Do you buy this stuff already ground? Do you find the grind too fine for a French press? I generally use a coarser grind for a French press.

being from eugene i have fond memories of the original coffee people "good coffee, no backtalk". my parents painted the sign.

i generally drink peets in l.a. the restuarant "grace" has great coffee.

I get a case of preground cafe dumond every year, it's easily my favorite french press coffee. haven't had problems with the grind.

For those that like to sweeten their coffee, I recently switched to using a few drops of honey in mine. Very subtle and tasty and I'm pretty sure it's a bit healthier than dumping white sugar or artificial sweeteners in your cup.

A local coffee joint near my house is going to start roasting their own beans, and the barrista today told me that 'the coffee will never be more than 10 days old' from when it was roasted.

I have a vague recollection that coffee is actually supposed to sit awhile after being roasted for some reason. Does anyone know if this is correct, and if so the reason for waiting and how long?

One aspect which hasn't been mentioned yet (or I have missed it, apologies)is that it is mostly the combination of the coffee and the particular espresso machine you're using which determines the overall flavor. I've had great tasting coffee from mediocre brands and bad Illy coffee; it's really a matter of finding the right combination.

Otherwise I'm with Keikiwai on the merits of Illy. I've had many Italians swear to me it's the best coffee in the world; now it's probably fair to say that Italians are prone to occasional exaggeration, but they do know their coffee...

Supposedly the best manual grinders can produce fine/espresso grinds(not necessarily coarse grinds) equal in quality to $400 electric grinders. The consensus is that Zassenhaus is the best, but Armin Trosser, "Pe De", "De Ve", KYM, Peugeot are supposed to be good as well. If you buy one via Ebay(usually go for $20-50 U.S. with shipping) , try to look out for intact, rust-free burrs.

I'd like to reiterate how awesome and versatile this device is. It is fast, clean, versatile and makes a smooth cup(low acidity and bitterness).

Huge Coffeegeeks Thread on Aeropress Techniques and Modifications

does anyone have a list of cheap coffee that you can buy that tastes like starbuck's different types?

kkf,

Starbucks coffees are sold by region. Do you want information specific to their roasting process?

keikiwai - Does that X5 machine do only pods? or can it handle normal tamped down grinds? Sweet looking machine.

Has anyone tried Hausbrandt coffee?? Supposed to be amazing.

Here is the worlds most expensive coffee - trip report anyone?

The coffee beans are literally digested by the Luwak animal (which supposedly will only choose the best beans to eat) then the feces are processed. I'm quite skeptical but at only $220 a pound, might be worth a try for some of you Holla Ballas.

http://www.animalcoffee.com/index.php

Would the effect be similar if I have my Illy beans travel through the intestinal tract of my Rottweiler?

Only if your Rotty is as picky as the Luwak as to which beans he eats. -

Cool to know this, thanks. For LA people, they've been open for a couple months in Silverlake (on Sunset, at the Sunset Junction). The coffee is great the couple times I went, looks like I'm gonna go back and get some of their beans for home.

I have the same question as AZK regarding burr grinders for french press - anyone got a good rec? My friend strongly recommends the Ariete "Macinacaffe" Burr Grinder - but like to hear any other suggestions <$200 or so.

-Al

I've always just used one of the small Krups grinders. No complaints. Looks like you can get one of their burr grinders for about $50 or so.

Also, for anyone in Annapolis who's looking for a great coffee spot check out Cafe Pronto. They roast their own beans.

2p2'r "Terp" bought me a Delonghi, its one of the most thoughtful gifts I've received. No longer do I drink frozen coffee

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Bought this a couple months ago and I love it.

It's so easy and fast I'm having an espresso or two almost every morning. I had a manual espresso maker before and used it only few times a month.

The milk foamer could be a little bit better, but it's no biggie for me as I'm having 20+ espressos for every cappuccino I make.

So far my favourite beans are a local blend of extra dark roast. It has an amazingly smooth taste.

Semi related question, I recently looked into the caffeine content of different drinks/coffees because I want to start limiting how much caffeine I drink per day, and the results were pretty supriseing. The results I found were that an 8 oz Red Bull has 80mg of caffeine, a 16oz Monster drink has 16mg, but a grande (16oz) hot coffee at starbucks (my standard drink) has 330mg???? My intuition was pretty certain that canned energy drinks like red bull/monster/etc would be a lot higher in caffeine than regular coffee but it looks like that is incorrect. What gives?

My regular day is to drink to 2 grande coffees from the starbucks next to my house, one in the morning before class and then one in the afternoon/eveningish when I sit down to do work. When I made the decision to stop drinking the canned drinks thinking they were less healthy to my current 2 coffees a day plan, I thought I would be limiting my caffeine intake. It looks like that is very wrong. How does brewed coffee have that much more caffeine in it than stuff like Red Bull? I really wasn't expecting it to be twice as powerful.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but these energy drinks contain more than one energy source. Guarana, taurine, probably others that i don't know off the top of my head are in these energy drinks. I guess the combined effects of these ingredients are what make the drinks work as well as coffee.

I still find coffee works better than these energy drinks.

Guide to Grinders

Sub-$100 electric grinders are generally garbage.

i've been caffeine-"free" for several years. i like being on a more even keel.

i still drink a fair amount of decaf tea, and very rarely decaf coffee. both have some modest amount of caffeine in them. i enjoy the flavor of black coffee, but i find it difficult to locally find really dark stuff that's also decaf. i'm sure it's available online, but i don't care enough to special order it.

that reminds me though, i should get around to ordering some blenheim hot ginger ale.

The caffeine regulations for canned drinks are quite strict. I'm pretty sure most of the energy drinks have the maximum amount of caffeine allowed.

for me the best coffee is the cup in front of me. i aint searching all over for a specialty cup. but i like strong black coffee. the weak stuff in places out ruins it for most.

i even use those one cup coffee bags from folgers you put in a cup of water and microwave for a few minutes. makes an okay cup quickly with no clean up to do.

There is much better coffee to be found than SBUX, but it does not suck. The company flourished more due to excellent business practices (i.e. Howard Schultz) rather than coffee quality, even though it did pretty much create the niche for "gourmet" coffee in America.

I like quite a few of Starbucks roasts. Sunani (Arabian Mocha) and the popular Caffe Verona are a couple of my favorites.