Coffee

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Ashful

Ashful

Minister of Fire
Mar 7, 2012
20,075
Philadelphia
Continued from another thread: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/monitoring-electricity-use.121772/

Grisu said:
Someone likes his coffee strong. >> May I ask what brand?
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I like it strong, but not burnt, as is the current trend with the more expensive American coffee house coffees. Take a strong 100% Arabaca coffee bean variety, and just medium roast it, which is what most of the better German coffees seem to be. This 5 kg batch was Dallmayr Prodomo, nothing exotic, but sort of my standard daily go-to brand.

If you want strong, then the Italian coffees are king, IMO. I like them but not for consuming at my usual 40 oz./day rate. I like to make Italian expresso on the weekends, although I've been working thru a few cans of Dallmayr expresso, which has been very tasty, too!
 
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I like the Italian, try adding a scoop to regular coffee, nice flavor not so strong.
 
I like a good tasting coffee, I drink it black, about 30-40 oz. a day. I've got a few brands and flavors I'm partial to, but unless it's burnt or flavored I find it to be like pizza and beer, even bad coffee is better than no coffee.

Anyone know of a decent low acid coffee? I've read that cold brewing really cuts the acid down, but it would change my whole morning routine and that's not really an option as I'm disturbingly set in my ways. (or so my gf says)

Any suggestions or anyone every try a "low acid" coffee?
 
Have you tried tea? I could never stand the taste of coffee and the caffeine content wreaked havoc on my nervous system but I find that green and white tea are much better. Plus there's been a bazillion studies on the inumerous health benefits of green tea.
 
Black coffee here. Strong & robust. I only do 2 cups a day, breakfast & lunch times. Very odd time a third at late meal time, depending on if a dessert is involved - at the risk of messing up my sleep.

Per the other thread, I find my Tassimo can make it better than I can - not sure exactly why, but some of it might be the freshness of it. I think it stays a lot fresher sealed in the pods right up until brewing than it does sitting in a bag or can on my counter either ground or whole. Seems that way anyway.

Don't do tea much at all - I find it messes with my sleep & stomach more than coffee does.

I also think I have had coffee that was bad enough that it was worse than none. It's gotta be hot, for starters.
 
whole milk, no sugar. One full pot a day minus the cup my wife drinks. So I think I drink 40 oz or so. More if I'm driving all day.

8 o'clock is our budget grocery store coffee. I like to support local coffee roasters for our "good" coffee. And I will drink ANY swill over no coffee. No coffee by 11am and the withdrawal symptoms are setting in.
 
Grocery store house brand in whatever coffee maker is on sale at Walmart when one craps out. Four cups a day, black.
 
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Taking from the other thread where this all started, it's also worth noting the coffee maker, at least as important as the coffee. Any maker that can hit 200F will do, and that doesn't need to be expensive, but thanks to lawyers and our litigious society... it has become so. Go back 30 years, and a cheap Krups or Mr. Coffee could make an excellent cup of coffee. However, most of the home-grade coffee maker manufacturers started dialing back their brew temps several years ago, to where it's impossible to get a good cup of coffee from most of them.

Enter the expensive European coffee makers, from countries where liability is much more limited. Technivorm is a very popular brand among coffee snobs, and they do make a few models that they've UL listed for sale in the USA.

The other option is commercial coffee makers, many / most of which still brew at / above 200F. Most of these are very large and very expensive, but knowing there was a market for a small commercial unit (which might also be used by coffee snobs in their homes), Bunn developed the A10. It's a true commercial duty coffee maker, rated for 70 gal/day, in a compact counter-top package. It's primary market is stores and small deli's, where they want to have coffee brewing all day, but you'll find lots of us with them in our homes. Unfortunately, they're not cheap, but it will probably be the last coffee maker you ever buy (they'll last decades running 1 gallon per day).

Again, the only goal is the 200F brew temp, which shouldn't really require an expensive commercial unit, but since good old Mr.Coffee dialed back their brew temp...

The side bonus to having a commercial unit is it makes a full pot in roughly 2-1/2 minutes, and has a recovery time between pots of roughly the same, which is great when you have a large dinner party and folks want regular and decaf both brewed after dinner.

