what brand of coffee do you drink?

Charles Tarnard wrote:
If the ritual is not having a splitting headache by one in the afternoon, then yes, it's the ritual :).

I spend the first few days of every school holiday with a splitting headache as my body readjusts to normal levels of caffeine. I took a field trip out last holiday, doing 10 hour days of fieldwork with no coffee - ouchieeee...

Anyway, I do like "proper coffee" - but will happily drink pretty much anything.

Regarding economic concerns about purchasing coffee poorer nations - generally the effect of increasing demand for good is to increase wages and standards of living. I'm not saying that you shouldn't consider it when choosing your coffee supplier but if the coffee jobs didn't exist what would those workers be growing/selling?

kudos to those who roast their own coffee, pretty cool. i have designs to someday grow my own beans, but coffee plants i keep starting dont seem to want to really take off. they struggle, but hey maybe some will get in their groove and one day produce some beans.

once i got a huge amount of those big burlap bags from the local roasters then, to re purpose the burlap....and bonus there was a lot of green beans in each of the bags. i experimented with roasting them but the only way i thought to do it with what little equipment i had at the time, was to roast them in the oven on a cookie sheet and keep turning them. basically like one would cook granola, slowly on low heat and keep stirring it up. it came out ok, not great actually, but i drank it and enjoyed it anyway. i'm sure theres much better ways to do it!

"Organic, shade-grown, fair trade, for $4-5/lb"

At least one of those claims is false. Probably the fair trade is less than fair. $4-5/lb isn't enough to pay the middlemen and pay a decent price to the farmer/laborer.

If you use real coffee (not instant) then using a Phin (Vietnamese) coffee filter is a great way to go. It's stainless steel so should last for ever and uses no paper. As it only needs hot (not boiling) water it uses less energy than other methods. The best cup of coffee I have ever had was made with one of these.

Here is how it works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DwPGkq8SFE

O'niels local roaster. In a Chemex maker....

Coffee is best brewed at 105 degrees, if you use boiling water you should be getting terrible bitter stuff......

This is a great thread!
A conversation can go in so many directions.
I grew up with Folger's in the house but didn't drink it till I was 21 or so. Lipton tea bags with milk and sugar as a teenager. Soda, Pepsi by the gallons; it really is hard on your teeth. About 25 I switched to diet coke, lost 30 pounds in a month. The next ten years I was drinking 5-6 two liter bottles of diet coke a day, lived in Arizona so it was my water source. During that time I had smoked myself into a four pack a day habit.
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Woke up one morning a nonsmoker, could no longet drink soda, I blew up like a balloon. Water for most of the next ten years; I did wonder what the fuss was over at Starbuck's and got hooked on Mocha Latte's. I had a cold and a girl suggested a Chai tea(yuck), then made me a Vente Green Tea Latte (the size matters because of amount of syrup). I was hooked, but cost kept it from being an addiction.
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During that time after I became a nonsmoker, I made my own Folger's medium roast and doctored heavily with Creamate creamer, working into the French vanilla.
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When I started driving over the road 3 years ago I was using lots of half and half in half a gallon of regular coffee daily, dipped into French vanilla creamer than quit all creamers, I figured I was consuming a 1000 calories daily just in creamers.
At home I drink Folger's decaf in a drip coffee maker.
Hope I didn't bore you all too much.

EcoCafe Costa Rican organic fair trade, French press coffee maker.

I live in Northwest Montana and drink Montana Coffee Traders Coffee: https://www.coffeetraders.com/ A couple years ago I travelled to Costa Rica for 3 months to develop an online permaculture design course. While in Costa Rica, part of the time I lived on an old dairy farm in the Monte Verde region.

Montana Coffee Traders has been sourcing coffee directly from the Monte Verde Costa Rican farmers since 1989. From the Montana Coffee Traders website:

This bright, crisp Costa Rican coffee is our original Partnership coffee, dedicated to conservation, education, and social programs in and around the Monteverde Cloud Forest of Costa Rica. Carefully harvested when fully ripe, Cafe Monteverde is a premium coffee grown in a Cloud Forest environment. The cool temperate Cloud Forest allows the coffee to ripen slowly, developing flavors that exhibit a bright, crisp liveliness with a clean, sweet, and mild cup. Hints of citrus are in the finish.

