Best way to make the best tasting coffee

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qualin

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I know that earlier, we had a thread about coffee, but I thought I should ask again.

How do you prefer to make your coffee and what method do you think makes the best tasting coffee?

- Instant
- K-Cup
- Percolated
- French Pressed
- Vacuum Pot
- Arabic/Turkish Style
- Bialetti's method, either with a Mokka or Mukka Express
- Standard Filter
- Tassimo
- Conventional Espresso / Cappuccino Machine
- SunCafe (ie. Coffee Pods)
- A barista at Starbucks / Second Cup / Tim Hortons / etc

My opinions so far:

- Instant - Only if any other avenue of coffee making is not available. I have a jar of it in case of "Emergencies".
- K-Cup - My main method for making coffee. Quick, Fast, efficient and a bit wasteful, but I have access to a lot of different varieties I wouldn't ordinarily have access to. I can have a cup brewing within 5 minutes.
- Percolated - I don't have a percolator anymore, but when I did, I found the taste of the coffee to be superior to any other brewing method. My percolator was a stove top model but would prefer using an electric model. I find that percolating coffee is time consuming and slow in comparison to the other methods out there.
- French Pressed - My wife has a french press but I never use it. I find coffee just doesn't taste as good using this method. That's just a personal opinion. I also find it a little messy, but probably no more messy than percolating.
- Vacuum Pot - If I could find one, I'd try making coffee this method to see what it is like. I have no idea how it compares to standard percolated coffee.
- Arabic/Turkish Style - I personally like the taste, but dislike the grounds at the bottom of the cup. Had it straight from the Gaza Strip in Israel back in 1992. They sure know how to make it. In all honesty, I prefer my coffee filtered!
- Bialetti Method - I personally own two Mukka Express pots, both a 2-cup aluminum model and a 1-cup glass model. I find they make excellent cappuccinos which are compatible to the ones you get at Starbucks/Second Cup/etc. The only problem is that they have messy cleanup and the milk leaves a residue. There is the prepwork, but it's worth it.
- Standard Filter - It works. It's easy to clean, it's fast and it makes OK coffee. It's the best compromise out of all of the methods IMHO because there's barely anything to clean.
- Tassimo - Don't have one, don't care for one. Any opinions?
- Conventional Espresso / Cappuccino - My wife would kill me if I dropped $1-2k on a conventional machine. I don't drink enough Cappuccino's or Espressos to justify spending that machine on a machine. I think the Bialetti machines are a good compromise and make just as good a coffee as one of these machines.
- SunCafe - This is more of an Albertan thing. The SunCafe Machine is kind of like a K-Cup machine, but imagine that it uses the round Tetley Tea Style pods, but filled with coffee instead. Some friends of mine have one of these machines, their main complaint is that the coffee is always a bit weak. I find they make OK coffee but they make better tea, especially from the Tetley Tea Pods.
- The Barista - I don't get what is in Tim Hortons coffee that makes everyone line up for 30 minutes at the drive through. I occasionally enjoy a coffee at the local Second Cup or Starbucks about maybe once every 1-2 months, but I prefer to make my own.

Opinions?
 
Best "regular" drip coffee: Technivorm Moccamaster coffee maker (about $240). Rich, balanced taste. Brews precisely at the recommended time/temperature.

Best espresso: Rancilio Silvia espresso maker (about $600). A home machine with awesome power; makes pro-level steamed/foamed milk.
 
For us:

Drip coffee - Second best method of coffee making, provided the water is heated hot enough. It's ok.

Vacuum Pot - After having a Coffeemaster and now a Cory glass pot we have found that this is our favorite method of coffee brewing. We also found that it is very
difficult to go back to drip coffee after using this method. It's just soooo smooth!

Peculated Coffee - Always tastes burnt to me.

Instant Coffee - Yuck. I'd rather have a nice cup of Lifeboat tea.

French Press - Believe it or not, we haven't tried this method yet.
 
Method DOES count......however,,,,,,,,,

What is coffee, anyway?

If the water is not good-tasting, no brewer, no beans can make better coffee.

For me: Manual drip- Melitta, Chemex.

Automatic drip- my ancient, but still operating Krups from the late 80s.

Automatic perc.

I don't like to chew my coffee, so French Press is not very high on my list.

When I am out and about, I prefer McDonald's coffee to BigBux.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
I'm a big drip...

...fan. My Compresso coffee maker is going on 10 years and still works great. I use Dip-It coffee maker cleaner every so often to keep the brewing system in order. I drop a few Polident tablets in the thermal carafe and let it soak overnight to keep it clean. The carafe keeps coffee fresh and hot for hours. If the day comes when I need to replace it I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.

I have an old Farberware 4 cup electric percolator that my Aunt gave me that I use every so often especially when a guest or two wants a cup after dinner, that's the very few that don't want another bottle of wine for desert. The little percolator gives you lots of drama...perking noise, steam from the spout and coffee aroma, and most importantly the visual show from the glass top. The coffee is not as smooth as the drip machine but still very good.
 
