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I only drink coffee very occasionally ( only when it is very cold or if I have a craving - same with tea ) but I am fussy when I do. I loathe instant coffee ( and teabags ) which always tastes chemical to me somehow and burnt.
I like a strong but smooth coffee. We had a percolator but moved to a French Press which I much prefer. We buy either ground coffee or beans ( I have an old manual coffee grinder). I am rather partial to Jamaican Blue Mountain , Colombian "San Augustin" and Guatemalan "Maragogype" and also the Ethiopian " Mocha Djimma" which is full of flavour and aromatic without being too sharp. I try to go for fairtrade whenever possible too.
I am certainly no connaisseur but I know what I like !
For years, I drank instant. No cream, two sugars. This was because the late hubs went out for coffee on work days and drank instant on the weekends. I got into the habit. I liked brewed coffee, but with my job, I didn't have a lot of time to wait for the pot to finish, so even after he passed away, I continued to drink instant.
Well, one of my kids gave me a Cuisinart coffee maker that had a timer setting. Fix it the night before and it would start to brew at whatever time you set. Who knew?!!??
Well, I went right out and bought a bag of coffee and began to make it fresh every day. Oh, boy! oh, boy! Oh, boy! So, one day, felt like a cuppa, didn't want to make a pot, so I (hangs head in shame) made a cup of instant. One taste and I dumped it down the sink, put the jar in the recycling bin and that was the end of that.
As for preference, I use Eight O'clock 100% Columbian. Tried a bunch of different brands before I settled on this one, and I love it when the market puts it on sale BOGO. Two/two and a half cups every day. Black, one Splenda.
Now I just read an article that says that true coffee gourmets do not put anything in the coffee.
They likened it to putting milk and sugar in your wine.
Coffee experts will tell you that French Press coffee tastes the best overall, because it brings out the broadest range of taste and aroma fractions. This is why it is the method used by coffee tasters when grading coffee. The downside is that it uses more coffee per cup than other methods.
Percolators (electric or stove top) produce the worst coffee overall, with the most dominant bitter taste, because they boil the coffee, which brings out the bitterness and boils away the finer notes. Makes for a nice coffee smell in the air, but I'd rather have all that richness in my cup instead.
I've had a major coffee habit most of my life, since I started working at the end of my junior year in high school, and my boss used to lead a bunch of us down the block to a Walgreen's counter for our "coffee break." I've owned every kind there is, including the balancing siphon type (very esoteric - as much floor show as coffee maker), an automatic vacuum system by Bodum (the Danish are bigger coffee hounds than Americans!), and a "superautomatic" Gaggia that grinds the beans just before espresso brewing them and then ejecting the spent grounds, tall or regular shot, all at the touch of a button. I've had a Keurig, a couple of Nespresso machines, the ubiquious stovetop "espresso pots" used all over Europe, one cup drip makers, pretty much everything. And don't even get me started on chasing the best beans, the perfect roast, the optimum grind.
Now after that long arc I've finally cut way, way back on my coffee intake, and simplified all the apparatus, and I'm down to to the following: I use a non-breakable thermal French Press that I found at a camping supply store, because it does the best job of keeping the coffee hot enough without continuing to cook it, while I linger over a leisurely breakfast. I grind the coffee just before making it, with a small burr grinder that allows me to set the correct grind for the French Press. My preferred coffee is a medium dark roast Ka'u (pronounced ka oo), I buy from a small farm down the road from my place on the Big Island, on the opposite side of the island from Kona. For those in the know, Ka'u coffees have been beating Kona coffees in competitions the last few years. If I can only have an occasional cup once in a while these days, I'm surely going to enjoy the best I possibly can when I do indulge.
I'm not a huge aficionado, but instant coffee is a big NO, and instant powdered creamer or any artificial creamers are a big NO. French press and cold drip are my favorite brewing styles. Cold drip by far and away produces the least harsh and least bitter brew.
I was almost going to vote and say I can drinK anything but no, that's not entirely true. I can't do some of those strong coffees that they brew at Au Bon Pain. At home, DH and I brew 10 cup cold auto drip, flavors like the Harry and David Moose Mocha and some Dunkin Donut special time flavors strawberry shortcake, peppermints (usually around Christmas time) and other store brands to also include amaretto, blueberry or blackberry cobbler flavors, etc. Sometimes we'll use the Keurig. I like using it for ice teas and maybe now, iced coffees. Last week I bought a half gal of the mocha iced coffee from International Delight and have been enjoying that. I might try it from Keurig next.
A person who is passionate about food should and be able to be open minded to all culture's cuisine... be exposed to ALL differences of tastes, smell, textures, visuals etc... right????
The MORE exposed to foods you are = more experiences you have right????
I love coffee. Grew up in Java countries of SEAsia.
Yes... I love it when I can visit a coffee selling center where the beans are fresh wok-roasted in the many small stores & be able to partake that fresh roasted bean in a fresh brew in a Kopi-tiam nearby.
I love it that in US, I can choose fresh roasted beans made to brew for that day from my local my fav. coffee beanery (over 100 years old) older than starbucks (I tried them too but if I am out of choice, will I then buy them).
I love different coffee culture... from vietnamese coffee to thai coffee, turkish coffee to expresso.
I love the different cup, the different grade of grinds (how small the grounds) from even a single type of beans make...
How a deeper roast is different from that light roasts.
Or even if the same beans but harvest from a different season (dry, wet).
And even the different methods of brewing...
Or that Bunn "diner's style coffee" for that sunday morning breakfasting out....
I simply love coffee... am passionate about ALL coffee (even sometimes the bad ones starbucks for me; as I need coffee to start my day... even decafe or instant when I really really need the fix).
I'm sorry but I can't think of anything more nonsensical than the heights of bs that surround coffee theses days...
Anyway, I grind my own beans, use a stove top espresso pot or a French press as dictated and I will put it up against a your everyday artisan espresso house on any day. Favorite alternatives, Cafe Du Monde, and Cuban coffee stand, freshly brewed WaWa or Dunkin Donuts will do just fine.
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Caribou and GMC aren't bad.
