Making a good cup of coffee.

Frenchy said:

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
: You know how when you go to a really fine restaurant and have a cup of
: coffee how great it tastes? And then you go to an average restaurant and
: the coffee taste like a basic cup of coffee.
:
: Do those upscale restaurants use a special blend of coffee or special
: coffee makers or both?
:
: I’ve tried expensive (Jamaican Blue) coffee and average $5 or $7 a pound
: coffee.
:
: I was wondering if you would be willing to share with us your experience
: with coffee.
: 1. If you have a brand that you feel makes an excellent cup of coffee.
: Maybe you only use it when you have guest.
: 2. Would you also use it for breakfast or do you use something different
: for breakfast?
: 3. Do you have a special way of making it or do you just put in the
: filter and water and hit the go switch?
: 4. Do you feel that the coffee pot has a lot to do with it?
:
: Any other information you can add to this would be great. Maybe we can
: all learn something about coffee.
:
: I’m currently using a Gevalia Coffee maker and Gevalia French Roast. I
: don’t use this coffee for breakfast; I use a standard can of coffee. I
: would love to be able to make a fantastic cup of coffee after dinner.
: Please help.
:
: Thanks for any input you can give,
:
: Bill Wright

I have found Molinare Brand, their Cinque Stella (5 star) Italian roast beans is
smooth and very tasty.

Comes in 250g tinfoil sealed cans of beans. I assume you grind your own beans??

Frenchy

Thanks for the info Frenchy.

Where do you go to buy this coffee or website. I'll give it a try.

Bill

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
: You know how when you go to a really fine restaurant and have a cup of
: coffee how great it tastes? And then you go to an average restaurant and
: the coffee taste like a basic cup of coffee.
:
: Do those upscale restaurants use a special blend of coffee or special
: coffee makers or both?
:
: I’ve tried expensive (Jamaican Blue) coffee and average $5 or $7 a pound
: coffee.
:
: I was wondering if you would be willing to share with us your experience
: with coffee.
: 1. If you have a brand that you feel makes an excellent cup of coffee.
: Maybe you only use it when you have guest.
: 2. Would you also use it for breakfast or do you use something different
: for breakfast?
: 3. Do you have a special way of making it or do you just put in the
: filter and water and hit the go switch?
: 4. Do you feel that the coffee pot has a lot to do with it?
:
: Any other information you can add to this would be great. Maybe we can
: all learn something about coffee.
:
: I’m currently using a Gevalia Coffee maker and Gevalia French Roast. I
: don’t use this coffee for breakfast; I use a standard can of coffee. I
: would love to be able to make a fantastic cup of coffee after dinner.
: Please help.
:
: Thanks for any input you can give,
:
: Bill Wright

I have found Molinare Brand, their Cinque Stella (5 star) Italian roast beans is
smooth and very tasty.

Comes in 250g tinfoil sealed cans of beans. I assume you grind your own beans??

Frenchy

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You know how when you go to a really fine restaurant and have a cup of
coffee how great it tastes? And then you go to an average restaurant and
the coffee taste like a basic cup of coffee.

Do those upscale restaurants use a special blend of coffee or special
coffee makers or both?

I've tried expensive (Jamaican Blue) coffee and average $5 or $7 a pound
coffee.

I was wondering if you would be willing to share with us your experience
with coffee.

<snipped>

1) Buy high quality coffee as whole beans and grind it yourself. Try
different varieties/roasts to find what you like. Shop at a place that has
high turnover to avoid stale coffee. Store the extra well sealed in the
freezer.

2) Ditch the coffee maker if possible. Use a cone and filters and be sure
the water is actively boiling when poured on the grounds. Rinse the filter
before using to remove off tastes.

3) Use good water. If your tap water tastes off it will affect the coffee.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

Peter Aitken wrote, in part:

Quoted message said:

1) Buy high quality coffee as whole beans and grind it yourself. Try
different varieties/roasts to find what you like. Shop at a place that has
high turnover to avoid stale coffee. Store the extra well sealed in the
freezer.

