A Thread About COFFEE

[Don Arnold]

Okay, I'll contribute....my favourite Starbucks indulgence is....drum roll....

tall, decaf, half-sweet, double-blended, easy whip, java chip frapacchino

WHA- ?!?

I refuse to learn the stupid f***ing new coffeehouse vocabulary. I just say "Large coffee", or "Medium coffee".

I have some 'splaning to do. There is actually method to my insanity here. And it is this:

tall: obviously the size, which for my coffee treats...matters
decaf: I indulge in these treats only on ocassion, typically in the afternoon, and after my morning caffiene, so...decaf it is
half-sweet: I have found all of Starbucks latte's and frapp's way too sweet at full strength; half-sweet gets me the flavour without it being oversweet and without it overtaking the coffee flavour
double-blended: this is critical...if they don't do this, the chippits can get stuck in the straw
easy whip: unless you're a whipping cream fanatic, there's no one needs as much as they add to the top of these drinks; also, if you enjoy this frapp over an hour or so while working, the whipping cream gradually mixes in with the rest of the drink, with the potential of making it too much, well, whipping creamish

Case closed.

[Duncan Glenday]

I still prefer:

"medium coffee, please"

"Coming up, sir"

30 seconds later, I'm done

LOL

[markwoll]

Black, french press is preferred.
I was drinking Hula Daddy Kona for a couple of years. ( www.huladaddy.com ).
My mother in law got me started. The first ones always free....
It was good but expensive.
Now I get a couple of bags a month from http://pacayacoffee.com/.
They are a couple of blocks away and deliver freshly roasted ( within 24 hours ) coffee to my house.
Their Sidamo Ardi is wonderful, fruit notes without being 'flavored'.

When I go out to my favorite local shop ( http://www.groundedcoffeeshop.com/ ) I get 5 shots of espresso and their coffee of the day in a big cup.
Starter fluid.
I have found that I can get at least a raised eyebrow from the most jaded barista with that order.

mark

[Hunnibee]

Yikes! I remember getting a free meal at Terribles’ (an apt name) buffet in Vegas after I spotted a roach on one of their buffet tables. Really more of an explanation why I dislike buffet dining than anything else.

As a former resident of Las Vegas, I will state that the whole city is crawling with cockroaches, and you should always check your hotel room mattress for bed bugs, as the city is infested with those nasty critters. I worked at Golden Nugget, and the employee dining room had cockroaches crawling everywhere.

To be fair, I never saw a cockroach near any coffee machines at the Terribles gas stations. They did, however, invade my coffee maker at the apartment I had there. Just another reason why I am a FORMER resident of that city!

When Microsoft's development tools team was defining the C# language, they considered naming the different sizes of integers as short, tall, and grande.

I wonder how big the Vente integer is!

[arabicadabra]

Mark: Thanks for sharing the link to pacaya - I may try some of that myself. Your post takes me back to my original post, though - if pacaya is a couple blocks away, why isn't THAT your "favorite local shop"?

[markwoll]

Mark: Thanks for sharing the link to pacaya - I may try some of that myself. Your post takes me back to my original post, though - if pacaya is a couple blocks away, why isn't THAT your "favorite local shop"?

Pacaya are just roasters. They live a couple of blocks away, so they don't have to ship to me.
They do set up at farmers markets in the area, and are carried retail by several local shops.

mark

[arabicadabra]

Pacaya are just roasters. They live a couple of blocks away, so they don't have to ship to me.
They do set up at farmers markets in the area, and are carried retail by several local shops.

mark

So does that mean they do NOT serve/sell brewed cups of coffee, nor espresso drinks? Is there a place to pick up retail coffee but NOT a brewed cup? If so, I'm stunned that they don't hook up an espresso machine and go for it.....

[markwoll]

So does that mean they do NOT serve/sell brewed cups of coffee, nor espresso drinks? Is there a place to pick up retail coffee but NOT a brewed cup? If so, I'm stunned that they don't hook up an espresso machine and go for it.....

