Favorite Brand of Coffee

[Michal]

Originally posted by Sportymonk
When out, Caribou is it. Morningstar analysts discussed it and said that it beats Starbucks all the time in taste tests.

I am not surprised. I get into Starbucks only if I am desperate. They used to be good...
We don't have Caribou here in CA but we have Peets which is consistently good.
BTW Peets was the original inspiration for Starbucks in seventies. Peets stayed mostly in CA and Starbucks went global.

Michal

[Pilot-Matt]

After 9 years of working the evening shift, last fall my hours changed to 3:30am, 10 hour days. When I started this new shift I never drank coffee, now I drink two pints of homemade flavored iced coffee.

Made with Maxwell house vanilla with a Caramel & Vanilla creamer. I don't know how I ever survived without it.

[N_Jay]

I must have been a little low on caffeine!

Of course like most things coffee tastes evolve.

My favorite coffee shop was Diedrich in CA, but I think they have been mostly bought by Starbucks and ruined.

My favorite roaster is Unique Coffee. http://www.shop.uniquecoffeeroasters.com/

Right now my favorite non-blend is their Peru Chanchamayo
http://www.shop.uniquecoffeeroasters...-4536g-067.htm
However, I find it a little too light a roast, so I blend it with 2/3 with 1/3 of the Vienna Roast Peruvian from Bay Area Coffee
http://www.bayareacoffeeinc.com/Stor...hole-bean.aspx

The beans are mixed before grinding, ground very fine (close to an espresso grind). I use 12 measures for 10 cups (Typical strong amount) and a paper filter, as with the fine grind the gold filter lets a little too much sediment through.
If you are drinking it right away, the gold is actually a little better (richer) but I sip all day and the coffee gets bitter after an hour or so.

Now, to really appreciate the flavor you need a good machine. So far without spending an arm and a leg, I have only found Krupp's to be reliable, as most others (including Cuisinart and Kitchen aid) to not brew hot enough and rely in the the pot element too much.

EDIT:
Oops, almost forgot to mention the water.
I use an RO filter. a Filter Pitcher is almost as good, but not quite.
It is not just the 'taste' of the water that affects the coffee, but the mineral and salt levels also affect the extraction of the various oils and compounds, even pitcher filtered softened water is a no-no.

You want naturally soft water, RO filtered or distilled.

[sblvro]

anything that has cream and sugar. for capuccino, some hazelnut and vanilla flavors will do esp if it has some coconut too.

[Sportymonk]

That's the way I used to drink Starbucks, to cover up the bad taste. Now I drink straight black coffee. My wife taught me better.

Originally posted by sblvro
anything that has cream and sugar. for capuccino, some hazelnut and vanilla flavors will do esp if it has some coconut too.

[sblvro]

Originally posted by Sportymonk
That's the way I used to drink Starbucks, to cover up the bad taste. Now I drink straight black coffee. My wife taught me better.

I drink at least 5 cups a day, might as well enjoy it

[charly]

Bk's.....Joe works for me and it's only a $1

[rfela]

Having recently moved from the Philly area I gotta say we really miss Wawa coffee. We've got a few pounds of it in our freezer now.

We also have the Keurig machine several have already mentioned. Amazon sells adapters where you can use your own coffee if you don't want to use the pre-packaged cups. I can only drink decaf, but I have had the Newman's and Gloria Jeans Decaf. I prefer the Gloria Jeans.

Not sure if it's just the memories of Hawaii, but we've also had this shipped to our house after the stuff we bought there ran out. Love this stuff:
http://www.kauaicoffee.com/