Find a resource for beans that is nearest to you, and be sure it's one
that will only ship on same-day roasting so as not to ever be
dissapointed by receiving beans that may have become stale after
roasting while waiting for a purchase-out. Never buy from grocery
store shelves, or from "coffee houses" like Starbucks, ever.

Picky

snip: > : would love to be able to make a fantastic cup of coffee after dinner.
: > : Please help.
: > :
: > : Thanks for any input you can give,
: > :
: > : Bill Wright
: >
: >
: > I have found Molinare Brand, their Cinque Stella (5 star) Italian roast beans
is
: > smooth and very tasty.
: >
: > Comes in 250g tinfoil sealed cans of beans. I assume you grind your own
beans??
: >
: > Frenchy
: >
:
: Thanks for the info Frenchy.
:
: Where do you go to buy this coffee or website. I'll give it a try.
:
: Bill
:

I am in New Zealand and a local distributor delivers it to me when phoned!

However, looks like a spelt the name wrong, it is "Molinari"

Or Google Molinari Coffee

I got this but not sure what country it or you are in

Try here, this is the exact coffee

http://shopping.microuse.com/products/detail/c/B0009F50EC

Frenchy

Peter Aitken said:

1) Buy high quality coffee as whole beans and grind it yourself. Try
different varieties/roasts to find what you like. Shop at a place that has
high turnover to avoid stale coffee. Store the extra well sealed in the
freezer.

Yes to all of that, and also notice the roast -- French, dark, medium,
espresso, whatever. Try different ones until you find what you like.

Quoted message said:

2) Ditch the coffee maker if possible. Use a cone and filters and be sure
the water is actively boiling when poured on the grounds. Rinse the filter
before using to remove off tastes.

Not sure about the 'actively boiling' point. I've read that the ideal
temp for coffee brewing is somewhat lower than boiling -- about 190°F
if I remember correctly.

Quoted message said:

3) Use good water. If your tap water tastes off it will affect the coffee.

Agreed. My tap water is often overchlorinated. I use filtered water
for coffee and cooking. -aem

aem said:

Not sure about the 'actively boiling' point. I've read that the ideal
temp for coffee brewing is somewhat lower than boiling -- about 190°F
if I remember correctly.

No, I didn't remember correctly. Several sites found from Googling
'coffee brewing temperature' seem to agree that 200°F + or - 5 degrees
is optimum. -aem

"aem" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Peter Aitken said:

1) Buy high quality coffee as whole beans and grind it yourself. Try
different varieties/roasts to find what you like. Shop at a place that has
high turnover to avoid stale coffee. Store the extra well sealed in the
freezer.

Yes to all of that, and also notice the roast -- French, dark, medium,
espresso, whatever. Try different ones until you find what you like.

Quoted message said:

2) Ditch the coffee maker if possible. Use a cone and filters and be sure
the water is actively boiling when poured on the grounds. Rinse the filter
before using to remove off tastes.

Not sure about the 'actively boiling' point. I've read that the ideal
temp for coffee brewing is somewhat lower than boiling -- about 190°F
if I remember correctly.

Quoted message said:

3) Use good water. If your tap water tastes off it will affect the coffee.

Agreed. My tap water is often overchlorinated. I use filtered water
for coffee and cooking. -aem

Me too. Distilled for coffee; reverse osmosis for rinsing rice, veggies,
etc.; Brita for cooking. Then, of course, there's bottled water for
drinking plain water.
When I grew up on a farm -- yeah, I've probably said this a dozen times
before -- our cistern had worms in it. You can't blame me for going
overboard in the water department. I wouldn't drink water for years.
Dee Dee

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I was wondering if you would be willing to share with us your experience
with coffee.