Since 1989, Montana Coffee Traders has been working successfully with coffee farmers of the Monteverde region of Costa Rica. Our long term partnership with the Café Monteverde farmers affords a direct impact to improve coffee quality as well as a way for consumers to connect with their coffee farmers. The premium price MCT pays directly to the farmers has allowed these farmers to not only grow exceptional coffee, but give them the opportunity to expand their farms, businesses and knowledge in a rapidly changing economic environment. Through the financial support of our Monteverde dollar back program the MNTV Coffee Lab was built and is connecting farmers to taste coffee quality and for travelers to experience the unique coffee flavors the Monteverde region of Costa Rica has to offer.

You might also try "bulletproof coffee." This is coffee with healthy fats like grass fed ghee and coconut oil. Personally I like it organic black with about a tablespoon of coconut oil.

got a thumbs up on this ancient thread recently...

in the nine years since this thread began, the world of coffee has changed dramatically. I still don't drink very much coffee, but I've found that I really like preparing it for folks who do. enough that I recently bought a ridiculous contraption called a siphon pot.

siphon pots were all the rage in 3rd wave coffee joints a few years back, but they've mostly disappeared by now. previously, they were pretty common household tools before percolators displaced them I think beginning in the 40s or 50s.

the coffee I use these days wasn't available when the thread started. there has been a proliferation of small and really small coffee roasters. doing business directly with growers or grower co-ops used to be a good way for small roasters to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. now it's almost a matter of course. setting aside for a moment that extractive and export oriented economies are inevitably problematic, I think small businesses dealing directly with each other (in this case roasters or small-volume importers and small-scale coffee growers) is beneficial to everyone involved, including consumers (with the possible exception of the large corporations that have dominated the commodity coffee business for a long time now).

my friends at Middle Fork Roasters are still at it. when they started, they were toward the high end price-wise. now they're solidly mid-market. $18 for a 12-oz bag of coffee is common now in many cities with any kind of coffee culture. really nice stuff is $24. bulk bin coffee worth drinking (as opposed to just knocking back to get the fix) is at least $9/lb. but there's so much to choose from and a lot of it is so very tasty. that additional money is going to real human beings doing their best to make a good product rather than a corporation that employs more robots than people (and the people they do employ probably don't have it so well).

paying that much does put coffee firmly in the category of a luxury for a lot of folks, but maybe that's where it belongs anyway. I know that if I pay that much for something, I'm going to pay attention to whether I actually like it or not. cheap commodity coffee, on the other hand, seems to be consumed reflexively to service an addiction. it's an addiction that's socially sanctioned in rather more places than a lot of addictions, but that doesn't mean it isn't an addiction.


on to actual coffee. when I buy coffee, it's to serve as a treat to friends. I like natural process/unwashed coffees, which are commonly produced in Ethiopia. I think they're also becoming more common in some South American coffee regions. they've got some nice fruitiness that comes from the sweet pulp being in contact with the bean while it dries. for Ethiopian coffee at least, natural process seems to be a little bit cheaper than washed/wet-process coffee. I have two filters for my siphon. the cloth one makes really clear coffee. a glass filter lets a little more cloudiness through. they're subtly different (unless you're a real coffee dork, in which case I'm sure they're dramatically different), but both are great. and brewing with the siphon is a bit of a show, so it's good for company.

I had no idea that there had been more than one wave of coffee culture, but apparently your device is from the third wave.
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I only recently determined that I'm going to become a small coffee producer. so I will seek out someone in North America or Europe who wants to carry my product. It will be shade-grown organic, but it also may be Robusta, which is not the coffee of choice for many people. Stronger and more bitter, it also has more antioxidants, more caffeine and is less prone to disease. A better choice for lowland locations. I'm looking at near sea level in the Philippines. Growing in the shade is said to reduce the bitterness.

I'm sure I will try many different cultivars of Robusta and Arabica, to see which ones do the best in my location. My fiance's aunt is the owner of the coffee in the picture below. She told me that you don't have to do anything about bugs and that birds and monkeys don't like coffee. I don't know which type hers is. But there's a good crop without intervention. That's my kind of crop.

