how to make coffee to get the best taste out of it

[Frankenvoter]

A little story & then a statement:

Long ago I was playing war in a field with my squadron. I get up one morning & find that it's a "cold camp" meaning no hot water. So I head to the command tent (betting they had hot water) & found that some had been heated earlier. I found it, got a cupful & poured in my MRE instant coffee packet. That coffee was picked because it was the lowest bidder to supply coffee. So I was the only person to have coffee which was made out of lukewarm water & the cheapest coffee on the market. And the coffee was fricken wonderful.

So my take on coffee is all coffee is great no matter how it's made if it's the only coffee you have. There is no life without coffee, nor should there be.

I wanted to come back & add that over the years, as I've gotten older, I've cut back on coffee. Now days I hardly ever drink more than 10 cups a day. And yes it does freak my doctors out until they find out how much I used to drink.

Uggghhhh I feel your pain, it was middle of winter as well, coldest shower I've ever taken. We had Folgers in our MRE's, and was when I started using it as well as regular coffee just depends on how much time I have in the morning.

I got to wanting a Kuerig as I was lately teaching as well as only buying 4 cup makers, theres no doubt that at least to me coffee thats been in the pot too long gets "stale", even though my previous teaching job I'd come in some nights and the coffee had been in the pot all day, super black and bitter as the water had evaporated out, was gonna pour it out one night and one of the instructors said "wait, wait!! what are you doing?!?", because he liked it like that, super black and had been in the pot all day.

[Kodiak]

Been drinking 2 - 3 cups of Folgers from a percolator for decades. Works for me.

[Lone Gunman]

i'm good with the basics.

[UKSmartypants]

Looks good, but...too much work for me.

What I do SWEAR by, is grinding my own coffee. Freshly ground just seems to taste better.

But I love all kinds of coffee. The only thing I can't stand is coffee that has been sitting out a few hours and gets that burnt, cruddy taste to it.

Fortunately, I will drink a pot long before it gets to that!

Absolutely. Both are essential. When you grind coffee beans, you immediately release all sorts of very volatile oils, esters and other chemicals that start to evaporate, thats why the taste dulls after a while.

The Clover machine brews an exact amount of ground coffee at an exact temperature for an exact amount of time, on a cup by cup basis, and its repeatable. Every cup is just as good. Everything on it is fully programmable.

The temperature and time are vital. The Cona does a good job of repeatability as well, in the right hands. I believe somone has bought the rights to them and has started making a modern version.

[Call_me_Ishmael]

I want to try to make cold brew coffee and then add some hot water after it's brewed.
It's an overnight process but I've read it's worth it.

[Call_me_Ishmael]

Got some beans stored away for prepping. I vacuum sealed some. Not all. Shelf life isn't many years so I'm trying to rotate it. Opened a bag of Starbucks Sumatra - not vacuum sealed - that was a year past the "best buy" date. I ground some up and brewed it several ways. I thought it was still pretty good. It took a while to get the grind right though since I don't normally grind my own. I have a manual burr grinder and an electric blade grinder. Either is fine with me but I do recognize that the burr grinder provides better consistency in grind size.


But given how coffee beans do go bad eventually, I also have a few thousand servings of instant. I can lower my standards if need be. My SO says only in a TEOTWAWKI situation would instant coffee be drinkable.

Such sophisticated tastes when it comes to coffee!

PS... lived in Turkey for awhile. I'll pass on the mud. Starbucks in Istanbul was better. For caffeine, I'd prefer their tea.

PPS. I looked into buying green beans and then roasting them myself. I'll pass on that too. Expensive and not worth the effort.

[Jen]

To get the best cup of coffee I use a Keurig and my favorite brand.

My son likes cold pressed coffee.
Another son blends different flavored coffees for his Keurig.
Starbucks French, Verona, and Sumatra are the blends I use.

[Call_me_Ishmael]

To get the best cup of coffee I use a Keurig and my favorite brand.

My son likes cold pressed coffee.

I won't go any further on either because if I do people will make mean comments.

Been using a single serve Keurig for years. SO is using a more sophisticated version because she likes the options it provides.

Find the coffee you like and...bingo... you get a good cup IMHO.

I'm just trying to rotate my prepping stock so I've been grinding my own recently. But I did try to use the reusable pods in my Keurig with some freshly ground coffee. I made some good coffee with it in the keurig.

[Call_me_Ishmael]

Water quality is a significant issue too in making good coffee. I use reverse osmosis water for everything so I remineralize to some extent. It makes a difference.

I don't have the remineralization down to a science yet though. I have layman's chemical analysis tools but the remineralization methods are not providing consistent results for an affordable price.
It's a work in progress.

Advice welcome.

[Jen]

Been using a single serve Keurig for years. SO is using a more sophisticated version because she likes the options it provides.

Find the coffee you like and...bingo... you get a good cup IMHO.

I'm just trying to rotate my prepping stock so I've been grinding my own recently. But I did try to use the reusable pods in my Keurig with some freshly ground coffee. I made some good coffee with it in the keurig.

I use the already made Keurig pods because I only drink one cup of coffee a day. We have the refillable pod that allows us to use our own coffee and we sometimes do that.

One son likes to blend flavors of coffee so he and his wife grind and blend their own. I just want my one cup as quickly and easily as possible. Using a Keurig gives a good cup of coffee every single time... no bottom of the pot. And if I want a cup of Earl Grey tea in the evening.......I have keurig pods for that too.

When I visit my other son, I enjoy his cold pressed coffee. It's nice.