Coffee is very much a case of ymmv. Different folks like theirs
differently. My wife and I both don't like the harshly roasted Italian
and French style coffees that are predominantly sold here. We don't like
perfumed coffees. We drink it black - no sugar, milk or cream. We like a
full-bodied medium roast. My wife won't drink espresso - I don't mind it
one bit, and will even have the darker roasts in espresso. But generally
we prefer filter coffee. By a country mile. 2nd rank is
infuse_in_the_cup or plunger, and least of all what you typically get in
all the cafes around here: 'long black' which is expresso with hot water
added to make a 'cup of coffee' - an abomination barely just better in
quality than instant if you want _my_ opinion.
But then we have friends who only drink those harsh roasts that make me
feel like I've just swallowed a belt sander that is still twitching. My
arents are the extreme other end of the scale, they drink what we call
'flower coffee' you can clearly see the floral pattern at the bottom of
the mug :-) Personal taste.

Quoted message said:

1. If you have a brand that you feel makes an excellent cup of coffee.
Maybe you only use it when you have guest.

Are you kidding? *Always* have the best coffee in the pot ;-)
I have tried many different roasters and brands over the years; at the
moment we find that German coffee maker Melitta sells vacuum packed
bricks of filter-ground coffee that suit us better than anything we can
do with locally roasted beans.

Quoted message said:

2. Would you also use it for breakfast or do you use something different
for breakfast?

'she who' has it before and with breakfast, I have it after. And
whenever one of us feels like a 'drinks break' during the day. And I
like one after dinner, too, if I can get it.

Quoted message said:

3. Do you have a special way of making it or do you just put in the
filter and water and hit the go switch?

Making it in the cone with a paper filter gives you ultimate control.
Coffee into the filter, small pinch of salt, a tiny pinch of cocoa for a
treat and a bit of a difference from time to time. Only half fill the
cone with water just off the boil the first time. Give the grounds a bit
of a break to expand before you top the cone up. As others have pointed
out, the water does *not* have to be boiling furiously. I use about 1 to
1 1/2 heaped tsp grounds per cup.

Then again, a good coffee maker will do a good job. Currently I have a
Braun, with a gold filter (*that* saves a lot of money) and this machine
makes excellent coffee. I've had others in the past (Melitta, Kambrook,
Russell and Hobbs to name but three) that were much inferior in the
quality of the coffee they made. What I am drinking now is, to me,
indistinguishible from 'hand made from fresh beans'.

Quoted message said:

4. Do you feel that the coffee pot has a lot to do with it?

I will only drink coffee from porcellain cups/mugs, or glass in a pinch.
I couldn't tie it down exactly but I feel stoneware mugs take something
away from the coffee. No, we don't do plastic.

Quoted message said:

Any other information you can add to this would be great. Maybe we can
all learn something about coffee.

I know lots of people who NEVER drink coffee because "it's so bad for
you". They think. Oh irony: My mother-out-law was one of those, and a
couple of years ago she came down with Parkinson's; hard, very hard.
She did some research and found out that regular consumption of coffee
might have averted that fate ... she was pretty wry about it. Apparently
in sensible doses it's also good for your liver, and heart, has good
antioxidants and can help forestall stroke. Take that all you "health
nuts", put it in your pipe and smoke it! <grin> I ***like*** my coffee.

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You know how when you go to a really fine restaurant and have a cup of
coffee how great it tastes? And then you go to an average restaurant and
the coffee taste like a basic cup of coffee.

Do those upscale restaurants use a special blend of coffee or special
coffee makers or both?

I’ve tried expensive (Jamaican Blue) coffee and average $5 or $7 a pound
coffee.

I was wondering if you would be willing to share with us your experience
with coffee.
1. If you have a brand that you feel makes an excellent cup of coffee.
Maybe you only use it when you have guest.
2. Would you also use it for breakfast or do you use something different
for breakfast?
3. Do you have a special way of making it or do you just put in the filter
and water and hit the go switch?
4. Do you feel that the coffee pot has a lot to do with it?

Any other information you can add to this would be great. Maybe we can all
learn something about coffee.

I’m currently using a Gevalia Coffee maker and Gevalia French Roast. I don’t
use this coffee for breakfast; I use a standard can of coffee. I would
love to be able to make a fantastic cup of coffee after dinner. Please
help.

