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Serious Coffee Discussion

I've had traditional Ethiopian coffee a couple of times recently.
It's super fucking strong and rich - and there is a bit of ceremony/ritual in the way it is served (from a small clay pot, into very small cups, and they always seem to burn frankincense or some similar incense when it brought out to your table) which is kinda fun.

I'm not a huge fan of excessive amounts of caffeine, and half a pot (ie a pot shared with another person) of the ethiopian coffee that people serve around here is about as much coffee as i can handle without becoming a jittery mess.

So it's just an occasional treat - but goddamn it tastes amazing.
 
tantric said:
i recently learned how to make thai iced tea at home, and am now applying that knowledge to coffee. add to your coffee grounds: 2 crushed green cardamom pods, 2 whole cloves, 1 star anise, tablespoon of cocoa powder. put sweetened condensed milk in the bottom of your mug before you pour the coffee in - ta da, thai mocha.
Click to expand...

hmm interesting. i only add cloves to my shitty beans so i can get through the bag, i like taking a chance on beans if they're on sale and relatively fresh still, but my main preference is for a local medium roast blend of african, indonesian and central american beans. i'm not big on the african beans in general but all the indo and central american beans i've tried have really hit the spot.
 
I currently use a french press when I make my own. Otherwise, I go to corner Starbucks and add a lot of creme and sugar. A couple shots of that and a handful of codeine tablets is how I like to start my day. They even give me a cup of water so I don't have to swallow them with coffee. My complaint about Starbucks is that they sell a coffee that was good by 1960s standards of taste, but today, the bean, type of roast, and flavor is behind the times. Nobody smokes cigarettes anymore and consequently, people have a better sense of flavor when it comes to coffee. They need to modernize and get their quality up to modern standards.

I'm thinking about getting a siphon coffee maker with the alcohol burner, a burr grinder, and maybe a mini roasting kit like they do at Ethiopian restaurants. That or a nitrogen storage system to keep the bulk roasted beans from being spoiled by oxidation.
 
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aye french press is good though lately i've moved back to drip with coarse grind and it tastes a bit more fresh to me. Starbucks seems to love roasting the shit out of their beans, i've heard it's done to improve flavour consistency across batches but it sends an inconsistent message to have such inviting decor (arguably) but then pair the atmosphere with mass market coffee. though lately i have seen a couple of drive-thru Starbucks pop up so i guess that makes it clear where their priorities lie...
 
I read the same thing about Starbucks: they burn the crap out of their beans to give them a consistent flavor. The resulting coffee is extremely bitter and burnt tasting. It's only drinkable after mixing in tons of sugar and cream.

I don't think that business model is sustainable. The founder of Starbucks was a chainsmoker who started the business in the 1960s when robusta beans were the only thing available in the USA. At the time, Starbucks was one of the only places to get coffee made from arabica beans. Robusta beans are cheap and their flavor is notoriously bitter. They became popular in WWII because of disruption of trade routes due to the Japanese capturing the Pacific islands that produced arabica. That was a huge innovation. Gen X and Millenials have a more sophisticated palate, and lots of stores have opened that sell better tasting coffee that doesn't need to be drowned in creme and sugar. The sense of taste weakens, and especially the ability to detect bitter flavors, in old people and in people who chainsmoke tobacco cigarettes. I suspect that as that as that generation dies off, Starbucks will introduce some better roasts and higher quality beans.

I think you get the best coffee for the least effort and cheapest price with the French press. Plus, they are portable. I used one every day when I was living off the grid and camping. The beans are the best when brewed the day they were roasted and just after they were ground. They oxidize and are detectably bitter within a couple of days.
 
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that's a good insight but Starbucks only needs to be better than the closest competitor and market saturation + brand consistency is a powerful advantage.

anecdotally, i had a colleague who competed successfully with Tim Horton's by selling better coffee at a higher price. all he had to do was sell from a location ~200m closer to the bulk of his customers than Tim Horton's was (and FWIW some of these customers still ended up at Tim's) but the real trick was that his coffeeshop was just a hole in the wall. no shit, there was only enough place in the shop for TWO customers to sit and at most five customers in total. so that brought the cost of rent down enough that he was able to turn a profit. just goes to show that quality alone is not a killer feature, to compete there are other factors of equal importance. at the end of the week, the balance sheet shows only red or black :)
 
and everyone should know this - coffee chemistry. when coffee is left exposed to air, it oxidizes and turns bitter. for good iced coffee, just put it in an air tight container in the fridge/freezer.
 
Anyone else here obsessed with Turkish coffee? I'll take a picture tomorrow morning when I brew up another pot (I'm only a one pot a day kinda guy - and today I think one was perhaps a bit much).
 
FUCK ME! I forgot to take a picture this morning :(

Tomorrow morning my dear, I pinky promise. This is what you use to make it:



Preground stuff like this that has been sitting on the shelf for ages isn't nearly as good as the stuff you can get from the Lebanese market they grind up fresh for you, but it sure beats the overall quality of normal reground coffee grinds used for normal coffee/espresso.
 
I'm intrigued! I do love a delicious coffee. I look forward to said pictures. Almost sadistic really. I'll just torture myself by drooling over them but it's deffo a must see.
 
I am from a city that takes its coffee very seriously (Melbourne). I used to have a really nice Rancilo Silvia at home before my absolute dickhead of an ex took it with him when he walked out on me when I was recovering from near-fatal pneumonia. Now I use an Aereopress, which for something that cost $50, actually makes a pretty damn good coffee. Usually with Vittoria black label although I do splurge on some fancy stuff occasionally.

Agreed with people who have said they'd rather go without than drink instant. I had to survive on that shit when I was even more poor than I am now and it is nastayyy. Good coffee does not need sugar, but instant is not drinkable without it.
 
Sadly I only have a large and single cup cafetiere. I find them to be horrible. That or my technique is total rubbish.

Aereopress sounds interesting. I'll need to look that up.
 
So true, quality café is so much better without sweetener. I only like the sugar when it needs to mask something. Better to use cinnamon when masking is necessary, but even that can only help so much with instant. There is something kind of nostalgic about Nescafé for me, but that is only because it reminds me of a time when I was broke, living on the streets and free to not give a fuck.
 
I have to drink instant at work but thankfully I know my way around a professional coffee machine. I give great foam baby. ;)

My coffee at home is lovely but I really need a small but industrial machine at home to work with.

BTW, sugar and cinnamon in coffee is good but I think that combo is more treat than masking. I am an autumnal girl at heart. Im sure you're screaming SACRILEGE Just now Tpd but I know what makes me warm, cosy and lovely =D
 
Naw, I do love cinnamon, the sweetest spice ;)

Good to chew on the bark too.

Another thing I love? Some lemon rind in quality French café/espresso. Yum!
 
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