So I suppose it makes sense to sample many of the different local coffees and then acquire plants from those in my area.

It does well under bananas, moringa and coconut. I doubt that it would ever be more than 5% of the biomass, and I hope that this will be enough to ward off insects and disease.

 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robusta_coffee

Dale Hodgins wrote: it also may be Robusta, which is not the coffee of choice for many people. Stronger and more bitter, it also has more antioxidants, more caffeine and is less prone to disease.

My husband actually likes Robusta better, and freqntly complains that he can never find it in the stores anymore. He likes his coffee BLACK and thick and very strong.

He likes his coffee BLACK and thick and very strong.
This sounds almost like my ex-girlfriend from Kenya.
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I'm headed back to the Philippines on June 8th. I intend to try several types of Robusta. When I determine which ones I like, I will gladly send a small portion of each for your husband to try. They will be labeled, so that he can help me determine which ones I should plant. I'm not going to try to breed my own, at least right away. I will simply try everything that is locally produced and choose the ones that taste best and give the best production. Hopefully they will be the same plant.

Dale Hodgins wrote: When I determine which ones I like, I will gladly send a small portion of each for your husband to try. They will be labeled, so that he can help me determine which ones I should plant.

He'd probably love that!

Sometimes they grind Robusta very finely, so that you don't have to use any sort of filter or gadget. The fine powder is simply mixed with hot water and you've got coffee.

I want to grow cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, cacao, vanilla and other tropical spices. I think it's conceivable that having these plants as companions, could have some effect on flavor, since there will be mulch made from their leaves. Then there's the possibility of fermenting the coffee beans with leftovers from the spice making processes. Many of them are commonly put into ground coffee in small amounts.

tel jetson wrote:got a thumbs up on this ancient thread recently...

that would be me, the resident caffeine junkie.

And some of us may or may not admit it but all coffee lovers are in it primarily for the buzz.

Upon waking, all rules go out the window until we're caffeinated. We'll drink vendor machine sludge or instant (NO!!!) to get our first fix of the day.

Then we get fussy and bring out all our toys: scales, grinders, thermometers, smart kettles (with the fancy neck), drip machines, moka pots, percolators, siphons, pour-overs, filters (paper, plastic, aluminum, stainless steel), various presses (french, aero, etc), various pressos (portaspresso, handpresso, staresso, etc), k-cups and other capsules,  lever espresso machines... some of us need commercial storage for our various coffee gadgets.

We'll wax poetic about the merits of fair trade, terrior, single origins, farm elevation, shade grown bushes, the flavor wheel, Mother Ethiopia (Sidamo and all native varieties), trash talk other species that aren't arabica (not me though, i love 'em all), and do our best Peter Giuliano impressions.

We'll launch into tirades about "dialing-in": pan versus drum roasting, first & secondary cracks and times & temps in-between, the ratio of light, medium and dark roasts in our blends; various grinds, pressure profiling and how to 'pull' the perfect shot, celebrity baristas and the cute new cashier at the nearby coffee shop.

We'll debate if sweeteners, creamers and flavors (hazelnut, vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, amaretto, kahlua, etc) belong in specialty coffee, if nut milk is better than dairy, if fat (butter, ghee, lard, suet, coconut or MCT oil) in coffee is healthful, various sugars (muscovado, demeraro, white) and compare them with honey, maple syrup, molasses, agave or stevia (if you choose aspartame you get punched in the face).

Some heated discussions end up destroying lifelong friendships - we're a crazy bunch of fanatics (but still agree nestle and nescafe are EVIL).

Nicole Alderman wrote:My husband actually likes Robusta better, and freqntly complains that he can never find it in the stores anymore. He likes his coffee BLACK and thick and very strong.

cafea canephora has been vilified by the  specialty coffee crowd (who drink only arabica) but there are good folks at death wish

 
  and kicking horse
 who strive to elevate the humble robusta. Robusta has at least triple the caffeine of arabica or liberica but roasting cooks  it away so you have to find a balance.

