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I have my own roaster and just use good green beans from a local place. Some of the best coffee I have had.

The topic at hand is drinking coffee, not the coffee enemas those bean-srpout-eating herbalist homeopathic types like to brag about. ;-)

That said, I like the French press. I have myself a Zassenhaus hand mill, and a Nissan Stainless vacuum press.. I nuke the water in the microwave (or boil it on the stove, if at home), the mill is quiet, and the press keeps the stuff warm for a good while and won't break.

It is so sad to see that sweet maria's has moved away from my lovely town (Columbus, OH) and gone to California (see here).

DDT boils at 260C (link)

I can't find a link for the boiling point of chloradine (chloradane, suggests google? I'm having trouble tracking this substance down), but its short name and inclusion of chlorine makes me think it's a relatively light molecule -- 400C is fairly hot. I'd be surprised if it didn't also boil off during roasting.

It is also worth mentioning that the coffee bean is covered by the flesh of the berry, which is discarded during processing, presumably getting rid of most externally applied substances.

I'm not saying your concerns are without merit, but there are probably other, bigger things to worry about when it comes to food. Coffee is probably pretty chemical-free compared to a lot of produce and seafood. And then there's estrogen-mimicking plasticizers in our water, radon, cosmic rays...

To get the ultimate cup, start with some good beans. Here's an outfit that has good prices and pretty decent beans. You'll see that good coffee doesn't have to be expensive - the Costa Rican varietals are excellent and $5.99/pound. You can also get great coffees at Trader Joe's if there's one near you, or even order pretty decent beans from Dunkin' Donuts.

Both Porto Rico and Trader Joe's offer Kona and Jamaican Blue Mountain that is 100% - none of this crap of adding 2% to crap coffee and calling it what it is not. It is up to individual taste whether it is worth the money for rare coffees - I like them, but I like the more pedestrian beans, too. And they cost about the same as a can of Yuban or Folgers.

Now, notice that I said BEANS. Coffee that is ground goes stale in hours. Don't let anyone tell you different. Don't use beans, don't drink good coffee.

Next, you need a good grinder. The king of home grinders is the Jericho - nearly impossible to find online or off, and they cost up to $200 (couldn't even find picture online). I have one, and it is the greatest present I ever got. However, a decent burr grinder, like this one, can be had for as little as $30, and is the easiest, best way to grind your coffee - just set it, hit the button, and come back 15 seconds later. It'll do the job, even if it won't last as long as the Jericho (mine has been purring away, twice a day, for 7 years, just like new).

A good drip maker can make good coffee, but the best way is to use the vacuum method. Vacuum pots are typically expensive, hard to clean, and difficult to use - like the Cona, the best. However, Bodum has a line of automatic pots that are a snap all the way around. The Mini Santos is about $60, and it makes terrific coffee at the push of a button - add grounds, water, done. They look kind of cool, too, in an old iMac kind of way.

I guarantee that if you make a modest investment in time and money, you'll be having coffee that any snob would be very happy to drink.

Jonathan

Wow, a Starbucks employee chastizing an employee of a company who offers flavored coffees. I'm trying not to be a coffee snob here, but there are lots of folks who see these coffee vendors as bottom of the barrel, a notch above Maxwell House.

Anyhow, to add some content to this comment, most decaf coffee is produced with the Methylene Chloride process (MC), not benzene. I agree, it leaves an unpleasant flavor in the coffee, though the Merk Manual says it should all evaporate in roasting. For some reason, the Swiss Water Process (SWP) as described in the parent post is somehow incapible of being accomplished by its inventors/licensees. There's a new processing plant in Mexico, and they do a really good job with their Water Process (not brand-named SWP). I was skeptical, I wouldn't roast SWP before because it was so bland, but now I'm sold on these Mexican-processed beans (the actual beans I buy come from Sumatra, Guatamala and Brazil). More info.

Also mentioned is Postum, though it's not a glowing mention. I haven't tried this myself, but I will in the future. My own next personal favorite is Pero, which, while quite different from coffee, is fairly pleasing when mixed in the right proportions.

Most coffee substitutes seem to be mainly dandelion root, chickory (which we've started in our garden this year), or malted/roasted grains (mainly barley and wheat). We do plan on trying homemade versions of some of these -- good way to rid the lawn of dandelions!

To get my tea fix, I've turned to rooibos tea. The fermented "red" type is the best black tea substitute I've encountered (not that I've expended a lifetime in the pursuit of this, but still...). I haven't ordered the unfermented "green" variety yet, but I will eventually. Rooibos is still very new (in the mainstream, at least), and I can't locate pure versions of this stuff at our regional natural food chain, Wild Oats (seems to be down at the moment). You can even get flavored versions of this, such as Darjeeling and (my personal favorite) Earl Grey (served "hot", of course). And as a male in his thirties, I was interested to know that, due to it's ultra-high concentrations of antioxidants, rooibos is recommended often in the sci.med.prostate USENET hirearchy.

Of course, you can get zillions of herbal teas in any old store these days. Hell, I throw a teaspoon of dried rosemary leaves (try it -- you'll like it!) or fresh mint from the herb garden into the french press on occasion for tea.

While researching links for this post, I found this link, which is pretty good coffee substitute starter. You'd do just as well to google "coffe substitute".

I just happen to have a link stored in my favoites. Many sizes to choose from!

And they put off quite a bit of smoke (i.e. particulates - bad to breathe). Even my little Hearthware Gourmet (aka Pop-Corn Popper) smokes enough to make it unusable inside under the range hood (1/2 cup capacity), and it's supposedly one of the lowest smokers (because it's so whimpy).

I can tolerate the smell but my wife just can't. We both love the smell of the final product, though.

These things are sweet. Ten minutes to roast fresh coffee, like a popcorn popper. Green coffee beans are half the price of pre-roasted beans, anyway.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.hearthware.shtml

Of course, if you're a tea drinker, never mind.