Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Wanker on February 04, 2004, 08:11:46 AM
-
What makes the best cup of coffee? Automatic drip? Perculator? French Press?
Fresh ground beans every morning is the only way to go, of course, but what about the actual machine or method used to produce that hot, steaming cup of joe?
I just picked up my first perculator last week, and I've been extremely impressed with it. I never would've guessed that perculated coffee could taste so good. But I find that perculated coffee has a more robust, full flavor than automatic drip.
Anyone out there have a French Press? I've never tried that before, and was wondering if someone can recommend it.
-
Starbucks. :)
-
Rip does have a point there.....
But I would say that the best coffee is anything with some scotch in it.
banana, try Jamaican Blue Mountain. Buy fresh beans and grind them yourself, keep the beans frozen.
(http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-9/48257/20029211530-0-Swoop.gif)
-
I got given a coffee maker by one of the girls at work when I moved into my flat - I've only just got around to figuring out how to use it since it came without instructions or packaging.
It might be a perculator. It doesn't have one of those glass jugs underneath where the coffee from - you put your gorund coffee in this round hole which is attached to a handle. Pack it down tight and click it back into place in the machine. I think it uses pressurized steam to push through the coffee and into your cup. I've seen them use this sort of thing in restaurants and bars etc, but what is it exactly?
You see I have no idea what I'm talking about. :D
-
Rum
-
Dowding...sounds like an espresso machine.
-
It has a nozzle for milk frothing (?), so it is supposed to do normal coffee too. At least I know it isn't a perculator anyways.
-
Originally posted by Ripsnort
Starbucks. :)
Sucks ----- There is a reason that MOST folks who know their coffee call them CHARBUCKS.
banana with a french press you get a good cup mainly because the oils from the coffee are not stripped by a filter. I have one and use it on the weekends. The best thing I ever got for coffee was a bur grinder. It is gravity fed thus the beans never overheat when you grind them.
-
Yea, ditto on the Starbucks...if you like burnt coffee, they're for you.
Dunkin Doughnut coffee is great.
I upgraded from a regular coffee maker (heater element on bottom, etc)...to a thermal carafe...no heater after made. Insulates it very very nicely, I've made coffee at 7am and its still hot at 4pm.
I found this brand of coffee..."BreakFast Blend"...mm, good stuff. 2 Sweet n Low's, add some of that Carnation French Vanilla creamer and Im set for the day.
-
I know several way to do a coffee each one as advantage and inconvenient
Expresso machine : unique taste but it's not really a coffee it's an expresso ...
+ taste unique
+ fresh coffee for each cup
- if you have a weak machine it can taste funny and even bad :)
Napolitan/italian coffee machine :
+ good taste
+ easy to use
Vacuum coffee machine :
- weak coffee
- taste like
Turkish coffee machine :
+ good coffee
- sometime you eat more coffee than you drink :(
What you call "french press" (1st time I hear this name)
+ the best way IMO to have a good coffee
- if your filter is bad you like eat coffee like with the turkish one :D
Traditional coffee machine :
+ cheap
+ easy to find
- depending on the filter the taste can be completly good or ruined
But independantly of the system you will never have a good coffee if you use a bad product personnaly I prefer the Ethiopian ,kenyan or Maragogype (from Guatemala I think).
-
Originally posted by LePaul
Yea, ditto on the Starbucks...if you like burnt coffee, they're for you.
Ask for a cup from a fresh pot. Their coffee will taste burnt (the house blend is similar to the columbian blend) if its not fresh. And, its "european" strength, not for the taste bud sensitive. ;)
-
1st off get a good whole bean coffee, such as Kona (http://www.konalea.com/coffee_store/kona_coffee.htm) coffee beans (expensive but well worth it IMO). Then get a good burr grinder and either a good French press or drip type coffee maker with a thermal carafe. (I'm assuming you wanted just coffee not an expresso type machine) Enjoy ! :aok
-
What you call "french press" (1st time I hear this name)
+ the best way IMO to have a good coffee
- if your filter is bad you like eat coffee like with the turkish one
Straffo, from what I understand, the "French Press" operates by placing your ground beans on the bottom of a glass beaker, then you pour boiling water on top of the grounds, then you push, or "press" this permanent filter-type thing down onto the water & beans, and it smushes the coffee grounds to the bottom, leaving the coffee sitting on top. Never had it, but it sure sounds good!
