Coffee?

[thejester10276]

Some people drink it every morning and some people are terrified of all things caffeinated (for personal and/or health-related reasons). What do YOU think about drinking coffee? Decaf coffee? For those who do drink coffee, what are your favorite types of coffee beverages? My favorite is a latte

[bort]

Lots, and constantly. We buy good quality whole bean coffee, and use it for a bunch of things:

Espresso
French press
Drip (Moccamaster)
Percolator
Cold brew
Nitro cold brew

For a few reasons, we've been on a French press kick right now. Only annoying thing about it is that our fancy coffee grinder doesn't have a grind setting coarse enough. So I pulled out our manual crank grinder (intended for camping, but whatever...) and have been using that. Takes a few minutes of cranking, but I guess I shouldn't complain. It works really well for French press.

So when I want coffee, it's a whole routine:
Start boiling water
Get out the scale
Weigh the beans
Grind them by crank grinder
Put the grinds into the French press
Pour a little water in first, swish around to "bloom" the coffee first
Then pour the rest of the water in
Wait a few seconds, then stir to get the beans to not form that "crust" at the top
Let it steep for about 10 minutes (they say 4 minutes, but more is better IMO!)
Press
Pour
Drink

We have an insulated carafe as well, to keep the coffee hot (like 12 hours or something ridiculous). But frankly, that's never been much of an issue.

Any kind of hot coffee, I take 1 sugar cube.

[Donn]

I believe my favorite is espresso that I have made from Uganda Bugisu Mt Elgon beans, that I roasted in the back yard. Unfortunately retailer sources seem to be out of that particular coffee at this writing. There are of course plenty of other good options, but this Mt Elgon stuff was really distinctively flavorful, somewhat in the way that Yemen origins are, though that is not to say it tastes like a Yemen. Uganda Bugisu in general is fine, though I'd be more likely to go for East Timor, one of several Ethiopian dry process origins, Brazil, maybe Haiti if I'm feeling plush, etc. All roasted dark brown, no charred flavor as seems to be common in the chain coffee shops. I would not dream of masking the taste with milk, what an atrocity that would be. One after breakfast, after lunch and after dinner.

[windshieldbug]

Fortunately, in our household the wife has decided the caffeine now affects her playing and even decaf is too much, so IT'S MINE! MINE! ALL MINE!

[cjk]

Here's a plebian response.
I don't handle caffeine very well anymore, but I like coffee. I used to be a big fan of my french press. It made good coffee. We also have a Keurig and a more traditional drip coffee maker as well. of all those, I think I actually prefer a pourover. I'd say it's 95% or more decaf for me these days.

I actually like biocoffee. I drink a couple cups of this stuff a day. https://biocoffee.com/" target="_blank
I actually LIKE instant coffee. I have no issue with Nescafe Taster’s Choice or Folger’s Classic Decaf Instant Coffee. I like the Nescafe better, but I am OK with either. I like that these are available in big jars where I can tweak the strength of my coffee to my liking rather than coming in silly packets.

I like my coffee black. I'm not one of the cool coffee kids.

[bort]

I like my coffee black. I'm not one of the cool coffee kids.

I always describe my coffee as "black, with sugar," because I've always interpreted it as "black" = no milk (nothing to do with sugar). I think I'm the only person to say this.

[cjk]

I always describe my coffee as "black, with sugar," because I've always interpreted it as "black" = no milk (nothing to do with sugar). I think I'm the only person to say this.

"black coffee" doesn't have any sugar in it. It's coffee alone. I'd call what you drink to be "coffee, ruined by 1 sugar" or something like that.

[bort]

I used to work in an office where the company had a complementary coffee service. The coffee was horrible to begin with, and brewed to be extremely weak.

Even worse, instead the creamer powder (I don't know what else to call it) was called "coffee whitener." As if changing the color of the coffee was the point of the creamer (powdered or otherwise).

[cjk]

Hey Bort, Do you put fancy sugar in your coffee or just the plain refined white stuff? Maybe once or twice a month, I'll actually put some brown sugar in my coffee.

[bort]

lacquer or silver 4/4, 5/4, or 6/4 cups?

5/4, and not made in China

But really, my coffee mug probably is 5/4 (bigger than normal, but not comically large). And yes, made in the US. I've been using the same mug for maybe 6 or 7 years... ?

[bort]

Hey Bort, Do you put fancy sugar in your coffee or just the plain refined white stuff? Maybe once or twice a month, I'll actually put some brown sugar in my coffee.

I'm fine with plain white sugar. But Mrs. Bort doesn't like all the refined stuff, so she buys organic cane sugar, which has a little more flavor, and is kind of brown-ish instead of pure white. Coffee gets rough cut brown sugar cubes:



I like it better than the refined stuff, I'll admit. But yeah, if it were left to me to buy the sugar, I'd just buy the refined stuff.

For a while, I tried putting molasses in my coffee. It was pretty good, but a bit messy. And just a different thing than what I associate as "drinking a cup of coffee," so it never really became a habit.

[bort]

^ PS, I absolutely love this "serving suggestion" in that photo.

[timayer]

Three to four cups of coffee, stopping around lunch time. Drip machine because there's two of us, and a french press only makes so much. Mostly black, unless my daughter doesn't use up all of her syrup that she dips her pancakes in. I can't recommend maple coffee enough. However, during the winter, sometimes as a treat I'll make a french press about double strength and add sweetened condensed milk. Doesn't get much better than that.

Water with lunch.

Two to three cups of black or green tea, hot or iced depending on the day, in the afternoon. Loose leaf.

