Help! I need better coffee

[Meerkat]

Make your life easier, get a percolator. Boiling water is dispensed through the grounds at the "perfect" rate. After it's brewed remove the filter and feed tube and the coffee stays hot. I have a 40 cup percolator that lasts me a couple of days.

We got a perculator but it doesn't keep the coffee hot long enough, don't like warm coffee.Used it 3 times its brand new Hamilton Beach which use to make good kitchen appliances.
We have all kinds of coffee pots including huge Coleman percilator for camping.But we'd have to keep coffee hot on stove burner on low so its just easier to do two cups at a time in pour spout pot.
Hubby doesn't like to wait so he uses this plastic one

https://www.amazon.com/Ovente-KP72W...refix=instant+hot+water+pot,garden,180&sr=1-6

 

[backlash]

If you want recommendations for a coffee pot then I can recommend the Bunn brand makers. My folks would brew 9 or 10 pots of coffee every day. They drank it from before sunup to after sundown. A 3 pound can of Folgers would last about a week. Because the well water is so hard they would replace it every couple of years. We also have a Bunn coffee maker that my wife uses daily and it makes good coffee. She uses very little grounds and then adds coffee mate creamer. I don't think she even really like coffee.

 

[Meerkat]

I think there are insulated carriffs also.

Jim

We have 3 caraffs [think we both mispelled this one Jim] but what a hassel to wash those .Brush doesn't remove oil from coffee like a rag will and the neck is very small and brush not long enough. I don't know what these new engineers think of when they make products now a days.

 

[Meerkat]

I had thought about a percolator , that's all my grand parents had.
Good coffee.

I just don't want to turn my electric stove on , heat up kitchen , wait, then wait for stove to cool off, which takes longer than to heat up.
And, if I remember right it gets cold pretty quick.

I guess you could go with an electric percolator.

I'll look into those.

Jim

Exactly! Plus its noi fun cleaning them either.

 

[Caribou]

Anybody just buy beans and grind them .

How does that work?

Jim

Works fine for me. Fresh ground gives me a better cup. We keep about a year ahead on whole coffee beans so that makes a difference. If you buy 12oz. bags, one at a time, I don't think it matters that much.

You can ruin the best coffee but you can't improve a poor coffee. Too much coffee makes it bitter. Leave it on the burner too long and it burns. How it burns when it is mostly water I don't understand but it does. Some people like it really strong so they add sugar to fight the bitterness. Coffee is really an individual preference.

When I was working on the seine boats we would boil the coffee and throw in a couple egg shells or pour some cold water in the top to settle the grounds. That is not a recommendation, unless you like strong coffee and sifting grounds through your teeth. After a typical 4 hours of sleep the strong coffee wasn't so bad. A typical work week was 100 hours of fishing, in 5 days, followed by two days of repairs and partying. Then back out to fishing to rest up for the next weekend.

 

[Meerkat]

I second the Keurig. I never thought I'd like one. For the longest time I thought they were a gimmick. But they make some really good coffee. And fast. You make it a cup at a time, so it's never sitting around in a warming pot going bad. And it makes each cup the same way every time, so you can get your creamer and sugar measurements (if you use those) down to perfection through repetition. You have a very large choice of different coffees to try with all the pods that are available.

The downsides? The pods are more expensive than bagged coffee. The pods are made of plastic, so not so good for the environment. There are pods available that are biodegradable, but their selection is slim at this time.

We have one of the higher end Keurigs. One of the ones that has a reservoir for water (the less expensive ones you have to fill with water for every cup). And the reservoir can remain heated if you want, so from start to finish, making a cup of coffee takes less than a minute. If you don't keep the reservoir hot all the time, it takes about 3 minutes to make a cup. Still, that's a pretty short time. Ours also has buttons to choose the different size cups - there are about 5 size settings. It also has a separate button labeled "strong" that you push in conjunction with one of the size buttons to brew your cup a little stronger. Automatic on/off as well, so if you don't want to wait 3 minutes for your first cup in the morning, just set the timer to heat the reservoir a few minutes prior to your normal first cup time.

If you have a Costco near, buy the Keurig there if you decide to get one of these machines. They are usually a lot cheaper at Costco than at other retailers. Or at least they were, last time I bought one there. I seem to remember you can usually get one of the higher end models with a variety of 60 or so pods included for around $120 at Costco. The low-end model retails for $99, but you can always find it on sale somewhere for $79. I have used different models all up and down their line of products and recommend the one I described - reservoir and buttons to set cup size - over the cheaper ones. if you only drink one cup of coffee a day, the cheaper one model will do, but there is more futzing around with those (you have to manually measure your amount of water each time, wait longer for things to brew, etc.) The coffee comes out tasting the same from all the different models. What you are paying more for are convenience and additional time savings.

