Here we go. The thread for all things coffee. New toys, questions, @Breadmaker making a Starbucks run maybe, bean recommendations. All welcome. Just no tea discussion, or I will strike you.
First thought: if you’re looking for good beans I 100% stand behind Repetition Coffee in Lawrence, Kansas. They take orders until I think Monday night, then roast Tuesday and ship Wednesday. So by the time your beans arrive they have released enough gas and are just ready for brewing. Good shop run by good people.
That’s right, only water. I thought it was just no caffeine. I haven’t kept up with everything, busy with work and a new porch. So look for that in the Home Improvement thread at some point.
Bringing over a few posts from the other thread to respond to.
100%. I have in my mind that an espresso should be dark, but stops short of the burnt flavors that come with a French roast. Also, Starbucks seems to be 2-3 steps (of ~10) darker than their labeling suggests. Their blonde roast seems like a solid medium roast. In general, I see Starbucks and think “no thanks”.
One of my favorite coffees I can remember making at home was from the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe region by a local roaster. This was 15 years ago, and I have not found one similar since then. It was a very light roast, and had a very nice fruity berry flavor. I drank it black as any amount of milk or cream would cover up the flavors. This is probably the coffee that really sparked an appreciation of regions and roasts. Prior to that, i throught dark was better and my parents folgers was crap.
Coffeemakers:
My long time brewer is a Technivorm Moccamaster. I have had this for about 15 years now. Its a bare bones drip coffeemaker with the thermal carafe. At the time it was one of the few SCA certified brewers available. For $300, you get an on/off switch, and a manual stop on the filter basket. That’s it.
The coffee that came out was amazing. Something that you can drink straight without sugar or cream. I was able to appreciate the unique flavors of different coffees and regions. Flavored coffees like hazelnut or vanilla became a bit of joke. Those exist to make coffee drinkable coming out of a crappy machine.
$300 seemed like a lot for basic functionality, but I can also say that now that it has lasted 15 years, its a bargain compared to $50 machines that stop working every few years. Important note: I believe my local water is important for this as I get little to no visible mineral buildup on things like electric tea kettles.
Espresso - I found a Breville Barista Pro on FB marketplace for $400. I wasn’t sure about jumping in to this world and did not want to commit $1000 to it. This is a good route to take as a lot of people buy expensive machines and find they do not use them. The 50% off price point is one that will move fast on FB.
Normally drink decaf. At home, that has meant Green Mountain Dark Magic decaf, a dark roast. But this week local supermarket has a special on Green Mountain Breakfast Blend, a light roast. With reservations, I bought one box and am trying it today. Tentative conclusion, about as good should buy more. Still have tomorrow to decide; sale ends Saturday.
Technical note: difference is actually 32 count unit price vs 12 count unit price. Both on sale, sale differential better on 32. Breakfast blend is the only decaf they have in 32. Wife wants dark roast caffeinated. Would slightly prefer Double Diamond, it comes only in 12. She was glad I got her the only 32 count Dark Magic regular they had yesterday. She usually stocks up when on sale, normally with some Dark Magic and some Double Diamond if same price. She may want me to get a box or two of Double Diamond tomorrow if no Dark Magic 32.
You wish there was Dunkin because you like to buy their coffee in shop? Costco near me sells 150-cup containers of their original blend, which is what we drink, at least when we’re drinking drip. Is that not what you’re looking for, though?
Right now I have 3 coffee makers, but the only one that gets used is the aeropress. I use the aeropress daily, and my wife doesn’t drink coffee. We have a drip coffee maker that only gets pulled out if we have lots of guests that will want coffee. Family Christmas breakfast is usually the only time it gets used. I also have a Moka pot I had in college. Hasn’t been used for at least 10 years.
100% I am glad I discovered the brewer when I did. I feel bad for even putting a decent coffee in the coffeemaker I had before it.
I bought my SO a decent stainless carafe brewer shortly after we started dating, I think it was $100 and had a programmable timer and all that, great reviews on amazon. I broke that out of storage once during covid thinking my Technivorm was going out, did a side by side comparison, and nope, the technivorm was still knocking it out of the park (I think it may have just been some stale coffee).
I suspect other SCA certified brewers can make a good pot of coffee as well. It’s just different.