[Hearth.com] Coffee
 
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Warm_in_NH said:
, even bad coffee is better than no coffee..
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+1

Two pots a day...like Bart whatever WalMart has on sale (prefer Chock full orMaxHouse/folgers). 1st 2 Cups with a dash of 1/2 &1/2 the rest black. No sugar and NO flavors
 
Warm_in_NH said:
I like a good tasting coffee, I drink it black, about 30-40 oz. a day. I've got a few brands and flavors I'm partial to, but unless it's burnt or flavored I find it to be like pizza and beer, even bad coffee is better than no coffee.

Anyone know of a decent low acid coffee? I've read that cold brewing really cuts the acid down, but it would change my whole morning routine and that's not really an option as I'm disturbingly set in my ways. (or so my gf says)

Any suggestions or anyone every try a "low acid" coffee?
Click to expand...

We found Trader Joe's Sumatra to be lower acid, nicely roasted and a good brew.
 
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Joful said:
Taking from the other thread where this all started, it's also worth noting the coffee maker, at least as important as the coffee. Any maker that can hit 200F will do, and that doesn't need to be expensive, but thanks to lawyers and our litigious society... it has become so. Go back 30 years, and a cheap Krups or Mr. Coffee could make an excellent cup of coffee. However, most of the home-grade coffee maker manufacturers started dialing back their brew temps several years ago, to where it's impossible to get a good cup of coffee from most of them.

Enter the expensive European coffee makers, from countries where liability is much more limited. Technivorm is a very popular brand among coffee snobs, and they do make a few models that they've UL listed for sale in the USA.

The other option is commercial coffee makers, many / most of which still brew at / above 200F. Most of these are very large and very expensive, but knowing there was a market for a small commercial unit (which might also be used by coffee snobs in their homes), Bunn developed the A10. It's a true commercial duty coffee maker, rated for 70 gal/day, in a compact counter-top package. It's primary market is stores and small deli's, where they want to have coffee brewing all day, but you'll find lots of us with them in our homes. Unfortunately, they're not cheap, but it will probably be the last coffee maker you ever buy (they'll last decades running 1 gallon per day).

Again, the only goal is the 200F brew temp, which shouldn't really require an expensive commercial unit, but since good old Mr.Coffee dialed back their brew temp...

The side bonus to having a commercial unit is it makes a full pot in roughly 2-1/2 minutes, and has a recovery time between pots of roughly the same, which is great when you have a large dinner party and folks want regular and decaf both brewed after dinner.

View attachment 132087
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I've noticed that even cheap coffee tastes better at work out of the old professional type brewer, than and figured it must be because of the temperature.

2 years ago I found a killer deal on a Breville coffee maker, and have fallen in love with it. It's so nice with a push of the button to change the amount of coffee grounds and the brewing time. I like mine strong and steeping for a long time and drink it black, while the fiance likes hers weak, little steep, and then adding cream and sugar. So it's nice that it's easy enough for us to each make our own individual cups during the week, but can make a full carafe on the weekends if we're hanging around the house.

As for the coffee, I spent some time drinking the various Starbucks and Caribou Coffee brands, but have settled on Private Selection Kona whole bean. It's just dark enough for me to brew it strong, but light enough that the fiance still enjoys it.

http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BDC600XL-YouBrew-Coffee-Maker/dp/B005I710MW
 
We are fortunate to be in coffee mecca. Starbucks, Stewart Bros., and others started here. We even have two local roasteries in our tiny local community.
 
bassJAM said:
I've noticed that even cheap coffee tastes better at work out of the old professional type brewer, than and figured it must be because of the temperature.

2 years ago I found a killer deal on a Breville coffee maker, and have fallen in love with it. It's so nice with a push of the button to change the amount of coffee grounds and the brewing time. I like mine strong and steeping for a long time and drink it black, while the fiance likes hers weak, little steep, and then adding cream and sugar. So it's nice that it's easy enough for us to each make our own individual cups during the week, but can make a full carafe on the weekends if we're hanging around the house.

