Coffee, and Other Caffiene Products

Legoman05

I host a bible-study in my house, near the end of the week, later on at night. Thus, many people are coming through my house in need of caffeine.

I have a Starbucks Barista machine that I've inherited, and have been grinding coffee fresh for some time. My technique for steaming the milk is pretty boss, so I make an alright latte.

I do not want to make alright lattes.

I want to make earth-shatteringly awesome vectors for caffeine.

Please advise. French press? Get a decent burr grinder? Any tricks I should be aware of?

crake

I imagine you could easily find step by step instructions for multiple techniques on google. Since youv'e got the machine, you can experiment easily, no doubt.

Uncle Long

Burr Grinder = Good
French Press = Good
If you're just looking to make coffee this is, imo, the best possible option out there right now.

Pheezer

Redx actually knows a thing or two about this. There's a sizable coffee thread in D&D where you'll find a lot of experts (so-called, self proclaimed, etc.) who you could ask about this. Maybe go link your thread in that thread.

I can't help so much. I just make espresso and coffee and do neither with any spectacular proficiency, but between good beans and a basic handle on the hardware I make drinks that taste good to me.

Lach

What would you say is the cheapest burr grinder that is not a piece of crap?

EggyToast

I have a cuisinart burr grinder that I picked up for $50 about a year and a half ago. It has worked very well for the past year and a half, and has all of the settings you need to grind a very fine, consistent espresso as well as an exceedingly coarse french press.

Also, while many people appreciate a good cup of coffee, you do not need to make earth shatteringly good coffees to impress people. The vast majority of people will be pleased with something that tastes good -- aka, better than Folgers. I've ground up some expensive flavored coffee for people who were coffee drinkers and they loved it. The flavor was subtle, but chocolately, and is a naturally 'good' coffee flavor. While I don't advise this as an alternative to pursuing the "perfect cup," would people at this weekly event really know the difference between a "very good" cup and a "amazing" cup?

Like a lot of things, you have to actually KNOW what a "really good" cup is before you can compare it. Otherwise it all blends together as "better than I expected." Just like a $70 bottle of wine is going to taste kind of weird if you're not used to what a $20 bottle tastes like, it may not be worth all of the extra effort to impress people when their standards are low.

That being said, burr grinders are the bomb and make pretty much every cup of coffee, no matter how it's brewed, better.

Lach

Thanks EggyToast. Do you guys recommend buying whole beans from Amazon or any other website? Any brands, styles, flavors, etc?

Alistair Hutton

Lach wrote: »

Thanks EggyToast. Do you guys recommend buying whole beans from Amazon or any other website? Any brands, styles, flavors, etc?

I recommend buying whole beans from a local roaster. Like many food stuffs the fresher and closer to source you get it the better. This is not to say you can't get good mail order coffee beans, I'm jsut saying that local is better. Especially if you become a regular customer a become known, then they might start roasting the coffee just the way you like it and of course they'll have a ton of advice for you.

If you really want to go all out and are making your coffee in a french press then in my, highly biased opinon, you can't go wrong with getting some Jamaican Blue Mountain. Yes, it's exspensive. Yes it's over hyped but it's damn good. Be warned, there is a lot of fake and pseudo labelled Blue Mountain coffee. I think it's something like 4 times as much coffee labelled Jamaican Blue Mountain is sold each year than is produced. This is another reason I'd go to a quality local shop, they are less likely to have purchased fake Blue Mountain coffee.

EggyToast

I order my coffee from both Kade's Coffee and Coffeefool. Both claim to have a very short turnaround time between the coffee roasting and being sent out, so it doesn't sit around already roasted (when it should be tastiest). Coffeefool has more varieties of regular coffee, but Kade's offers more roasting levels which is ideal for those dark espressos.

locomotiveman

Since this is for a Bible study and all, perhaps you should consider fair trade coffee or even tea or chocolate for that matter.

Lach

Thanks again, I'm going to keep looking for a local roaster but I haven't found any yet. I'll try that site.

Also, sorry for jacking your thread.

Sarcastro

South Pacific coffee is some of the world's finest. Gorokan or Mt Hagan. Mid roast, delicious. As for technique, experimentation and beanhunting will go a long way. A basic type of bean allows you to practice a certain method, and then once the method is down, you begin to select different beans with more subtle shades and notes. Then one day you will match the perfect bean with your favourite technique and your tongue will melt inside your face.