Coffee drinkers, how do you brew yours?

[Huskee]

I like bold coffees, French roast, Parisian, Italian, etc.

For regular coffee I currently have a stockpile of Starbucks Cafe Verona on hand thanks to a couple lucky eBay finds. I know what most of you are thinking- Starbucks is overrated, burnt, unnecessarily expensive coffee for naive people. Well maybe so, but this particular type is really good for what my wife & I like. And with a little luck and good timing I score it cheap on eBay, cheaper than Maxwell House in the grocery store.

I brew 1 scoop per cup of water. Whether 2 cups or 12, it's one per. People think I'm crazy. The S-bucks Verona is dark without being burnt, especially nice as strong as I brew it.

For my Kuerig I only ever buy "Barista Prima, french roast" K Cups. It's strooong! Strongest I've found and I've tried them all. You can brew a large cup and it's still strong. No other brand I've found can do that on a Keurig.

I was a black coffee drinker up to about a year or 2 ago. Now I appreciate a little shot of half n half.

What's your brew, and how do you do it?

[bbantel]

Coffee...oh goodness, don't get me started. I believe that Kuerigs are an abomination and Starbucks coffee is "burned for consistency."

If I have the forethought, I brew Toddy. I go to a local roaster and buy what they have recently roasted that has a "bright," fruit/floral tones (i.e. Yirgacheffe) or a chocolatey espresso roast. I buy 1/2lb of it, grind most of it coarse in my burr grinder, a bit coarser than french press if possible. I put between 1/3-1/2lb of the grounds into a organic cotton pouch (cheese cloth works) and let it sit in a gallon of filtered water, in the refrigerator for 20 hours (low and slow brewing, ha!). Then a drink it black. Brewing it this way is supposed to leave a lot of the oils and acidity behind leaving you with a much more elegant cup of joe. If you want it hot, just put it in the microwave, it doesn't spoil like regularly brewed coffee does.

If I didn't have forethought, I'll brew french press with approximately 1tbs per 8oz cup. Coarse grind again. Drink it black, again (I've been drinking it black since I was 8!)

If I have 0 planning, I'll get a non-fat Latte at Starbucks ...., unless I'm near a local place.

I really want to get one of the Chemex drip brewers. A local place uses them and the coffee it produces is amazing.

[bbantel]

Jon - I have roasted, but in an old air popcorn popper. Not the most exact, since your roasting by sound! I would LOVE a 1lb drum coffee roaster to roast my own.

Huskee - if I get the chance, I'll try BP. Don't get me wrong, I know why people like KCups, but, meh, there is a much bigger and tastier world out there.

[carolts]

The Toddy makes amazing concentrate...I especially like using it for tea as the basis for iced tea in the summer. Hibiscus tea in particular is a favorite. Cold brewing makes a much less acid cup of coffee and is killer with some of the more chocolate-tinged coffees.

[Atalanta]

Our Kenya is lightly roasted with the bright fruity notes you mention. We just changed our Ethiopian to Sidamo which we may stick with for a while.

[Huskee]

I'll get some guff for this I'm sure....but McDonald's makes a pretty decent mocha, I order it with an extra espresso shot for $.50 extra. I actually like them better than Sbucks mocha. [dodges tomatoes thrown by McD's haters]

[_Keith]

A few years ago McDonald's realized that it was losing a fair share of its morning crowd to other places primarily because of their coffee. So they switched to Newman's Own organic coffee, at least in the Northeast US

[Pirate Scott]

I like McDonald's Coffee, and it's only a Dollar for a large! I am on the road a lot some it's a big Savings.

[Zman23]

I have a Saeco automatic espresso machine for my daily fix. In the summer, I brew it over ice. Sometimes I'll make a mocha (hot or iced). When I make a pot of coffee, it is 1 scoop per cup. Always black. I recently tried cold brewed coffee. I soaked 1 cup of coffee in 3 cups of water in the fridge overnight. Strain and mix that with hot or cold water to taste. It was pretty smooth but takes a little time and effort!

