The Coffee Thread

[Jay-qu]

As opposed to re-used motor oil..

 

I very rarely even drink coffee, but if I do I wont go near a large franchise..

[Michaelangelica]

as opposed to FAKE coffee?

The French and Italians know how to make real coffee

The USA "bottomless cups" is crap.

 

Fortunately in Australia because of the large Greek, Turkish and Italian population you can get a great cup of coffee if you know where to look.

 

The reason Starbucks has left Australia.

[alexander]

Michael, i agree, bottomless cup is crap, it is however unfair to say that noone in the US knows how to make real coffee. I mean there are people that are extremely dedicated to that, hence why i pay 40 bucks for a 1/2lb of coffee. I know bucks does not make decent coffee most of the time, though their doubleshot is pretty good, and you can always ask for a french press, and it may not be great coffee, it will be rather ok.

 

Though i did love the european coffee back when i lived there... i can't say that i haven't had as good or better coffee in the US, but it's certainly more common to have excellent coffee.

[Michaelangelica]

Michael, i agree, bottomless cup is crap,

Yes we are lucky here to have lots of Greeks, Italians, Lebanese etc

who know about coffee

But in malls you are still likely to get crap.

 

Fortunately Starbucks has just pulled up and left Oz- Hooray!

[alexander]

Yeah, i prefer small shops filled with Turks, if you ask me, i like to drink my arabica, Arabic-style (strong coffee prepared in these pots, where you boil water and then add coffee and boil it some more and it comes out sooo good, no cream, no sugar, and a cup of ice water, you take a sip of coffee, and before the next sip, you take a sip of water to cleanse the senses.... such an enjoyable experience, and it definitely turns heads at a coffee shop here in the US ;) )

[Michaelangelica]

Yeah, i prefer small shops filled with Turks, if you ask me, i like to drink my arabica, Arabic-style (strong coffee prepared in these pots, where you boil water and then add coffee and boil it some more and it comes out sooo good, no cream, no sugar, and a cup of ice water, you take a sip of coffee, and before the next sip, you take a sip of water to cleanse the senses.... such an enjoyable experience, and it definitely turns heads at a coffee shop here in the US :QuestionM )

I am with you there.

Not abig Turkish community here although strong ties because of Anzac Cove (WW1)

The Leabnese here make a'short black' with about and inch of grounds in the bottom. You can certainly stand up a spoon in it.

 

My daughter was a 'barista" briefly in a new shop in London. The new machine broke down (probably because no-one knew how to work it). The Italian repair man after af ew minutes talking to her about the machine said

"Who are you you are not English?"

"No I come from Australia"

" Ah; Australians; they know how to make coffee."

Still you can get crap coffee, in my own restaurant I would often pull lousy coffee from our $8,ooo Italian machine. while others like my daughter could pull a lovely cup every time. it seems areal art.

 

Keeping the machine VERY clean is part of it.

Often you get a lousy coffee in Malls where they have not cleaned their machine for a day or so. The coffee granules get into the machine and you get a burnt flavour. sheer ignorance and laziness. I take it back tell them to clen their machine and get my money back (I am allowed to be a cranky old man now)

The old inner city suburbs full of -now very wealthy- migrants is the place to go for good coffee. (The inner city suburbs were not fashionable when the migrants arrived (mostly after ww2) now homes are worth many millions)

 

I think that, like chocolate, many seem to have lost their taste for bitter things and drink week, luke-warm coffee and eat that abomination "White Chocolate" (What is that?).

 

Never thought of the glass of water; but an excellent Idea

[alexander]

white chocolate is an oxymoron, it's neither of the two... its also a sought product by those white people who are tired of correcting the once "dark chocolate" term, with a more politically correct, african-american chocolate.

 

I agree on cleanliness makes the coffee, the cleanliness of everything in the process, from equipment to water to coffee ground to everything, the environment, the cup, all makes or brakes a good cup of coffee...

