LOL Annie, my dad, and in fact both parents drink/drank their coffee pretty much like that, colored water I call it there and at work and he/they just laugh. We have separate batches when I visit!

Lou, I'll have to try mixing some of those different coffees sometime and see what happens! I totally understand about how you can do the exact same thing twice in a row and not get the same results! If I wanted to grind coffee for some reason, I could probably do it in the Vitamix. I should look, maybe it's even listed in the instructions. That would be more agreeable to me than a coffee grinder, unless I got a nice KitchenAid or something like that.

For all my likely underdeveloped taste for the finer nuances in coffee, I do know that water is of utmost importance, I use either bottled from the store or Brita, big difference from the tap water days of yore. I also use a filter even though I brew in a percolator.

Can't stand percolated coffee...tastes burnt to me....but I love dripped Starbucks...go figure.
I want my coffee strong. I use a Senseo pod system....and currently I am drinking a Sumatra blend.
The best coffee I ever drank was in Kenya on safari...every morning we would trudge to the food tent and fill our mug with that wonderful stuff.
My mother always used a Chemex pot....I wonder what happened to that? Perhaps it's in my basement in some box....
While the senseo pods are not fresh ground, I think they are pretty good....and easy too!
Linda C

Mine has to be Green Mountain!

I remember the Chemex! I think my Mom had received one as a gift when I was little but I don't think she ever used it nor do I know what happened to it. I do remember that Mary Tyler Moore often served coffee from one on her show.

Do you remember anyone you know using a vacuum unit, such as a Silex or Sunbeam Coffeemaster? Those make good coffee, although they can be kind of messy to clean up IMO.

The hotel where we hold our holiday party has coffeemakers in the rooms that use those pods. That seemed fine-I have seen them in the stores but haven't investigated them closely.

My Swedish MIL used one of those vacuum coffee makers. I never could figure out how to work the thing....made good coffee, but she never made it strong enough.
And there are pods.....and there are pods! Any coffee maker I have seen in a hotel room uses a different kind of pod. The senseo forces the water through the coffee at high pressure.

Scott, I don't have an electric percolator, but I do have an old Corningware one that goes on the stove top. I use it when I lose power, I can still light my gas stove with a match and make coffee.

And yes, I have water when I don't have power, because I have city water, so I can take a cold shower and have a hot cup of coffee in my cold house, LOL.

Annie

Scott:
I used a Silex CoffeeMaker in the mid 50's. It made good coffee, like a Dripolator.
Think I still have some parts around.

Next came the Perculator, with the wide bottom.
Then Mr. Coffee.
Presently it is a Hamilton Beach, push the cup in to fill.

Tried about 10 different kinds, in between.

HB is the winner.

During WW2 when everything was rationed, no one threw Coffee away.

They would let it cool and put it in a bottle and in the frige.
Then it was reheated. Long as it resembled Coffee, it was good.

Guess that's why they all taste good now.

I still have the Perculator, in case of power failure.
Lou

I love good coffee, but at 5:30 a.m., it's all I can do to push the button to start my boring coffee maker, so no grinding for me. Yes, I know I can do it a bit in advance, but then there is another thing to clean. I order my coffee from Stewart's out of Chicago. A good basic coffee. I get the 50% decaf blend, because I drink 2 cups while getting ready for work, then I get to work and we have Starbuck's at the hotel. If I had the time and inclination, I'd do the whole grind/melitta thing with a local company here called Ronnoco. Their line ranges from the average to the sublime. I like their Kenya AA and their secret "restaurant only" bean. I also agree that a French press makes a fabulous cuppa.

Here's a cool website about coffee:

Here is a link that might be useful: clicky

I have two Corningwares Annie, a stovetop like yours and an electric. I have a number of percolators and use them now and then for the fun of it, and once in a while a Sunbeam Coffeemaster. Most times though I use a Farberware electric. I also like the stovetop Pyrex ones.

Lou, I remember the old original Mr. Coffees in the 70s. Joe DiMaggio et al. They were not cheap by standards then, but I'm pretty sure they were better than the Mr. Coffees available now. The "Bunn" seems to be one of the better of that type I've seen these days. Going to check yours out at the HB website!

