I drink about 5-8 cups of coffee per day on average. I've only been drinking coffee like this for about a year. Recently my gums have started to sting a little bit later in the day. I brush my teeth twice per day. If I'm home when they start stinging I brush my teeth again. If I'm at work I swish with luke warm water and it seems to help.

Is the acid of the coffee effecting my gums? Is this nerve pain? Thanks ahead.

I've heard good things about the Baratza, but haven't tried it. I currently have a Rancilio Rocky that I like, but don't love. TBH, I've considered going big and buying a used Mazzer Mini or Super Jolly for quite some time, but haven't taken the plunge.

I'm also about to pull the trigger on Behmor to replace my home made popcorn roaster. Surprised more folks don't roast here.

Jesus, man! 5-8 is a lot! You're far better off seeing a dentist than asking for advice on an online poker forum. Dental hygiene shouldn't be taken lightly.

So I think everyone has heard the "don't drink coffee on an airplane" stories about funky water tanks etc, but I was googling around trying to see if anyone had actually run real scientific tests and came across this

http://sprudge.com/man-banned-from-u...ent-73840.html

It's a couple of years old but I don't think it's been posted in this thread.

Might be real, but that story was published on April Fools Day. Not very funny if it was a joke.

uh, yeah, I got bamboozled. It even links to another story about aeropressing in flight which was published April 1 of the previous year

looking to enhance the coffee game. Currently, grind whole beans and use Kuerig. What method should I use instead that is relatively quick and easy that will enhance coffee flavor?

How much coffee are you drinking? If you really only want one cup at a time, an aeropress is going to be a lot easier than a kuerig and give you a lot more control over your results. Chemex-type pour-over gear will also be a lot easier. If you are drinking more coffee then really drip machines are not as bad as the snobs make them out to be, but also look into a french press.

find someone who is roasting and selling beans in your local city!

ok, thanks guys, I will start there and do a bit of research.

as for beans i jump around a little depending where the deals are. fresh, local beans are hard to come by in a town of ~4,427

If you're interested in trying something different: https://beanbox.co/

I was going to recommend the same thing. Coffee subscriptions services are great if you don't live anywhere near a roaster, or are just lazy. I'm in the UK but I imagine there'll be a ton of good ones to choose from in the US.

Have any of you guys tried your hands at roasting your own beans? I think I'm going to give it a shot. I haven't done a ton of research yet, but will be looking at how to do it on/in the oven or if I absolutely have to have some kind of a roaster. Wish me luck!

thanks for the links guys, I will check them out. As I said, I own a lot of credit cards and follow some blogs so sometimes I scoop deals at different places, which has lead me to drink a lot of different brands of coffee lately, none really standout(Starbucks, Hill Bros, San Fran Bay, Cameron's(all whole bean)). Those listed are a few I have had lately using Kuerig.

Lately went with a pour over method and definitely favor it. My wife described my coffee as sandy, which it has been. Getting a fair amount of "bean dust" around the rim and in the coffee itself. I don't know if that's a result in the method I'm using, the filter I'm using(holes not small enough, letting more through), or if I am simply going heavy on the grounds. either way, I am favoring this method over my Kuerig

next question I guess. I am not sure how hot the water temp is when I pour over but it has to be flirting with boiling at times. I have been using a Capresso and it brings water temp up quickly. If water temp is near boiling is that too hot?

You'll typically see water temperature recommendations in the 200 +/- 5 degF range, so a bit off a boil. You're not going to get catastrophic results if you're a bit higher than that, though.

Even if you don't know the exact temp, I would aim for consistency. That can just mean that you always wait 30s after you take the water off, for example. That way if you play with other variables (dose, grind size, etc), you don't have to wonder if water temp affected the outcome.

Even if you don't have a small roaster near you, you can find some fresh roasted beans online that will ship to you at a reasonable price. Getting fresh roasted quality beans will make the biggest difference of anything you can do.
This guy ships to me all over the country. He doesn't have a huge selection, but roasts quality stuff. Also, he'll roast to order, ie I like my beans with a light roast (more caffeine), so I tell him and that's the way he does it.
https://stachecoffeeco.com/

I was also buying from Solar Roast out of Pueblo CO for awhile, but they are kinda hit and miss. They were giving me wholesale prices with free shipping though, so was a hard deal to beat: 10lbs for $83.

The sweet spot for temp for me, I use an electric kettle, has been to let the water get to where it barely bubbles/boils then just let it sit for a few seconds.

I need to get the stuff to do a pourover I guess, I'm just hooked on the Aeropress though.

My green bean samples will be here today!

The importance of fresh roasted beans cannot be emphasized enough. You just can't beat the freshness and resulting flavor.

Yeah, people totally underrate time since roasting but it's by far the most important factor IMO. I would take crap beans that were freshly roasted today, run through a blade grinder and shoved into a k-cup over top-quality beans/conical burr/aeropress in a case where the beans were roasted a month ago.

How many days after roasting are you guys no longer considering buying beans?

I can easily see the freshness of the beans being perhaps the biggest factor in a flavorful cup, I will be looking into some of the recommendations.

to the guy buying in 10 lb bulk, that's a lot. Is that for personal consumption? Seems the whole freshness factor is out the door with a 10 lb order

I personally don't buy anything more than two or three days old, but that's mostly because the guy I buy from locally does enough that he always has something in the roaster, and he does small enough batches that even if I don't like what just came out, he has something from the day before that is more of what I'm looking for.

If I didn't have that luxury I would try really hard to find something less than a week old. I usually only buy 1/2 pound at a time and by the time I get to the end of it I can tell it's not as good (though some of that might be psychological as I know I'm about to go get something new).

2-3 days after roasting your beans are probably still aggressively degassing. A lot of roasters recommend 7-14 days as the sweet spot.

Right, I guess I should have been a little more specific there, I'm usually at the store a few days before I run out. By the time the beans actually get into my grinder, they're about a week old usually.

yeah, that's one of the reasons I've gotten away from them. I was splitting it 3 ways with my brother and one of his friends, but it's still a lot, plus I don't think I was getting fresh roasted. The bags would have a "use by" date a year in the future so I wasn't very confident in their freshness.

I travel a lot for work and almost never have trouble finding a place with fresh roasted beans so I imagine you can get something good locally. My gripe with a lot of the places though is the price and size. The 12oz bags really drive me nuts for some reason. The last trip I made to LA there was a place that had gone to 8oz bags at the price that a lb should be. I just chuckled and walked out.

My free samples have arrived! Pan fried coffee for in the morning, yay!