Thanks for any input you can give,

Bill Wright

Bill,

For breakfast, when it's usually just me and my husband, I sometimes use the
french press, but since my loving man gave me a Saeco for my birthday, I
rarely use anything else, regardlessof the time. I buy a couple of different
espresso's from Whole Foods when I'm in the area, but most often I go to
Peet's, and buy freshly roasted beans from there. I have a few that I'm
really into right now. The Kona, which is rich and very smooth, is a great
night time and dessert coffee. The JR Reserve makes a fantastic cup, and the
Major Dickason's makes excellent espresso.
A couple things do make a big difference, most important being the water. If
you use really good coffee with bad water, it's going to be bad coffee.
Clean, filtered water is essential. Buy fresh roasted beans and don't grind
them until you use them. And no matter what you've heard before, do NOT
freeze the beans. Keep them in an airtight container.
Oh, and, whatever you do, avoid Starbucks beans like the plague!

Hope this helps!

kimberly

Quoted message said:

Since we are on the subject of a good cup of coffee I just started a
new group here on "G". It's a recipe group for those of us who like to
use Gourmet Flavored Syrups in our coffee & other foods.
http://groups.google.com/group/Recipes-for-Flavored-Syrups I'm new to
all of this so anybody who wants to join in please feel free to do so,
thanks. Tony

Bill said:

You know how when you go to a really fine restaurant and have a cup of
coffee how great it tastes? And then you go to an average restaurant and
the coffee taste like a basic cup of coffee.

Do those upscale restaurants use a special blend of coffee or special
coffee makers or both?

I’ve tried expensive (Jamaican Blue) coffee and average $5 or $7 a pound
coffee.

I was wondering if you would be willing to share with us your experience
with coffee.
1. If you have a brand that you feel makes an excellent cup of coffee.
Maybe you only use it when you have guest.
2. Would you also use it for breakfast or do you use something different
for breakfast?
3. Do you have a special way of making it or do you just put in the
filter and water and hit the go switch?
4. Do you feel that the coffee pot has a lot to do with it?

Any other information you can add to this would be great. Maybe we can
all learn something about coffee.

I’m currently using a Gevalia Coffee maker and Gevalia French Roast. I
don’t use this coffee for breakfast; I use a standard can of coffee. I
would love to be able to make a fantastic cup of coffee after dinner.
Please help.

Thanks for any input you can give,

Bill Wright

Six weeks ago, I bought a Bodum french coffee press
http://www.bodumusa.com/shop/line.asp?MD=1&GID=3&LID=10&HID=1928%2D16PC&CHK=&SLT=&mscssid=A5DTKA4HPCD68GVV6BP75GKCVMQ22032

Even less desirable coffee brands test better when made in this.

And yes,, I do like starbuck's house brand,, even if none of the
"experts" here approve..
Also Seattles' best http://www.seattlesbest.com/About/locations.aspx
Chuck (in SC)

Regarding restaurant coffee, my experience is if I go during busy times
(lunch hour, dinner rush, weekend evenings, etc) most places will serve
fresh, hot coffee. But if I go other than these times, the coffee is stale,
bitter and sometimes lukewarm, even at high end places.

I think people place too much emphasis on beans. Also important are the
temperature of the water and the proportion of water to beans. I've been
satisfied with most unflavored arabica beans. Currently I use a house brand
from Meijer.

I prefer to use my stainless steel bodum french press (which goes in the
dishwasher after I'm done). I use boiling hot water. I've read that less
than boiling hot water is ideal, but my taste buds don't agree. I also
experiment with the proportion of beans to water and then write it down
after I find a combination I like.

Incidentally, I really like McDonald's coffee. Laugh if you want.

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You know how when you go to a really fine restaurant and have a cup of
coffee how great it tastes? And then you go to an average restaurant and
the coffee taste like a basic cup of coffee.

Do those upscale restaurants use a special blend of coffee or special
coffee makers or both?

I’ve tried expensive (Jamaican Blue) coffee and average $5 or $7 a pound
coffee.

