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It's not hard. It's mostly about clean cold water with the right amount of fresh ground coffee.
Spend $1 on a scoop just for the coffee... then practice.
I like a ratio of 1 scoop for every 2 "cups" mark on the decanter.
I'll usually do 8 "cups" with 4 scoops.
What good will practice do them? They don't drink coffee, so they don't know if it is any good. Too bad you aren't going. Then they could make the coffee by your parameters.
K-cups might be the way to go. Not everyone considers them expensive.
DH loves them. They may be worth it if you normally make a pot full and throw most of it away.
I just make it by the mug in my 26 year old Black & Decker. It makes 12 cups, but I just add one mug of water, use a heaping scoop of coffee, and it's ready in the same time the Keurig is. Just enough water is lost in the brewing to leave room for me to add milk to the mug.
As I said, I do not like designer coffee flavors, so I am happy to buy just a big canister of Folger's.
DH loves them. They may be worth it if you normally make a pot full and throw most of it away.
Naw. Even if you make a huge batch of coffee, it's cheaper than the K cup.
And if you don't have your Keurig on all the time, it doesn't save any time to use it, either...cuz you have to turn it on, wait for the water to heat up, and then brew.
I'd go with the Folger's. Strangely enough, it tastes close enough to actual ground coffee, that I'd drink it if that's all there was, with no complaint. This, from someone who won't drink canned coffee, EXCEPT for Cafe du Monde. I also can't stand any other instant coffee. But for some reason Folger's is definitely drinkable.
Pro tips on how to make decent coffee on the cheap:
1. Don't freaking waste the money on a Keurig. I cannot believe that was even a recommendation for your situation. You don't drink coffee. So just get the cheapest drip coffeemaker you can find at Target or BB&B (use your 10% coupon!) or wherever you're shopping. No bells and whistles needed, you're going to use this what, two-three times a year? 10-12 cup volume oughta do it.
2. As mentioned earlier, get the right filters. You need to know if the filter holder accepts cone shapes or flat bottomed shapes. Make sure you know that before you buy filters.
3. Buy a bag of whole bean coffee. Ask for something not shiny (seriously, shiny beans are either way overroasted or way stale, no exceptions). If the supermarket you shop at has Eight O'Clock, get that. Dunkin Donuts works too. You don't need more than a pound and shouldn't spend more than $10 on either of these choices.
4. Have the store set their grinder dial to dead center. This will produce a slightly larger grain size than what most people use, but most people overextract their coffee because of using too fine a grind. Grind the whole pound. Yeah, the pros say to grind only what you're using right before you brew, but you're only doing this for a couple of days and it's for company - and what you're going to make will probably be way better than what they brew and drink themselves.
5. Screw the decaf, you're not going to use that much. Get the decaf coffee tea bag things or the smallest jar of instant you can find. Again, you don't drink coffee but you're being hospitable having it in your house. You don't need to be perfect.
6. Your glass carafe will have lines on it. Do this once and you won't have to do it again - fill it with water to the top line (10 or 12 cups). Get a measuring cup and figure out how much water that actually is. Odds are pretty good that 10 cups will be 50 ounces and 12 cups will be 60. Even though a cook recognizes a cup = 8 ounces, coffeemaker manufacturers don't and it's even different by country (but that's another story). Btw, this step also rinses out the carafe.
7. Put the filter in the filter holder and rinse until it's saturated. If the filter holder doesn't detach from the machine, skip this step. But if it does detach, by all means do so.
8. Whatever that measurement is for a full pot, divide by 16. So for 50 ounces, that 3-1/8, for 60 ounces, that's 3-3/4. Yes, there is math. 3-1/8 ounces (10 cups) = 6 tablespoons and a 1/2 teaspoon. 3-3/4 ounces (12 cups) = 7 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon.
9. Put the appropriate amount of coffee in the filter and level it off.
10. Fill the carafe with water (not icy cold, not near boiling) to the line for a full pot (10 or 12 cups), then pour that water into the machine. If your tap water is extra hard, use bottled.
11. Turn it on and wait for the water to filter through into the carafe.
12. Voila! Coffee. If the pot has a warmer, don't leave the coffee on that plate for more than 30 minutes. It'll start to stink and be less than delicious, especially if the carafe is low. Pour it out and make another pot if guests want more.
