Another Coffee Discussion

These pop up every year or so but it's time for another one. 

Money no object, what's your favorite coffee? 

What's your daily blend?

Whole bean or pre-ground. 

Here's mine. 

Daily I rotate through a couple. 

Mt Comfort, Peru. 2.5 lbs for $23.

Cameron's Breakfast Blend, 32 oz for $10. 

Amazon Doughnut Cafe Blend, 32 oz for $14.

I've also tried several of Stumptown's blends. They are decent. 

Tell me what you like.

When I still drank coffee, 8 o'clock Italian, whole bean, black for a daily driver. Blue mountain or Kona when feeling fancy or a special occasion, again whole bean and black. 

The wife claims to like fancy coffees, so I get them for her, then regardless of flavor or type she dumps in a quarter cup of liquid sugar to every cup. Don't know why she just doesn't drink the cheap E36 M3 if all your gonna taste is creamer.

We have a roaster down the street, and I normally work through all of their various location beans.  Hard to keep track- but I have found that for my taste, the lighter roasted beans are not great when using a aeropress.  Just a little to sour.  But it's fun to keep rotating flavors.

We also use a Nespresso machine, and never stay the same, there, too.

We have been getting Manatee Coffee, it's a Florida roaster that we found at Costco and have really enjoyed. 
We get the whole bean and grind fresh every morning. 

"I like my coffee crisp."

In reply to Chris Tropea :

I saw them while beating around Amazon this morning. I'll have to give them a try. 

I've accepted that my palette isn't advanced enough to appreciate truly great coffee, which is a bummer, really, because I really like the look of all the fancy coffee brands.

That said, I can at least acknowledge when I'm drinking a bad cup of coffee.

Standard is Starbucks whole bean Dark Italian and House Blend (medium roast), blended 50/50, burr grinder on the finest setting, prepared Turkish style (stove top in a jezva (or cezve, if you prefer), black and very strong) but in a larger quantity (probably ~8oz) with breakfast, and more standard Turkish pour after dinner. There are some local roasters around here that are very good, but I go through enough beans that it starts to get expensive if I use them regularly, and they're not as easily available. When traveling, I like to pick up a pound of whole bean from local roasters to bring home; some are great, some aren't.

Ummmm, coffee.

When I am home I drink instant coffee. I am typically adding sugar and some creamer anyways and I'll put it down and forget about it once it's half finished so the sink get the cold remains anyways.

When I am in the city I will usually try to stop by someplace and get a good coffee to sit and enjoy but I don't know enough to be able to identify what it is. I can tell whats a *bad* coffee tho.

I haven't found anything I like much better than Cafe Bustelo espresso roast whole bean.

Bonus points:  it's cheap.

In reply to Duke :

Can't go wrong with Bustelo, that's what we use in our Espresso maker.

Another Bustelo bonus: It's available in just about every store.

Pete's Major Dickason dark-roast mixed with cheaper stuff like Seattle's Best medium roast because apparently it's worth complicating my life over a few dollars a bag.  I buy whole bean and when what I like is on sale I grab a bag and toss in the freezer.  

Local roasters, whatever the lightest roast is. Basically anything I find in the store is going to be mediocre at best. 
 

But our everyday coffee is Kirkland from Costco. The good stuff is just too expensive. 

I love the smell of coffee. Never got around to liking the taste. 

I'm far from picky and I like trying new coffees.  I agree that Bustelo is better than it has any right to be.  Also a Pete's Major Dickasons fan.  Costco is my go-to source for most things coffee.

Edit:   "Cost no object favorite/Mythical coffee memories"

Many years ago I had a cup of what I'm pretty sure was Gevalia Kenya AA, drip brewed, that made such an impression I remember that cup of coffee to this day.  Maybe was the group of people I was with, maybe the location, maybe the coffee, but that was the best coffee I ever had.  I've had Kenya since then, and it didn't rock my world like that one cup did.

We have a roaster in town that does a good job.