I was wondering if you would be willing to share with us your experience
with coffee.
1. If you have a brand that you feel makes an excellent cup of coffee.
Maybe you only use it when you have guest.
2. Would you also use it for breakfast or do you use something different
for breakfast?
3. Do you have a special way of making it or do you just put in the filter
and water and hit the go switch?
4. Do you feel that the coffee pot has a lot to do with it?

Any other information you can add to this would be great. Maybe we can all
learn something about coffee.

I’m currently using a Gevalia Coffee maker and Gevalia French Roast. I don’t
use this coffee for breakfast; I use a standard can of coffee. I would
love to be able to make a fantastic cup of coffee after dinner. Please
help.

Thanks for any input you can give,

Bill Wright

In article <[email hidden]>,

JeanineAlyse said:

Never buy from grocery
store shelves, or from "coffee houses" like Starbucks, ever.

I can agree with avoiding grocery-store-shelf coffee. But there are
some coffee houses which roast daily (sometimes more than once a
day, in the store) and have enough turnover that the beans are
always fresh -- almost certainly they're in the store for less time
than they spend in your house waiting to be brewed. Here in
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dunn Bros is such a company.

If the freshness of the beans is _that_ critical to you, you really
ought to roast your own.

sd

In article <[email hidden]>,

AL said:

Incidentally, I really like McDonald's coffee. Laugh if you want.

We no longer have any Tim Hortons and there's only one Dunkin Donuts
here IIRC, so I can't compare them anymore, but McDonald's coffee
probably is the best fast-food coffee around here. Surprises me, too.

sd

Bill said:

You know how when you go to a really fine restaurant and have a cup of
coffee how great it tastes? And then you go to an average restaurant and
the coffee taste like a basic cup of coffee.

Mostly freshness of the brew (coffee needs to be consumed within ten
minutes of brewing), no matter how much effort and expense is invested
in beans and brewing equipment old coffee sucks just like a flat beer
that was poured twenty minutes ago. And of course the water... can't
make good coffee (or beer) regardless the ingredients without good
water. Municipal tap water is an abomination, not only is it typically
very hard with minerals it's also clorinated, typically heavily, and
also contains dissolved noxious gasses and other pipe crud. Bottled
water is not much better and often worse. When an establishment is
serving really great coffee you can be pretty certain they are using
aerated RO water at their coffee station. And you can be well assured
there are no little elves in the back sorting, roasting, and ginding
magic beans... they use the same coffees you can buy from your
stupidmarket, only they buy theirs in pre-portioned nitrogen packed
packets to ensure freshness, which affords the one thing not possible
for the home-roast cultists, consistancy. Naturally use clean brewing
equipment (no one brewing method is better than another) and a _clean_
*fresh* cup for each refill... no paper cups, no plastic cups, no metal
cups. Refilling a used cup coated with stale coffee is really stupid,
everyone does it, even the so-called coffee mavens, but it is
absolutely stupid... would you frequent a bar where the bartender
refilled your used glass. Next time you're out to eat don't be ashamed
to ask the wait person for a fresh cup with each refill... besides,
these days most times you pay for each refill (full price too) so why
should you save them dishwashing expense. A fine restaurant brings a
clean wine glass for each new bottle... next time observe, you'd be
surprised how many don't... don't dine there... their food handlers
don't wash their hands either... and you don't even wanna see their
kitchen. Anytime you notice an establishment using stainless steel
coffee caraffes order bottled beer... modern tap beer sucks too, it's
in bare aluminum kegs and travels through many yards of plastic tubing
that's coated with crud akin to the interiour of your toilet tank, only
worse.

To sum up: Freshly brewed, Water, Cleanliness. Any other elements are
purely subjective opinion, and lots of hype... of course you're going
to believe $20/lb beans taste better. Don't let anyone [censored] you
about magic beans and roasting your own... coffee flavor is no
different from any other, everyones taste is different.. why Baskins &
Robins has 31.

Sheldon

I am blessed. Every morning I use freshly ground beans and water
straight out of our own well to brew our coffee; 5 cups for the wife and
I, 4 tbsp of ground coffee to 5 cups of water. Hard to beat.

