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OT-What you should know about coffee


Hard Truth

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1. Most coffee in the USA and many other countries is bad.

2. Virtually all coffee in a can, bottle, foil wrapper etc. is bad.

3. Freshness is essential, so good coffee that sits unsold in a specialty store for months is bad.

4. Starbucks isn't all that bad compared to most coffee in the USA.

5. Until Starbucks started invading the country, most USA residents never had any half way decent coffee. This is especially true for people who live far from major cities or the coasts.

6. Starbucks isn't that good when compared to Peets and many other smaller, high quality roasters.

7. You can not make coffee too strong. The stronger the better. If coffee is made with excess beans the grounds just sink to the bottom of the cup.

8. Weak coffee is more bitter than strong coffee because the bitter ingrediants are over extracted from the beans when excess water is used.

9. Light roasted coffees are usually more bitter than dark roasts. (my opinion, this seems to be subjective)

10. In general, people who drink their coffee black prefer lighter roasts, people who use cream prefer darker roasts.

11. Fake "creamers" are an abomination. It is better to drink your coffee black than put that crap in your coffee, even if the coffee sucks.

12. Real cream or half and half is much tastier in coffee than milk, esp. low fat milks. Its only a few spoonfuls, so it won't make you fat, put some real cream in there, its worth it.

12. Flavored coffee is an abomination. Usually only the worst of the worst coffee is used to make flavored coffee.

13. Most coffee makers burn the coffee after it is brewed. It is better to put your coffee in a thermos to keep it warm. Most restaurant coffee is burned except for immediately after a fresh pot is made.

14. If you can't find any good coffee, get a shot of espresso, its harder to ruin.

15. Stale, weak and burned coffee is more likely to give you a headache or other undesirable side effects than strong, good coffee. (at reasonable dosage levels)

16. If you haven't had a nice strong cup of coffee made from recently roasted fresh good quality beans you can't disagree with me intelligently. :) If you can, go to Peets and order a cup and put some half in half in it before you try to argue with these comandments of coffee.

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Originally posted by Hard Truth

60hurts, what are you, English or something?

 

Probably not. But I will say one thing about your 16 points to a good cup.....

what about the quality of the water?

Most people just use water right out of the tap. And whether it is filtered or not, some water is extremely hard, etc.

What is your take on how water affects the quality of your cup-o-coffee?

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Originally posted by 60hurts

Probably not. But I will say one thing about your 16 points to a good cup.....

what about the quality of the water?

Most people just use water right out of the tap. And whether it is filtered or not, some water is extremely hard, etc.

What is your take on how water affects the quality of your cup-o-coffee?

 

 

 

You're right. Water is key. I use bottled water because it just makes sense to me. Kopi Luwak and Fiji water is pretty nice. Can't really do it too often b/c it's cost prohibitive. LOL

 

 

-J.P. LUX

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We buy beans from Costco - pretty durn good coffee for a LOT less $$ per lb than the boutique brands or Starbucks.

 

One of my "secrets" of good coffee is to make sure the water is not too hot when brewing or dripping. If I get the water boiling, and then pour it over the coffee right then, the water is too hot and a lot of the flavor is lost.

 

What I do is, once the water pot is boiling, I take it off the heat for 2-3 minutes before pouring over the ground coffee. I get a lot more flavor that way.

 

nat whilk ii

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Originally posted by 60hurts

17. Tea is better than coffee.

We agree on Rory... but we don't agree on our choice of caffeinated brews!

 

This German-made beauty (a coffee roaster, for those of you who need to ask)...

1929_15-kilo_Probat_coffee_roaster.jpg

 

... is about a mile's walk from my apartment along a pleasant enough shopping promenade. (Pleasant enough if you get off the sidewalks before the crowds hit in the hour before noon. From there on out it's kind of yuppie hell 'til the bars close at 2...)

 

Click the pic to check out their coffee, info, vids, etc. They're essentially one-off. But they do a pretty good ship-out biz, I think. Their walk-in prices are only a little over what you pay for repackaged Montano brothers at Trader Joes [no diss on Montano Bros, mind you, it's pretty good, I think, a LOT better than that... horrible place. Chain. Let's not speak of it.]

 

_______________

 

BTW, 60, have you checked out the Rory Gallagher stuff on YouTube? There's a lot of duplication but some of it is pretty darn cool. (Watch out for PAL TV formatted stuff, though. There's usually a version that will play in a good aspect ratio if you look for it.)

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I agree with all the 16 points except that I've never tried Peets, so I can't comment on it. However, with a post like that, I sure hope you don't have any financial connection to Peets...