There's an art to making good coffee. Not only does the coffee matter, so does the water.

I only use Brazil Bourbon Santos coffee and Poland Spring water at home (Santos Brazils, Estate Brazils. The most traditional Brazil coffee, and the kind most likely to be seen in specialty stores, has been dried inside the fruit (dry-processed) so that some of the sweetness of the fruit carries into the cup. It also frequently comes from trees of the traditional Latin-American variety of arabica called bourbon. The best of these coffees are traded as Santos 2, or, if the coffee comes exclusively from trees of the bourbon variety, Bourbon Santos 2. Santos is a market name referring to the port through which these coffees are traditionally shipped, and 2 is the highest grade. On specialty coffee menus the 2 is usually dropped, so you will see the coffee simply described as Brazil Bourbon Santos or Brazil Santos).

At work I use Eight O'clock ground coffee and the Deer Park water from our water cooler. Everyone at work insists that I make the coffee, since it's actually drinkable.

Try different ones and buy what you like. There IS a difference.

One thing to note is that the darker the roast, the more you taste the roast and the less you taste the bean. So if you wanted to have a really delicately flavored coffee like Kona, roasting it espresso-dark would hide its flavor--a culinary sin along the order of taking a prime Angus filet mignon and cooking it beyond well done.

Grinding your own beans does make a difference. Like most things in the culinary world, though, you start to pay more and more for modest increments of quality, and eventually you have to say, 'This is the best brew for my budget.'

The ultimate in coffee snobbery has to be that type of coffee lampooned in the Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman flick 'The Bucket List'--the coffee known as Kopi Luwak is made from beans which have been eaten and passed through the digestive tract of an Asian Palm Civet, a small weasel-like animal. They harvest the beans by collecting the, uh, doo-doo and wash the beans (hopefully well). The resultant product sells for about $350 a pound. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Man, this s*** tastes good!'

My personal daily coffee is Community Dark Roast (Red Bag). I prefer it greatly to Starbucks, and it's cheaper.

Here is a link that might be useful: community coffee

I was wondering if anyone but me liked and/or used Comunnity Coffee. Their Dark Roast is great, and cheaper (price is often a deciding factor for me) than some others. The Dunkin Donuts coffee that is available in local stores now, is very good, too. But much pricier than the Community.
The very best, though, in my humble opinion, is Gevalia Royal Vinter. But it is also royally priced, and therefore beyond my reach.
I'm inclined to believe that with coffee, like many other things, "the flavor is in the tastebuds of the consumer". Hopefully, you get what you pay for, but somehow that doesn't necessarily hold true with food products. You get what they charge for all the advertising they do. ;>)

Rusty

Rusty, FWIW you can get Community pretty cheaply on-line. The dark roast is $5 to $5.49 a pound depending on the size bag you get. Orders over $40 have free shipping. With the free shipping, it works out that it's cheaper online than at the local supermarket--although I do buy some at the local store just to encourage them to keep it stocked.

I had observed a commercial coffee taster in action tasting various coffee beans for an importer.

Interesting that aroma is not an important consideration in their rating/selection system.

dcarch

Lot's of great thoughts and opinions expressed here. It does all "boil" down to your own taste buds doesn't it?

Of all the things stated; brand names, darkeness of roast, brew methods, arabica vs robusta, etc. -to me, the most obvious thing to my taste buds is freshness. There are many great coffees out there with many different flavor profiles but the one thing they ALL have in common is:
1)green unroasted coffee in the right environment stays fresh for months and months 2)roasted beans are good for up to two weeks-14 days (any longer, is a waste of the bean) 3)once ground, all bets are off- some will say minutes, some might say 1 day or two. Do a taste test, the diffence between just ground and a few hours old is pronounced. Canned pre-ground is weeks or months old- I've heard that the can is injected with a shot of perfumed gas so when you first open it you experience the rush of aroma- but only once.