I always liked the coffee at the Kuttawa Hampton Inn. For hotel coffee, that was probably the best I've run into.

I bet your ocean diving daughter really loves those plastic cups.. My daughters use those too. One calls me a tree hunger if I say anything.lol.

 

[phideaux]

You can read reviews forever on coffee makers, but I'll go with the folks experience here first.

Later I'll do some interwebs search.

Jim

If you want recommendations for a coffee pot then I can recommend the Bunn brand makers. My folks would brew 9 or 10 pots of coffee every day. They drank it from before sunup to after sundown. A 3 pound can of Folgers would last about a week. Because the well water is so hard they would replace it every couple of years. We also have a Bunn coffee maker that my wife uses daily and it makes good coffee. She uses very little grounds and then adds coffee mate creamer. I don't think she even really like coffee.

Pretty sure that Bunn is what most restaurants use.

One restaurant I freqent even sold me 5 lbs of the coffee they , because I always bragged about how great his coffee was.
Still wasn't the same.
So I know the maker has a lot to do with it.

Jim

 

[dademoss]

IIRC , the "most preferred" water temperature for brewing coffee is 195-205 F.

 

[Caribou]

Sorry Jim, when I say carafe I mean the insulated, usually stainless steel, carafe. When I say pot I meant the uninsulated, usually glass, carafe. The uninsulated carafe has a burner plate to keep it warm and will eventually burn the coffee or automatically turn off. I way prefer insulated carafes.

 

[DWinCO]

We buy whole bean and fresh grind each morning. I think our favorite is Pikes Roast (starbucks) but we buy others and mix dark & med roast. When I worked, it was the cheapest ground I could find but once I retired...got picky!

 

[phideaux]

I'm thinking about buying a grinder , then buying a good Bunn maker.

OMG...there are a ton of grinder's, and a bunch of different Bunn makers.

This could be interesting.

Jim

 

[Amish Heart]

We have a regular coffee maker like you do, Phideaux. I use Berkey Filtered water in it and use Folgers Classic Coffee. Easy. Using filtered water makes it taste better.
Then I have a large barista when I want something fancy. I'll make a cappucino or a latte. You throw in the whole beans in the hopper, it grinds them fresh. Foam the milk or cream, then pull the shots. Our favorite whole bean is a Starbuck's brand called Pikes. The kids use it to foam milk or cream only to make hot chocolate with.
So one is fancy and time intensive. One is not.

 

[dademoss]

A Bunn Makes good coffee. The Ronald McDonald house uses Bunn brewers, and I have never had a bad cup there.

 

[havasu]

I use the purple bag of Sam's Club dark French roast, grind them every morning, and use my reverse osmosis water. 8 heaping scoops for 14 cups and ahhhh!

 

[dademoss]

For a couple of really good cups from a french press, a Zassenhaus manual grinder works very nicely. I found this one at a church sale for 3 bucks

 

[havasu]

My fear is I wake up to a power outage. I need to find one of those hand grinders!

 

[Grimm]

You sound like my dad- a total coffee addict so long as it is reaaaaaaally good coffee. He did a lot of experimenting to find the combo of grind, beans and brew method that works for him. He loves his Community Coffee or high end beans that he grinds himself everyday. Then he does a pour over.

I personally just grind a pint of beans a week from the organic medium roast beans I get from Costco. I brew 4 cups with a Hamilton Beach coffee maker that is not cheap but not over priced (has a separate hot water dispenser for teas). I found that filtered water and good beans are important to a decent cup of coffee as well as a clean coffee maker. I recommend you deep clean your coffeemaker to see if that makes a difference in the coffee you brew. You can run a cycle with filtered water and distilled vinegar to clean the deposits out of it but run a few cycles of just water to rinse the workings.

 

[Grimm]

My fear is I wake up to a power outage. I need to find one of those hand grinders!

You can get one that fits on a canning jar. I have one by Kilner that I like for my espresso.

 

[Spikedriver]

I find that the coffee maker makes little difference, because everybody likes their coffee different. I can only say what's more popular or what I've experienced. FWIW, I hate Starbucks, Scooters, and all those millennial garbage coffee shops. Starbucks is disgusting coffee, not even worth it if it's free. (Don't get me started on their politics. I hated the coffee before I knew the politics.) I've found that at home, Dunkin Donuts coffee is really good. You can make it pretty strong without bitterness. It's a bit pricey compared to Folger's but not too bad. If you want to get into the *good* stuff, there's two I like - Iowa Coffee Roasters "Jamaican Island" and Black Rifle Coffee Company's "Caffeine and Hate". Black Rifle has a ton of different flavors but I've only had a couple. I think "Silencer Smooth" was the other one. As a bonus they are Veteran owned and operated and support veteran causes...