 

Anyways, I go to Starbucks regularly. Here in New England, most coffee drinkers go to Dunkin Donuts. Let me tell you: Dunkin Donuts coffee is BAD BAD BAD. Plus, they charge just as much for it as they do at Starbucks. On top of that, Dunkin Donuts burns their coffee (by leaving it on a burner). Starbucks doesn't, although some would say they burn the beans too much, and at least partially I'd have to agree.

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Originally posted by Hard Truth


2. Virtually all coffee in a can, bottle, foil wrapper etc. is bad.


Have you tried Hills Brothers? It's all in how you brew it.



4. Starbucks isn't all that bad compared to most coffee in the USA.



The people who drink that overpriced crap are the same people who buy bottled water when they're not in Korea or Mexico or someplace where it would make you sick.




5. Until Starbucks started invading the country, most USA residents never had any half way decent coffee. This is especially true for people who live far from major cities or the coasts.



If you call that garbage decent, then you need to learn how to brew.





7. You can not make coffee too strong. The stronger the better. If coffee is made with excess beans the grounds just sink to the bottom of the cup.


8. Weak coffee is more bitter than strong coffee because the bitter ingrediants are over extracted from the beans when excess water is used.



If you make coffee too strong, you bounce off the ceiling. Weak coffee is NOT bitter. I make mine around half strength and everyone goes on and on about how good it tastes. (Of course I brew it properly).





11. Fake "creamers" are an abomination. It is better to drink your coffee black than put that crap in your coffee, even if the coffee sucks.



Okay, we agree on something. And don't get Lee started on high fructose corn sweeteners, not to mention partially hydrogenated stuff.



12. Real cream or half and half is much tastier in coffee than milk, esp. low fat milks. Its only a few spoonfuls, so it won't make you fat, put some real cream in there, its worth it.



I like it black, but I agree with this 100%




12. Flavored coffee is an abomination. Usually only the worst of the worst coffee is used to make flavored coffee.



Tell that to my woman...
:rolleyes:
I'll have a cup or two and, ahem, choke it down...





13. Most coffee makers burn the coffee after it is brewed. It is better to put your coffee in a thermos to keep it warm. Most restaurant coffee is burned except for immediately after a fresh pot is made.



If you have a good brewer like a Bunn VPR or a Bloomfield, just dump the filter basket after the brew cycle is over. That's where you get the burnt taste from. My coffee tastes great 2 hours after I brewed it setting on the warmer (okay, 2 hours is borderline, but it's really good right till then).




14. If you can't find any good coffee, get a shot of espresso, its harder to ruin.


That stuff makes me crazy like Tequila, I need to put frothy milk and sugar in it to calm it down.
:eek:

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Originally posted by amplayer

Dunkin Donuts coffee is BAD BAD BAD. Plus, they charge just as much for it as they do at Starbucks. On top of that, Dunkin Donuts burns their coffee (by leaving it on a burner). Starbucks doesn't, although some would say they burn the beans too much, and at least partially I'd have to agree.

 

A double espresso at Starf*cks isn $3.50, at Dunkin Donuts it's $1.60, and IMHO far better. Dunkins cycles their coffee about 4x more than Starf*cks, meaning fresher coffee. Same with the beans. Starbucks beans are on average 2 weeks post roasting, Dunkins 1-2 days.

 

I know this as I have friends who work in management for both companies.

 

Starbucks IMHO sucks, and is one of the biggest rippoffs out there in the yuppy coffee world. Dunkins used to be pretty lame, but 2 yrs ago overhauled their entire process and purchasing, and has great beans and a gret cup of coffee for reasonable money.

 

Now, for the visual that this post screams for....

NECC.jpg

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Just to support the comment about Americans not being exposed to good coffee....

 

I spend a fair amount of time in Tokyo as part of my job. In several hotels and other restaraunts there they have two coffees listed on the menu:

1) Coffee

2) "American Coffee" ( it's weak and relatively tasteless)

 

By the way. Except for the presence of micro brews I find the same to be true of beers. Why can't America manage to turn out a worthwhile mass produced beer? Why do so many Americans drink the big label stuff that passes for beer?

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1. I have no financial connection with Peets.

 

2. Re. water quality-In San Francisco and the East SF Bay, the water comes directly from the Sierra mountains and is better than most bottled waters. So I have no personal experience with poor quality water. I would expect that if your tap water tastes bad, bottled water would be an improvement. However, a lot of bottled waters are essentially tap water, or are no better.

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