mcdonalds is very consistent, dunno who knows tim hortons here but they have good coffee buts its so fucken inconsistent it pisses me off.
Coffee thread
- Thread starter Kovaks
- Start date
We have Dunkins in MA every half mile pretty much. Their coffee is terrible and I'm sincerely not a coffee snob. It's so bad...
McCheese
SW: Sean, CW: Crone, GW: Wizardhawk
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Does anyone use a combo automatic coffee maker + grinder? (for example:this one)
I drink 5 - 10 cups of black coffee a day at work, and I'd like to get something for home that I can use on the weekends. I'm not too keen on manually grinding the beans and using a French press, so I'd prefer an automatic solution. Mainly, I want something that will make a good cup of coffee and also won't grind so loudly that it wakes up the entire house.
I drink 5 - 10 cups of black coffee a day at work, and I'd like to get something for home that I can use on the weekends. I'm not too keen on manually grinding the beans and using a French press, so I'd prefer an automatic solution. Mainly, I want something that will make a good cup of coffee and also won't grind so loudly that it wakes up the entire house.
Pasteton
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Unlike Europeans, we Americans drink coffee because we have to work, also unlike Europeans, so sometimes we end up drinking more. I personally find Starbucks best for convenience, as McDonald's flavored lattes tend to be a bit on the too sweet side.
Not sure if they have philz coffee outside of sf but that's my goto when I feel like snobbin it up. Blue bottle and 4 barrel are also far superior to sb.
Something about peet's doesn't sit well with me - its like their beans or over roasted? Or something
Not sure if they have philz coffee outside of sf but that's my goto when I feel like snobbin it up. Blue bottle and 4 barrel are also far superior to sb.
Something about peet's doesn't sit well with me - its like their beans or over roasted? Or something
lurker
Vyemm Raider
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I'm not sure what your objection is to grinding. Maybe you don't like doing it everyday, which I understand, or maybe you just don't like doing it at all. Don't know, but I'll offer what I do and maybe it will work for you.
I use a burr grinder on Saturdays to grind a week's worth of beans and I store that in an airtight jar. Then I use one of these: Eko-Brew
and a Keurig to brew a cup. Since beans are fresher and cheaper, and the eko-brew cup is essentially forever, and I'm making only one cup when I want it and not a whole pot, I'm getting a fresh and cheap cup of coffee.
YMMV,
Eric
Whether you grind with a standalone grinder or one built into a coffee maker, it's going to make noise. I looked into getting an integrated one and the consensus was that they like to clog/jam/need complicated cleaning. So I got a decent grinder and a decent coffee maker. Probably could have skipped the grinder and just buy preground crap. For me, coffee doesn't need to be a decadent experience, I just want cheap caffeine.
My roommate got a keuring a while back so we have been drinking that for a bit. At first I kind of liked the convenience but recently got sick of the taste. Went out and got some beans from F&E today and fired up the burr grinder, man what a difference in taste. Nothing beats fresh ground beans even if the beans themselves aren't that fresh.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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for me you need the absolute basics, stuff you can control and that's 2 things
1. water
2. beans
i put water first because like 90% of what you're drinking is water anyway, so have good water, now you don't have to pour evian down the coffee machine everytime you make something, a cheap brita pitcher for 15 bucks will turn tap water into, good enough.
what these filters do is just remove a bit of clorine and particulates, i mean you get your water from pipes that are 10s or 20s or maybe even 100 years old, you're gonna have particulates in there.
a simpleHM Digital TDS-EZ Water Quality TDS Tester, 0-9990 ppm Measurement Range, 1 ppm Resolution, +/- 3% Readout Accuracy - Amazon.com
will tell you how much particulates you got, heck if your tap water tastes metallic, or your hair after a shower is a big lump (your wives/gf's will be the first to tell you the water sucks) at least you'll know that much. (i.e. hard water)
when i travel, i make my coffee with water bottles tho. (it's just easier)
beans... you know imo as long as they are whole beans and in those airtight bags (not the paper mache kind) with that little plastic knob at the top (all bagged coffees that are airtight sealed have this, this is so that co2 gases can escape the bag, and not burst the bag after a few months storage i think, plus less co2 gassey taste i guess) it's all good.
again i said whole bean, preground is shit, you can't treat coffee like day old refidgerated pizza, when you make coffee, you gotta have whole beans and grind them minutes before brew, the instant a bean is ground, it's on a timer of death.
so to make my life easy when i travel my coffee pack is usually
1 aeropress
1 hario mini (it fits right inside the aeropress)
paper filters (i'm not really a paper snob, and i actually hate sludge and grinds in my coffee)
i'll buy bottled water (or a jug) at the destination grocerystore and see if there's a big supermarket that carries whole bean bagged coffee. (or really, i could just buy my own unopened bag and take it with me, if i know the destination and some places really don't care whole beans, they'll always have ground tho)
after that it's all manual stuff for me at home.
i don't take milk with my coffee (it's black or a tiny bit of cream for me) but if a friend comes over, i have milk or parmalot around. i don't have an espresso machine any more (tired of the tamping, knocking... blah blah) so if they want frothed milk, i'll put the milk in my bodum french press, microwave it put the cover on and pump it up and down for like 30s, get's pretty frothy.
