have 7 Starbucks, 1 Duncan donuts, 2 Juan Valdez, 1 gloria jean's and a hundred independents. This is quite surprising as Peru has the lowest per capita coffee consumption in the World. I do not go to the chains as Peru is the largest specialty organic coffee producer in the world and I have access (I own a $15,000 coffee roaster) to a steady supply of "TUNKI"!

The craziest coffee I ever bought was $200.00 a kilo coffee that is made from the excrement of a type of Raccoon we have in the jungle!

 

[CaliforniaMan]

I also have a percolator that I love.

Ignore the so-called experts. Percolator coffee tastes different than drip coffee. It has a nuttier more robust - richer flavor than drip coffee that drip -pots just can't achieve.

There are not that many of us but there are strong proponents of percolator coffee. Mix in your cream and the cup is still piping hot.

And oh - that great aroma in the house as the coffee is brewing !

here's a great read on the pleasures of percolator coffee.
...

He mentions in the article:
" I serve generic decaf to guests and they’re begging to know what kind of coffee I buy. Swear to God. I haul out the big green can to prove it."

I have experienced a similar situation at my house. It was evening and I only had some old decaf in the back of the shelf. So I went ahead and served that. My guests commented on how good the coffee was and asked me what kind of coffee I was using. People are just not used to what they are missing by using their home drip makers these days.