[freeztar]

The...ahem...Center for Science in the Public Interest produced a study that helps settle some of the confusion surrounding coffee and caffiene. Some of these claims are quite incredible. Apparently caffiene can lower your chances of Type II diabetes and Parkinson's disease. :doh:

 

Actually, they had quite a lot of good things to say about it. And to think, I gave up coffee for my health. ;)

 

http://www.cspinet.org/nah/02_08/caffeine.pdf

[alexander]

Actually, they had quite a lot of good things to say about it. And to think, I gave up coffee for my health.

and i picked it up ;)

 

no there are some good effects of coffee, i've read that study before, found it rather interesting. It turns out that when they refer to safe amounts of coffee, they are referring to having up to 5 or 6 or sometimes even more cups of coffee a day.... i don't feel guilty about 2 on a week day, that i have and generally one throughout the whole weekend...

[Michaelangelica]

I had a very bad gastric reflux all night af ew days ago when I drank a strong cup of my wife's"Instant coffee". Being out of my ground beans. (she is not a serious coffee drinker)

I wonder what that was about?

I had to sit up half the night to reduce the symptoms; but it was a horrible night. I was tired and washed out the next day.

[Buffy]

I had a very bad gastric reflux all night af ew days ago when I drank a strong cup of my wife's"Instant coffee". Being out of my ground beans. (she is not a serious coffee drinker)

I wonder what that was about?

You were poisoned dear!

 

How big is your life insurance policy? :shrug:

 

In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man,

Buffy

[alexander]

I wonder what that was about?

As a serious coffee drinker you know that espresso is a dark, black-ish powder, not a white crystal-ish one :eek2:

 

did you add creme? was it fresh-ish?

 

did you eat anything else?

 

How big is your life insurance policy?

Oh come on, there's no need to kill the wife for this, i mean she may not be in on the plot at all :thumbs_up

[C1ay]

"Instant coffee"

 

Me thinks this is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as instant coffee. You must have meant instant coffee flavored beverage like coffee kool-aid...

[alexander]

instant coffee still tastes more like coffee then what we have at work...

[Buffy]

Oh gosh.

 

Mom got me a Keurig thingy for Xmas.

 

What do I do with it? The K-cups cost a fortune ($0.50/cup), and the filter thingy for your own coffee takes a technique I have not yet mastered.

 

Anyone got one of these? Suggestions on making it do really decent coffee? Or which "brand" is any good? Or do I just save it for the guests?

 

Excuse me. You think I could get some more coffee before you shoot him?

Buffy

[alexander]

I have one at home, and i have one at work, i use the one at work, and mostly everyone at my house uses the one at home (i got that one for mom, for her birthday last year, because she was tired of cleaning the coffee maker)

 

So about those makers, and this is not just about the k-cup ones, applies to Nespresso machines and the like. They use pre-packed vacuum-sealed plastic(ish) capsules that get pierced at brewing time. Because the capsules are vacuum-sealed, and are completely air-tight, the ground coffee inside actually stays useable for a lot longer, and retains a lot more flavor then any other type of a ground coffee container, and even whole-bean, especially if not properly tended to. Inside a k-cup contains a small coffee filter which seems to be a bit more heavy duty then your normal coffee filter, and fairly finely milled coffee, probably towards the middle, between drip and espresso grind. When the cup is used, it is punctured at both ends and water at some pressure gets pushed through the coffee and the filter. The reason they use a thicker filter is the fairly fine grind, the reason they grind finely is because the extraction time for the coffee is about 20 seconds, so you need to expose as much surface as possible to get the most flavor out of the coffee.