Sheldon said:

Bill said:

You know how when you go to a really fine restaurant and have a cup of
coffee how great it tastes? And then you go to an average restaurant and
the coffee taste like a basic cup of coffee.

Mostly freshness of the brew (coffee needs to be consumed within ten
minutes of brewing), no matter how much effort and expense is invested
in beans and brewing equipment old coffee sucks just like a flat beer
that was poured twenty minutes ago. And of course the water... can't
make good coffee (or beer) regardless the ingredients without good
water. Municipal tap water is an abomination, not only is it typically
very hard with minerals it's also clorinated, typically heavily, and
also contains dissolved noxious gasses and other pipe crud. Bottled
water is not much better and often worse. When an establishment is
serving really great coffee you can be pretty certain they are using
aerated RO water at their coffee station. And you can be well assured
there are no little elves in the back sorting, roasting, and ginding
magic beans... they use the same coffees you can buy from your
stupidmarket, only they buy theirs in pre-portioned nitrogen packed
packets to ensure freshness, which affords the one thing not possible
for the home-roast cultists, consistancy. Naturally use clean brewing
equipment (no one brewing method is better than another) and a _clean_
*fresh* cup for each refill... no paper cups, no plastic cups, no metal
cups. Refilling a used cup coated with stale coffee is really stupid,
everyone does it, even the so-called coffee mavens, but it is
absolutely stupid... would you frequent a bar where the bartender
refilled your used glass. Next time you're out to eat don't be ashamed
to ask the wait person for a fresh cup with each refill... besides,
these days most times you pay for each refill (full price too) so why
should you save them dishwashing expense. A fine restaurant brings a
clean wine glass for each new bottle... next time observe, you'd be
surprised how many don't... don't dine there... their food handlers
don't wash their hands either... and you don't even wanna see their
kitchen. Anytime you notice an establishment using stainless steel
coffee caraffes order bottled beer... modern tap beer sucks too, it's
in bare aluminum kegs and travels through many yards of plastic tubing
that's coated with crud akin to the interiour of your toilet tank, only
worse.

To sum up: Freshly brewed, Water, Cleanliness. Any other elements are
purely subjective opinion, and lots of hype... of course you're going
to believe $20/lb beans taste better. Don't let anyone [censored] you
about magic beans and roasting your own... coffee flavor is no
different from any other, everyones taste is different.. why Baskins &
Robins has 31.

Sheldon

Jim Davis said:

I am blessed. Every morning I use freshly ground beans and water
straight out of our own well to brew our coffee; 5 cups for the wife and
I, 4 tbsp of ground coffee to 5 cups of water.

1 1/4 Tbls ground coffee to 5 cups water is awfully weak (1/4
Tbls/cup), actually pathetic, just dirty water.

So who's THE wife... obviously not yours or you would have said MY
wife... or are you ashamed of her, obviously you are. THE wife
probably gave you THE kids too... obviously you had nothing to do with
making THE kids, was a product of THE wife and THE plumber, THE UPS
guy, THE pizza delivery kid, and all THE men in THE neighborhood.

THE Sheldon

Sheldon said:

Jim Davis said:

I am blessed. Every morning I use freshly ground beans and water
straight out of our own well to brew our coffee; 5 cups for the wife and
I, 4 tbsp of ground coffee to 5 cups of water.

1 1/4 Tbls ground coffee to 5 cups water is awfully weak (1/4
Tbls/cup), actually pathetic, just dirty water.

So who's THE wife... obviously not yours or you would have said MY
wife... or are you ashamed of her, obviously you are. THE wife
probably gave you THE kids too... obviously you had nothing to do with
making THE kids, was a product of THE wife and THE plumber, THE UPS
guy, THE pizza delivery kid, and all THE men in THE neighborhood.

THE Sheldon

We've got a grammatical error as well as a quantitative one here. It
would have been clearer for him to write, "...5 cups [of coffee] for
the wife and me, 4 tbsp of coffee to 5 cups of water." Assuming that
means coffee cups, not 8 oz. cups, it is still weaker by half than I
like it but not as bad as it first looks. -aem