Coffee Drinkers

[freudianslip]

Sept 1, 2017 3:06:42 GMT cityofchill said:

Aug 30, 2017 19:06:59 GMT mia said:

Well, now you've done gone and done it. I'm really curious about that $35 a pound Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.  ;)

As things stand, this is the coffee maker that my husband and I own:

Hamilton Beach 2-Way Coffee Maker

Our favorite coffee these days is the McCafe Premium Roast - Medium. It's made from 100% Arabica beans. It's supposed to be the same brand of coffee that McDonalds Restaurants sell.


My husband enjoys his coffee brewed one cup at a time whereas I want a full pot each and every morning. I drink my coffee black and he likes his with a bit of milk added to it. Since we both get up at different times of the morning, I set the coffee maker up for us the night before. 

This coffee pot really works out well for the two of us.

As far as the Keurig coffee maker, I've never had the opportunity to have coffee brewed using one of them. However, I will be spending a night soon at my daughter's house and she has a Keurig. So, maybe then I'll get the chance to try a cup brewed using her Keurig. I know that she really loves it.

Ooh, it's got 4.5/5 stars. I wouldn't mind getting an auto machine. I love my French press, but sometimes I'm in a hurry. I would like a good auto coffee maker. Price is good too.

I like McCafe coffee. Not bad at all. I haven't bought the beans.

As for what freudianslip wrote about Tim Horton's, it's a strange Canadian coffee cult. I don't hate their dark roast. And in a pinch their beans aren't bad brewed up in the French Press. But I will never understand the cult-like loyalty to Tim's. That is the one way to become an instant millionaire in this country - buy a Tim's franchise. The one at St. George Station by U of T often has lineups half-way down the block in the middle of winter. And in the suburbs, the drive throughs are warzones. Inside is a cross-section of Canadian society. Where I live, you walk into a Tim's any hour of any day and you got teens chilling, couples, families, old grannies, housewives in hijabs, men playing checkers, other men playing go, women playing mah jong. Construction workers, cops, guys in suits, everyone worships at the shrine of Tims. It's just...I don't know, man. I don't get it. They gotta be putting opium in the coffee or something. People all wild-eyed if they can't get their Tim's. And Tim's employees — they work SO hard. Never a moment of down time.  

Oh yeah, and Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is amazing. There is more than one kind of primo produce coming out of the Blue Mountains, seen? 

I think Tim's is too far woven into the fabric of Canadian society for people to objectively evaluate their offerings at this point. From the origin story, to the chain being synonymous with national pride in hockey and winter weather. I think it even goes deeper than that. Canada is multicultural. The melting pot vs the mosaic. We've consequently had no issues welcoming American big business into Canada, and most of the big chains there are also our big chains. Tim Horton's has always been the exception, and before it dropped off in quality, it would even do well in the areas of the US that it was incorporated. When you think of the things that are uniquely Canadian, there's poutine, back bacon, beaver tails, ketchup chips, and Tim Horton's, really (although we are responsible for pineapple on pizza too, which I have mixed feelings over).

As much as the average Canadian is more understated with our patriotism--it's very, very much there, just more below the surface--I think Tim Horton's has become an identity symbol. And people are reluctant to give that up. Even as the donuts seem to shrink every year, the sandwich choices dubious, the changing in bean supplier for the worse. As long as the brand is there, and people have a roll-up-the-rim Tim's coffee to sip while they're watching little Johnny Canuck at the rink Saturday morning, they're content. If not satisfied. Or maybe I'm just a coffee snob and I've read way too much into this ;).

[cityofchill]

I don't see ketchup chips anymore. I used to love those. I think those would definitely suit the average American palate. When my cousins used to visit from PA, NY, NH, they always brought home bags of ketchup chips.

[bob]

We use a $20 French Press for excellent home coffee. We wash it every week or two.
Single-origin, whole bean, Sumatra is our pick for rich flavor (and less caffeine than blond coffee).
Spring for a $20 coffee grinder and buy whole bean. The pre-ground sucks by comparison.

Grind it loosely, pour boiling water over it and wait 4 minutes before dropping the plunger.

Real cream, not that International Delight crap that takes your liver 52 days to process out of your body.

Keurig machines are uncleanable, moldy, carcinogenic, environmentally harmful, and they cost $200: getbetterwellness.com/?p=6503

Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is perfect. Casi Cielo (Antiguan) single-origin is another good one. I never tried the cat-* coffee (a variety of bean that is harvested after traversing the digestive tract of a South American Lemur). Worst ever coffee tasting was the Yergacheffe. I don't care for the moldy fruit flavor of the natural-wash coffee cherries.

