Coffee

[UkingViking]

That is interesting. I've been watching Comedians in Cars drinking Coffee, the Seinfeld thing... and was a bit shocked to see so much mokka pot/cafetiere type coffee there is in the USA; I wondered if Europe has become the coffee fusspot base. But I'd agree. Forgetting about the grains getting through bit, it's substantially less good coffee than a pressurised espresso type feed, or filter.

Well, you can hardly generalize over such big areas as Europe or the US. I guess all major cities have neighborhoods where there are lots of cafes and/or people with the taste for and means to buy fancy coffee.

In the last 20 or so years home espresso makers with or without pods, and with or without authentic pressure during brewing. Not sure how big a part of home coffee brewing this has switched to this. Traditionally most coffee in Denmark, and probably most of Northern Europe, has been filter coffee. The MoccaMaster style drip filter brewers are very popular still. In Meditarranian Europe, I believe that the moka pot reigns supreme.
I do think a moka pot makes for a nice potent latte, but it is a little too harsh for me to drink it neat

 

[DuckyI]

I love coffee but I've been cutting down to about three cups a day from double that over the past twenty years. At home we mostly use a stovetop espresso maker (a steel Bialetti) which we fill with boiling water, and are careful not to boil the coffee or scald it with steam. Leads to a great espresso which I elongate with some water and my wife drinks with milk. We generally stick to Lavazza Red, as it's cheap and a great roast for a stovetop pot.

We also sometimes make a filter pour-over coffee if we have a nice flavourful coffee from a specialty shop, a nice Indonesian or Ethiopian coffee for example, but that's a special occasion thing. I love a good espresso from a high end machine, but I wouldn't want the burden of owning one, cleaning it etc. I'll just get it when out and about. Coffee can be an expensive hobby if you let it - I've got enough of those already!

 

[pmorey]

I tried it for a short time, but still couldn't get into drinking hot.

I certainly get that - from Memorial Day to Labor Day we switch to cold brew. If you ever have the desire, this is the brewer we use, and it is excellent.

 

[fowl]

Sometime also try the pinon coffee from the New Mexico coffee co. Really nice flavor. Buy 2lb bags and the second one is half price.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

TOTALLY off the OP topic ... my SIL is driven mental by all the beeping noises that their appliances make in the morning when her husband is getting his breakfast prepared. She suspects he buys these appliance gadgets specifically for the beeping, not for their supposed functionality.

We are coffee snobs here, I guess. There are a few local roasters that we get whole beans from for our low-end Saeco. And at the community cafe I volunteer at, we have a very fancy schmancy espresso machine and we just use one of the local roasters for that, too (different roaster, though, than what we use at home). When we make bulk perc coffee for events, we use the Costco Kirkland ground and it seems to be quite popular.

My husband isn't picky, though - if it's caffeinated and remotely coffee-like, he'll drink it. I mean, he prefers good tasting coffee, but he really doesn't mind when caffeine is the top priority.

By the way - what is the price pain point on coffee for you folks? I have no idea...

US $6.59 for 16 oz container, sometimes BOGO at Publix. Unfortunately no other local grocer stocks the “simply smooth” variety of Folgers which is the kind we mutually prefer. No brand is under $4.50.

 

[Patty]

By the way - what is the price pain point on coffee for you folks? I have no idea...

We get a 10.5 oz. (297 g) bag of Peet’s Maj. Dickason’s Blend Dark Roast beans at Publix for $8.99, or $7.99 if it’s on sale.

 

[Charles Guy]

Peets Dark Roast House Blend Decaf or for a really deep taste Starbucks Decaf Verona. Decaf as the Mrs. has BP issues (comes from living with me for 43 years). I usually have a box of whatever dark roast k cups are on sale for myself.

Usually I start the day with a large (16 -24 oz) travel mug with two or three bags of Tetley Irish Breakfast blend steeped for 5 - 7 minutes then a splash of cream/milk. Liquid jumper cables.

 

[Patty]

An off-topic memory. When we lived in NYC, a major brand was Chock Full-o-Nuts. I didn’t care for the coffee but loved the can, which featured a colorful skyline of Manhattan. Soon after 9/11, I noticed that the company had quietly removed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center from the skyline. I thought that was a hateful thing to do. I found an outdated can in a grocery store, dumped the coffee, and saved the can.

 

[Mike $]

By the way - what is the price pain point on coffee for you folks? I have no idea...

While I don't like using the term "price point" unless I'm pointing at a graph in the boardroom, I would say that I could go as high as $8.99, maybe even $9.00 for 12oz of ground coffee. Right now I'm sitting on a 12oz bag of Great Value (Walmart budget brand), Colombian brew that I got for about $4.50. When compared to 15.9oz worth of K-Cup of the same coffee for $16.50, I am happy to pay a bit more than 5 bucks for good ground coffee.