13. When the guests leave, make sure everything in the machine is dry and clean and put it away until next time you have guests.
Trust me on this, if you follow these directions, your guests will never know you don't make the stuff and they will comment on how good the coffee is even though you're using relatively cheap beans and a cheap coffeemaker. The key components are fresh coffee (or relatively fresh in your case as you're having it ground at the store) and the 16:1 water to coffee ratio that results in the measurements above.
And for God's sake whatever you do, don't buy anything in a can that's got robusta in it. Only 100% arabica (Eight O'Clock and Dunkin qualify here), not a dark roast and especially not a "french" roast.
Pro tips on how to make decent coffee on the cheap:
1. Don't freaking waste the money on a Keurig. I cannot believe that was even a recommendation for your situation. You don't drink coffee. So just get the cheapest drip coffeemaker you can find at Target or BB&B (use your 10% coupon!) or wherever you're shopping. No bells and whistles needed, you're going to use this what, two-three times a year? 10-12 cup volume oughta do it.
2. As mentioned earlier, get the right filters. You need to know if the filter holder accepts cone shapes or flat bottomed shapes. Make sure you know that before you buy filters.
3. Buy a bag of whole bean coffee. Ask for something not shiny (seriously, shiny beans are either way overroasted or way stale, no exceptions). If the supermarket you shop at has Eight O'Clock, get that. Dunkin Donuts works too. You don't need more than a pound and shouldn't spend more than $10 on either of these choices.
4. Have the store set their grinder dial to dead center. This will produce a slightly larger grain size than what most people use, but most people overextract their coffee because of using too fine a grind. Grind the whole pound. Yeah, the pros say to grind only what you're using right before you brew, but you're only doing this for a couple of days and it's for company - and what you're going to make will probably be way better than what they brew and drink themselves.
5. Screw the decaf, you're not going to use that much. Get the decaf coffee tea bag things or the smallest jar of instant you can find. Again, you don't drink coffee but you're being hospitable having it in your house. You don't need to be perfect.
6. Your glass carafe will have lines on it. Do this once and you won't have to do it again - fill it with water to the top line (10 or 12 cups). Get a measuring cup and figure out how much water that actually is. Odds are pretty good that 10 cups will be 50 ounces and 12 cups will be 60. Even though a cook recognizes a cup = 8 ounces, coffeemaker manufacturers don't and it's even different by country (but that's another story). Btw, this step also rinses out the carafe.
7. Put the filter in the filter holder and rinse until it's saturated. If the filter holder doesn't detach from the machine, skip this step. But if it does detach, by all means do so.
8. Whatever that measurement is for a full pot, divide by 16. So for 50 ounces, that 3-1/8, for 60 ounces, that's 3-3/4. Yes, there is math. 3-1/8 ounces (10 cups) = 6 tablespoons and a 1/2 teaspoon. 3-3/4 ounces (12 cups) = 7 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon.
9. Put the appropriate amount of coffee in the filter and level it off.
10. Fill the carafe with water (not icy cold, not near boiling) to the line for a full pot (10 or 12 cups), then pour that water into the machine. If your tap water is extra hard, use bottled.
11. Turn it on and wait for the water to filter through into the carafe.
12. Voila! Coffee. If the pot has a warmer, don't leave the coffee on that plate for more than 30 minutes. It'll start to stink and be less than delicious, especially if the carafe is low. Pour it out and make another pot if guests want more.
13. When the guests leave, make sure everything in the machine is dry and clean and put it away until next time you have guests.
Trust me on this, if you follow these directions, your guests will never know you don't make the stuff and they will comment on how good the coffee is even though you're using relatively cheap beans and a cheap coffeemaker. The key components are fresh coffee (or relatively fresh in your case as you're having it ground at the store) and the 16:1 water to coffee ratio that results in the measurements above.
And for God's sake whatever you do, don't buy anything in a can that's got robusta in it. Only 100% arabica (Eight O'Clock and Dunkin qualify here), not a dark roast and especially not a "french" roast.
Great except for the decaf. I cannot drink regular coffee after breakfast or I will not sleep. And instant? Blech! I would ask if any of the guests use it.
It just so happens that my one scoop of coffee to one mug at my house is 16:1, precisely!
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