[freudianslip]

Sept 1, 2017 20:18:55 GMT cityofchill said:

I don't see ketchup chips anymore. I used to love those. I think those would definitely suit the average American palate. When my cousins used to visit from PA, NY, NH, they always brought home bags of ketchup chips.

At the risk of turning this thread in a "Canadian culinary idiosyncrasies" direction, I so strongly believe ketchup chips are the best chip that it's pretty much a core belief (shh taste isn't subjective), and Canadian smarties are horribly underrated...coffee crisp though, I have no defence for that. Coffee belongs down my throat as quickly as possible and chocolate is to be savoured, and that's just how it's meant to be, dammit!

[cityofchill]

Sept 1, 2017 20:45:11 GMT bob said:

We use a $20 French Press for excellent home coffee. We wash it every week or two.
Single-origin, whole bean, Sumatra is our pick for rich flavor (and less caffeine than blond coffee).
Spring for a $20 coffee grinder and buy whole bean. The pre-ground sucks by comparison.

Grind it loosely, pour boiling water over it and wait 4 minutes before dropping the plunger.

Real cream, not that International Delight crap that takes your liver 52 days to process out of your body.

Keurig machines are not cleanable, moldy, carcinogenic, environmentally harmful, and they cost $200: getbetterwellness.com/?p=6503

Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is perfect. Casi Cielo (Antiguan) single-origin is another good one. I never tried the cat-* coffee (a variety of bean that is harvested after traversing the digestive tract of a South American Lemur). Worst ever coffee tasting was the Yergacheffe. I don't care for the moldy fruit flavor of the natural-wash coffee cherries.

So they're using lemurs too now? I knew about elephants and civet cats, but not the lemurs. I think there is some cabal somewhere feeding coffee beans to every animal on earth, grinding the beans after they poop them out, and seeing how it tastes. If it doesn't taste like *, they sell it for more because it came out an animal's ass. What a world!

[bob]

Ah, civet's. And I mistook them for lemurs.

I have a dog, maybe I can remarket some Folgers.

Has anyone tried Black Rifle coffee? It's pretty good.

[Mitchell]

All I know is that a French Press is going on my Christmas list. Looks amazing.

[cityofchill]

Sept 2, 2017 3:59:00 GMT Mitchell said:

All I know is that a French Press is going on my Christmas list. Looks amazing.

Oh yeah! If you like coffee, a $20 French press is the best investment you can make in future coffee enjoyment. The Bodum ones they sell up here at Starbuck's and Indigo are cheap, well-made, and make two large mugs if filled to the top with water that's just shy of boiling temp. I've found the perfect ratio to be two heaping tablespoons for every mug of coffee, and I typically let the grinds steep a little longer than the 4-5 minutes generally recommended. It also depends on the roast and the coarseness of the grind. I used to buy the whole beans and grind a couple day's worth at a time, but now I have the coffee shop grind a pound of beans for me when I buy them, and I store them in a mason jar, which keeps the coffee tasting almost as fresh as fresh-ground, even two weeks after grinding. 

It did take me some time and experimenting when I first bought one in 2010 to get it right, and now I almost always get a perfect cup. I love the French press because you get a really full-flavored cup without it being too strong or bitter. I wouldn't use any other method of brewing for the more expensive beans I buy. It even makes a good cup out of average beans. 

[cityofchill]

Sept 2, 2017 3:46:24 GMT bob said:

Ah, civet's. And I mistook them for lemurs.

I have a dog, maybe I can remarked some Folgers.

Has anyone tried Black Rifle coffee? It's pretty good.

Never tried it. Is it a brand? If so, where can I buy it?

I just saw that the microroaster I've been buying my coffee from for years — Pilot, based right here in TO — has expanded. They only distributed to a couple coffee shops in the East End when i discovered them, then I started seeing their beans in independent coffee shops all over the city, and now I see you can order their beans online. It's not surprising they've gotten so popular. Their beans truly make the best cup of coffee I've ever had. Their espresso is my fave, but can't go wrong with any of their single origin beans or blends. 

[bob]

www.blackriflecoffee.com/collections/coffee?gclid=Cj0KEQjwranNBRDh3uGN5ojp9o8BEiQASu908GczwLNHJw_afcAyVxjv4ZmvPa68A6K8DrhHmBQPV3AaAiT58P8HAQ


Black Rifle Coffee, Veteran owned and operated.