(i use the french press for frothing, brewing/serving tea and if some oddball wants french pressed coffee, it's there, it's pretty versatile)
i mean thats half the cost of those high end pro-sumer espresso machines anyway, they have double boilers and shit just so you can steam milk at the same time
otherwise you can just get thisCapresso frothPRO : Amazon.com : Kitchen Dining
and it'll froth and heat up your milk for you, unattended, those froth wands (bodum has a wand attachment also) require attention and holding a button, the capresso doesn't.
and for a grinder i just use the bigger hario with a nut and hand drill mod, you don't "need" a 500 dollar grinder, it does look better than a hario attached to a hand drill tho, ha.
aeropress/melitta/hario60 (sometimes the moka) is what i use at home, no big crazy machines anymore. actually i stayed at a marriott got used to the cheap ass 15$ mr coffee, it dripped pretty well and it just had 1 button, on/off, and the way it drips/percolates it kind of blooms the grinds pretty well, i saw passed by it while i was blackfriday shopping and just got it, it works nice... altho the brewing temp isn't ideal. it's at 170f, it really should be 200f (snobs say 202f, fucking christ), so i just put in half room temp water and half already boiled kettle water, comes out 190ish.
i think i'll get an espresso machine again soon, i think imo as long as it's a pump (not steam, pump = more bar pressure but of course costs more)
i'm thinking about this
De Dining
the most entry level pump around, reviews are good, it is of course not fancy, it's not even a single boiler, it uses a thermo block (or coils) pretty sure the basket is pressurized, my grinds are good enough that i won't need the pressurized basket, and i think you can mod it out.
coffee imo is about control, with that i have a basic digital scale, heck you should have one anyone if you cook for measurement and if you're a baker, necessity (i think mine is one for mail, it's pretty old)
a water tester
and a temp gun, to measure heat. (i actually need a real temp gun, i'm just using some radio shack gun my wife had lying around and it maxes out at 200, it says high, ha)
1. water
2. beans
i put water first because like 90% of what you're drinking is water anyway, so have good water, now you don't have to pour evian down the coffee machine everytime you make something, a cheap brita pitcher for 15 bucks will turn tap water into, good enough.
what these filters do is just remove a bit of clorine and particulates, i mean you get your water from pipes that are 10s or 20s or maybe even 100 years old, you're gonna have particulates in there.
a simpleHM Digital TDS-EZ Water Quality TDS Tester, 0-9990 ppm Measurement Range, 1 ppm Resolution, +/- 3% Readout Accuracy - Amazon.com
will tell you how much particulates you got, heck if your tap water tastes metallic, or your hair after a shower is a big lump (your wives/gf's will be the first to tell you the water sucks) at least you'll know that much. (i.e. hard water)
when i travel, i make my coffee with water bottles tho. (it's just easier)
beans... you know imo as long as they are whole beans and in those airtight bags (not the paper mache kind) with that little plastic knob at the top (all bagged coffees that are airtight sealed have this, this is so that co2 gases can escape the bag, and not burst the bag after a few months storage i think, plus less co2 gassey taste i guess) it's all good.
again i said whole bean, preground is shit, you can't treat coffee like day old refidgerated pizza, when you make coffee, you gotta have whole beans and grind them minutes before brew, the instant a bean is ground, it's on a timer of death.
so to make my life easy when i travel my coffee pack is usually
1 aeropress
1 hario mini (it fits right inside the aeropress)
paper filters (i'm not really a paper snob, and i actually hate sludge and grinds in my coffee)
i'll buy bottled water (or a jug) at the destination grocerystore and see if there's a big supermarket that carries whole bean bagged coffee. (or really, i could just buy my own unopened bag and take it with me, if i know the destination and some places really don't care whole beans, they'll always have ground tho)
after that it's all manual stuff for me at home.
i don't take milk with my coffee (it's black or a tiny bit of cream for me) but if a friend comes over, i have milk or parmalot around. i don't have an espresso machine any more (tired of the tamping, knocking... blah blah) so if they want frothed milk, i'll put the milk in my bodum french press, microwave it put the cover on and pump it up and down for like 30s, get's pretty frothy.