In my opinion, the best investment toward good coffee begins with a grinder. From there, build your knowledge base and perfect your cup of coffee.

michaelp

Dcarch - green (unroasted) coffee beans don't really have much of an aroma that anyone would equate with roasted coffee. They smell sort of like hemp or green hay. A good roaster who can get samples might use it to make buying decisions and will use it to make roasting decisions, but it's such a subjective thing that comodity brokers can't seem to wrap their brains around it. They prefer "hard" criteria like size to something more arbitrary. That's why its good to have a relationship with a broker who will send out samples. (Some won't, espeically to small batch roasters.)

I was folding some of the coffee bags we kept (they come in handy) and found a few handfuls of green still in one. :) The garage door was open, so if any of the neighbors saw me, they probably thought I was nuts standing there with my hands cupped to my face. LOL! I have to admit I miss the aroma -- both green and roasted.

Best coffee I had was when I was in Costa Rica.

They use hot milk for their coffee.

dcarch

Here is an interesting article I read recently about coffee. I thought it fascinating.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Wired to Care by Dev Patnaik with Pete Mortensen, copyright 2009 Jump Associates.

People assume that great-tasting coffee is a recent phenomenon in the United States. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the 1950s, you could get a great-tasting cup of joe anywhere in the country for a nickel. America was a nation hooked on coffee. But just at the moment when demand for coffee was booming, its supply fell into disarray. In late June 1953, a killer frost wiped out almost the entire Brazilian coffee crop, sending wholesale prices soaring. After what came to be known as The Fourth of July Frost, the price of a cup of coffee shot up to a dime and even higher as American coffee roasters like Maxwell House, Folgers and Hills Bros. scrambled to keep up with demand.

Its never a good idea to get in between a committed coffee drinker and his daily cup. The higher prices infuriated Americans. Consumers staged protests in diners and wrote angry letters to coffee company executives. Politicians and newspapers accused Latin American governments of artificially limiting exports to exploit the U.S. market. The supply problems that American coffee companies faced had turned into a public relations disaster. Coffee companies became convinced that they needed to cut their expenses drastically or face the very real possibility that the American love affair with coffee was about to come to an end. In desperation, they did the unthinkable: They played the Robusta card.

Of the many sub-varieties of coffee beans, two major categories predominate, Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is a gently bitter, temptingly smooth, and nutty variety that carries within it all the flavors we look forward to when we order a cup of coffee. But as American coffee companies had discovered, Arabica trees are also expensive to raise and highly vulnerable to bad weather and parasites. One year might yield a bumper crop. The next could be a bust. After the frost of 1953, it became clear that Arabica was far too fragile a plant for coffee companies to base their long-term futures on. They needed to find a more reliable coffee bean. Enter Robusta beans, which are cheap, impervious to the elements, and plentiful. They also produce coffee thatÂs nearly undrinkable. For decades, major American coffee-makers had resisted using Robusta beans in any of their products. Now faced with dwindling Arabica supplies, managers at Maxwell House started to reconsider that decision. Perhaps, they speculated, it would be possible to add just a few Robusta beans to Maxwell HouseÂs blend without noticeably ruining the taste. If successful, the overall blend would be much cheaper than pure Arabica.

The Robusta content would have to be negligible  it was important that no one notice the unwelcome addition. To ensure that Maxwell House wouldnÂt lose any customers through this cost-cutting measure, the company ran sensory tests in which people tasted coffee made with Robusta right alongside the traditional Maxwell House blend. Almost no one could tell the difference. The company decided to launch the new blend. By supplementing its blend with Robusta, Maxwell House was able to keep costs lower while its competitors were forced to raise prices. The companyÂs gamble on Robusta paid off immediately. Most consumers didnÂt notice any difference, and Robusta helped keep coffee prices low. Other coffee companies quickly followed suit. No one complained.

While Maxwell House had found a way to protect profits for the short term, it hadnÂt been able to solve the coffee industryÂs long-term problem. Demand for coffee would continue to grow, and Arabica beans remained scarce. The following year, continued pressures on margins forced Maxwell House managers to again consider modifying the blend. Consumers hadnÂt noticed the addition of a small amount of Robusta beans the first time around. Would they be able to tell if Maxwell House added a little bit more? There was only one way to know. The company ordered another round of consumer tests. Thankfully, these, too, came back with positive results. Consumers couldnÂt tell the difference between the slightly increased levels of Robusta and the previous blend.