[_Keith]

Fresh ground, french press every morning, and I'll tell you why. As I've mentioned elsewhere, my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Jamaica. Te owner of the hostel where we stayed our first few days brewd us a cup of the most wonderful coffee, and told us it was "Jamaican High Mountain coffee". She said that Blue Mountain is considered better, but she actually prefers High Mountain. So we bought a few pounds to bring home. I ground some up and stored it, and a couple days later we made a pot in the drip coffee maker. All of the subtlety, texture, and mouth-feel was gone. We couldn't figure it out; had we gotten the wrong brand? Had we been suckered as tourists and sold something else? Then I remembered the French press she used to make it. So I went out and bought one, and we gave it a shot. What a difference! I looked around for what else I could do to make the best possible cup of coffee, and picked up a burr mill and started grinding fresh right before making a cup. It even makes a huge difference with the Dunkin Donuts beans we bought!
We've long since run out of the beans we brought back from Jamaica, but we've found a small roaster/cafe that imports it. They're only four hours away...

[_Keith]

Oh, and regarding Keurigs: My wife has one, and has the little adapter that lets you use your own coffee. She likef it because of the convenience. Then one day (this was before our Jamaican epiphany) she had some of mine and commented on how strong it was. I told her that I use 50% less coffee per cup in the drip maker than she does in the Keurig. That thing makes weak-assed coffee, and it's stored away collecting dust.

[David Parrish]

I'll get some guff for this I'm sure....but McDonald's makes a pretty decent mocha, I order it with an extra espresso shot for $.50 extra. I actually like them better than Sbucks mocha. [dodges tomatoes thrown by McD's haters]

We like the same brand of K-Cup. This is my favorite:

[Huskee]

BP is hard to beat, actually I don't think it can be beat. I used to like Timothy's Parisian Nights and Emeril's Big Easy Bold, but they began to be quite inconsistent...

[Pit Master Apprentice]

I use a cheap Black & Decker coffee grinder to pulverize some 8 O'Clock Colombian Peaks beans, and brew it in a $15 12-cup Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker. For those who are looking for a very nice, inexpensive whole bean coffee, you can't go wrong with 8 O'Clock. Consumer reports has given it good ratings in the past, and I personally like it.

[Pirate Scott]

That's our Brand, good stuff.

[bocefuss]

I grind my own beans. I like 8 o'clock Colombian Peaks brand, like PMA above, that I buy in bulk on Amazon. The equipment is a Capresso burr grinder and a Bonavita drip pot with a stainless steel coffee filter. I do have a french press too & use it from time to time. I add 1/2t of Ceylon cinnamon and a small pinch of salt to the grounds before brewing.

[bocefuss]

Also, the K-cups are becoming very popular and are displacing whole beans from my grocers shelves I now buy beans from Amazon using Prime & a subscription to save >50% from HEB (local grocer)... no shipping or tax too.

[Pit Master Apprentice]

I'll have to think about getting bulk beans from Amazon too. My Sam's Club only carries the regular beans in bulk. Amazon Prime is a great way to save much of the time. Good idea.

[_Keith]

I love to add a pinch of hot pepper into the French press. Not enough to make it hot, but enough to make it interesting!

[Huskee]

Interesting for sure, never heard of that before.

[Jon Solberg]

Well huskee you know I roast my own coffee. I buy green beans and hand roast. I'm by no means a snob at all. Verona is a good stout starbucks. Your ratio is good. Its like BBQ your taste is your taste.