 

[dademoss]

My fear is I wake up to a power outage. I need to find one of those hand grinders!

The manual grinder is backed up with a percolator and white gas Coleman stove, came in handy in 2008 when Ike blew threw.

 

[Grimm]

The manual grinder is backed up with a percolator and white gas Coleman stove, came in handy in 2008 when Ike blew threw.

I have a percolator in with our camping gear and a stove top drip in the kitchen with my Kilner grinder. I have been thinking of getting a nice pour over set up but then I am a collector of junk and really don't need it.

 

[Caribou]

I have a hand crank, like in post 45, but I use my electric. I like just pushing the button and coming back. Percolator in the camping gear for backup. A couple sealed 12 oz. bags of ground just in case.

 

[backlash]

I worked with a guy that started having heart problems in his mid-twenties. His heart rate would go way up. His doctor had him wear a monitor and he pressed a button when he felt his heart racing. The doc checked all the data and asked him "just how much cocaine are you doing?" None was the answer. Doc said the only thing that could cause his problem was drugs of massive amounts of caffeine. He told the doc that he had a new espresso maker and was drinking 10 or more espressos a day. The doc said well stop that. He did and his heart problem went away.
Not pertinent to the topic but a word of caution.

 

[phideaux]

You sound like my dad- a total coffee addict so long as it is reaaaaaaally good coffee. He did a lot of experimenting to find the combo of grind, beans and brew method that works for him. He loves his Community Coffee or high end beans that he grinds himself everyday. Then he does a pour over.

I personally just grind a pint of beans a week from the organic medium roast beans I get from Costco. I brew 4 cups with a Hamilton Beach coffee maker that is not cheap but not over priced (has a separate hot water dispenser for teas). I found that filtered water and good beans are important to a decent cup of coffee as well as a clean coffee maker. I recommend you deep clean your coffeemaker to see if that makes a difference in the coffee you brew. You can run a cycle with filtered water and distilled vinegar to clean the deposits out of it but run a few cycles of just water to rinse the workings.

I do the vinegar cleansing about once a month or 6 weeks.

My maker ,cheap one, just don't seem to be hot enough.

Jim

 

[Haertig]

I do the vinegar cleansing about once a month or 6 weeks.

Instead of vinegar, I use this for cleaning:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N2KCEDG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It doesn't stink up the place like vinegar. And you don't have to run 25 loads of water through the coffee maker to get the taste/smell out.

I don't do a cleaning anywhere near once a month though. More like once a year. If I can remember.

 

[Frodo]

Brother do you want a GOOD cup of coffee or do you want the latest foo foo gadget?

Go find an old peculator pot that goes on the stove, not one that plugs in
buy a coffee grinder and grind your beans as you need them
get back to old school and you will find the taste you are in search of

 

[Haertig]

My maker ,cheap one, just don't seem to be hot enough.

The more expensive makers allow you to set the brew temperature. I have had good luck with those (I always set them to maximum temperature). My guess is that if the coffee maker is high-end enough to allow you to set the temperature in the first place, that it's high-end enough to actually monitor its temperature. The cheaper makers are just hit or miss. They just throw the cheapest (Chinese) components in there when building the thing, and the temperature that comes out is the temperature you get. I have had cheapies that made boiling hot coffee, and cheapies that made lukewarm.

I use an insulated mug (Thermos brand) and my coffee stays nice and hot for hours if need be. This Thermos mug was one of those Costco things, where you have to buy two of them. After many years it still works great, and doesn't leak a single drop if you close it off and throw it into your bag.

My wife was given one of those fancy Yeti insulated mugs for a work Christmas present. The cheap Costco Thermos mug blows it away. Absolutely smokes it in heat retention for your coffee. This Yeti, at probably five times the price, is a total joke. It looks high-end, but it sure doesn't perform like it. And it leaks. And the top pops off easily. And the company is anti-firearm. And the Yeti brand is ridiculously expensive. You couldn't design a worse way to waste your money if you tried. A friend of mine has one of their coolers. A multi-hundred dollar thing. It does perform a little better than my Coleman and Igloo coolers. A little better. It certainly is not massively better. At the end of our four day camping trip last year, both my Igloo and his Yeti had ice left in them. Not a lot, mostly melted, in both coolers. But good enough for me - we just had beer in there for outside convenience - the real food was kept in the refrigerator in the 5th-wheel trailer. Now that's camping! Refrigerator/freezer, indoor toilet, shower, recliner, couch, tables, king size beds, microwave, stove/oven, hot water, big screen TV, stereo system, A/C, Keurig, generator. Camping at it's finest! No dishwasher in there though, so we had to rough it through that part.