Drip coffeemaker, heaping tablespoon of coffee per 4 oz. cup, gently shake the basket to settle and compact the ground coffee and, if available and you have the time, use the smaller quantity setting (long slow brew), even for a full pot. If present, always set the brew strength control to maximum. Diluting coffee as it's brewing is a sin. If you like milder coffee, add hot water after it's brewed.
 
For regular coffee, my vote for the best has gone to French press since the 80s. Much of the time, French press has been "special occasion" coffee. Not sure why since it's not that hard to deal with on a daily basis. And sometimes I go through a phase of having French press as my daily coffee. I suppose my attitude is something I got from my mother who used an electric drip maker daily, and saved French press for special occasions.

I have used pretty much every system/approach at one point or another.

For a long time, my daily coffee was made using manual drip makers that perch on the cup. The coffee these make can be quite good.

I used an electric percolator for more than a year, alternating between a small Farberware and an Electromatic. I don't find the coffee as good as French press or manual drip, but it was drinkable on a daily basis.

Instant is something I don't use regularly. About the biggest use I can see is in emergencies like power failures. But even here the utility is limited. I'd have to have some way of heating water that doesn't need power. If I had that, I could also brew regular coffee. (Although I have a vague memory of once preparing for a possible power failure due to weather by buying a small jar of instant, and boiling some water that I stored in a Thermos.)

I don't consider espresso in competition with coffee--it's based on coffee, but it's made differently, and the product is different. I have seldom drunk straight espresso, but have liked cappuccinos. This is another one of those "special occasion" things.

I don't drink coffee in any sort of coffee shop establishment very often these days. I can make coffee cheaper, plus I generally like my coffee a lot more than most coffee shops. The only value coffee shops have is for meeting people. While I still cringe at the cost--being a cheapskate--Starbucks is a lot cheaper than meeting for dinner.

I did regularly visit and at least partly like some coffee shops in the past, however. They were different shops at different times in my life. While the coffee I made was probably still better matched for my tastes, and certainly cheaper, those coffee shops were one location affairs that actually had personality. It's been said that chains are selling "experience" not coffee. And yet I find the experience the chains have seems so empty compared to a good local shop.

One shop I liked in the 90s was in the Tacoma area. It was near one of the colleges, and I think the students were the primary business. But even an old fogey like me liked stopping by--there was an interesting used book department, and lots of personality. I think that shop was the one that had my favorite touch--a sign saying "Our first dollar!" And the frame held a $5 bill. The owner said that someone knowing he was opening a shop gave him the sign. But the first transaction was paid with that $5. So he dutifully slapped it in the frame. (One wonders if he'd have been so casual if it had been a $100 bill!) You don't see that sort of thing in Starbucks.
 
Me <3 Coffee

Technivorm is Tops, but I haven't bought one of those yet. So here is my list.

1) Bunn phase brew
2) Krups pressure brew
3) Cold brew
4) K cup

Malcolm
 
I saw this Hamilton Beach single serve coffee maker at the store and was wondering.. Anyone have one?

Here's a good video review on it..

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
We have several...

Keurigs in different locations...
As I like strong coffee, I run the Keurig on its smallest setting...
Then, twirl the K-cup, and run through another small setting, added to the initial cup...
I've found this gives the max for each cup...
My preference is coffee from a percolator, in a real coffee cup with a saucer...

George
 
I've seen quick ads for it on TV and I like HB's The Scoop concept.  I wouldn't mind having one of those around.  I've had coffee out of single serving machines that use their own type of coffee cartridges and it was really good, but you're paying at least 50c per cup.  The Scoop would be cheaper per serving, is more flexible on the type of coffee that can be brewed so I'd consider it the better buy.
 
K-Cup: I've had a Keurig Platinum machine for a year and a half now. I'm generally pleased with the results, especially the convenience. It does keep my coffee consumption down, which helps to steady my hands and calm my nerves :-)

Perc: The only perc machine I have is a 60 cup unit. It does fine, but I only trot it out rarely when I host a club meeting etc. The coffee is ok, doesn't taste "burnt", but a lot depends on using good quality whole beans ground just before brewing.

Drip: I have a collection of Cuisinart Grind 'n Brew models - one of each generation. The best was the last - the one with a burr grinder - but it's been sidelined in favor of the Keurig. Also have some older standard drip machines - Mr. Coffee - and these make tolerable brews.

Espresso: Have a couple of home espresso machines. I used to enjoy making low foam lattes with them. These have lived in their original boxes for the past few years. But when I used them, it was great coffee.

French Press: never tried it. I guess it's ok.

Vacuum pot: never tried it. Looks a bit tricky.

Turkish/Greek: I had some of this at a friend's wedding reception in a Greek church. It was ok. The best part was the elderly Greek woman who served us the brew with a charming attitude. It requires lots of sugar, as I recall.

Instant: Huh?

And lastly, want to emphasize that the quality of the coffee added is key to a good cup. I've seen perfectly good drip makers churn out awful stuff from those big red plastic buckets of "Folgers", which is nothing but cheap robusta from Brazil. Dreck.
 
To brew the best coffee:

Always use the best water you have available. We use Ozarka Spring water for our coffee.

I find grinding our own beans beats anything you can buy in a can at the supermarket.

And grind the beans just before starting to heat the coffee, they taste better that way.
 
- Vacuum coffee makers win hands down for a great, smooth coffee out of any beans you can find - cheap or expensive

- Nespresso has to be THE BEST home expresso machine around. Huge range of coffee, great machines and cheaper than buying one on the way to work provided you don't want a litre of coffee!
 
My daily is the Bunn drip as it is fast and good to me

Special is using my stovetop Vacuum

French Press if just for me in evening or weekends

My Faberware Perc (and memories of my Aunt that this came from)

 

My Chemex if i want to take the time

 

Favorite bean coffee is Eight-O-Clock

 

Did the cold brew for a year or two back in the 70's but just haven't since should try it again.

 

Good water is a must.

 

I hate the flavored coffees my wife gets.

 

 
 
Those dreadful flavored coffees and beans... talk about a reek and it seems to permeate the plastic in the machine as well. You can still taste it on the next batch or two.
My apologies to those that love their flavored coffee's LOL
 
Agreed...

...but then there are 'flavors' that aren't synthetic, that I do find pleasant.

Example, I buy "New Mexico Pinon Coffee' and there are supposedly pinon nuts in the coffee. It is a nice mellow yet strong coffee that must be pretty high in caffeine (LOL).

It's currently my favorite coffee.

I also find roasted almonds ground into coffee and brewed pleasant.

But these are 'real' flavors rather than something out of a test tube and I think that makes a difference.
 
Pete I know what you mean on the taste transfer.  For our Bunn I have an extra basket that i put finger nail polish on for my wife to use and not mine.  i make sure and wipe down the top over the basket after her coffee is made.  I have thrown out pots of my coffee because of the after taste.

 

I do run the basket through the DW often too so the coffee oil is cleaned out good.

 

Hunter

 

Chicory/coffee is the only blend I use other than regular.  Lived in New Orleans too many years not to have every so often. 

 

i like tobuy the prue chicory ground and add to my Eight-O-Clock and brew.  Strong but good usually with milk and sugar (or subsitute now for me).  My kids like it too.
 
To brew the coffee and chicory use another scoop or two when making and always a good shake of salt on the grounds before brewing/  The salt helps cut little bit of bitterness from the chicory.  learned this from our next door neighbor Mrs. LaBlanc  who was in her 70's when we moved to New Orleans in 1978.  She had boken english as she was born in the Cajun country and did not speak English until she came downthe river and across the lake at age 18 to marry.  Was a planned mariage by her parents.

 

Learned all our Cajun/new Orleans cooking from her.  Our kids called her Maw Maw.
 
Agree on the flavored coffees (and flavored creamers). Hate them.

I happen to really like fresh filberts (hazelnuts) in the shell. But I find the artificial imitation flavor added to coffees and creamers is disgusting. I usually refer to it as toxic waste, lol (sorry to those who like it).

Agree that good water and freshly ground whole beans is vital to a good cup of coffee. Arabica, not Robusta, beans are also better. Probably one won't find too many whole Robusta beans though - most of them seem to go to the big coffee packagers like Folger's to inflict on the office community.

There was a great mini-series on coffee on PBS a year or two ago. Called something like "Cup of Gold" it discussed the history of coffee, as well as the different varieties, market forces, etc. I missed recording most of it, alas, but I'll be looking for it to return to the tube some day.

I remember some of it though, especially the glut of cheap Robusta beans from an overplanted Brazil. Apparently the problem with Robusta is that it is far more tempermental than Arabica when roasted - a little too much heat or time and it gets bitter. That and the bean probably starts out tasting inferior anyway, even before roasting.
 
Please Don't Hit Me!

I'm not a very big coffee connoisseur. I'm one who just drinks it in the morning to wake my ass (along with the rest of my body) up.

I generally drink Folgers or Maxwell House (both in the half-caffeine formulas) or on occasion when it's on sale, the large can of Krogers coffee. I generally put in a scoop and a half to make 8 cups in the Cooks coffee maker (I'm still trying to find a new carafe for it).

I don't like my coffee very strong. Too much caffeine makes me jittery.

I've tried drinking straight black coffee, but I need my skim milk and a bit of sugar added to it. When I was working, I added a bit of powdered creamer diluted with a bit of hot water, and then added the coffee (don't ask me why, I just liked doing it this way).

And Lawrence, I agree with you on the McDonald's coffee. It is much cheaper. I usually request half decaf and half regular added to the cup. One thing I don't like is the counter help adding the cream and sugar. I'd rather do it myself.
 
I'll stick with my collection of electric & stovetop percs, and my 2 ancient Norelco Dial-A-Brew coffeemakers.  We have one of the Norelco's in storage for the day when our daily driver decides to give up the ghost.  I also like coffee/chicory blend.  I buy mine from Cafe' duMonde online.
 

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