I french press, aeropress, asian drip with with pass brewing, drip, percolator and even go to starbucks Via when ice fishing with the help of a jet boil. My K cup experience is limited. All are good. BUT if you really want a good cup home roast is the way to go. I know its a re run of me roasting an early batch of homebrew.

http://vimeo.com/93082959

Link box and Vimeo are at war btw


Oh and I like it Black or with cream or with cream and raw suger or with powdered creamer or with crown or with... for infinitum I LOVE COFFEE

I burr grind, blade grinder, nutri bullet grind, beat the pooh out of it with a rolling pin , scope it already ground. Whatever it take LOVE COFFEE

What you have going on is GREAT. Don't let posiers tell you otherwise.

[Cheef]

BONUS when you home roast is--eat them like candy or chocolate coat them. Hot Top roaster here.

[Marauderer]

Having served in The Navy for 30 yrs I am used to strong coffee that is just black with nothing added. All I get at home is K cups and that is just fine as I only drink 1-2 cp/day now. My wife and I have some of the best. The best to us was a 1975 Jamaica Blue Mountain we bought in a specialty coffee shop Honolulu, HI. I think a 1 lb bag back then was over $10. It was great and was gone in a week. And that was just for a special after supper coffee.

[Livermoron]

Former Coastie here. Same deal...coffee strong enough to float a nail...

[David S]

I have a DeLonghi Super Automatic Espresso machine. All my coffee at home runs through that. If I had the inclination and time, I'd run a Mazzer grinder and a good semi-automatic. Too much work. I keep an Aerobie Aeropress and a Kyocera ceramic hand grinder in my motorhome. The Aeropress makes a super cup of coffee. I tend to like Yirgacheffe or other chocolatey/fruity beans. Unfortunately, I don't get out to get fresh beans as much as I should, so I often drink Newhall Coffee company columbian, which I can pick up at Sam's Club in 2lb bags.

[Jon Solberg]

agreed hard to beat a aeropress.

[PenskeFile]

+1 on aeropress. I've gone through many types of brew prep and found the Aeropress to be best. I have not yet tried the inverted method because the normal way is so good.

Aeropress makes a great, strong brew with very little acidity. It's quick and cleans up easily.

[Bill P]

I grind a mixture of Cafe Pajaro and decaf French roast from Trader Joes. Brew with a cone filter or drip machine. Take it black. Like espresso when I can get it.

[ramzi]

I just got the membership here. Never thought this place would discuss coffee but here goes. I am not a fan of Starbucks (as noted earlier it tasted burned!). I like Pete's coffee, Vermont Coffee, or a local roaster in town. I have to disagree with most of the recipes here, one should not brew coffee by volume, but by weight. Get your self a scale, a burr grinder (there is one on Amazon for under $40 which pretty good), and a french press. This is from my notes:
Equipment required scale, french press, burr grinder, pot for boiling water Note: The scale is the key part. The coffee must be weighed as should the water. One can't use volume because the density of the coffee decreases the longer it's roasted (darker roasts!)The density of water also decreases the higher the temperature (95% @ 100 deg C vs 4 deg C)
1) start boiling the water
2) use a French press, fill it with hottest tap water to preheat it. Wrap it in a kitchen towel to insulate it.
3) fill the coffee carafe with the hottest tap water to pre heat it.
4) grind (use the coarsest setting on your burr grinder) the coffee
5) weigh the coffee, for every 1g of coffee, you will need 17g of water.
6) when the water boils, dump out the hot tap water from the French press
7) put the french press on the scale, zero, and pour in the coffee. zero again. Keep the press on the scale.
7A) turn off the boiling and pour in just enough water to soak the grounds. Stir and start the timer (3:00 minutes)pour in the rest of the required water.
8) stir break up the crust. Cover and wait for the timer Note: The water needs to be between 190-195 during the steeping process. The longer the water is in that temperature range the better. I have found that wrapping a kitchen towel around it, helps delay cooling
9) just before the timer expires, pour out the water from the carafe.
10) when the timer expires stir the coffee to break up the crust, this eases pushing the plunger
11) press the plunger and pour out the coffee in the carafe.
12) seal the carafe and serve. Remember it maybe still too hot. Wait a little to drink.