The coffee and tea appreciation thread

[1freedude]

On the subjects of Columbia and coffee...Costco had a banging Organic Light Roast. Very rare and few and far between its availability, but cheap...2 lbs for $15.

 

[dragontamer5788]

On the subjects of Columbia and coffee...Costco had a banging Organic Light Roast. Very rare and few and far between its availability, but cheap...2 lbs for $15.

Hard to beat Costco. Quick question though: was it wholebean or pre-ground?

 

[neurotix]

1. We don't need snobs of either coffee or tea. The coffee aisle in the grocery store does smell good. We don't need snobbish, flippant remarks. Let's be nice to each other.

2. The tariffs are unfortunate, however let's not let it get political.

I may not be a moderator but I'm the OP of this thread. Otherwise, keep up the discussion! It is giving me something to read while I wait for benchmarks to finish for HWBOT.

 

[1freedude]

Whole bean.

@neurotix not snobbish at all. Better product for cheaper is a protip, not meant to demean. I drink select at home, and Foldgers at work. I am pretty sure this entire website of people would never call me a snob, a moron, maybe, but I advocate for doing what you want, for cheaper, always. I am a cheap bastard at heart.

 

[Outback Bronze]

I have a Nespresso

Yeah same. But it's for the smaller pods. Been on the Nespresso pod machine for over 10 years now. Apparently, Nespresso use the top 1% of the world best coffee but really usure about that statement. Just what somebody told me one day.

Our Nespresso setup at home: Misses loves the Vanilla one's. Thats all she gets. I'm on the Roma's. Cost about 70c a pod, and all the different flavors and strengths you can get is pretty cool. Probably why we are still on the pods after 10 years. I'm about to refill : )

 

[neurotix]

Your recommendations are fine my man, it was just the way you said it. Could have been nicer.

Glad to hear you're not a snob, I don't think I would enjoy Folgers at work very much.

As for me, my brother-in-law took a trip to Costa Rica, and when he came back he sent us a bag of Costa Rican coffee in the mail. At first I thought it was just another regular coffee and didn't care for it too much... Now I have it in the morning and it's pretty awesome. It's got notes of Amaretto to it. Definitely better than Folgers EDIT: it was whole bean and we grinded it all in a grinder. Yeah, yeah I know you should keep it as bean and grind it fresh when you make it but we're lazy lol.

Also, I read some stuff about a burr grinder or something? What are the advantages of one compared to a normal grinder?

 

[Mindweaver]

Yeah same. But it's for the smaller pods. Been on the Nespresso pod machine for over 10 years now. Apparently, Nespresso use the top 1% of the world best coffee but really usure about that statement. Just what somebody told me one day.

Our Nespresso setup at home: Misses loves the Vanilla one's. Thats all she gets. I'm on the Roma's. Cost about 70c a pod, and all the different flavors and strengths you can get is pretty cool. Probably why we are still on the pods after 10 years. I'm about to refill : )

View attachment 381861

Nice! Yeah I can't go back to k-cups. we have had ours for about 5 years now. I've used the smaller one as well. They both are great.

 

[1freedude]

Also, I read some stuff about a burr grinder or something? What are the advantages of one compared to a normal grinder?

High end has a couple kinds. Flat mill blades and conical blades. There is a stationary side and a rotary side. Either way, the distance between the stationary and rotary and type of individual blade shape will determine how consistent the size of the grind is. Since time, temp, and grind size all matter when obtaining the flavor you want, if there happens to be small and large grinds in the same temp water, the flavor is not going to be predictable.

At the highest levels of grinders, I dont think the type of blade matters, as the engineering will prevail. At my level of grinder, conical is easiest to get a consistent grind.

Just stay away from whurly blade grinders.

 

[neurotix]

Pretty sure we have a whirly blade grinder.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Pretty sure we have a whirly blade grinder.

I got tired of opening it and dumping out the grinds.

Burr Grinders output the coffee at the bottom, ready to drop into my coffee filter. Saves you like... 10 seconds but its 100% worth it, lol. But also burr grinders have a more consistent grind.

I guarentee you: you can taste the difference (of ANY coffee) between coarse vs fine grinds. Whirly blade grinder mixes a whole bunch of grind sizes together, while burr grinder makes all the grind approximately the same size and thus better control of taste. It means you need more experimentation to find the right taste when you do get a burr grinder though.

On the subjects of Columbia and coffee...Costco had a banging Organic Light Roast. Very rare and few and far between its availability, but cheap...2 lbs for $15.

FYI: it looks like the Tariff threat has calmed down. Crazy that these things change so quickly on an hourly basis.

 

[Jtuck9]

If anyone likes loose leaf tea I had a spell of buying from Vahdam Teas an Goldentipstea. "Assam Enigma" is probably the best tasting tea I've had.