And so it went for several years. Demand for coffee continued to rise. The pressure on profits was equally unrelenting. And each year, Maxwell House, together with Folgers and Hills Bros., increased the percentage of Robusta beans in their coffee blends by a nearly imperceptible amount. Every year, coffee makers turned to consumer testing to ensure that their new "improved formula" was acceptable to consumer palates. And, indeed, it was. In the short term, this fact-based approach helped coffee companies offer a commercially viable product that consumers didnÂt reject outright. And the tests were right. Sales were booming and profits were healthy. But the test data was hiding a darker trend.

In 1964, coffee sales declined for the first time in the history of the United States. At first, companies werenÂt sure what had happened. Testing showed that long-time coffee drinkers were satisfied with the product. However, this didnÂt tell the whole story. Coffee drinkers werenÂt getting any younger. Any healthy consumer business depends on attracting new generations of customers to replace the old. And that wasnÂt happening. The small additions of Robusta each year had quickly added up to a lot of Robusta in the latest blends. If you had been drinking coffee for years, the taste of a high-Robusta blend seemed perfectly tolerable. But if you had never drunk coffee in your life, a cup made with Robusta seemed like a bitter and unpleasant way to start the day. Young people, in particular, couldnÂt understand why their parents were hooked on such a foul drink. Sales continued to decline as substitutes like Coke and Pepsi started to make inroads. Coffee had turned into a low-growth, low-margin business. Since focus groups had proven that the quality of their products was good, executives presumed that young people were just responding to the packaging and advertising of the soda companies. The major coffee companies began to invest heavily in snappier marketing. But none of their efforts seemed to turn the tide.

ItÂs important to note that coffee companies had relied on some very good maps to make their decisions. Marketers had paid careful attention to the expressed preferences of their consumers, and multiple studies insisted that people were unwilling to pay more for a cup of coffee. And multiple tests had proven that coffee drinkers couldnÂt tell the difference between the existing blend and one with more Robusta beans in it. What those consumer tests failed to show was an obvious truth: Independent of any incremental comparison, the coffee tasted bad. It also failed to show that people would be willing to pay a little more for good coffee if the companies only gave them a reason to do so. The map was not the territory.

The coffee business stayed focused on cost-cutting and additions of Robusta for decades, until someone decided to change the game. As it turns out, the market for high-quality Arabica coffee never completely went away. It survived as a niche business in small cafes located largely in urban centers and university towns. Things remained this way until a young entrepreneur named Howard Schultz visited Italy in the early 1980s and saw how espresso bars put coffee into a completely new light. People were perfectly willing to spend more for a good cup of coffee if the difference in quality was made clear to them. Returning to the States, Schultz was sure of one thing: The maps were wrong. At his new company, Starbucks, he built a chain of espresso bars that were focused on brewing premium quality coffee drinks. He provided a great experience to his customers. And little by little, his sustained success has pushed the American coffee industry to completely overhaul its approach. Starting in the 1990s, most coffee companies switched back to serving pure Arabica. A new generation of coffee drinkers got just as hooked on java as their parents once were.

I heard it on NPR on an interview with an entymologist who was speaking about a professor of his whom he had traveled around the US with. This man stopped a lot for coffee, but only in places where they ground the beans right there. Seems the prof had worked for many years with cockroaches and had become highly allergic to them. He could no longer tolerate packaged ground coffee because, yup, you guessed it.

Still want to drink ground stuff?

michaelmaxp - we are still Espresso Vivace customers, LOL. That being said, if I make the coffee when DH isn't around, I just nuke my 2% milk, I'm too lazy to steam it, darfc....

I prefer to buy free trade coffee because it pays a fair price to the growers and pickers. It's more expensive than grocery store coffee, but it tastes better and does not exploit third world workers the way grocery store coffees do. I don't drink gallons of coffee every day so it's not an expensive habit.