 

[badhabits]

Remember when a bag of coffee was actually a pound?

 

[about2]

We're lucky . . . our grand-daughter is living with us . . . and she works at Starbucks. Her rent is a bag of Starbucks Coffee per week. We are stocking up! Our favorite is whatever she brings home.

 

[rainbow21]

I have a "Small batch" monthly subscription to Peet's. It runs about $19 to $22 for a pound with free delivery. They have some really good batches (Super Ethiopian, Sumatra Blue Batak...). If great, I will order another couple of pounds before the month is over. I brew it using a Kalita 185 pour over.

Each month, Peet's has a few 15%or 20% mail order discount. This can be combined (not for the monthly subscription) with gift cards from Costco that are 20% off, bringing the price for a true full pound to about $14, delivered to your door.

 

[TerryM]

I have a "Small batch" monthly subscription to Peet's. It runs about $19 to $22 for a pound with free delivery. They have some really good batches (Super Ethiopian, Sumatra Blue Batak...).....

I'm 3 months into a Peet's Small Batch monthly subscription too. I add a pound of decaf at 10% off to the order and usually have a half and half mix in the mornings.

I also buy from some local roasters and have found several varieties I like as well as Peet's. Our downtown Peet's store, which was only 6 blocks from my house, recently closed; hence the subscription.

 

[Yukio]

Also off-topic (Sorry, but I can't help myself.)
I was an espresso machine mechanic for many years. I loved that job. I worked for a small company in Santa Cruz servicing machines from Marin County, SF, San Jose, Monterey, and all the way south into Big Sur. Eventually I worked for Starbucks out of SF, servicing their equipment right up to the point where they were getting rid of all their traditional LaMarzocco machines and went to the fully automatic machines (not a fan.) Short straight expressos were my drink of choice and, since I had to test coffee extraction parameters, I drank plenty of them. But these days, I have kicked coffee completely. I got frustrated with the whole game, especially with capsule coffee being served a lot where I am. Ugh. I quit cold turkey two years ago (surprisingly painful!) and haven't gone back.

 

[ksiegel]

That is a KICK of caffeine! We just do two shots from our fancy-pants espresso machine at our community cafe, and people comment on how strong that is.

only about 375 mg of caffeine. Not too different that a Ventii (20 oz) coffee... maybe even less caffeine.

 

[hendulele]

I’ve always preferred Peet’s, but it’s pricey. Seattle’s Best darkest blends are a decent substitute for a lot less $$$.

 

[ksiegel]

An off-topic memory. When we lived in NYC, a major brand was Chock Full-o-Nuts. I didn’t care for the coffee but loved the can, which featured a colorful skyline of Manhattan. Soon after 9/11, I noticed that the company had quietly removed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center from the skyline. I thought that was a hateful thing to do. I found an outdated can in a grocery store, dumped the coffee, and saved the can.

Not so much hateful - some people had PTSD reactions to the images of the towers.

After my last deployment there( Well, after the last funeral I went to...), it took close to 10 years before I could return to Manhattan. I still won't go to the Memorial.

The images of the towers, the planes, the collapses; Luckily for me that was all on a TV screen. The collapsed buildings, the digging, the sparks from the torches and saws, the mud, the mangled fire apparatus... That was all real, and the closer I get to West & Vessy, the more real everything becomes again.

Sorry for the Debbie Downer moment

I prefer my coffee from a Chemex. It takes a while to prepare, but it is sooooooo good!

I'd also suggest anyone who loves coffee and has the time, and spare cash, find a place that does a Siphon.

It is worth it, for the flavor of the coffee, and the Theater.

 

[Mike $]

I went to Walmart today and picked up a bag of Lavazza coffee. I am looking forward to finishing off the cheap walmart brand coffee (which ain't too bad) before opening the new bag. I hate having multiple open bags of coffee sitting around. I will miss that about the K-cups, but will rejoice on the huge savings of bagged coffee.

 

[RickRad]

I have a Nesspresso Vertuo machine and love the coffee it makes. It's a little more pricey per cup, but it is better than many coffee shop brews and they send you prepaid bags to save the aluminum pods to be sent back for recycling. Each cup is freshly brewed and tasty and they have lots of variety. I rarely buy a cup of coffee from a shop.

 

[TerryM]

I have a Nesspresso Vertuo machine and love the coffee it makes. It's a little more pricey per cup, but it is better than many coffee shop brews and they send you prepaid bags to save the aluminum pods to be sent back for recycling. Each cup is freshly brewed and tasty and they have lots of variety. I rarely buy a cup of coffee from a shop.

We use Peet's cartridges in a Nespresso machine for espressos and lattes (not sure model but the smaller pods). You can get them at Costco and Safeway for less than the Nespresso brand, and the coffee is at least as good.