 

[de.das.dude]

If anyone likes loose leaf tea I had a spell of buying from Vahdam Teas an Goldentipstea. "Assam Enigma" is probably the best tasting tea I've had.

We have this available in our office pantry. I dont know, i just find assam tea so meh and bland. (compared to darjeeling tea)

I'd rather have something generic like lemon honey tea than have assam tea.

 

[ViperXTR]

I'm more or a matcha (pure) or sencha/hojicha kind of person.

 

[Jtuck9]

I'm more or a matcha (pure) or sencha/hojicha kind of person.

Haha, yea. Messy but worth it. For a time at least. Plus those stores mentioned tend to do a look of good community work.

A friend let me try some of the a matcha tea cake he bought a while back. Lovely!

 

[Contra]

I've tried all of the Candy Tiger (especially Nicaragua), Out (especially Costa Rica), and Mayorga (especially Peru Amazonas) coffees and I've really liked them all.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

... As for me, my brother-in-law took a trip to Costa Rica, and when he came back he sent us a bag of Costa Rican coffee in the mail. ... we grinded it all in a grinder. ...

You do not visit animal lover forum and write that you just killed a puppy...

 

[neurotix]

You do not visit animal lover forum and write that you just killed a puppy...

Yeah, grinding it all at once is easier... We are pretty much plebs at coffee, tea is what I really care about/enjoy..

 

[BoggledBeagle]

Well, I am not a coffee enthusiast and I sometimes grind beans in the morning and then make coffee in work 6 hours later, I am sure true coffee enthusiasts would not feel good about this too.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

Did some skimming, but didn't read the whole thread. I have some coffee opinions/habbits/rituals I thought I'd share to the group for this conversation

At home on the daily: drip brew with a Technivorm Moccamaster. It's a simple, but extremely reliable and perfect operating coffee maker. I've had this one about 8 years and it still looks new. Generally buy medium-dark to dark-roasts from local roasters in the region. I have my favorites that I cycle through. I grind fresh every day with a hand-grinder (German Zassenhaus) enough to make about one pot. It's a weird Dutch coffee maker though, so it makes 10 "cups" and each cup is ~4.22oz. So it's just over two full travel mugs, which gets my wife and I to work or a couple mugs each on the weekend. There's something about the daily routine of the first thing I do is grind coffee that helps me wake up. It smells great and leads to delicious coffee.

At work: Aeropress with a steel reusable filter. The paper filters are fine, but I bought this years ago and haven't used paper since. I use espresso grind with this. I don't grind it manually every time

Occasionally: I also have an espresso machine (small De'longhi one that isn't the best out there, but it takes up little room on my counter, which is handy). I like straight espresso when you use quality beans (which I also get from local roasters and grind manually when I make it).

Sometimes, when I'm feeling really in the mood for it, I make a latte that I invented called the Pterodactyl:
1. Put about a teaspoon of maple syrup in the cup.
2. Double shot of espresso.
3. Fill most of the rest of the way with coffee (like a red-eye),
4. Add steamed milk on top.
5. You can add a little bit of cocoa powder to the top if you're in the mood, but this part is optional.

Also, if you can get your hands on it (I know this isn't available to everyone, but I live in the north-east US), maple syrup is so much better of a coffee additive than sugar or creamer. Finally, if you are not able to drink regular milk, I highly recommend oat milk as a substitute. They also make "barista" oatmilk that has a similar fat content to real milk that helps it steam better for lattes.

Aeropress users: what do you use for filters?

I have the able brewing disk. They make a fine one, but I think I have the normal one. I still put espresso-grind through, but I definitely get a little bit of leftovers in the cup. I don't mind though lol. I think the fine one might just take some time to actually press through.

 

[1freedude]

The timing of when beans turn to grounds for fresh roasted beans is different than roasted whenever beans. I *think* bagged beans ground at the store and then rebagged is totally superior to preground bagged coffee.

As far as fresh roasted beans...only grind what you are going to brew within the next 15 minutes. Personally, I grind it within 15 seconds of brewing.

@Bobaganoosh what is your aeropress extraction method? I'm not quite brave enough to use a non paper filter on aeropress. Moka pot, yes.

My extraction method for aeropress is a pot of 6 oz hot water with grind of half way between drip and espresso for about 2 minutes past bloom's end. That gets dumped into aeropress and "burp pressed," and the leftover in the pan gets rinsed into aeropress for easier cleanup.

 

[neurotix]

This is off topic but, there's some sencha and matcha drinkers here. I am wondering if anyone drinks sake or plum wine (umeshu). Plum Gekkeikan brand plum wine is amazing, though very sweet. Kurosawa brand sake is the brand of sake I get. I am aware of but never had shochu, the hard rice liquor, it's pretty much vodka made out of rice. I can't do hard liquor, too many bad memories of getting sick and having the spins and vomiting when I was younger. I'd be interested to try a shot of shochu, but probably not more than that.