Colleen, my Lansing based Paramount includes fair trade coffee from Rwanda. They also sell special blends, like Ele's Place. $1.00 of the purchase price goes to a non-profit organization called Ele's Place, which provides services and support to grieving children who have lost parents, siblings, friends. Last year they sold a blend called Caffe Rosa, with $1 of every purchase going to the Susan Koman foundation to fight breast cancer, and promised a minimum donation of $25,000.

So, they are local, have fair trade coffee, support local charities and foundations as well as national ones and are entirely owned by their employees.

Plus, they have really good coffee.

Annie

Colleen, I don't want to get into a debate on Fair Trade because I'm not going to be around to follow up the next couple of weeks. But you may want to do some research on Fair Trade before buying into their hype. DH did a lot of digging into Fair Trade certification when we were sourcing green, and he ended up being completely disgusted by what he discovered about their practices and policies.

Fair Trades agencies have done a stellar job creating PR for what they want the public to think they do. It's a common misconception that Fair Trade guarantees farmers a minimum price per pound. Fair Trade Int. agreements are not with the individual farms; they are with cooperatives, which are required to pay certification and auditing fees plus expenses for the auditors. There are many restrictions on who the cooperatives can do business with and how they can market, transport, ship product. Most of these restrictions drive up the cost to the cooperative, which passes the cost on to the farmers. All Fair Trade actually does is audit the documentation trail from cooperative to shelf (and collect a slice of the pie at every step along the way). The figures FT quote never include the loaded figure the cooperatives cost of certification and costs of requirements & restrictions placed on the cooperatives by FLO and FT.

When you start digging into it, it's one hot mess that doesn't seem to be doing anyone much good except the agency that issues certification and its "consultants".

The 2008 report by the Adam Smith Institute in the UK (a free-market think tank in the UK) was definitely not complimentary and is one of many highly critical looks at Fair Trade that has been published recently. My personal favorite was the one detailing the expenses charged to the farmers and cooperatives for various "consulting and services" by various TransFair and Fair Trade board members -- for things that were available from other non-profit organizations at far less cost. That had DH cussing a bright blue streak for a week which was nothing compared to the ire of a lot of small companies and independents when they discovered Fair Trade USA was giving the likes of Sams Club (WalMart), Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks huge discounts on the annual required auditing fees. Most specialty grade coffee importers and roasters feel that Fair Trade drives up costs from farmer to shelf without offering much benefit in return to any part of the supply chain and encourages overproduction. There is also no criteria for quality included in any of the agreements.

The more we learned about Fair Trade and TransFair International, the more we felt it was a disservice to consumer and farmer alike. The only entity it really seems to help is itself. The most reputable small roasters are decreasing their involvement in Fair Trade or shunning it altogether and instead supporting the likes of direct relationships with the farms, farmer to roaster open auctions, and Quality Assurance International.

I'm not looking for a debate either, beanthere :-) Thanks for the link, it was interesting reading. Most of the coffee I buy is _free_ trade, not Fair Trade, from a company over east that sources their own coffees, mainly from Rainforest Alliance and independent organic growers. Occasionally I will buy a Timorese Fair Trade coffee if I've left it too late to have coffee shipped over from Sydney. I think it's still marginally a better deal for the grower than supermarket coffee.

We like it dark and strong. We can't stand watery weak coffee. Everyone tells us it is too strong. We say, you can add water to make it the strength you like but we can't make it darker once it is made.

We use a unique coffee pot, Krups Moka Brew, this is a pressure brewer. It makes Americanos like you get from a espresso machine. We buy the Costco French Roast beans and grind them ourselves. I have been buying designer coffee and grinding it for over 30 years.
Clare

Ladies ;
If I could harness some of that energy and research into helping me,
to send Packages to our Troops via the VFW .
I would have no problem, sending 10 times as many Packages.

Guess some of them would like a great cup of Coffee.

They are happy to get the basic Hygienic Supplies.

