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Coffee anyone?

If coffee tasted as good to me as it smells, I would be addicted! As it is, I may have drank half a cup in my life. Just never acquired the taste for it.

But when I am in a hotel, I'll make a pot just for the smell!
 
Smallville said:
If coffee tasted as good to me as it smells, I would be addicted! As it is, I may have drank half a cup in my life. Just never acquired the taste for it.

But when I am in a hotel, I'll make a pot just for the smell!
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LMAO, that's funny!
 
Chunkylover77 said:
I can get the Kona coffee at BJ's for a pretty good price for a 3lb bag.
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Is that a Kona blend? By trade law, you only have to use 10% Kona beans to call it a Kona blend. The other 90% can be absolutely anything. Well, the other 90% has to be some sort of coffee bean, but it doesn't have to be comparable to Kona beans.
 
Smallville said:
If coffee tasted as good to me as it smells, I would be addicted! As it is, I may have drank half a cup in my life. Just never acquired the taste for it.

But when I am in a hotel, I'll make a pot just for the smell!
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My sister is the same way.


Seriously. I am not calling you a girl.
 
Does anyone have a Breville or Cuisenart K Cup brewer? I would like to get a Keurig but I have some Williams-Sonoma gift cards and they do not carry that line.
 
FrankA said:
Does anyone have a Breville or Cuisenart K Cup brewer? I would like to get a Keurig but I have some Williams-Sonoma gift cards and they do not carry that line.
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If you are shopping Williams-Sonoma, consider the Technivorm Mochamaster. It is a no frills automatic drip cofee maker, but it is the only residential coffee maker on the market that heats the water to the recommended brewing temperature of 207* F. This makes a significant difference in the flavor of your brewed coffee. A lot of people prefer french press coffee to automatic drip, but I think those people just haven't had automatic drip coffee that used water heated to the correct temperature.

By no frills, I mean REALLY no frills. There is no timer (which you shouldn't use anyway), no measuring assistance, NOTHING. You get a thermal carafe and no warmer. It is not very convenient to use, but I think its worth it for a really good cup.
 
Thanks for the rec, the high temp brewing is appealing and is the main reason I don't like my current machine. I want to be able to brew just one good cup of hot coffee a morning. I have nespresso espresso machine that I love but sometimes i just want regular coffee. There is a new Breville non K cup machine that is interesting.
 
Rusty said:
If you are shopping Williams-Sonoma, consider the Technivorm Mochamaster. It is a no frills automatic drip cofee maker, but it is the only residential coffee maker on the market that heats the water to the recommended brewing temperature of 207* F. This makes a significant difference in the flavor of your brewed coffee. A lot of people prefer french press coffee to automatic drip, but I think those people just haven't had automatic drip coffee that used water heated to the correct temperature.

By no frills, I mean REALLY no frills. There is no timer (which you shouldn't use anyway), no measuring assistance, NOTHING. You get a thermal carafe and no warmer. It is not very convenient to use, but I think its worth it for a really good cup.
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Like you I want my coffee hot, hot hot, but I read it's important to the flavor that the water go in as cold as possible. Is that true?
 
thedue said:
Like you I want my coffee hot, hot hot, but I read it's important to the flavor that the water go in as cold as possible. Is that true?
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No, that's not true. When the water contacts the coffee beans, it should be between 205-211* F. I don't think the starting temperature of your water matters, as long as it gets heated up to the right temperature.

Most residential automatic drip makers only get the water up to 170-185*. Some are even lower. This gives you coffee that is ready to drink straight out of the machine, but you really are getting robbed of flavor.
 
Rusty I may just have to pick one of these up. This may be exactly what I'm looking for.

Rusty said:
No, that's not true. When the water contacts the coffee beans, it should be between 205-211* F. I don't think the starting temperature of your water matters, as long as it gets heated up to the right temperature.

Most residential automatic drip makers only get the water up to 170-185*. Some are even lower. This gives you coffee that is ready to drink straight out of the machine, but you really are getting robbed of flavor.
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FrankA said:
Thanks for the rec, the high temp brewing is appealing and is the main reason I don't like my current machine. I want to be able to brew just one good cup of hot coffee a morning. I have nespresso espresso machine that I love but sometimes i just want regular coffee. There is a new Breville non K cup machine that is interesting.
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I gotta admit, the Technivorm is not very good at brewing less than a full pot. I have gone as low as a half pot with decent results, but I think less than that would not be very appealing. The water goes through the grounds too quickly. The filter basket has a little plastic switch that is supposed to slow down the water flow when you are brewing less than half a pot, but that switch is pretty much a joke. It seems you either get no flow, or just regular flow, with nothing in between.

It's amazing how no frills the maker is, and its pretty expensive. You can't really even use the flow switch to interrupt the coffee making if you want to grab a quick cup before the pot is full. It will mostly stop the flow of water, but you will get several drips of hot coffee onto your counter when you pull the pot out.

It is a question of convenience vs. flavor. In your case, if you are always brewing very small amounts, it might not be worth the hassle.
 