 

Now that said, the machines have some advantages. Speed of getting your coffee, brewing is fairly quick. Temperature is controlled fairly well in those machines. The coffee is packed in consistent amounts with consistent pressure. All that amounts to a pretty decent cup, and a very consistent one, as long as you don't try to push more 16 ounces out of it (by pressing the small cup button (or any button) twice or something). You can do the big cup, that should still be fine, with most darker, heavier roasts, but don't ruin your coffee by trying to push more through it then it's made for, overextraction = bitterness and watered down coffee.

 

Now then, as far as getting coffee for it. Best way, order it online, you will usually get a much better price for more coffee then you do at the stores. You will usually find boxes of 24 for around $10-11. I tend to get darker roasts, Green Mountain makes some nice FTO (fair trade, organic) coffees, espresso blend, sumatran reserve, other makers (Newmans, Tully's, whoever licenses the K-cup "technology") provide also some good coffees, namely: Kenya AA and Kona Blend. And all those you can get at around $11/box 24 cups. (I would hit up greatcoffee.com if you are interested) Costco, Sams, and other such retailers will sell boxes of 50 cups for pretty reasonable prices, but generally they are Medium roasts, but they are a cheaper buy/quantity if you are just looking for daily coffee.

 

The mesh filter... You can get OK results from the mesh filter, though i personally don't like to spend my "good" coffee (the freshly roasted, currently Panamanian estate peaberry), the more normal coffee, like pete's house blend or something, as long as you grind it a little bit more finely then you would for normal drip, and do an 8 oz cup (which is actually a 7.25 oz, the small cup), and i tend to use darker roasts to get more rich flavors, you can get a really decent cup.

Instructions:

fill the cup to the top with a small mound

press down with the back of a tea spoon to even out and compress the coffee, untill its flush with the top

Put it in the plastic contraption, and then finally in the coffee maker for a round of coffee-makin'

You'll notice that the maker operates much more quietly

Note: You can get 10-12 oz of coffee into those reusable filters.

 

Honestly, i wouldn't keep this for guests, i tend to use my Chemex Pot or an Ibrik for them, unless they "have to have it pressed"... With some care, you will get a better cup out of those.

 

I touched on Nespresso machines, they make pretty damn awesome espresso, they are ridiculously expensive, but they make a better espresso cup then most people in their kitchens. That said, if you know how to properly pack and make an espresso from freshly ground, 2-3 day-old roast beans, you will get a better espresso, but it's much tougher to compete with a Nespresso machine then it is with a Keurig, as espresso requires a lot more talent to make, and again, the machines are very consistent, as long as you don't try to over-extract.

 

Hope that answers your questions, Buffy. ( and by all means ask if you have more :) )

[Buffy]

Wow. That's a fabulous post alex, thanks!!!

 

I got a whole bunch of the various kinds, and although I can certainly understand the "freshness" benefit, it's obvious that they're trying to price them all basically the same, and there doesn't seem to be any sources of "high quality" coffee in K-cups. That Kona is a "Kona blend" that sure tastes like it's about 10% Kona at most...

 

I have avoided using the filter so far, simply to kind of get used to the "quality" of the ones they produce, but have started to look around for info on alternatives and also stumbled upon something called a Perfect Pod Holster which is a gizmo originally designed to make Senseo "pods" and the "holster" lets you put them in the Keurig. Looks like a great idea, but also quite involved. I've seen reports that the "My K-cup" filter doesn't last long, and with my leaning toward that route because I'm such a spoiled coffee addict, has me worrying when I haven't even tried it yet....

 

The thing about "saving it for the guests" really has to do with a weird thing I've been noticing over the years: fewer people are drinking coffee--even decaf--after dinner. For bigger parties I usually pull out the spare coffee maker in order to brew both regular and decaf, but the last several years I've been left with nearly full pots left at the end of the party. This solves all kinds of problems since the Keurig will churn out coffee as fast as my kid can carry it out to the table. And no need to do any guessing about how much caf/decaf/tea/etc. any particular set of people want. It's truly a miracle for parties in that respect!

 

Never give a party if you will be the most interesting person there, :)

Buffy