Think I'll start a Nation Wide Campaign

" Give up Coffee for a Day, Donate it to our Troops "

Think it would work ?????
LOU

Lou, I'll gladly send a package, but I'm not giving up coffee. I can't because I am thoroughly addicted and cannot get through a day without a strong cup of joe in the morning. I LOOOVE coffee.

Send me an address and I'll send a package.

Dedtired:
I know what you mean, Hi Addicted !!! LOL
- - - - - - - - -
Didn't expect this quick of a response.
I'll have to check with the VFW Secretary of the Ladies Auxillary ,
to find out how to accept Donations.
I'll know by tommorrow night.

This is very generous of you.

Tell you what, I'll match your's !!!

Thanks , Lou

PS: Sorry for Hijacking the Post.

>>how long does ground coffee keep?>>

Try 45 seconds, per James Freeman, who is rapidly becoming the San Francisco Bay Area's premier coffee roaster. Excellent article (free, no registration needed) at our local SF Chronicle website:

I did a little research on Coffee myself. Found an old email. They are married so I guess it's OK.
_ - - - - - - - - -

An Irish woman of advanced age visited her physician to ask his help in reviving her husband's libido.

"What about trying Viagra?" asks the doctor.

"Not a chance," she said. "He won't even take an aspirin!"

"Not a problem," replied the doc. "Give him an Irish Viagra. Drop it into his coffee. He won't even taste it. Give it a try and call me in a week to let me know how things went."

It wasn't a week later that she called the doctor, who inquired as to progress.

The poor dear exclaimed, "Oh, faith, bejaysus and begorrah! T'was horrid. Just terrible, doctor!"

"Really? What happened?" asked the doctor.

"Well, I did as you advised and slipped it in his coffee and the effect was almost immediate. He jumped hisself straight up, with a twinkle in his eye and with his pants a-bulging fiercely! With one swoop of his arm, he sent the cups and tablecloth flying, ripped me clothes to tatters and took me then and there, making wild, mad, passionate love to me on the tabletop! It was a nightmare, I tell you, an absolute nightmare!"

Why so terrible?" asked the doctor. "Do you mean the sex your husband provided wasn't good?"

"Oh, no, no, no, Doctor, the sex was fine indeed! Twas the best sex I've had in 25 years.

But sure as I'm sittin' here, I'll never be able to show me face in Starbucks again!"

Detired:
I spoke to the Secretary of the VFW , Ladies Auxiliary.
We both agreed that the cost of the Postage was too much.
You can send a small donation. Or anyone else, who might want to donate.
This would be used directly to buy needed items.

Any Donations could be sent to:

Mary Seitz , Secretary , VFW Post 294
Post Office Box 173
Albrightsville, Pa . 18210

Make Note that it is from the CF
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I am going to start a Nationwide " Coffee-a- thon " and ask that if,
If you drink one cup of Coffee less for one day,

Donate the cost of that Coffee to the VFW,
for sending packages to our Troops overseas.
. I probably will start a new Coffee. Post.

Ill have to figure out a name for this Marathon and
find out all the legal aspects.
Any ideas will be considered.

Naturally ,it will be know that it originated on the CF.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My niece was a US Civilian in the Green Zone , Baghdad, for 2 years,
Teaching woman to get Government contracts in the Water Sector.
I sent her packages to disperse to her Marine guards.

Guess you know there were Pizzelles and Biscotti in the Packages.
Also Sun Screen Lotion , Insect Spray, Mouthwash, and all kinds of toiletries.
Seems like they shouldnt have to ask for these items ??????

Thanks , Dedtired

LOU

Personally the reason I think Starbucks tastes so much better is that I believe they use numerous filters on their water. Bad tasting water makes bad coffee no matter how good the beans. I can drink my water from the tap (but filter it anyway) but I have filter it for coffee or the coffee tastes terrible.

Starbucks "tastes so good" is definitely a matter of taste and preference. I don't care for it. It is consistent and I appreciate that, but I'm not a fan of the heavy roast flavor that they specialize in. I'm more of a light to medium roast kinda guy, the oil barely showing on the bean, if at all. The sweet caramel tones are lost in a heavy style roast. I realize that some varietal beans warrant a dark roast to pull out the unique flavors that they hold but as a general practice, I prefer the Northern Italian lighter roast styles.

