Millennial Coffee Habits

[MichaelB]

FWIW, I found that a good grinder does more to improve the taste of coffee than a fancy coffee making machine, though I have one of those also.

I grind the cheapest bulk beans I can find at Costco. With good grinder and a descent drip pot, it may not be perfect, but it is more than good enough.

+1

A good grinder made a big difference for me as well. A post by a fellow forum member (here ) led me to the beans that immediately became my standard. Every once in a while I try something new, but so far, no replacement in sight. Starbucks is everywhere, so getting beans is easy.

 

[fosterscik]

I'm in the "fancy" coffee is much better camp. As I've become older, I find brewed coffee too harsh for my digestive system and have migrated to lattes. The milk really helps me.
I started with a Nespresso coffee machine and milk frother. It worked pretty well, but no-one would mistake it for real espresso/steamed milk drink. As I made more and more of them, my coffee pod bill started to get annoying to me and my frugal ways. So naturally I decided to blow a bunch of dough!

I bought a Breville BES840XL/A Espresso Machine https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0089SSOR6
and a fancy espresso grinder https://www.amazon.com/Rancilio-HSD-ROC-SD-Espresso-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B00H1OUW24. A good quality grinder makes a huge difference.

The coffee espresso and lattes this combo makes are superb. The improvement over the Nespresso is amazing and if you ignore the machine costs (!), a lot cheaper. I don't count on realizing any savings, but it would be nice if the machines last long enough that that becomes possible.

 

[SumDay]

DH and I are the only two humans on the planet Earth who don't drink coffee (tea people) and feel very fortunate the stars guided us to one another.


I bought a Mr. Coffee for when the kids are here, as they are addicts.

 

[Chuckanut]

Chuckanut-

Is there a brand there that you like? I like good coffee but unwilling to go to heroic means or pay for Charbucks. Grinding I could do though.

I like the San Francisco brand French Roast, and the Kirkland brand Columbian Supremo. Both are whole bean so you will need the grinder as well as a drip coffee maker. I use a Mr. Coffee Jr. for which I paid about $15.

 

[aja8888]

I start the day @ 7:30 AM after walking the dog for a while, then I head to Burger King to meet with my ROMEO group. I buy a $0.54 senior coffee which is the absolute worst coffee on the planet (except for Gumby's Indonesian rot gut). Then head home and have a good cup of whatever is in a K cup which is 10X better than the BK stuff.

I am not a coffee snob.

 

[Sue J]

To me, coffee is a caffeine delivery system. That's all. Just as wine is an alcohol delivery system.

I have no sense of smell and a very reduced sense of taste. I like a cup of coffee with breakfast from our cheap drip coffeemaker and I add a tablespoon of half and half as creamer.

I wouldn’t be able to tell if it’s good coffee or bad coffee or if it was dripped or pressed or how much it cost.

My cup of coffee is just a creamer delivery system!

 

[CaptTom]

DH and I are the only two humans on the planet Earth who don't drink coffee (tea people) and feel very fortunate the stars guided us to one another.

I bought a Mr. Coffee for when the kids are here, as they are addicts.

Actually, DW and I are also not addicted. I once was (very badly - had to go cold turkey. A story for another day.) DW will sometimes take a dose if she needs to get up early for something. I'll take tea at a Chinese restaurant, and iced tea sometimes. Never coffee. Once I licked the addiction, I found I don't enjoy it anymore.

We have a K-cup machine for guests, but increasingly they all come with their own special "snowflake" requirements for what type of coffee and how it's prepared, so it doesn't get much use.

 

[zippy2020]

Anyone who drinks Starbucks doesn't know good coffee. Starbucks uses really poor quality Robusta beans with a lot of 'quackers' in it. If you don't put cream and sugar in it, the stuff is virtually undrinkable hot OR cold. It's sour, tart, and thin.

Even nitro brewing can't turn Robusta beans into Arabica quality. It takes away the sourness, but there's no 'depth' to the flavor.

Cold brew is a decent way to make coffee. It's a method of brewing, and you can heat your coffee up in the MW, you don't have to drink it cold. I personally find it messy and we like a little "bite" - not a lot - to our morning joe that cold brew doesn't give.

We use the Chemex style drip cone and Chemex filters - now mostly given the ridiculously fancy name of "pour-over" which is actually a variant on the Chemex drip. Chemex filters are spun-bonded and work much better than standard paper filters as they won't break.

Since we like strong coffee we use organic French Roast in a Turkish grind, which is a powder-like consistency. No cream or sugar unless we're doing mochas!

 

[TrophyWife]

We go get 3rd wave coffee almost every day. We can afford it and we like it. Cortado please. And we get to visit with our coffee "kids".

 

[FI_RElater]

I drink only kopi luwak coffee made with fresh glacial meltwater from Antarctica. I am so hip I almost can't stand myself.

Was it “fresh”? ...and with Nepalese yak milk?


as for us, we grind our beans (burr grinder at one of the courser setting) and then use french press
(as for beans, we loved the Jamaican Blue Mountain... but you can only get the good stuff there; we use to leave on vacations there with bags for us and a few bags for those who asked us to bring some back. we usually go for the medium roast, and if we can find a Kona blend or something like it, recently been getting Seattle’s Best Portside Blend)

$tarbuck$ ? don’t go there, don’t like it (and it’s too expensive) ....only went there after one of my interns gave me one of their travel cups with so many refills... really didn’t go back

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

All this coffee talk reminds of my Finnish grandfather's coffee ritual:

1. Percolate coffee, pour in cup.
2. Add half-and-half.
3. Pour beverage into saucer to cool.
4. Tuck sugar cube into cheek.
5. Sip coffee from saucer so it was sweetened by sugar cube.

 

[brett]

We have been grinding our own beans each time we brew and using the same Melita plastic holder and Melita filters for years. Probably close to 40 years. Suits us. We like our coffee in the European style-strong. We have to water it down a little for guests.

The first time we had a 'pour over' at Starbucks the clerk started to describe it to us. She was in her early twenties. When we told her that this was not new, that we had been doing it for 40 plus years I am not certain if she thought that we were kidding her.

Our daugher gave us a fancy coffee maker. Used it once or twice. It has been in the box since we moved. It takes up more counter space than it is worth. It is all flash. Coffee no better than our traditional method so why bother with it?

We have Tim Horton's in Canada. We seldom stop. The coffee is very inconsistent and generally at the bottom of the quality curve. The stores are very disorganized. We only stop if there is no choice, otherwise we drive on by.

 

[Chuckanut]

The first time we had a 'pour over' at Starbucks the clerk started to describe it to us. She was in her early twenties. When we told her that this was not new, that we had been doing it for 40 plus years I am not certain if she thought that we were kidding her.

+1

Like many I find the 'pour over' amusing. I did that for years while camping and at home when I want a single cup of coffee. Just a fancy name for an old and reliable process. I do have a fancy machine but also a simple Mr. Coffee Jr that makes a few cups in the morning. They both work well, but the taste of the coffee, while very good, is somewhat different.