Water with dinner.

Herbal tea after dinner.

[circusboy]

I'm a 'coffee every morning' kinda guy. Melitta cone drip.

I recently discovered this stuff. Fantastic. Strong. Earthy. Fair trade from Togo in West Africa. Robusto beans.

https://itadicoffee.com/products/itadi- ... 3541518435

It's a bit pricey, but worth it. I saved some by signing up for the monthly, automatic delivery.

[timayer]

...but this Mt Elgon stuff was really distinctively flavorful, somewhat in the way that Yemen origins are...

I am also fascinated by the flavored nuances naturally occurring (I dislike "flavored" coffees) in some varieties.

Yirgacheffe is one such example (with that sort of berry flavor), even though I generally don't like a strong acidic coffee (which I find usually present in the Yirg, probably because it is usually a lighter roast). Donn, does your Mt. Elgon variety similarly have a distinctive taste (being from the same general region)?

For more "ordinary" use, I really like the blend from Storyville Coffee in Seattle. When we pass through there (pretty much any trip from Juneau to the Lower 48 goes through Seattle) and have sufficient time between planes, we like to go downtown and grab one of their cappuccinos (even though most of the time I drink either espresso or Americano).

DG

It's hard to beat Seattle, but man I miss the coffee in Juneau....

[cjk]

... Mostly black, unless my daughter doesn't use up all of her syrup that she dips her pancakes in. I can't recommend maple coffee enough....

I'm going to have to try this. There's a bottle of fancy maple syrup in our fridge. Very "strong" (?) flavor. It only gets used occasionally by Mrs cjk. This might put it to good use.

We still have a partial jar of honey from Mrs Bloke's bees. It's shockingly flavorful. It's fantastic stuff.

[Donn]

I recently discovered this stuff. Fantastic. Strong. Earthy. Fair trade from Togo in West Africa. Robusto beans.

Robusta has somewhat gone out of fashion even for "can" coffee (e.g. Folger's.), as there's so much Arabica to had for the price of dirt, and it has a pretty bad reputation, but "specialty coffee" growers have been working on it, and it can be as you have found competitive with Arabica. Though not for anyone desiring a mild flavored coffee. Classic Italian espresso used to have a hefty cut of Robusta for body, and the burned rubber bite that came with old school Robusta.

Another species that's more tolerant of climate conditions, and usually tastes awful but can taste good, is Coffea Liberica. Years ago I got some that had an amazingly strong essence of blueberries, in a good way. Much more rarely available as a specialty coffee. They drink it as "barako" in the Philippines, but most I think goes into instant coffee, and when you taste it you may recognize why instant tastes the way it does, as heavily processed as it may be.

Yirgacheffe is one such example (with that sort of berry flavor), even though I generally don't like a strong acidic coffee (which I find usually present in the Yirg, probably because it is usually a lighter roast). Donn, does your Mt. Elgon variety similarly have a distinctive taste (being from the same general region)?

There's nothing like the Ethiopians. I go for dry process, which is typical in Sidamo and Harar origins - maybe you could say Yirgacheffe is essentially washed Sidamo, as I think it's a sub-region inside Yirgachefffe - and perhaps stereotypically you could expect dry process to be roasted a hair darker, as the flavors are more dried fruit and less flowers, more suited to espresso blends. Ethiopian Harar is another coffee that expresses that blueberry gene, though not as strongly and reliably. Anyway, I can't say why that Ugandan co-op's crop came out like that, but the beans were very small, so maybe it's because of harsh growing conditions. The character wasn't so much like any Ethiopian, it was not floral at all, more like a mix of the distinctive qualities of Indonesian and Brazilian, which is for me where Bugisu fits as a general rule anyway - it isn't so much like other African origins, Kenya or Ethiopia.

[GC]

I generally drink one cup of coffee a day, but that cup holds 26 ounces. I grind beans just before brewing and use a cheap Melitta pour-over filter cone outfit; I use Melitta bamboo filters because they don't need to be pre-rinsed and don't leave any paper taste. I used French presses for years, but get tired of the sludge and the messiness of disposal of the grounds. I'm too lazy for an Aeropress or a vacuum pot.

I prefer Central American, single-origin African, and Indonesian coffees, and I like variety. Starbucks, in spite of the sneers of coffee snobs, has some good single-origin coffees and a couple of good blends, though I'd rather not drink coffee at all if all I had was Pike. Medium or bold roasts only, no blonde or burnt-black. A little Equal, and maybe a flavored creamer occasionally (or coconut milk). I prefer demerara sugar, but only get it on rare occasons, thanks to Mr. Type II. If I'm downtown I'll drop in for some cold brew, but can't overdo it or I get twitchy.

I had a full press of legit Jamaica Blue Mountain once a decade and a half ago. I still dream about it sometimes.

[bort]

My wife really likes the Burundi coffees, Rwandan, too.

And as corny as Trader Joe's can be, they do have some pretty decent coffee there. Got a few bags of peaberry coffee there a few months ago, it was quite good. Otherwise, my wife trolls lots of different roasteries looking for deals and sales, and stocks up when it goes on sale.

Side note -- a lot of great coffee comes from countries where I would never really want to visit. And for those same countries, coffee export is a HUGE part of their economy.

[Three Valves]

Side note -- a lot of great coffee comes from countries where I would never really want to visit. And for those same countries, coffee export is a HUGE part of their economy.

A co-worker of mine from Guatemala said she drinks instant coffee because it reminded her of home.

I guess the exporting makes it too expensive for the locals??

Her loss is my gain!!