Sucks ----- There is a reason that MOST folks who know their coffee call them CHARBUCKS.
banana with a french press you get a good cup mainly because the oils from the coffee are not stripped by a filter. I have one and use it on the weekends. The best thing I ever got for coffee was a bur grinder. It is gravity fed thus the beans never overheat when you grind them.
LOL Milo. I agree, I have never like Starbuck's coffee, although their desserts are pretty good!
Since the percolator I've been using doesn't have a paper filter, either, maybe it tastes better to me because I'm getting the oils, too.
It takes about 10 minutes to get a full pot of percolated coffee, but it tastes much better than the Bun "3-minute per pot" makes I have been using. Probably because the water in the Bun stays heated, and is not fresh.
Where does one find a "bur grinder"? Right now, I use the standard Krups bean grinder.
-
Originally posted by Ripsnort
Ask for a cup from a fresh pot. Their coffee will taste burnt (the house blend is similar to the columbian blend) if its not fresh. And, its "european" strength, not for the taste bud sensitive. ;)
You know Rip, I love strong coffee, the kind where you almost need a fork to drink it.....but there's something about the flavor beans that Starbucks uses that I don't like. Not to mention that their coffee is WAY over-priced.
-
I used to dump as much crap in a cup of coffee as I could get and it still look a bit brown, but I've evolved. Now I put just a touch of sugar to take the edge off.
I'm with straffo for once, Kenyan coffee is my favorite.
edit: Oh yeah, I just got one of those thermal jug/maker gizmo's and I like it much better than Mr. Coffee. Need for a grinder and shipments in beans will be next.
-
Originally posted by banana
Straffo, from what I understand, the "French Press" operates by placing your ground beans on the bottom of a glass beaker, then you pour boiling water on top of the grounds, then you push, or "press" this permanent filter-type thing down onto the water & beans, and it smushes the coffee grounds to the bottom, leaving the coffee sitting on top. Never had it, but it sure sounds good!
That's how I've undertstood it I've one + an expresso.
-
Originally posted by banana
Where does one find a "bur grinder"? Right now, I use the standard Krups bean grinder.
Start here.
http://www.coffeegeek.com/reviews/grinders/starbucks_barista_grinder
Best coffee in the world:
http://www.theroasterie.com/
-
I adore my percolator, but the last thing I enjoy doing just after waking up is cleaning it out and waiting 15 minutes for coffee. For pure laziness, nothin beats instant. :)
-
Thanks for the links, Milo!
-
French Press makes a superior cup of coffee. Espresso has 1/3rd of the caffeeine of a brewed coffee, and if your not ignorant you know that only one roast that starbucks uses is actually intentionally burnt. So next time ask for a nice columbian or some of that 100 percent pure kona they are being forced to sell and stop makeing ignorant statements that make you look like a fool.
-
Originally posted by Dowding
It might be a perculator. It doesn't have one of those glass jugs underneath where the coffee from - you put your gorund coffee in this round hole which is attached to a handle. Pack it down tight and click it back into place in the machine. I think it uses pressurized steam to push through the coffee and into your cup. I've seen them use this sort of thing in restaurants and bars etc, but what is it exactly?
You see I have no idea what I'm talking about. :D
Dowding, it is an espresso machine. The coffee should be ground extra, extra fine and packed loosely in the strainer. Normally French Roast beans are used. The Milk steamer is for the frothy topping and takes a metal cup and a bit of practice. (I don't use my steamer, too much hassle.) BUT, if you want a cup of coffee that will get your blood pumping and kidneys jumping...it's the only way to fly!
-
What makes the best coffee?
An Ammo can filled with dirt, which is then soaked with Diesel and
1 canteen cup.............mmmmm, goood.
-
Normally french roast beans are not used. Italian or espresso roast beans are.
-
Burr mills come cheaper than that. I have one that set me back less than $50. The design is rather poor, though. The grounds go into a rectangular hopper. When you remove the hopper (like to fill up a cuppa joe), you get grounds everywhere. And the rectangular ends make it hard to clean. And I wouldn't make espresso with it. But I do french press.
