Thoughts about coffee

[JL_LI]

This thread got me reminiscing about a Maui vacation. We were staying in the Ritz Carleton resort. There was a Nespresso machine in the room with an assortment of pods in the drawer under it. We told the housekeeper about the pod we liked best and she filled the drawer with our favorite every day. We usually tip $10/day at resorts. I left that in the room and when I saw our housekeeper in the hallway the day we checked out slipped her an additional 50.

 

[ce24]

We order un roasted whole beans from our fave parts of the world...dry process. Roast them to our preference in a 1500 watt air popper.....grind fairly coarse then into our drip coffee maker.....

 

[ronzhd]

Green coffee beans, roaster, French press. I love everything about coffee. It's the first thing I do in the a.m. It is the whole experience. Lately I have been drinking G7 and Vin Cafe, Vietnamese coffees my sister gave to me. Unique flavor.

 

[Happy Enchilada]

Starting in the late '70s and on up until 2014, I had an electric grinder and would grind my beans each day to make the freshest coffee possible (or so I thought). When my last grinder broke, I bought some ground coffee in a vacuum-packed bag and poured it into a ceramic jar with an O-ring seal, and found it stayed just as fresh without all the fuss and bother of a "daily grind."

Over the years I have experimented with pretty much every foreign and domestic brand and grade of drip coffee maker, and my finding is that no matter how expensive or prestigious they are, the foofy foreign ones simply don't last as long as ... the $25 Mr. Coffee and Black & Decker ones from Wal-Mart. So I keep a spare one new in the box in my garage in case the one I'm using breaks down. And the last one I had lasted ridiculously long - I think about 8 years. Not bad for a $25 investment.

I always use a metal mesh filter too - no paper filters to throw out or be out of when it counts. They last forever.

I put away a pot of coffee (12 cups) a day. Mrs. Enchilada the same. We're good, thanks.

 

[stratoman1]

Boiled dirt

No thank you

 

[schmee]

Very strong and sweet. 1 Cup in the a.m. Almost Cubano.

 

[Matt Sarad]

My favorite beans are from here:
https://jtcoffee.com/
I prefer a dark roast. Many companies like a light to medium toast that highlights a sour taste redolent of stale old beans. They sell it a a "citrus" note.
Greek coffee at my local Greek Cafe was splendidly hot, sweet, chocolate, and powerful.
As I approach 70 in 3 years, I find my taste buds allow me a stronger flavor than most.
One cup and I am done for the day

 

[fasteddie42]

A hott shower & a good cup of joe is just what I need to start the work day.

my morning get up and go recipe is a very large glass of ice cold water, scalding hot shower, hot coffee

 

[boxocrap]

I love coffee. Me and my wife drink it together every morning. It is not just about coffeine that starts you up after you wake up, it is more of a ritual for my wife and me - we take some time off for reading a book or a magazine, talking or checking what is up on internet. The girls are still sleeping usually, so it is quiet and peaceful in the appartment

We also drink coffee after lunch, especially if we are together with our larger family (with parents, with my sisters family...). Usually there are also some sweets on the table like cookies, biscuit, chocolate etc.

So what I am trying to say is that I love coffee not just because it 'wakes up your body' in a physical way, but also mentally. It is also the social thing of bringing people together.

The Turkish saying is that coffee should be black as hell, strong as death and sweat as love. And it was actually the Turks who brought the ritual of drinking coffee from Arabs to Europe back in 16th century.

We prepare it the old school way. We take the grinded coffee (in powder) and add it to the boiling water in a pot called 'cezve' - link https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cezve
You boil it for about 15 sec and then wait for it to cool down and that the powder sinks to the bottom of the pot. You can add a bit sugar and maybe cinnamon plus milk and voila, it is ready.

Here is todays photo.
Enjoy your wonderful coffee folks!

View attachment 923458

morning nectar

 

[TomBrokaw]

I love coffee but I'm too sensitive to the caffeine. Took me about 9 years to figure it out. Basically, no dreams and light sleep, plus frequent (3-4 times a week) bouts of full wakefulness between 3 and 5 am. These were always followed by some pretty deep and restful sleep, which sucked as I would get up for work at 545.

Was painful to give up - took a month to not hate life every morning. Caffeine is definitely an addictive drug, just one that's socially acceptable to use.

I'd partake if I could, but the downside is too much for me.

 

[fjblair]

I really like good coffee but it's mostly a weekend thing for me, not an everyday ritual.

 

[archetype]

In the morning, my wife and I each have two shots of espresso in a small mug topped up with soy milk. Her's is hot, in cool weather, mine is always cold.

Making my own espresso, for years, has made me aware of what terrible stuff passes for "espresso" in the majority of coffee shops. Example: I'm in Madison, WI USA and had to try 3 coffee shops before finding one that could make an actual espresso instead of two ounces of strong, concentrated coffee.

 

[kLyon]

Life without coffee is unthinkable (at least for me, in this lifetime...)
I started out on cafe con leche as a 12-year-old in southern Spain (five pesatas - about seven cents US at the time, but Franco was still alive, so it was awhile back).
Then back to hometown Miami, where Cuban coffee was king: just as strong.
After trying every kind of affordable espresso machine, now I drink espresso in places that can afford the price of a used Hyundai for the real thing, and an Aeropress at home.
I look forward to tours that hit Italy (or Spain, but Italy is still the best) for that first coffee across the border; especially coming from France where espresso is almost always over-extracted and acidic.
Starbucks? I know it doesn't get much love... but until the first one hit Birmingham, Alabama, there was nothing but the nightmare of weak brown-water swill when you woke up after a show... it was pretty much big cities in the northeast, Chicago, New Orleans, and the west coast for good coffee on tour. So I give them props for that - they raised the floor though I'd take a Peet's first, or a real independent coffee house, now that they're cropping up everywhere.
But as Illy Jr. said, coffee is about the four "M's" - Macinazione (grind), Miscela (blend), Miscela (blend), and
Mano (hand) - and the last is, of course, the most important - "tone is in the fingers" - and the hardest to find.
Cheers, everyone.

 

[Festofish]

I love run of the mill Maxwell house. My partner has turned me into a fiend!

 

[teleman1]

My thoughts on Coffee? Caffeine is not a healthy thing. Starbucks is NOT coffee. Best Coffee I have ever had is KONA.

 

[bluesfordan]

That's the way we do it in Greece (and no ...milk is strictly forbidden and unheard off )

The only place we can get coffee like that is at the Athens Restaurant in Manchester. I need to get back there again.

 

[Tele T]

Yes i LOVE coffee with two shakes of Tobasco please!

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

My mother, all through my childhood would drink a pot of coffee a day, sometimes more. She's now 81 & she won't touch the stuff.

I'll drink her share...

 

[Toto'sDad]

Almost every day, I first have a cup of cappuccino, then a cup of full strength Folgers, then a cup of unleaded Folgers, or maybe a cup of Winco store brand unleaded hazelnut. l happen to like both the convenience, and the taste of Keurig cups, and am not calling for comment on my choice. I seldom have any coffee later in the day, unless I'm out for dinner, and have some with desert.

PS:

I don't add anything that isn't already in any of my choices. Regular coffees I like black.

 

[ShadyBloke]

I love coffee too! So I stained my guitar with it!