Su Ba wrote:I grow and roast our own. We prefer a blend of three varieties: Guatemalan, yellow cattura, bourbon. The cherries are pulped, fermented 12-15 hours, washed, dried. Once the beans are dehulled, we roast 20-25 minutes to medium/dark.

You must have won some cosmic lottery to end up in coffee paradise. Kona is still my favorite coffee variety but all Hawaiian beans are divine.

Nicole Alderman wrote:
My husband actually likes Robusta better, and freqntly complains that he can never find it in the stores anymore. He likes his coffee BLACK and thick and very strong.

Has he experimented with the findings in the "latino" aisle of the supermarket? I can't remember off the top of my head what brands I used to buy back when I lived up north, but they were near all the Goya products. I want to say Bustelo, Pilao, all in bricks. Very finely ground, often a mix of robusta and arabica, good for making that dark-as-night coffee.

I don't do any of the things that pusang suggests. I will drink any and all of them including instant. I prefer as little caffeine as possible, since it makes me jumpy. Anyone who has seen me go at a failed employee, knows that I don't need to add coffee to the mix.

I have never liked any of the non-dairy creamers. All pretending to be what they aren't.

I'm only interested in catering to the foo foo crowd, I don't want to start sounding like one of those people who claim to detect a hint of this or a whisper of that in wine. Perhaps I'll just present the beans and say these ones are rather strong, and these ones not so much. Then let those doing the retailing, spin whatever yarns suits them.

Dale Hodgins wrote:I had no idea that there had been more than one wave of coffee culture, but apparently your device is from the third wave.

sort of. siphon pots got popular again in third wave coffee shops just a few years ago, but mine was made in the 70s.

Dale Hodgins wrote:I'm only interested in catering to the foo foo crowd, I don't want to start sounding like one of those people who claim to detect a hint of this or a whisper of that in wine. Perhaps I'll just present the beans and say these ones are rather strong, and these ones not so much. Then let those doing the retailing, spin whatever yarns suits them.

I imagine you'll leave the roasting to others (unless you plan to serve a local market), which is in large part what determines what folks perceive as the "strength" of coffee.

Dale Hodgins wrote:I want to grow cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, cacao, vanilla and other tropical spices. I think it's conceivable that having these plants as companions, could have some effect on flavor, since there will be mulch made from their leaves. Then there's the possibility of fermenting the coffee beans with leftovers from the spice making processes. Many of them are commonly put into ground coffee in small amounts.

I look forward to the day I can sample a cup of that.

In a previous life, I have had the pleasure of traveling throughout the PNW, Hawaii, and California for work and made it a point to sample coffees whenever I traveled. I drink a 10 cup pot a day minimum, so I could hit up several shops in a day and still get a good nights sleep. If I had extra time waiting for a meeting or got in early for a site visit I would seek out the local coffee shops to try and find something different.
I personally cannot drink Starbucks coffee unless there are no other options.
Kona was unique, but not my favorite. I tried several different ones including a tour on my birthday at Mountain Thunder
. That was really neat and worth the stop for anyone that's going to be in that area.
My brother introduced me to Stumptown Coffee
  when I visited him in Portland. The Albina Press. Oh my. There are two in Portland and I've been to both. I always started with a plain latte. No flavour, just coffee and milk. I think the world could be burning and as log as I was sitting in one of their big chairs with one of those lattes in hand I would be happy just watching it burn.
So, if you haven't guessed by now, Stumptown Coffee is my favorite. If only I could afford to drink it every day. If you are looking to try some, it's hard to go wrong with the Hair Bender Blend. I usually get a bag or two for my birthday and I try to make it last as long as I can.

On one trip I ended up having the entire afternoon and evening free in Seattle, so I rode the train in from the airport and walked to several shops. One in particular had a roast that was the most floral/fruity I have ever smelled. I bought a bag and made some for my wife and I when I got home. She tasted it and thought it was a strong tea. Very unique. Sadly we lost the bag during one of our relocations and I don't recall the roaster.

Blue Copper in Salt Lake City was another good one we enjoyed, and stopped at anytime we traveled though Salt Lake.