STarbucks isn't bad, although sheer economics has meant that they've lost quality over the years (there aren't enough quality coffee beans in the world to run the Starbucks empire). So they are currently moving away from coffee and into the fast food realm.
And even with mediocre materials, a properly brewed cup of coffee can be quite acceptable.
Take for example espresso machines. Many coffee shops in the US use ones where the operator controls the flow of steam. And the result is predictable: snot-nosed 18-year-olds who think "espresso" means "superfast" and "superstrong". So they overpack the beans and pull the shot in 4 seconds.
A good cup of coffee is:
A) Freshness of the grind.
B) Freshness of the brew.
C) Quality of water
D) quality of beans
E) method of preparation.
Yes, I prefer french press to filter coffees, but French Presses (aka Bodum, aka Presse Italienne) require the most work. Dump the grounds down the toilet, not the sink, grind the beans coarsely (here a burr mill helps -- it's not just overheating the beans, it's also an even grind), bring the water just off the boil (_not_ boiling), pour it in, stir with a wooden spoon, let steep for four minutes (and no longer), then serve.
That's complicated for first thing in the morning.
-
Common coffee mistake is putting in fewer grounds because you don't want 'strong' coffee. When most people think 'strong', they mean bitter. This is a problematic approach as the bitter part of the ground is the stuff that needs the most effort to remove it. By using partial grounds, you actually increase the amount of bitterness in the coffee because the water strips into it that far.
If you want to reduce the bitterness of coffee, use a little more grounds instead of less.
-
Originally posted by Dinger
A good cup of coffee is:
A) Freshness of the grind.
B) Freshness of the brew.
C) Quality of water
D) quality of beans
E) method of preparation.
-
Here's a show that had some good info on coffee preparation:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_10020,00.html
-
My friends coffee shop is the anti good coffee, coffee shop.
Grinds all the coffee for the week on sunday, stores it in a box.
Uses tap water
Uses one kind of roast for everything(which he buys at sams club).
And the locals think its the best coffee around. I try to convince him to change his ways, but he just blows me off as being an elitest because im from the northwest. ( going to school in florida)
-
HTC perks their coffee:lol
Seriously, I like the percolator coffee, but I always use the drip. I bought a brewstation http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2385890&cat=90783&type=1&dept=4044&path=0%3A4044%3A4064%3A90546%3A90427%3A90783 , but the heating element went. It made a great cup of coffee while it lasted.
And Frog, I have tried many kinds of starbucks coffee....and it sucks. I'll take dunkin donuts coffee over starbucks anyday.
-
at the very least get him to use distilled water. It'll save him a lot of money.
-
Originally posted by Frogm4n
but he just blows me off as being an elitest because im from the northwest.
Yes it's because you're from the northwest, honest. :D
-
Originally posted by Dinger
Burr mills come cheaper than that. I have one that set me back less than $50. The design is rather poor, though. The grounds go into a rectangular hopper. When you remove the hopper (like to fill up a cuppa joe), you get grounds everywhere. And the rectangular ends make it hard to clean. And I wouldn't make espresso with it. But I do french press.
I had originally purchased a inexpensive one but found one of the good ones on sale and bot it. It was worth the extra cost.
-
Originally posted by banana
Anyone out there have a French Press?
it's FREEDOM press thank you, please follow the official party line or be deemed a surrendering monkey cheese eating lover traitor...
-
Damn Surrender Press!!! Give me Mr Coffee!!! Joe DiMaggio, apple pie, hot dogs!!!
-
The bitterness of a coffee show either a bad preparation or a very bad coffee.
Usually you don't need to put sugar in your coffee to hide bitterness.
I think the dinger prefectly explained how to do a good coffee.
-
Straffo, see my post above on the subject of bitterness, it's usually because there aren't enough grounds so the water is stripping off the bitter parts of the grounds too.
-
I know its appalling, but this is my caffeine delivery system every morning within 5 minutes of waking:
32 oz plastic tumbler
Cold tap water
2 tablespoons anybrand caffinated coffee, stirred briskly.