[Any of N]

I can't help but think that floater was being a bit sly, starting a thread about coffee in the Cafe folder of the message board. But look at the great discussion to come out of it. Almost makes we want to try coffee again. Too acid-y, though. Must stick with black tea. 

[oldguy]

Aug 29, 2017 23:21:43 GMT floater said:

Is it blasphemy to enjoy coffee from a keurig machine?

Yes. Plus it is not environmentally friendly.

I grind single origin beans every night and prepare the coffee maker for the next morning. My favorite are Guatemalan and Costa Rican. Have recently been introduced to Brazilian and Indian. Hawaiian Kona is very good but $$ and the "Kona" available around here is questionable origin.

[oldguy]

Aug 30, 2017 19:06:59 GMT mia said:

Aug 30, 2017 2:20:30 GMT cityofchill said:

I drank Keurig when it first came out. Had the machine and the pods and I liked it.
But then something happened.
I became a coffee snob.
Maybe it started when I bought a Fench Press. I don't know.
In the land of Tim Hortons, I personally can't stand that swill and drink it only when I'm on the go in the suburbs and the only other option is Starbucks.
I try to drink just one cup a day, in the morning. In downtown Toronto, where I used to live, almost every block had an independent coffee shop that made good coffee and sold organic microroasted beans. I loved cortados and still do. Just a few clicks west, I ask for a cortado and they look at me like I just asked to buy a peck of pickled peppers. They have no friggin clue what I'm talking about. There is no coffee culture in the burbs outside a Tim Hortons.
So I head into the city every couple weeks to re-up on good coffee, and that's life.
Once a year, usually around Christmas, I treat myself to a real luxury at the market. I buy a pound of real Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee — probably the most expensive coffee that doesn't come out of an elephant's ass. I grind it coarse and keep it fresh in a mason jar, then drink it over the next few weeks. $35 for a pound.
So yeah, I love coffee, but like everything else I do, I try to keep it in moderation.
Now that I think of it, it was living DT that made me a coffee snob. I lived in a real ratty area, full of crackheads and bisected by traintracks. The city was just starting to really gentrify these last few neighbourhoods and a breakfast spot opened on my little residential street, on the corner, replacing a long-abandoned storefront. They had some kind of really expensive coffee maker in there. The breakfast wasn't so hot, but the coffee was amazing. I don't think I was the same after that.
Oh, and no milk for me. Only cream. 18%. And a little sugar.

Well, now you've done gone and done it. I'm really curious about that $35 a pound Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. 

As things stand, this is the coffee maker that my husband and I own:

Hamilton Beach 2-Way Coffee Maker

Our favorite coffee these days is the McCafe Premium Roast - Medium. It's made from 100% Arabica beans. It's supposed to be the same brand of coffee that McDonalds Restaurants sell.


My husband enjoys his coffee brewed one cup at a time whereas I want a full pot each and every morning. I drink my coffee black and he likes his with a bit of milk added to it. Since we both get up at different times of the morning, I set the coffee maker up for us the night before. 

This coffee pot really works out well for the two of us.

As far as the Keurig coffee maker, I've never had the opportunity to have coffee brewed using one of them. However, I will be spending a night soon at my daughter's house and she has a Keurig. So, maybe then I'll get the chance to try a cup brewed using her Keurig. I know that she really loves it.

McDonalds actually has decent coffee. They have made real efforts in the past few years with their suppliers. (I don't eat there, the food is bad and all the franchises around here are filthy. Truly...filthy) BTW, McDonald's coffee in the restaurants is brewed in different strengths around the country. Strongest in the mid-Atlantic seaboard where we live.


Tomorrow morning we will have a blend of Costa Rican, Guatemalan and Columbian that I will grind and blend in a couple of minutes.

[vapors]

I can’t believe this post keeps grinding on.

[bob]

Argh ar ar ar,

Also, if you want to sweeten your coffee without sugar, add a tiny pinch of salt. It cuts bitterness.

And while you're at it, use PURE WATER in the French press.

We just bought a ZERO water filter. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that thang! It has 3 stages (not 2 like Britta), so it filters out pretty much everything. I'm currently in an old building and the water tastes like shite. The Zero comes with a PPM measuring device. Faucet water is 179 ppm (parts per million). Zero always measures: zero! It's great. I'm drinking more water, and nothing tastes like dirty metal anymore. Pure water makes better coffee and tea. We used to call Starbucks water 'baby angel tears.' They filter the hell out of their water. All the hell.

I don't mind this post "grinding on." I enjoy letting these opinions percolate.