Currently I use Dunkin Donuts Original bulk bag from Sam's during the week. I brew it in a well seasoned percolator pot. My preference is to partially cold brew it by filling it up before bed with enough water that the basket sits in the water and allows the grounds to soak up the water and bloom. First thing in the morning is to turn on the heat under it and as soon as I hear the first good "plub" I turn it down so the water just bubbles up the tube. 30 minutes later turn off the heat and let it settle.
This is the morning ritual.
On Sundays, I grind Member's Mark Organic Breakfast Blend from Sam's Club and use a CHEMEX to brew. My wife likes this one and it's very clean and smooth.

Cool beans.

I drink Kickinghorse's Hola, their only mild roast that I can find, and I make mine with an Aeropress.

I am not thrilled at the price tag. At cheapest, I will get mine on-sale at $9.99 per pound. I love local micro-roasteries, but they, too, often favour the burnt-tasting roasts in favour of lighter ones. I like my caffeine good and intact.

I can't wait until I can ring you up, Dale, to order a big bag of Dale's Choice Philippine Coffee Bean.

-CK

I don't know that I've ever made a trip to the coffee shop because of the coffee. I've gone there to socialize, to charge my batteries, to meet women ( that's over now that I'm getting married ) and to meet with customers because it's a handy spot for a meeting. I'd be just as happy if they were selling corn on the cob. But this Coffee Culture exists so they keep building the places, and I'm pretty much along for the ride. Lately I'm there primarily for the Wi-Fi.

I have picked up several tons of use grounds for garden purposes. Got enough on my skin that I probably overdosed on something.

Chris Kott wrote:Cool beans.

I can't wait until I can ring you up, Dale, to order a big bag of Dale's Choice Philippine Coffee Bean.

-CK

Looks like I've got a name before I have even one coffee plant. If I'm able to find local supply, I plan to bring some back when I return to Canada in September. I'm leaving June 6th. I'll send you a sampling and you can help me choose which ones to plant. I'm pretty sure that they will be raw beans, so everyone can do the frying pan thing with small amounts to try them at different roasts.

Naturally, I want customers, but mostly I'm going to want distribution in Toronto. It has to be someone with the Gift of Gab. :-)  Robusta produces in 2 years. Of course the problem with any product, is that shipping costs are high with small quantity. But I have three main products being considered right now. They are moringa, homemade soap, and coffee. There will also be smaller quantities of other spices. So, at some point, moving this stuff will be a part-time job for somebody.

We will grow bananas and other fruits and many vegetables, but it doesn't make sense to ship those things. They will be for the local market and part of how I pay workers.

for reference:
https://scanews.coffee/2016/02/05/how-to-use-the-coffee-tasters-flavor-wheel-in-8-steps

Caleb Mayfield wrote:My brother introduced me to Stumptown Coffee... it's hard to go wrong with the Hair Bender Blend

Stumptown is respected as one of the finest specialty roasters today. I've only had their Hundred Mile blend and it was great, specially for it's price range but my barista friends rave about Hair Bender and some are coming my way soon.

I've been buying whatever costs the least at costco. Been getting two pound bags of this organic whole bean called subtle earth for about $12. I'm no connoisseur and to me coffees pretty much all taste the same, except for the flavored ones which I don't drink. I'm in it for the caffeine

Stumptown is certainly not bad. more partial to Water Avenue, myself, but I don't know how widely their stuff is distributed. Local Roasting is another good Portland outfit. their natural Yirgacheffe is lovely. there are plenty of other roasters around here making excellent coffee, but those two are what I go with most often. Heart and Olé Latte are a couple more that come to mind.

Neglected to mention my second favorite coffee after Kona. Vietnamese beans (both Arabica and Robusta) are fantastic if you can get them whole and un-ground. Unfortunately the trade has been infiltrated by counterfeiters so buying direct is best. Asian groceries all over North America and Western Europe also stock these (mostly Trung Nguyen) but check the roasting dates.
https://www.agferrari.com/best-vietnamese-coffee-brands

(a relative in Hanoi sends me these twice yearly - lucky guy lives 20mins away from Cafe Mai)

Strong, black.