(i use the french press for frothing, brewing/serving tea and if some oddball wants french pressed coffee, it's there, it's pretty versatile)
i mean thats half the cost of those high end pro-sumer espresso machines anyway, they have double boilers and shit just so you can steam milk at the same time
otherwise you can just get thisCapresso frothPRO : Amazon.com : Kitchen Dining
and it'll froth and heat up your milk for you, unattended, those froth wands (bodum has a wand attachment also) require attention and holding a button, the capresso doesn't.
and for a grinder i just use the bigger hario with a nut and hand drill mod, you don't "need" a 500 dollar grinder, it does look better than a hario attached to a hand drill tho, ha.
aeropress/melitta/hario60 (sometimes the moka) is what i use at home, no big crazy machines anymore. actually i stayed at a marriott got used to the cheap ass 15$ mr coffee, it dripped pretty well and it just had 1 button, on/off, and the way it drips/percolates it kind of blooms the grinds pretty well, i saw passed by it while i was blackfriday shopping and just got it, it works nice... altho the brewing temp isn't ideal. it's at 170f, it really should be 200f (snobs say 202f, fucking christ), so i just put in half room temp water and half already boiled kettle water, comes out 190ish.
i think i'll get an espresso machine again soon, i think imo as long as it's a pump (not steam, pump = more bar pressure but of course costs more)
i'm thinking about this
De Dining
the most entry level pump around, reviews are good, it is of course not fancy, it's not even a single boiler, it uses a thermo block (or coils) pretty sure the basket is pressurized, my grinds are good enough that i won't need the pressurized basket, and i think you can mod it out.
coffee imo is about control, with that i have a basic digital scale, heck you should have one anyone if you cook for measurement and if you're a baker, necessity (i think mine is one for mail, it's pretty old)
a water tester
and a temp gun, to measure heat. (i actually need a real temp gun, i'm just using some radio shack gun my wife had lying around and it maxes out at 200, it says high, ha)
@lanx - A little rambly, but a good post overall.
I used to have a $600 pump espresso machine, but the results were too inconsistent for me, so I sold it and switched to Nespresso. If I ever get another home espresso machine, it'll have a double boiler.
I also used to hand pour coffee for my wife and I every morning (4 cups), but got tired of the fuss and just switched back to our old 12-cup Kitchen Aid. The difference in the resulting coffee is minimal (biggest difference being the reusable gold filter letting sludge through), but it's just less of a hassle at 5:30 in the morning.
I used to have a $600 pump espresso machine, but the results were too inconsistent for me, so I sold it and switched to Nespresso. If I ever get another home espresso machine, it'll have a double boiler.
I also used to hand pour coffee for my wife and I every morning (4 cups), but got tired of the fuss and just switched back to our old 12-cup Kitchen Aid. The difference in the resulting coffee is minimal (biggest difference being the reusable gold filter letting sludge through), but it's just less of a hassle at 5:30 in the morning.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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yea i used to hand pour melitta/v60 in the morning as well, that just took forever. actually living in a hotel with my wife for a month is why i got to using the cheap ass mr coffee and appreciating it. at first i'd mini hario grind to aeropress and use a melitta at the same time. then i got tired of grinding, saw a 10$ blade grinder and use that (it's actually pretty nice, i use it for a spice grinder now) to pregrind and then hario grind ha.
then i thought, this is silly, i'm using this mr coffee to boil water and it goes through this nice caraffe (i mean it's nice for a hotel, but it was a marriott). so i used my melitta filters ( you can sorta make those cone filters work with baskets by pressing them to form, worked pretty well) and since then at home, i just pre boil some water with my electric kettle, use my hario, put a filter in, fill up the tank in the mr coffee, and just switch it on, this all takes 1min, and i can go cook eggs or prep something else.
hell a replacement caraffe costs 10bucks, it's better for me to just buy a new machine for 15bucks.
then i thought, this is silly, i'm using this mr coffee to boil water and it goes through this nice caraffe (i mean it's nice for a hotel, but it was a marriott). so i used my melitta filters ( you can sorta make those cone filters work with baskets by pressing them to form, worked pretty well) and since then at home, i just pre boil some water with my electric kettle, use my hario, put a filter in, fill up the tank in the mr coffee, and just switch it on, this all takes 1min, and i can go cook eggs or prep something else.
hell a replacement caraffe costs 10bucks, it's better for me to just buy a new machine for 15bucks.
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Got this today and love it:Amazon.com: DeLonghi Silver Lattissima Plus Nespresso Capsule System: Kitchen Dining
I'm a latte drinker and it does a good job. You can adjust how much froth, milk, coffee it uses so you can customize it to taste.
I'm a latte drinker and it does a good job. You can adjust how much froth, milk, coffee it uses so you can customize it to taste.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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you guys interested in refilling the nespresso pods? there's a subjective (i say subjective cuz in the end the girl sells her companys pods) comparison
Nespresso Refillable, Reusable capsules Review: BigSis, Emohome, Ne-cap, Mycoffeestar, Capsulin - YouTube
(there's 2 more follow up vids in the description)
i guess since they're overseas only, they have facebook checkout page... i've never seen a buy from facebook page before, but it looks legit and it uses paypal
https://www.facebook.com/BigSis.Seal...p_251458316228
last time i checked nespresso pods were 75c or 1buck each?
Nespresso Refillable, Reusable capsules Review: BigSis, Emohome, Ne-cap, Mycoffeestar, Capsulin - YouTube
(there's 2 more follow up vids in the description)
i guess since they're overseas only, they have facebook checkout page... i've never seen a buy from facebook page before, but it looks legit and it uses paypal
https://www.facebook.com/BigSis.Seal...p_251458316228
last time i checked nespresso pods were 75c or 1buck each?