As for the coffee, I spent some time drinking the various Starbucks and Caribou Coffee brands, but have settled on Private Selection Kona whole bean. It's just dark enough for me to brew it strong, but light enough that the fiance still enjoys it.

http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BDC600XL-YouBrew-Coffee-Maker/dp/B005I710MW
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Hmmm - very interesting unit there. Now you've got me thinking...
 
We have this one, it was a wedding gift:

[Hearth.com] Coffee


I've found that no matter what kind of beans we grind in it (ie: high dollar Starbucks beans vs. cheapo supermarket brand beans on sale), it makes a darn good cup of coffee, which leads me to conclude that brewing a good cup of coffee just requires freshly ground coffee. We drink ours black, no sugar. I'd love to find a local roaster I could buy beans in bulk from. When I buy coffee on the road it's Wawa (the folks from PA, NJ, DE, MD, and VA will know what I mean) Dark Roast-$1.69 for a 24oz.
 
maple1 said:
Quick 'simple' question - how many 'typical' cups of coffee should a pound of beans make?

Give or take, of course...
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Depends on taste, grind, and seep time. Less coffee requires more seep time, and usually results in a weaker, but typically more bitter brew. More coffee = less seep time, and more strength without bitterness. The best coffee makers rely on a fast seep time with 200F water and a relatively high amount of grounds, compared to what you'd use in a Krups. A typical recommendation is 1 oz. grounds per 12 oz. water in a commercial machine, or 1 oz. grounds per 24 oz. in a (slower) home machine.
 
Huh - just measured the vertical space on my kitchen counter & get 16". That fancy Breville is a monster at 16-1/4".

Darn.

I did get a real nice recip saw for Christmas though...
 
maple1 said:
Huh - just measured the vertical space on my kitchen counter & get 16". That fancy Breville is a monster at 16-1/4".
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That's how I ended up with the A10. I originally set out to buy a Technivorm, but none would fit under my upper cabinets. I'm happy with the way it worked out, though... too many complaints about poor build quality on the Technivorms. Not so with Bunn.

(broken link removed to http://coffeegeek.com/reviews/drip/bunna10/willrev)
 
maple1 said:
Huh - just measured the vertical space on my kitchen counter & get 16". That fancy Breville is a monster at 16-1/4".

Darn.

I did get a real nice recip saw for Christmas though...
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Oh yeah, it is a monster. My cabinets are 18" from the counter tops,but you also need clearance to put in beans and water so I'm stuck putting it right next to the sink where there aren't cabinets.
 
maple1 said:
Quick 'simple' question - how many 'typical' cups of coffee should a pound of beans make?

Give or take, of course...
Click to expand...

I recently measured and I get about 7-8 pots of coffee for every pound of beans. The pot says 12 cups on it. I usually fill to between the 10 and 12 cup mark. So I guess by those measurements it would be 70-96 cups per pound.
 
The cup measure is ambiguous. Most do not mean an 8oz. cup. I find their "cup" varies between 4-6oz typically. That's a teacup and not typical for us. We drink coffee out of mugs which hold about 10oz. per "cup" of coffee.
 
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I was just trying to do some quick $$/cup comparison between my Tassimo, and the 'old fashioned' way - something I'd never done before.

The stuff I'm using in that right now is costing about $22, for a box of 56 pods. So around 0.40/cup. Once in a while I can get it on sale for around $18-19, but I haven't caught that in a while. The last bag of beans I bought was around $8, for 400g (around 14 oz). It's a French roast that I like. Never really paid much attention to how many cups that was giving me. So right now I'd guess maybe 40? (For what should be close to an equivalent 8oz cup). So after all that, my Tassimo coffee works out to about double the cost per cup as using beans - using what I use in each case.

Kind of glad I measured my counter space at the last moment yesterday - I came very close to impulse buying one of those Brevilles. Very nice looking unit. I'm still trying to figure out how I'd fit one of those in our kitchen - and make peace with my wife. Who doesn't even drink the stuff....
 
Do you folks use or recommend the paper filters or the reusable mesh types? I use the mesh. I drink a full 12 "cup" pot per day of folgers.
 
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