 

[spector]

Y'all helped on other kitchen appliances , so here I go again.

I am a coffee fiend .
I really enjoy a GOOD. cup of coffee.

What I been making in my little $20 Black and Decker every morning , just ain't that great.

I'm ready to spend some bucks to make myself a better pot of coffee.

Is buying beans and a grinder a good idea?

Buying a really top end Coffee maker to brew them beans?

I only make one pot a day , first thing in the morning.
Ability to program it for 6:30 am would be a plus.

4-10 cup ability.

I'm looking for suggestions that will eventually help me decide what to do.

Jim

I am known by all my friends to be a coffee snob. Starbucks (aka "Charbucks") is as low as I will stoop, and only in an emergency. I bring my own coffee maker and supplies with me when I travel.

Here is my recipe for a perfect cup of coffee:

Coffee maker: Technivorm Moccamaster. Yes, it is expensive, but it lasts forever, and it makes a fantastic cuppa. I bought one as a Christmas present for a friend of mine, who loves coffee but who thinks all coffee makers are the same, and he agrees. We have both had ours for over ten years.

Coffee: Java City "Espresso Valerosa". I used to use "Vienna Roast," and it is better than Espresso Valerosa, but they discontinued it. You can buy coffee from Java City on-line. I get some whole bean and some "espresso grind" even though I run it through a drip filter. If you try it and like it, send Java City a note asking that they bring back Vienna Roast. Trust me. It is even better. I think fresh-ground tastes a little better, but sometimes I am lazy and I used the espresso grind and it is fine.

Milk frother. Takes that cup up a notch if you use cream/sugar. I put the half and half and sugar in the frother while the coffee brews. Pour it into your cup and then pour the black coffee over.

Water. There is a lot of debate over water, but I prefer distilled. That way, I am not getting any taste from the water in my coffee. Some people argue that tap/bottled water adds a complexity to the coffee, but I disagree. Also, distilled water is easier on the coffee maker.

 

[Cnsper]

You couldn't design a worse way to waste your money if you tried.

You could donate to the DNC!

That's worse and no effort involved

 

[MoBookworm1957]

I second the Keurig. I never thought I'd like one. For the longest time I thought they were a gimmick. But they make some really good coffee. And fast. You make it a cup at a time, so it's never sitting around in a warming pot going bad. And it makes each cup the same way every time, so you can get your creamer and sugar measurements (if you use those) down to perfection through repetition. You have a very large choice of different coffees to try with all the pods that are available.

The downsides? The pods are more expensive than bagged coffee. The pods are made of plastic, so not so good for the environment. There are pods available that are biodegradable, but their selection is slim at this time.

We have one of the higher end Keurigs. One of the ones that has a reservoir for water (the less expensive ones you have to fill with water for every cup). And the reservoir can remain heated if you want, so from start to finish, making a cup of coffee takes less than a minute. If you don't keep the reservoir hot all the time, it takes about 3 minutes to make a cup. Still, that's a pretty short time. Ours also has buttons to choose the different size cups - there are about 5 size settings. It also has a separate button labeled "strong" that you push in conjunction with one of the size buttons to brew your cup a little stronger. Automatic on/off as well, so if you don't want to wait 3 minutes for your first cup in the morning, just set the timer to heat the reservoir a few minutes prior to your normal first cup time.

If you have a Costco near, buy the Keurig there if you decide to get one of these machines. They are usually a lot cheaper at Costco than at other retailers. Or at least they were, last time I bought one there. I seem to remember you can usually get one of the higher end models with a variety of 60 or so pods included for around $120 at Costco. The low-end model retails for $99, but you can always find it on sale somewhere for $79. I have used different models all up and down their line of products and recommend the one I described - reservoir and buttons to set cup size - over the cheaper ones. if you only drink one cup of coffee a day, the cheaper one model will do, but there is more futzing around with those (you have to manually measure your amount of water each time, wait longer for things to brew, etc.) The coffee comes out tasting the same from all the different models. What you are paying more for are convenience and additional time savings.

I always liked the coffee at the Kuttawa Hampton Inn. For hotel coffee, that was probably the best I've run into.

Your Keurigs or any other single cup pots have basket type thingy to put your normal coffee in.
Or you can buy one individually.
But I use the leftover plastic pods as seed starter pots.
The residue of coffee little bit of potting soil dang near perfect seed starter pods.
Just an idea and my 2 cents.