The Vietnamese robusta beans are used in Italian cappuccino. They make it quite powerful and give it the frothiness. I have taken the free samples of cappuccino at Starbucks and mixed it with a whole cup of hot water, for a much milder drink. People often ask me if I'm having some coffee with my milk and sugar.

If cost is a serious factor for you, consider buying some of the better robusta beans. You can get by with very little, and if you are addicted to caffeine, it doesn't take as much to get that fix. The lighter roasts preserve more of the caffeine.

James Freyr wrote:I'm no connoisseur and to me coffees pretty much all taste the same, except for the flavored ones which I don't drink. I'm in it for the caffeine

if you're in it for the caffeine, robusta beans have a lot more and cold brewing gets more caffeine out of the bean than most other methods.

My brother has bought Kicking Horse beans after reading some coffee beans reviews. But for me, Italian beans are the best! Something like Coffee Bean Direct. They have more sweet and tender taste especially if you add some almond milk!

I recommend the book "Javatrekker" by Dean Cycon, not a recent book (from 2007), but will give you a good idea of the problems associated with coffee, and the difficulties (even for those wanting import organic beans) with corrupt institutions and governments sending wrong shipments of a completely different quality (and most probably not fair/organic).
There are great examples as well of small farmers, but one should be aware of the very serious problems associated with the coffee trade.

if you can get a fresh bag
sello rojo.  "the red bag" is a world class coffee, its what my columbian friends in Columbia drink.

I love to take "Lavazza Espresso". I order it through amazon. It's whole bean coffee. its assortment of espresso blends is one of the best you can find. The Caffe Espresso  is a great place to start; it's available in both whole bean and ground, and the mid-level intensity allows fruity and floral notes to shine beneath the traditional coffee taste. Dark roast lovers should check out the more robust Crema e Gusto blend.

Lavazza sells its coffee in bags and tins of several different sizes. Whether you go with an 8-ounce tin or a 2.2-pound bag, however, you can expect Lavazza to come at an extremely affordable price.

This year I've purchased a manual grinder, the Hario Skerton. I think it has great value for the price. So that propelled me into tasting several cheap comercial whole beans.
I use both an italian coffee maker (moka style) and an Aeropress. The flavour varies a lot, depending on the grinding level and the coffee maker, since the Aeropress allows for a lower temperature infusion and removes acid fats, while the italian is always boiling water. Still, you can control how fast/slow the coffee gets out, and that modifies the bitterness.

All coffee that I tasted are edible. Some were too bitter and required a little bit of milk to be pleasant. Others were very aromatic but without body. Robusta varieties I only could enjoy with a lower grinding level. Robusta usually comes mixed with grains that are roasted with sugar, to give them more body, but that's too strong for me.

So far, the branch that I liked more, by price, is the Lidl supermarket own branch "Bellarom Gold". At 6€ the 500 g it has no rival for an arabigan variety.
The one that I love more, but I only find it as ground coffee, is the "Malongo Crystal", with a freshness I don't find elsewhere.
Right now, I'm consuming "Lavazza Gold", it feels ok. Intense and aromatic but not strong.
Common wisdom say the best coffee brand is "illy", but that's on the too expensive range for me.
Starbucks has reached here recently, and though it's not as bad as I thought, I still prefer real coffee.


I agree that taking the coffee is a ritual. Grind the grains, set the coffee maker, drink and relax. It kind of signals the time for me, since my evening begins just after the coffee from diner.

I buy green coffee beans 20 or more pounds at a time. I roast them stovetop in an old pop corn popper.  No specific brand. By roasting my own I have pretty good controls on the taste, I try to stay a week ahead. If I go through it too fast, I grab a can of Folgers Colombian .

here's the kit I use most frequently at present. that Cona Junior makes about 26 oz/750 mL of coffee at a go, but I usually only make 12 oz. I've got a smaller Cona that's just right for a single serving, but it's a bit finicky.

current events have put a big dent in my coffee-with-friends schedule, so I'm making coffee pretty much exclusively for my partner at present. I make about an ounce too much so I can have a taste.

I splurged on a bag of decaf for myself a few weeks back. that was lovely alone and brewed with some rooibos and chai spices. I also discovered a natural process Sidamo decaf that I haven't tried, but I'm tempted. it isn't sold locally, though.