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

[Dr. Felix Birdbiter]

Jamaican Blue Mountain, $50 to $100 a pound. I'll stick with Wally World generic.

Philistine!!

[Brat]

Jamaican Blue Mountain, $50 to $100 a pound. I'll stick with Wally World generic.

Q'uelle Horreur!

[Call_me_Ishmael]

Jamaican Blue Mountain, $50 to $100 a pound. I'll stick with Wally World generic.

Yeah... at $100 and considering 18 grams per cup that's about 4 bucks per cup. Occasionally I might pay that. Even some sports drinks at the express mart are at least half that.

But I wouldn't have it as my 3 cups per day coffee.

[Dr. Felix Birdbiter]

Yeah... at $100 and considering 18 grams per cup that's about 4 bucks per cup. Occasionally I might pay that. Even some sports drinks at the express mart are at least half that.

But I wouldn't have it as my 3 cups per day coffee.

$4.00 per cup? About the cost of a Starbuck's Venti or what ever they call their "medium" coffee.

In the interest of full disclosure several years ago my wife bought me a half pound of Jamaica Blue Mountain. It was without doubt the best coffee I had ever tasted. Alas, when that half pound was gone so was my flirtation with JBM as it was far too expensive as an everyday brew!

Having been born in New Orleans and raised until the age of 10 on Cafe Au Lait I tend to like my coffee "robust" and if the spoon won't stand on its own its too weak! My go to brands are either French Market or CDM (Cafe Du Monde). Cuban coffee will also put hair on your chest as well. I was in Miami once and ordered a Double Shot Cuban Coffee from a street vendor. She asked if I was sure at "it is quite strong". Just like I like it I said. If you have never had a Cuban Coffee it is about six cups of coffee in a quarter cup package along with at least 3 lbs of sugar. It has an espresso beat all to hell. One cup and you can stay awake for several weeks at least. Really good stuff.

[JustPassinThru]

I guess that's why my taste is different. Black, no sweetener.

I find Eight O'Clock brand is as good as any of the better brands. I buy whole-bean, and grind it about 30 seconds before brewing. After about five years of this, I can really taste the difference from ground coffee that's a year old, packed (MAYBE!) in nitrogen, and kept around forever.

Best on-the-road coffee for me, is, at convenience stores. Look at the clerk. If the morning clerk is an older woman...that coffee will probably be good. Partly because she's drinking it herself.

If it's kids...give it up. It'll be nasty - or empty.

The trend at truck stops is, those brew-to-order machines. That's among the worst of the worst - and full of sediment, very fine that sticks to the roof of your mouth. On my recent road-trip I started avoiding Pilot and Flying J stops (same company, now) because many of them have converted.

[Northern Rivers]

I might get daring and try real coffee.....

[PanamaJack]

Ive tried every possible method and machine to make coffee in the last 50 years. Ive even gove into the chemistry of it.
very interesting.
The second best coffee maker in the world is the old 1970's glass Cona Coffee maker




The problem is they were made of cheap soda glass and badly annealed, so they developed 'glass disease' (microfine cracks in the structure) which made them brittle. Almost all the original 1970's Conas have now disintegrated. I have two still, used only on very special occasions, and they have to be treated like..well glass.....

However, heres the bit people dont grasp. You cant keep coffee warm. as it stands, all the short chain proteins and oils start polymerising and form long chain molecules, this fundamentally alters the taste, making it taste burnt and bitter. Its possible to keep coffee warm for a short time in stainless steel, because its partly the glass that acts as a catalyst, and steel doesnt, but it will still polymerise and taste bitter eventually.


The BEST coffee machine in the world is The Clover





Hand built at Stanford University to order, and costing $4000 apiece, this is literally rocket science for coffee. It controls every single aspect of the brewing, even down to having individual programs from different beans, and same beans roasted different . About 100 were sold, and the price of a cup of coffee from one is about $25. It is, without doubt the finest cup of coffee you will ever taste.


SO good, in fact, Starbucks bought all the rights and the part made machine and all the spares, for several million USD, because they considered it such a threat to their business. They have suppressed it, no more will be made. Second hand Clovers are unknown, i suspect if one ever appeared you would be looking at 5 figures easily.

[PanamaJack]

I was out biking the other day and felt a need for a cup of joe.

Spotted a Coffee and cigar joint along alt. l9 in Palm Harbor.

So I walked in....like walking into a cocktail lounge of sorts...2 guys and a gal sitting in very luxurious recliners sitting back and smoking cigars.

Great aroma.

I have only seen girls smoking cigars in the movies so it was rather interesting and she was young and very good looking.

Anyhow I proceeded over to the bar and one of guys that were smoking cigars walks over to the bar and asks me If he can help me...I said yes...I just need a cup of coffee...black....nothing added.

So he makes me a cup of coffee and asks me if I would like a cigar...I told him I used to smoke cigars at one time but I had developed a lung problem.

He says well if you don't inhale there should be no problem...I laughed.

But he did make a good cup of coffee in fact the best I have had in a long while....it was kinda frothy and cost me 2 bucks. It was well worth it.

There was a table and chair out front where I retreated to enjoy my coffee...whilst exchanging glances through the window....with the girl smoking a cigar.

Just another day on the bike trail.......

[OldSchool]

I've been known to mix my drinks so - a double shot of bourbon with beer, accompanied with a good meal and followed with a cup of black coffee and a cigar would fit the bill when taking a break from a few hours of riding.

[PanamaJack]

Biking the Pinellas trail in Florida.

Old R.R. track converted to bicycle and walking trail.