If your interested in a deeper study on roasting styles, I've included a link to an article by a friend of mine who is one of the worlds foremost coffee "science" gurus, David Schomer. The article is framed in the subject "espresso" but the info is valuable even for drip style preperation. In fact, I use the same bean for my drip pot that I do in my space age Synesso espresso machine; the results are fantastic in both scenarios

Michaelp

Hi Michael:
Haven't seen you around much. Maybe because I haven't been here to often myself.
A lot of reading in your Link. Have to do it later.
Lou

I have enjoyed reading the thread :-). I am addicted to the Starbucks Sumatra. The smell is unbelievable. I might like to branch out from Starbucks, though. Does anyone else have a dark-roast coffee that smells intoxicating?

Jessica:
I do that!!! Sit for hours just smelling the intoxicating Aroma.
Or maybe it was the Bottled Stuff that was Intoxicating.

OH !!! I forgot " LOL "
Have to put that in there, doncha know !

Seriously: as I said in my first Thread, I make a Blend of,
Starbucks Beans Winter Blend, Maxwell House French Roast
and Folgers.

That way I don't know which is Better.

I am a Coffee Connoisseur. I buy at Walmarts,
when they go down to $5.60 for the 2lb.+ can.

Glad I can still enjoy my Coffee any way but up.

OH! That's not all true, not that I'm a liar ( there is a Difference )
My DD Makes Coffee so strong ( HOW STRONG ??? )

You don't have to wash the cups, they dissolve !!! and
rinse down the Drain.
LOU

I'm completely with DD on the strength thing. My dad makes it so strong that my mouth is tingly and numb for an hour afterwards.

I wonder if you have to be a "super taster' to appreciate the differences in some of these coffees. I've had all kinds of beans from all over the world and different roasts and a lot is the same to me.
Oh, I can tell the difference but it's not better or worse.

I usually end up thinking my freshly ground 8'oclock Colombian is just as good.

We brought back a suitcase of coffee beans when we went to Jamaica and Blue Mountain is supposed to be great but I still didn't think it was any better than the 8'oclock.

I do drink coffee with half and half and sweetener so perhaps that's why.

You don't have to wash the cups, they dissolve !!! and
rinse down the Drain.

That's my kind of coffee, Lou!

Bumblebeez,

The delicate flavors and the the variations between varietal coffees are all but lost with cream and sugar. If a good bean is fresh and prepared well, it will provide enough interest and subtle flavors to satisfy a sugar craving.

The old coffee in a can that we grew up with, percolators, and a misunderstanding of coffee to water ratios has created the need to add milk and suger to cover the sourness, bitterness and just plain bad tastes. Before you know it, coffee simply becomes the medium for a sugar and milk addiction.

If interested in enjoying the nuances of coffee, start with good fresh beans, ground per order, well prepared, and black. Try it in delicate china or a very tiny tea cup; anything to help impart the atmosphere of sipping something special as opposed to "pouring a cup of joe to wake up in the morning". After a while with that attitude, preparing coffee becomes more like a ritual than a habit. That's when you start to understand why some people take of their shoes and glow when they talk about it.

michaelp

Thanks Michael. I do really enjoy my cup of coffee- always fresh ground right before brewing and I think the beans are fresh, and I use filtered water and have a very nice coffee cup :) it's just that I don't like it black. But I will give it a try with something good. I do know I don't like Costa Rican or Kenyan coffee as much as Colombian.

Michael:
Come on , will you. I can't take my shoes off.
My feet are ugly . lol

I appreciate the your way of thinking but I like the old way too.
In fact I would still be using the Old Perculator if my Coffeemaker wasn't easier.
It brought back many memories.

Think I'll stick to my bad habit and enjoy a cup of" Joe", In the morning , to wake up.

Maybe once in a while I'll bring out the Perculator.
I never realized what I was doing wrong all these years.

Many of my friends and family drink their Coffee Black.