Rusty said:
No, that's not true. When the water contacts the coffee beans, it should be between 205-211* F. I don't think the starting temperature of your water matters, as long as it gets heated up to the right temperature.

Most residential automatic drip makers only get the water up to 170-185*. Some are even lower. This gives you coffee that is ready to drink straight out of the machine, but you really are getting robbed of flavor.
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Thanks for the info. This make sense as the water goes through heating before getting to the grounds, but every machine I've ever had talk's about COLD water making better coffee, wonder why?
 
Good to know. I'll keep the search alive. K Cup may be my best option.

Rusty said:
I gotta admit, the Technivorm is not very good at brewing less than a full pot. I have gone as low as a half pot with decent results, but I think less than that would not be very appealing. The water goes through the grounds too quickly. The filter basket has a little plastic switch that is supposed to slow down the water flow when you are brewing less than half a pot, but that switch is pretty much a joke. It seems you either get no flow, or just regular flow, with nothing in between.

It's amazing how no frills the maker is, and its pretty expensive. You can't really even use the flow switch to interrupt the coffee making if you want to grab a quick cup before the pot is full. It will mostly stop the flow of water, but you will get several drips of hot coffee onto your counter when you pull the pot out.

It is a question of convenience vs. flavor. In your case, if you are always brewing very small amounts, it might not be worth the hassle.
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thedue said:
Thanks for the info. This make sense as the water goes through heating before getting to the grounds, but every machine I've ever had talk's about COLD water making better coffee, wonder why?
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A couple reasons I can think of....

First, if the instructions are assuming you are using tap water, then using the cold water is good advice. The water from your cold water tap is generally a little fresher than hot water that has been sitting in your heater tank for a little while. That's just good coooking advice.

Second, I suppose using hot water could alter the heating time for your maker, and possibly effect the brewing process. Personally, I would be curious if using hot water would result in hotter water hitting your coffee grounds. I guess it depends on whether your heating element works on a timer or is actually guaging the temperature of the water before sending it over to the grounds.

The Technivorm actually boils the water, and that water bubble up from the boiler and into a little wand that showers it onto the grounds. Of course, the water cools a little bit as it travels down the wand and contacts the ground coffee. This isn't like an old percolater that boils the water THROUGH the grounds, it just uses a boiler to get the water up to the top of the maker. Anyway, I don't think the initial water temp would effect this process at all.
 
Lot's of great info, thanks. I buy bottled water just for my coffee, so it's at room temp. I know this machine simply is not getting it though. I want to say it was like $130 new and the coffee is a drinkable temp right off the bat. I want to have to blow and sip the stuff when it comes out of the pot.
 
Really into Dean's Beans coffee right now- it's a local roastery and fair trade company with tons of different bean varieties and flavors. They do ship world wide as well.
 
Rusty said:
Wait, you won't spend money on overpriced Epon Irons, but you will buy Kona coffee???? :)

Just kidding, although I do place Kona in kind of the same category. Sure, its good coffee, but it isn't really 3 or 4 times better than a lot of other premium beans out there. Same goes for Jamaican Blue Mountain.
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Ugh, had a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain from Barnies and couldn't stand it. I was excited when I got it too cause I'd heard people rant and rave about it; even flirted with the homely girl making it and she made me too much and gave me two cups of it for the price of one. I just didn't like the flavor of it at all :(
 
The most important thing about coffee is how fresh the roast is - I have a friend who owns a shop and the beans are roasted the day before they are ground and brewed, makes a huge difference. Nothing else really compares flavor wise. Keurig is a good alternative to fresh ground if you don't want to hassle with grinding yourself.
 
pjcedog said:
The most important thing about coffee is how fresh the roast is - I have a friend who owns a shop and the beans are roasted the day before they are ground and brewed, makes a huge difference. Nothing else really compares flavor wise. Keurig is a good alternative to fresh ground if you don't want to hassle with grinding yourself.
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Fresh roasting is awesome, which is why I roast my own beans. Unless you have one of those vacuum canisters, your beans can start going stale in less than 3 days. I like to roast enough beans to last me 2 days, and you can actually taste the difference between day 1 and day 2. Its not a staleness, its just that some of the aromatic compounds have started to waft away, allowing different aromatic compounds to come through with more force.

But, personally, I think the MOST important thing about coffee is how fresh your water is. Brewed coffee is at least 98% water. If your water isn't any good, the coffee beans aren't going to mask the flavor very well.
 
Just tried french coffee for the first time, with just a touch of heavy cream. Wow! didn't know what I was missing. I think my drip coffee maker is going into indefinite storage.
 
For dinner last night I went out for vietnamese and I got to have my favourite treat,a vietnamese coffee. Sweet lord those are good.
 
BamBooBender said:
Just tried french coffee for the first time, with just a touch of heavy cream. Wow! didn't know what I was missing. I think my drip coffee maker is going into indefinite storage.
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That should have read "french press" coffee
 
Having a decaf cup right now!
 
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