I do enjoy the expresso on the streets in Miami, and I do enjoy a good cup o' joe when someone makes it for me, but in-between marriages I deteriorated into this "lowest work load per caffeine hit" method. (Wife drinks tea with milk.)
-
Originally posted by ygsmilo
Sucks ----- There is a reason that MOST folks who know their coffee call them CHARBUCKS.
banana with a french press you get a good cup mainly because the oils from the coffee are not stripped by a filter. I have one and use it on the weekends. The best thing I ever got for coffee was a bur grinder. It is gravity fed thus the beans never overheat when you grind them.
and now you all understand why Milo is our marale officer:)
-
Of course, you all know I'm unsophisticated, so this will not come as a suprise.
My favorite coffee is Cowboy Coffee....Iron skillet filled with water...pour the grounds in and boil it.
It's good:)
-
Cajun Darkroast, from a 50-cup urn in the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig.
-
Good quality French roast beans, usually the good stuff cost more. Prefably in a real expresso machine else use a regular drip machine but use a good amount of coffee and not too much water.
However I prefer to get my coffee from a cafe when I can. The place I get mine from makes the strongest coffee in town. Starbucks is good but I have to have two shots in my order when I go there.
-
Any QuickTrip that is on the way to the job at 0600.
-
(http://www.timhortons.com/english/images/brewer.jpg)
xtra large one and one.
starbucks sucks.
-
well there's coffee and then there's
Coffee:
Fill a 5 quart pot with 4 quarts of water throw in the shells of the four eggs that you will have for breakfast and bring it to a rolling boil. Poor in two cups hand ground medium roast beans and a half cup of chicory. Bring back to a simmer and and enjoy the smells that fill the kitchen while you finish breakfast. When nothing is floating, 30 minutes is about right, smirk at the cream and sugar, dip your cup and enjoy. If your a wuss strain it. If it takes more than one pot to get you through the day simmer it longer.
-
Originally posted by MrBill
well there's coffee and then there's
Coffee:
Fill a 5 quart pot with 4 quarts of water throw in the shells of the four eggs that you will have for breakfast and bring it to a rolling boil. Poor in two cups hand ground medium roast beans and a half cup of chicory. Bring back to a simmer and and enjoy the smells that fill the kitchen while you finish breakfast. When nothing is floating, 30 minutes is about right, smirk at the cream and sugar, dip your cup and enjoy. If your a wuss strain it. If it takes more than one pot to get you through the day simmer it longer.
Sounds good, whats chicory?
-
Dowding, it is an espresso machine. The coffee should be ground extra, extra fine and packed loosely in the strainer. Normally French Roast beans are used. The Milk steamer is for the frothy topping and takes a metal cup and a bit of practice. (I don't use my steamer, too much hassle.) BUT, if you want a cup of coffee that will get your blood pumping and kidneys jumping...it's the only way to fly!
Cheers. Does this mean I have to drink coffee by the thimbleful? I like a big cup of coffee you see, and when I set it to extra strong and leave it running to fill half a mug, it goes a bit weak and sometimes tastes like crap. Then again, I have had a couple of decent cups out of it and have even taken to having it without milk (I hate black coffee ordinarily). You're right about the blood pumping - it really does work! :)
-
Orange Coffee (valencia)
Description:
This fragrant coffee has refreshing taste thanks to orange slices. Chocolate and cinnamon makes the taste rish and bright.
Method:
Mix coffee and hot chocolate. Place one orange slice into each cup. Pour coffee mixture into cups. Top with whipped cream, and garnish with cinnamon.
Ingredients :
# 1 cup strong coffee
# 1 cup hot chocolate
# 2 orange slices
# whipped cream
# dash of cinnamon
-
Chicory, the legend goes, was introduced in coffee during the rationing of WW2; or rather, it replaced coffee. While many don't like its flavor, some actually enjoy the stuff, and in many places in the world you can buy "country coffee" a coffee-chicory blend.
-
Tim Horton's rules.
-
they have been using chicory since at least the civil war.
-
Originally posted by Frogm4n
they have been using chicory since at least the civil war.
Boy howdy, 'they' must be getting pretty old.