I have had Espresso and also Greek Coffee.in my brother-in-laws,Kafeneons ( Coffee Shop )

It was great but I didn't do the shoe thing.

To me it is Good once in a while but not steady, because
I like to dunk a Biscotti, sometimes.

And if I want to kill the Milk and Sugar taste, put in a shot of Annisette.

Then I'll take my shoes off and glow. lol

Lou

Just got back to this thread. Thanks for the address Lou. A check is on its way! I did not realize you are a Pennsylvanian. I am just outside of Philadelphia, not far from Bryn Mawr. I am familiar with the Albrightsville area, having visited Jim Thorpe (that's a town, folks, not a person -- at least not anymore).

I am happy to help. All the fuss over the death of M. Jackson made me ill and also made me think much more of the young men and women risking ( and sometimes losing) their lives overseas.

Back to coffee. I am now buying large bags of Starbucks House Blend from Costco. It is significantly less expensive than from the regular stores, although House Blend is not my favorite of the Starbucks varieties.

The hospital where I work just opened a fancy coffee stand. It is a Java City, run by Aramark. The coffee is so good, but I don't want to get in the habit of shelling out $1.65 every day for a small cup.

Just to be clear Lou, I'm not bashing the wake up benefits, culture, or memories of "coffee in a can".

I was addressing a specific question about telling the difference between so called "great" coffee beans.

There are two valid approaches to drinking coffee in my opinion. One is the approach I was writing about: getting the absolute best out of the bean and appreciating it as a culinary art form. The other, just as valid but different none-the-less, is that hot cup of joe that the world revolves around: paper cup, restaurant mug, perked, dripped, or boiled; soothing or invigorating, a background activity or the center of the universe: romantically enjoyed or desperately habitual. I go there as well depending on the moment and the availability.

michaelp

Michael, I go there too, when I must, but most of my mornings start with a pot of freshly ground Paramount brand Kona in my french press, followed by a pot of the same stuff at work in a drip coffee maker because that's what I have available.

I drink one half packet of artificial sweetener in my coffee, although I will plead guilty to an occasional cup of caramel mocha. I don't really consider that coffee, LOL, it's more of a hot milkshake. The coffee doesn't make a huge difference with all that milk and sugar and chocolate, so I can drink the McDonald's stuff and it's fine.

There have been exactly two cups of coffee I've had in my life that I could drink black. One was the special stuff that Renee sent me while she still owned Big Valley Coffee, I don't even remember the name but she told me that it was expensive enough that she only got it on Christmas and Father's Day because no one would spend the money any other time of year. The other was a coffee called Terrazu from Costa Rica, it actually tasted vaguely like chocolate, but not sweet.

Everything else gets that half package of artificial sweetener.....

Annie

Micael:
I didn't accuse you of anything, LOL
I have to remember to include a lot of LOL's

Just trying to explain what I like and why.

In fact I started a New Post on Coffee. Join in !!!!!

LOL , Lou

Lou, maybe you should skip a couple cups of coffee... I'm just saying...

michaelp

Ah Michael can I be bad and link to the ilk of coffeegeek? where the real javaheads (like my DH) hang out. TMI for me!

Michael: ???????????????

Dedtired:
Thanks for your donation. I'll tell the VFW Secretary.

I'm very Familiar with the Main Line, Bryn Mawr, Ardmore,
Wynnewood, Rosemont, Villanova, etc.

I worked for my Uncle who was a Masonary Contractor.
He did a lot of Large Homes and Mansions in the area.
That was a long time ago.
I lived in Glenolden for 26 years.
Lou

Dedtired:
Mary Seitz, Secretary for the VFW, Ladies Auxilary received your Donation,
it will be used to purchase items for our Troops stationed in Irac.

Thank you very much, for your Generous Donation.
It was very much appreciated.
LOU

PS:
We worked on a few homes in Gladwyne, Pa. back in the 50's.
One cost about 2 million at that time. It looked out over the Schukill River.

I think we turned right at a small stone building ,( it was a landmark )on Lancaster Pike , in Villanova.
Drove back a ways, up and down a few hills.
Guess everything has changed now.