Dark roast is the way to go-I like my beans as black as my soul. If it looks like they fell in a pan of 10k mile 10-w30 that's just about perfect.

Niche Grinder plus a Robot espresso maker help keep the mornings quiet.

Local roaster. Prefer a blonde to medium roast.

I tend to prefer African or Asian sourced coffees over South-American.

Whole bean, and ground immediately before fixing. I typically use a small Bialetti pot. Primarily because it's the simplest and most convenient way to make exactly how much I want to drink.

If I'm getting big-brand stuff from Kroger, I get Peet's Big Bang or Starbuck's Veranda Blend.

Timely topic for me; My wife gifted me a Sweet Maria's Popper coffee roaster and a few lbs of various green coffee beans.  It's stunning (to me) tasting different varieties on different days how pronounced the distinctions between them are.  Last month, if you had told me "this dry process Brazilian coffee had notes of chocolate and berries", I'd just chuckle and slurp my store brand K-cup.  Now, after having just 5 varieties back to back, I can almost write a flavor profile of my own.

Roast 100g the night before

Grind 30g in the blade (I know) grinder

Pour over using 500g of just off boiling water through a Kalita pourover and Melitta #2 filter

It's a little bit of a froufrou routine, but it's nice and maybe 10% the price of a daily Starbucks visit.

https://www.amazon.com/Yaucono-Coffee-Puerto-Ground-Variety/dp/B01N5VOJUS

There can be only one.

I stopped drinking coffee halfway through vet school. It interfered with my sleep. If I drank more than two or three cups, combined with the round the clock schedule of clinics, sometimes it would cause my hands to tremor.

When I started autocross, I began drinking it again on event days. I would mix half coffee and chocolate milk, that evolved to cold brew and whole milk. I was okay with some caffeine, but didn't like the sugar bolus.

I drink a half coffee, half milk cup most mornings now. For the autocross days I have a 30 oz yeti cup, so I'm drinking about 15 oz of coffee.

Here's my setup. Stainless steel strainer and a pair of mason jars. Five oz of course ground, 8 cups of water, 12-15 hours soaking at room temperature. Refrigerate.

Old Bisbee Roasters Guatemalan

This has been our goto coffee for years.  The quality took a dip during Covid as they did for many things.  If they ever have Tanzanian Peaberry in stock again, you must try it.

I'm a simple creature.

Lavazza gold in a Moka Pot if I want to treat myself.

Salt Spring Island coffee from Costco most days (Still from the Moka Pot). Still very good coffee.

I usually roast my own from raw beans.  It's pretty easy, but time consuming... and not as good-smelling as you might think.  The reward is unlike any coffee you've ever had.  You know how it's disappointing that coffee doesn't taste like it smells?  Roasting your own, it actually does.  I'll roast a small batch at night, and by the morning they smell like fresh caramel, and it's the BEST coffee.

If I'm buying pre-roasted, I get it from Coutt's Coffee when I'm in Canada.  KickAss coffee makes a darn fine roast as well.  If I'm just feeling less-boujie, I'll buy LaVazza or Cafe Bustello.  If I'm really slumming it, I'll get Starbucks Komodo Dragon or Italian.

Pro tips (courtesy of Alton Brown):  If your brewer has a button for stronger/lighter coffee, keep it on the lighter.  The stronger setting uses higher temperature water which dissolves more of the bitter stuff you don't want.  If you want stronger coffee, use more grounds.  The proper temp is no more than 180F.  Another tip from Alton is to brew it extra strong and then mix in some hot water if you don't want it that strong.  Using less coffee means that the water dissolves out the good stuff and then starts to dissolve the yucky stuff.  Keeping it strong to brew prevents that.

Biggest improvement I've found for coffee is getting a good coffee maker. Most don't get hot enough. Get a Moccamaster, and it is like the difference in 10 year old all seasons and brand new Hoosiers. 
 

Still on the lookout for a Moccamaster, but using a vintage Philips/Norelco coffee maker that we have to make sure we're not using the toaster on the same circuit. That one draws 1000 watts IIRC.