Okay, I did some cellar searching but I couldn't find anything and I know someone has posted some links before -- can anyone recommend a good place to order whole beans? Besides continuing on my downhill slide into coffee-snobism, I think keeping whole beans permits for longer storage time and makes my habit cheaper. Last night, I got a burr grinder that doesn't make a mess (the previous one created so much dust on the counter that I stopped using it) as well as a very simple stove-top espresso brewer. I made some this morning and I don't think I'll ever go back to Starbucks, again!

For that matter, is mail-ordering worth it or should I just continue going to the local store?


:madhop:

Coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee....!

http://www.communitycoffee.com/ccc/

The only way to fly.

I've resurrected the coffee thread because I have a horrible secret to divulge: Lately, I've been percolating.

I got it as a gift for my camping supplies. Shiney, wooden handle, and a glass bulb. Nine cups. Water on the bottom, coffee goes on top. Putting it on the burner causes it to come to life. No, it doesn't make the Maxwell House sound, but I hear the tune in my head when I see it happen, anyways.

Percolaters are shunned by nearly every coffee drinker for their evils. For anyone who has never seen one, after the hot water drains through the grounds it ends up in the bottom, again, and is heated once more. Many say the reheating of the coffee makes it taste bad. "It destroys the magic."

But I like it. I thought, maybe, that it was just the visual entertainment factor until I got to the bottom of my first cup and found my prize at the bottom of the cup: silt. You don't get coffee ground dust with a drip machine. In that way, its similar to coffee from a french press but with a slightly different taste. Oh, and the cup you pour is hot -- no thermos mug needed.

You should try it, sometime. Get back to your roots. Coffee was brewed this way since long before you were born, long before people got lazy. Not bad at all, really.

http://www.peets.com


And I don't know how percolating can be any easier than making perfect coffee. Bar none, the best method is just a plastic drip cone with the right coffee proportions.

Grind your beans for 15 seconds, and use two tablespoons of ground coffee per six ounces of boiled water.

Use either a new batch of Brita water, or cheap bottled water. The single biggest contributor to your coffee tasting like shit, is your tap water. Ours here is terrible for making coffee.

What's so hard? No silt, no mess, nothing.

Also, never put coffee in the freezer. Just put it in an airtight container in the dark...or if you haven't got one, throw the beans in a ziplock bag.

Oh, and let your kettle stand for 10-15 seconds after boiling, to let the water temperature go down a bit, otherwise your coffee will taste burnt and bitter.

I have had a cone filter brewer for years ... in several sizes, from one cup up to 10 cup.

All of my drip coffee makers have used the cone style filter.

But there IS a special taste to perked coffee, and it is a good thing.

Hey, did anybody's family decide they needed one of those Senseo things? I looked at them but decided I didn't need a more expensive appliance to make coffee with, particularly one that requires you to buy only it's special brand/packaging of coffee "pods".

What's so hard? No silt, no mess, nothing.

No, no -- silt is a good thing!

And Peet's has my vote. I purchased a lot of holiday gift packs for people (including myself) and I think they just got some more regular customers because of it. I know I love 'em.

I like Kona coffee the best. That rich volcanic soil and moist climate makes for a rich, potent brew. Jamaican Blue Mountain is also pretty good and it is reported to have the highest caffiene content of 'em all. The Japanese buy nearly the entire crop (they like the high caffiene content) but you can still find it here and there.

What does everybody put in their coffee??

I quit using cream years ago but Land 'O Lakes has come out with a fat-free half 'n half that is pretty good. I put cream and sugar in the first cup of the morning but go black for the rest of the day. So I guess, then, that it is possible to go back after going black http://www.cellar.org/images/smilies/wink.gif

Sometimes, if I have coffee at night, I have it black put nutmeg in it. Lots of it. I grind it fresh from the nut with a rasp from my toolbox.

In the Winter, I drink a lot of green tea in the afternoon. The best I have found is from Teas of Green in Berkely. The owner makes regular trips to Asia and handpicks the tea himself. My favorites are Pi Lo Chun (deep and rich) and Genmai cha (mild and toasty). The only problem is he doesn't carry Lapsang Souchong, the Guiness Stout of teas. Its extremely dark and potent with an overwhelming smokey flavor. Good for evenings in front of a fireplace. And, of course, it is sacrilege to put anything in green tea.

It is crucial that those who are curious about the "pod" coffeemakers read

THIS

Target (here in Colorado Springs, at least) is trying to get rid of those Pod coffee makers like they're diseased right now. 50% off. I was thinking about picking one up, but realised suddenly that a new product on clearance probably means something bad. I do need to get a decent coffee maker though, I'm leaning towards this one.

The problem with the Pod coffee makers is they're on the Gillette model; give away the razor, sell the blades.

From Carbonated Brains' PA link (psst -- you reversed the script windows and busted the link by accident):

"It came with a "mild" roast and a "medium" roast, which present a wild inversion of expectations. Imagine that mild and medium are points in a continuum of hideous mouth crimes. The Mild is actually the only potable version, precisely because it tastes less like their product's theoretical maximum! Medium tastes like the mud in which dead men lie. I haven't even bothered with the Dark roast, whose flavor I imagine is somewhere between devil piss and liquid gonorrhea."

Douwe Egberts is the most vile coffee I've ever come across at a full three notches below Starbucks brand. The office stocks the stuff in one of their machines, which is an illusion of coffee urn. When you open the valve, a pump kicks in and mixes hot water from a line with coffee syrup from a plastic bag.

Vomit.

Allegro coffee beans (Whole Foods), or Illy (when its free because the cans are dented- I have a source ;)) brewed in a well worn Italian moka pot. simple, good, and frankly.....sexy. Oh, and the steam sound is pavlovian.

This was funny: "The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee" High literary discription for what is known in our house as burning a "coffee hole"-When you drink too much with out anything in your stomach.
www.blissbat.net/balzac.html

So you could forget the water and hook the syrup to an I.V. tube with a needle in your vein? :3_eyes:

nothing beats steam pouring out of your trackmarks.

I started cutting out caffeine gradually since this summer. I went to 1/2 caffeine 1/2 decaf, then to 1/3 caffeine 2/3 decaf, then to 1/4 caffeine 3/4 decaf, then to 1/8 caffeine 7/8 decaf, then I tried none. Ever since I got lower than 1/4 caffeine, I've been taking longer and longer naps everyday and I gained 10 pounds. I have no motivation, either. So, now I'm back on 1/2 and 1/2 and I'm feeling better. :3eye: