What your secret for a really good cup of coffee?

[danemodsandy]

Malcolm:

"Thanks for the tip. I have thrown out coffee makers that I found were difficult to clean. I had one that had mildew in the water reservior. If it weren't made of white plastic, I would not have been able to see it. "

There's also good old bleach. Put half a cup in a carafe full of cold water, and pour into the reservoir. Start the brew cycle, but stop it halfway through. Now go do something else for a few hours. Then, let the brew cycle finish, pour out the bleach solution, and brew three pots of clean water to rinse.

Stopping the brew cycle this way allows the solution to run through all the coffeemaker's internal plumbing, so the bleach can do its job all the way through the machine.

 

[panthera]

I wonder if anybody has actually

done any scientifically valid studies on the DO store versus DO NOT store beans in the cold?

In Germany, many of us store coffee beans after the bag has been opened, hermetically sealed, in the freezer until ground for use. Our coffee tastes great.

Don't see what the problem could be if air-tight?

 

[mrb627]

Bleach

Bleach will certainly kill the mildew, but it wont remove it from the machine.

Mildew = toss it!

Give me a coffee maker that can be completely dissasembled and cleaned.

Malcolm

 

[danemodsandy]

Malcolm:

The trick is rinsing thoroughly by brewing several pots of water through the machine. When I was with Kitchen Fare in Atlanta (Peachtree Battle, gone now), we got this problem a lot because of Atlanta's summertime humidity; we sold a ton of high-end coffeemakers back in the day when they weren't available just anyplace. Bleach solved the problem, but you did have to rinse well.

 

[mysteryclock]

My biggest problem with coffee makers hasn't been mildew but rather plain old limescale from our crazy hard water. I end up running vinegar to descale mine and as long as I rinse it well there's no odor when I'm done. Have to be pretty diligent about it or it'll clog up.

 

[frigilux]

So, the secret to a really good cup of coffee is to use Eight O'Clock, Hemisphere Roasters, Peet's, New Mexico Pinon, HEB, Seattle's Best, Jamaican Blue Mtn., Yuban, Maxwell House, Chock Full O' Nuts, Folgers, Java Coffee, LaVazza, Trader Joe's, Kona, Willoughby's, Caribou or Intelligentsia coffee,

then brew it using a

Technivorm Moccamaster (ding-ding-ding; the winner in my book)
Sunbeam AP-20, Cuisinart Grind & Brew, Chemex, Mr. Coffee, Norelco Dial-A-Brew, Gaggia, Pyrex, GE, West Bend, Corning, Breville, Universal Coffeematic, Farberware, LeLonghi, Presto, French Press, Silex vacuum pot, Sunbeam vacuum pot or a cold brew or manual drip with a Melitta,

preferably made by Margaret Hamilton.

 

[mrb627]

By George,

I think you've got it!

 

[maytagbear]

I am shocked, just shocked

that no one had yet mentioned a Krups!

When I do make coffee at home, I always use my Krups Aroma. Bought it in 1989, still making great coffee.

(Of course, I wash the guts with 50% white vinegar and 50% water every three months.....)

Lawrence/Maytagbear

Moral of this story? There are many ways to caffeinated Nirvana.

 

[launderess]

Have Sidelined the CoffeeMaster C50

For the time being and using my Cory automatic vacuum coffeemaker, and am that well pleased.

When used with a Silex glass filter rod, the resulting brew is actually quite clear, with much less sediment than the C50.

The Cory does not brew nearly as hot as the Sunbeam, but that is sort of a blessing as there isn't any of that scorched coffee residue on the bottom of the pot. Coffee does not have that "burnt" taste sometimes as well. In fact using the same roast and grind (Peet's French Roast,grinded fine with my Bodum), swear for the first time can really get a whiff of the fruity notes of the brewed coffee. Something one never found from the Sunbeam.

 

[polkanut]

Eugene,

I can't believe it took you that long to figure out the proper methods for perfect coffee. lol (insert sarcastic tone here)

 

[joeekaitis]

My pedestrian taste buds just couldn't fathom the flavor depths of French press coffee so I'm sticking to my Delonghi with the Aroma button. The Aroma feature turns the heat off and on at 30-second intervals, approximating the method in which you slowly pour just enough water into the filter to saturate the grounds, then wait for it to filter through before adding more water (yeah, try doing THAT at 5:30 in the morning!).

I also jiggle the filter basket to level the top of the ground coffee before putting it into the coffeemaker.

 

[mrb627]

Krups

I am currently using a Krups pressure brewer. Makes really good HOT coffee. Eventually, I will either get a Moccamaster or a Keurig.

Malcolm

 

[whirlcool]

Actually, Krupps was our favorite coffeemaker. But we couldn't seem to get one that would last longer than 3 years or so. The heating elements would go out on them. All the Krupps we had we made in Mexico.

 

[countryguy]

My ex bought me a Keurig coffeemaker for our anniversary last year so that is what I have been using.

Gary

 

[earthling177]

A friend just sent me this link, I figure y'all would find it amusing -- at least I *hope* they are just trying to pull our collective legs, I just can't imagine that doing over 10 times the work will make the coffee 10 times better.

In any case, I *thought* I had heard just about everything about coffee, from "never *ever* wash the coffee maker or it'll make the coffee taste like soap" to "it has to be perfectly clean" (my opinion too, in case you're wondering) and pros and cons of every kind of bean and/or roasting at home (and using it pronto vs. waiting a couple of days to equalize) or buying pre-ground and vacuum packed. And people who claim that pooped coffee (Kopi Luwak) is the best.

But to be honest, "seasoning" the filter, hand grinding (with a mortar and pestle), then re-roasting the grounds has added a cup of surreal to the entire thing. Now, what *really* won the cake in that linked video below, was waiting several days for the grounds to get moldy. Yum!

Anyway, here we use a bunch of stuff, depending on the mood, from a Braun drip maker to couple of Moka pots and, our most recent acquisition, the AeroPress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeropress), which produces a really smooth cup of coffee.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/09/how-to-brew-a-good-c.html

 

[mrb627]

Could be drugs....

I guess it is better those guys spend all their time brewing coffee rather than doing drugs. Maybe they are doing drugs will the coffee is AGING! Who knows? Who cares? I think I will stick to my method.

(although, I have never thought about roasting my own beans. Has anyone tried it at home? Can you do it on the stovetop or do you need some special equipment? )

Malcolm

 

[mrb627]

Stovetop Roasting

I found this video of a dude roasting beans in a pan on the stovetop.

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[earthling177]

Roasting your own coffee.

Malcom, ain't that the truth, LOL.

I have friends who roast their own coffee. Some use a popcorn maker (either the crank pot or an air popper), some use a dedicated coffee roaster. You don't need the expensive stuff, even the cheapest automatic coffee roaster, which looks like an air popper with a timer, cool-down period and chaff screen, does a good job. They all produce some smoke, so use them under a range hood, and they all make quite a lot of noise, one wonders why they have a "pilot light", one can tell from two rooms away when they stop. ;-)

Anyway, it's hard to tell if the coffee is so good because they started with good beans or because they get roasted the way you want (not too light or too dark/burnt), but it sure tastes good.

Personally, I don't bother, I just buy small amounts and use it as soon as possible, but if I was more addicted to coffee than I am, I'd certainly consider roasting at home too, you get the roast and blend the way you like it, not the way some marketing person decided you should have.

Most of my friends buy green coffee beans and equipment from Sweet Maria's, link to follow. No affiliation, not even a client here, just passing the info as I got it.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.roasters.php

 

[sudsmaster]

For home espresso

Here's an interesting article on how to get excellent espresso from a cheap home machine...

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/foo...om_low_end_machines/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed2

 

[whirlcool]

That's another reason we like our Sunbeam C-30. You can take it apart and clean all the surfaces which contact the coffee. I recently started using Ozarka Spring Water for coffee, it makes the cup even smoother!

 

[mrb627]

Good Beans

Well, I guess if I want fresh roasted beans, I can head down to Whole Foods Market. They roast them right there in the store. We used to go there for lunch once in a while from work. I would buy a pound of fresh roasted beans and leave them in the car till time to go home. Man, the smell you get hit in the face with at 5 o'clock is torture. Then, you have to suffer with it all the way home.

I would brew up a pot as soon as I walked in the door.

Malcolm

 

[launderess]

How Long Has This Been Going On?

Took a NIB vintage Silex glass vac pot system out of my stash to replace my Sunbeam, and can only say what a difference a day makes!

Brewing on stove top (ok, in this case used a Silex electric stove), with glass soon as one wakes does require a bit more attention, but the reward is a nice clean, fresh and HOT cup of coffee.

Due to their high brewing temperature, Sunbeam automatic vac pots can sometimes leave coffee bitter (over extracted) or with a burnt/metal taste (all that copper and chrome really holds heat), but not this time. Pure glass is the way to go when brewing coffee!

 

[sudsmaster]

The best espresso

I guess not too many people clicked on the link in my previous message.

Basically what it says is that for good espresso in a home machine (or in a commercial machine, for that matter), forget about using a home coffee grinder. It says even $400 grinder can't get the fine, consistent grounds needed for good espresso.

For best results, even in a relatively cheap home espresso machine, one should use canned espresso ground coffee - usually Italian.

Now, I used to make espresso every morning at home, with a burr grinder and a Krups pump machine. I was fairly well pleased with the results, although nearly always I would brew the espresso directly into a cup of hot, steamed, low froth sweetened milk. I used a glass mug style cup, and enjoyed the visual drama of the heavier espresso layering under the hot steamy milk. And the taste was pretty good as well. Almost hated to stir it up to blend the coffee and milk.

But it was a production and haven't bothered with that for years. The Krups unit that was tall enough to allow brewing directly into the mug met an untimely end when it fell off my counter. I got a replacement Krups but it emits a high pitched shriek when brewing. Got a Mr. Coffee pump machine, which is ok, except for the banging it does, but at that point I sort of lost interest in layered sweet low foam lattes.

Now I "make do" with a burr grind and brew Cuisinart with thermal carafe. After a failed first unit, the second one seems to be working quite well. I drink it black with turbinado style sugar. One cup with breakfast, the rest goes in a SS one pint thermos, which stays hot all day at work. I use Costco's Kirkland Columbian, which I find to be of good consistent quality. So far. The beans stay in the foil bag (3 lb) on the counter top, not refrigerated, and haven't noticed any off aromas or flavors. Beats the cheesy coffee vending machine in the lunch room at work ;-).

 

[dogboy44]

Farberware Percolator

with Costco Kirkland Columbian. Nothing better. Well maybe french press, we have that too.

 

[petek]

I've got a few electric espresso machines, none are that great. The only one that really works is a plain jane little pressure pot Vesuvio from Italy. Any italian family homes I've ever been in just have a stove top Bialetti type pot

 

[mysteryclock]

Keurig

I have Keurig at home and at work and it is pretty darn convenient and makes a good cup of coffee. Probably 95th percentile vs. brewed, but it is (obviously) completely consistent with zero wasted coffee.

I brew Dark Magic, Newmann's Own and Kona (for the wife.)

 

[earthling177]

Rich said: "I guess not too many people clicked on the link in my previous message."

Well, I sure did. I've heard it before that the only way to make good espresso with the less expensive machines is to use imported ground coffee.

I think the net is full of people who believe stuff earnestly and don't save time or effort telling others what they think.

My opinion, and it's worth every cent you pay for it, is that it doesn't matter what they say. The best coffee is the coffee you like made the way you like. That's the reason people like that reporter will often get "shocked" how good some other person's coffee was when it wasn't their favorite brand/process. If we paid more attention to the flavor than the prices, we'd be happier with several different processes and coffees. I certainly have enjoyed espressos made in all kinds of machines by my friends, some of which buy pre-ground imported Italian coffee, some of them grind their own beans and a few of them roast then grind their beans at home. The kind of coffee seems to make more of a difference then whatever you are using to grind it.

It's highly unlikely that the perfect uniform grind is that important, for example, because I've bought both Cafe Bustelo and Illy and their grind is not perfectly uniform either. It's highly unlikely that a metal tamp is important either -- I'm willing to bet that for the forces used to tamp down espresso in the filter, a good sturdy plastic, wooden or metal tamp will do. If he ever used a flimsy metal tamp, he'd not be telling others it's important to be metal, but that it not be flimsy. And really, it's not like one is putting hundreds of pounds per square inch in there, the tamp has to be truly flimsy to be worthless, I have the impression it's more either ignorance, superstition or snob appeal that he's displaying, maybe a combination.

The video is not much better. He goes to great lengths to heat up everything, including the portafilter. Well, while it may be true that one needs to brew coffee at a particular temperature, I have no doubts that the espresso maker he has can produce those temperatures. If the coffee then cools down, it's not that important. I've seen plenty of people insisting that the coffee has to be boiling hot, my stepmom's sister is one of those people. Then she waits for the drink to cool down, what's the point? Even people who can honestly say that they can drink anything above 165F without getting burned, which is rare for humans (not claiming non-existant, just rare), there is plenty of evidence that one can't really taste much at that temperature, all the nuances and subtle flavors go unregistered when that hot. One needs to wait for it to cool down, one might as well serve it in a cooler cup and enjoy it pronto. I believe part of the confusion comes from the fact that when one gets coffee in commercial establishments, the cups have been disinfected at very high temperatures and since they don't usually wait for the cups to cool down, people have the mistaken impression that coffee needs to be always served at high temperature.

And we've all seen the ugly fights between people who think coffee *needs* to be acidic and full of fruity and flowery flavors and people who think coffee needs to be non-acidic and have a clean flavor that tastes of coffee and nothing else. Just pick the stuff you like and enjoy it. The other folks are not bad or stupid, they just prefer something different from what the other camp likes. Think of it like this: you like your salads one way, someone else likes their salads with different ingredients and/or dressings -- neither person is bad, stupid or unrefined, they just like different stuff, and they should be free to enjoy the food they want without being called morons. That's just my opinion and if someone has a different opinion, I'm completely OK with that too as long as I'm not forced to agree with them.

;-)

 

[sudsmaster]

The point I took home from the linked article is that a good canned espresso grind can produce superior results even in a relatively cheap home espresso machine.

And that relatively expensive home espresso machines can produce unsatisfactory results with even the best beans lovingly ground in a home burr grinder - even a good one, like a $400 conical burr grinder.

I haven't tried making home espresso with imported canned grounds, though. I thought I got pretty good results with a lowly flat burr grinder and a cheap Krups pump machine. Can't remember what the tamper was made of. I've seen fairly hefty aluminum ones in the shops, and they're not cheap - like $20. I looked at one and reasoned that I could make my own just as good if not better with some aluminum rod and my little six inch lathe in my garage shop.

I did fully expect a chorus of dissent about the horrors of using canned espresso grounds vs. the holy grail of home roasted home ground beans. I almost expect someone to insist that one must also grow one's own coffee in a climate controlled greenhouse for even minimum quality.

To each his own!

 

[petek]

Good points Paulo, somewhat akin to wine experts

 

[turquoisedude]

Something a little different...

I have to admit I always liked coffee brewed in a vacuum pot so while Hubby has been out of town, I dusted off this beauty. I've had it for years and never had a chance to use it because I have such awful luck with the Sunbeam, Cory, and Silex vac pots. This one worked great! They're pretty hard to find here in Canada, so this KM pot has now secured it's place in the collection!!