Coffee! Laugh? I almost drank it (and spat it out again).

demagogue on 28/6/2011 at 04:11

BTW I knew I was having serious déjà vu with this topic, and (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134621) this is why.

Vernon on 28/6/2011 at 05:15

dé java i'll get my coat

Fafhrd on 28/6/2011 at 06:30

(http://www.funraniumlabs.com/the-black-blood-of-the-earth/) The Black Blood of the Earth. That is all.

Kuuso on 28/6/2011 at 07:10

Quote Posted by Subjective Effect

So I was in the lovely San Sebastian (North Spain) for a week and the only coffee I drank was filter coffee that my apartment co-guests bought and made (and the occasional espresso). As you may (or may not) know I've been a proud coffee philistine for years, drinking whatever crap was handed to me at work so long as the nurse was pretty and I got it when I needed it.

Subsequently I stopped caring about the quality at home, although I did once (for a short time) get into filter coffee made by the ex but as I never, ever made it as far as I was concerned you made sure she had money for the coffee and out the combined gf-black box of coffee I got nice coffee.

Now I know there are a number of coffee aficionados here at TTLG and since this last week of nice coffee has made me realise my mistake (although that could also be the sidra and jamon!) I've decided it's time to start doing it right.

Where do I start?

This all depends on your budget, but where you want your money to be spent is the grinder. If you have a lot of moolah, go electric (>300$), if not, go manual. Grinder has to have proper burrs for grinding - if you use your normal kitchen blender, it will generate a lot of small dust that tastes bad (albeit I don't think this option is as bad as they say) and you won't be able to control the size. There is a surprising difference between grinds and if you ever get into espresso (god help you then, it's going to take all your money eventually) it's vital.

For a starting coffee enthusiast, it's easiest to grind your beans at the shop you buy them from. They have excellent grinders most of the time. If you keep it airtight and away from sunlight, it's going to be ok to drink for long enough. Don't listen to those who think you can keep grinded coffee for only a day or a week, I bet that even them wouldn't trash it afterwards. Do not refridgerate coffee, unless you're planning on storing it for a longer period - taking it constantly in and out of fridge won't do the coffee too good.

You want to buy your coffee from roasteries or specialized coffee shops for quality. If you live in US, you have a pretty good selection and you can mail-order from lots of places.

Next you want to decide, if you want your coffee filterless or not. French press is pretty much the best method, but some people don't like the fact that there's a small amount of "sludge" at the bottom of the cup. You can get a manual drip filter if you like that sort of thing - it's million times better than any cheap moccamaster or the like. You can also consider aeropress, which is a bit pricier, but does produce excellent coffee.

For actual drinking of coffee there's a few rules I abide by, you can choose to ignore them if you want:
1. Do not add anything to the coffee. I've seen people buy Jamaica Blue Mountain (300€/kg) and pour it half-full of milk. You could have any coffee in there at that point. Cappuccino and Latte are whole different beasts. If a coffee is good enough, it should not need anything in it.
2. Do not drink your coffee too hot. If you really taste your coffee, you'll notice you taste different things considering the temperature of liquid. Drinking slowly at different stages of the cooling makes you understand it a bit more. Many of my customers pour their french press immediately and start drinking, burning their tongue and tasting nothing.
3. Trust your taste. A cup of blu mountain could be worse than a cup from Sidamo. When you reach a certaing quality, the coffees are just different from each other instead of bad/good. I like blu mountain and kopi luwak (300 and 350€ for a kilo), but I've tasted more interesting coffees with 1/10 of the price.

Martin Karne on 28/6/2011 at 08:53

Drip coffee with lower water reservoir and coffee mid chamber, that way it only goes up when is hot and passes thru the coffee, never over loaded so not to saturate taste with a burnt flavor so typical of toasted grinded beans mixes, just the necessary for the aroma.
Enjoy.

Addendum
Water sources are also very important as water changes its properties from country to country (different mineral composition, and calcium might be there too changing taste), so I use purified bottled drinking water. And that's a neutral factor now.
Also chlorination and fluoridation makes it unbearable for me at least.

Briareos H on 28/6/2011 at 09:07

Quote Posted by Kuuso

French press is pretty much the best method

How do you properly use a french press? (yeah I know that's ironic - but here in France we call it Brasilian coffee pot) I have one and the coffee I make with it is really boring compared to what drips out of my italian coffee pot.

Scots Taffer on 28/6/2011 at 10:39

I stopped drinking normal coffee aeons ago because most of it is so bad and I can't drink instant stuff at all. I pretty much only drink lattes or espressos. I'll have to take a pic of our office coffee station with grinder and latte maker - the latter is a chrome and neon-blue beast. :D

I'll maybe make old school drip coffee when I retire.

Koki on 28/6/2011 at 10:40

I don't get it, why would anyone deliberately want to become a snob?

Scots Taffer on 28/6/2011 at 11:10

Because it tastes better?

Matthew on 28/6/2011 at 11:13

Look, being hipster scum is hard work, you know?