It's probably something about the cost of retail space.
Actually, my favorite coffee shop, Grounded, does sell brewed Pacaya coffee and was the source of my first few bags.
They only sell free trade/organic/warm and fuzzy coffee.
No jaded baristas though.
mark

[Pangolin]

CB1.jpgIt used to be about $2.00 in CVS and whilst it has gone up a fair bit in price it remains, for me, anyway, better than most of the alternatives, with the possible exception of a well-looked after, properly-stored Ethiopian harrar.

I may have to get the logo as a tattoo.

[arabicadabra]

When (and IF) I finish my book on coffee, it will be fun to talk about the early days of Fair Trade coffees, organic coffees and how they changed the arena in both helpful AND extremely harmful ways. I love your use of the phrase "warm fuzzy" to describe that.

[Chuck AzEee!]

Ahhh, my second cup of the day and if my supervisor decides not to show up, a GREAT DAY is in store! YES!

[Duncan Glenday]

...Fair Trade coffees, organic coffees and how they changed the arena ... AND extremely harmful ways

Interesting - what harmful ways..?

[markwoll]

I don't think this wikipedia article get into the 'extremely harmful ways' but it does cover the high spots, positive and negative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade_coffee
I would imagine the same arguments are valid with fair trade chocolate and other crops.

mark

[Duncan Glenday]

Just read those.

Interesting - thanks.

It's sadly very common for our "bleeding-heart do-good" actions to do as much harm as good, because we do not have an in-depth understanding of what's happening behind the scenes.

Anyway - I buy coffee that tastes good, not necessarily because it's supposed to do good. Though - if there's a good-tasting coffee that is actually doing good somewhere, I don't mind laying out a few extra $$...

[markwoll]

Well get the good stuff while it's still around cause Climate Change is gonna kill it:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/po...y-cof-12-11-09

mark

[Firth]

My brother roasts beans himself and has a $180 French Press. IMO if you're not willing to go that far you're not very serious.

I received a small Christmas gift, a 1 cup press. I liked the flavor but the grit was a little too much. Then I tried the gold tone filter in my Cusinart maker with carafe, and coffee heaven was reached. Basically paper filters suck the flavor out of coffee. I have ground the beans, used the spring water, used a carafe with out burner, for years, but nothing compares to getting rid of the paper filter. Doesn't matter what kind of paper filter. My grinder is Cusinart too. I wondered why a coffee tastes better in the shop than when I get it home. Even if a shop uses a filter, they make such huge batches, that the filter sucks up a finite amount of the flavor, and after that, it passes thru. Some of the gold filters pass grit, but the one which came with my Cusinart is a very fine mesh and allows very little. It's also more environmental to not go thru filters, and just put the spent grounds back into the ground.

[markwoll]

With a press you need a coarse grind. A food processor style grinder is going to make dust not grounds.
A burr type grinder is the best. Or buy your coffee ground to that spec.
I use the gold filter in my drip machine, just so I don't have to stock paper.

[Greg]

I use the gold filter in my drip machine, just so I don't have to stock paper.

I wish BUNN or a third party manufacturer would come out with a gold filter for the BUNN series brewers. They use a custom size filter so I'm stuck buying the paper for my BUNN Phase Brew machine.

[Brian Griffin]

Starbucks Cafe Verona in a Keurig and some smokes is the weekend treat of choice

Folgers in an old school percolator is the weekday deal

BG

[Brian Griffin]

It just got even better with a small dish of Friendly's rich and creamy Coffee ice cream....

BG

[Firth]

When Microsoft's development tools team was defining the C# language, they considered naming the different sizes of integers as short, tall, and grande.

Wonder if bags of green which are now legal in Washington will also come short, tall and grande The everGreen state.

[Firth]

A burr type grinder is the best.

The Cusinart grinder is a burr grinder, and you are correct the press I used with a coarse grind. The gold tone filter works well with a fine ground.

[Chain]

I use an Aeropress

[markwoll]

I use an Aeropress

Just because I have one, but have been underwhelmed with the process vs. the end product.
Perhaps I am doing it wrong.
What is your 'workflow' and grind?

mark

[Chain]

What is your 'workflow' mark

I use the "inversion method"