How do you make your coffee? (and Keurig Qs)

Wouldn't buy Keurig (or equivalent) for home use, but love it at the car dealership and my dentist's waiting room!

Zigzacly.

I make coffee using a number of methods:

Farberware percolator for costco columbian grounds

Bodum french press for the higher quality grounds

and

bialetti mokka (stove top pseudo-espresso maker) for when I want to go euro

I prefer the french press because it allows you to control the water temperature, extraction level, grounds amount, and it produces the most nuanced taste.

Although hardcore coffee enthusiasts use one tablespoon of ground per 4 ounces of water, use 200F water, and only allow 4 minute steeping, I like using water just shy of boiling and allow a longer steeping time- sometimes up to 10 minutes. But, I use 1 tablespoon per 10 ounces so there is no over-extraction. This also lowers the rate of coffee ground usage.

I can't ever see myself using such a resource-wasteful and expensive method that is the keurig.

This thing sounds great, improves on the traditional cone/filter pourover...

http://www.amazon.com/ABID-CO-LTD-C-708 ... B0047W70GY

Has a shutoff valve that releases the coffe into the cup after your self determined amount of brew time (they recommend 4 minutes).

[Jenise]

II prefer the french press because it allows you to control the water temperature, extraction level, grounds amount, and it produces the most nuanced taste.
.

Sure agree about most nuanced taste, Daniel. Bob and I were happy with our Krug drip maker for years, but once we started making French Press we couldn't go back. We'd lost the taste for it.

I'm interested in your Farberware percolater, though. Pretty interesting that you can swing from that to French Press and back again, and I'm impressed to know that one of those is still in use.

I know I am in the minority, but I always find Bodum coffee to be a bit muddy due to the fine particulates that get through the screen. And, yes I've played around with the grind, temperature, and other variables trying to make a cup that blows me away, with no luck.

Anyone here try vacuum brewing? I've had a few excellent cups from this method, but don't really want to buy any more gear than what I have now....

I know I am in the minority, but I always find Bodum coffee to be a bit muddy due to the fine particulates that get through the screen. And, yes I've played around with the grind, temperature, and other variables trying to make a cup that blows me away, with no luck.

Anyone here try vacuum brewing? I've had a few excellent cups from this method, but don't really want to buy any more gear than what I have now....

I've heard good things about vacuum brewing as well, but have never tried it. I'd be interested in others' experience with this as well.

I've heard good things about vacuum brewing as well, but have never tried it. I'd be interested in others' experience with this as well.

I've had a few cups of vacuum brewed coffee in some fancy coffee bars and it was very interesting. Of course, the beans were excellent, so it is hard to say if it was just the brewing method. But most of the vacuum setups I see now are odd little glass things with alcohol burners, looking more like lab equipment than something I'd want to deal with first thing in the morning. I think Hamilton Beach actually made a fairly convenient electric vacuum brewers several years ago, which, for awhile, was sought after by some geeks. And there was a Starbucks/Bodum unit which was more widely available, but doesn't seem to appear on Starbuck's website.

I know I am in the minority, but I always find Bodum coffee to be a bit muddy due to the fine particulates that get through the screen. And, yes I've played around with the grind, temperature, and other variables trying to make a cup that blows me away, with no luck.

Anyone here try vacuum brewing? I've had a few excellent cups from this method, but don't really want to buy any more gear than what I have now....

Try using a coarser grind. Most commercial ground coffee are made for drips with filters.

Daniel,

Believe me, I've tried a coarser grind. I think the issue is the particle size distribution: there will be some mean value and tails to the min and max. The fine grounds always seem to wind up in the cup.

[Jenise]

They were demonstrating a Keurig type machine at Costco today. Forty-four cents per little coffee thingie. They claimed it made five cups of coffee, but the output for anything decent-tasting would been about two standard coffee mugs, about 28 ounces.

Forty-four cents per little coffee thingie.

I guess my estimate of $30 per lb was way under.

Daniel,

Believe me, I've tried a coarser grind. I think the issue is the particle size distribution: there will be some mean value and tails to the min and max. The fine grounds always seem to wind up in the cup.

If there is an issue of size distribution, perhaps you need a better grinder? make sure it has burr blades that are heat resistant. From what I hear, it's worth it to get a good (i.e. $100, or at least more than the simple $20 ones)grinder.

I happen to love the slightly muddy consistency of french press coffee.

On the topic of coffee, starbucks is always an interesting issue.

People who don't know coffee - but think they do - LOVE Starbucks. The hardcore coffee enthusiasts love to disdain Starbucks and only go for Intellegencia or Stumptown or the like (you know who you are!).

In any case, I had a really good experience at a Starbucks in Washington Heights, Manhattan. As a person who hardly ever goes to Starbucks (not because I turn my nose up but because I don't like their coffee), I recently found out on coffee blogs that you can order "off" the menu. So, I asked if they had Italian roast and Sumatra beans and asked the difference between them. I had them freshly grind Sumatra beans and then asked them to use a french press.

I asked the employee what temperature water she used and she said the machine used produces water somewhere between 180 and 200 (200F being ideal so as not to under or over extract the flavor from the beans). She said she had to eyeball the weight of grinds because she didn't have a scale. She then used a timer and steeped the beans for 4 minutes.

The finished product was a slightly muddy (which I love) cup that was earthy and full bodied, with no acidity. (I don't care for acidic or "bright" coffee.) Of course, I did not add anything to the coffee- no sugar or milk/creamer/soy. (It kind of defeats the purpose of a french press to add anything to the coffee. It's sort of like chilling a really expensive bottle of dry red wine- you won't taste or smell all the nuances.)

The best part - the price was the same as a drip coffee that they have "on tap." (Another benefit of french press is that you don't get the coffee boiling hot that it burns your tongue and that you can't taste the nuances. Yes, some tastes only appear when the temperature declines. Regular starbucks coffee is so hot I have to wait to drink it the time it would take to press it!)

I relate all this to you so you know that there are things for which you can ask at starbucks that are not on the menu. (For example, you can ask for an 8oz cup even though they list 12oz as the smallest size, or you can order a small and ask for it in a medium size cup so you don't have to spill anything out in order to add milk.)

Happy drinking.

Burr ground, drip coffee maker, then into a sealed thermos flask so it doesn't sit there stewing and losing flavour.

Had my first Nespresso last night. Eh. Seems similar to K-Cups just with more chic packaging.

Thanks for the off-the-menu Starbucks story. If I do into Starbucks I am often in a hurry but I will have to ask about getting a French Press cup someday.