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Which Instant Coffee?
nhn asks: "Being a caffeine-addict, I feel quite miserable not having my favourite coffee, every morning. I can't walk to Starbucks/Gloria Jeans, while I'm at work, since there is an instant coffee machine available (and I dislike filtered coffee). For the record: I hate Nescafe, it simply sucks." What must you drink, after your dreams have evaporated into the waking world? What types of coffee would you recommend to a seasoned coffee afficionado...or even your garden variety caffeine addict?
"Given:
- I'm a fulltime developer.
- I like very strong coffee, my usual cup is espresso machiato.
- My coffee-style: French, or Italian as a second choice.
- I need coffee to keep myself awake for at least 8 hours (you know how it feels like when you have to debug thousand lines of code, don't you?)
- I drink coffee first for the taste, then the caffein, not the other way around."
Java Blue Mountain. 'nuff said. - I wonder if you can get that as an instant...
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I only drink this stuff when drinking instant.
Allows me to feel all warm inside from the really nice coffee + the fair-trade-ness of it at the same time!
Every Canadian out there already knows what the best kind of Coffee is: Tim Hortons. ;)
(PS: Timmies uses Arabica beans, which are more expensive and flavourful than the Robusta beans usually found in instant-coffee. They don't have as much caffine though, but that just means you get to drink more! Yum!)
Assuming you have your own desk, get a personal coffee maker for when you're in the office:
Coffee pot 1
Coffee pot 2
Coffee pot 3
It's better then instant and it's better then the crap they serve from corporate coffee machines. You can easily pick up a bag of Starbucks beans (or, for ease of use, already ground) and make what you want right at your desk.
--Dave
You can get liquid coffee extract at your supermarket. Some brands are quite good. I find it's a lot better than the dry stuff. Note: the extract must be refrigerated after opening, so you can't just keep it sitting on a shelf.
Reference: The Caffeine FAQ - a 7oz cup of drip coffee has 115-175mg of caffeine compared with 100mg of caffeine in a typical espresso (1.5 - 2oz serving ). (i.e. espresso would have 350-467mg per 7oz)
HTH
That's a myth. See here for an explanation.
Here are some more references, albeit from a more biased source.
Actually, they're only known as the French Press in America --- the rest of the world knows 'em as cafetieres.
My parents used to have a twin-bulb glass syphoning percolator. It ran off a little alcohol burner. It was a lovely thing; there was a jug on the bottom, and a big bulb on the top. You filled the jug with water, put your coffee grounds on the top, and set the whole thing heating.
When the water was hot enough, it would automatically syphon up into the top bulb, steep, and drip down into the jug. The whole thing was totally automatic --- but was completely stupid. The heart of it was a really nicely designed syphon. It was great for dinner parties; it would get put in the middle of the table and bubble away while we ate nuts and talked.
Then they dropped it.
They now have a cafetiere. It's much less fun, but is far faster and produces better coffee. They're unbelievably simple to use. Pour in boiling water, put in grounds, let stand for a few minutes, push plunger, pour. You can even get mugs with built-in plungers, so you can make one cup of good coffee at a time.
Oh, yeah, and what the previous poster said: ground coffee has a limited shelf life. It's best kept in the freezer if you want to make it last.
- lowers risk of getting diabetes by 40% or so
- lowers risk of getting Parkinson's disease by more than 50%
- lowers risk of getting colon cancer
and other positive effects. See, for example, this article, for example.My current favourite coffee-milk mix is frappochino. Make a big batch of espresso and mix in about 1 tbl spoon of sugar per cup. Let that stand in the fridge for about a day (or until it's not hot anymore). Use a shaker and shake first only the coffee-sugar mix with ice until you get a nice crema, then shake with milk. Remove the ice as your pour it.
Great afternoon "drink" in the summers. Tastes a bit like milkshakes really.
For the uninitiated: this is pure, unfiltered coffee. A small flask-shaped pot (called an "ibrik") is filled with one heaping teaspoon of coffee for each serving and one half teaspoon of sugar to taste. The coffee must be ground to a fine powder or the flavor won't be extracted, and for maximum flavor, you must buy beans and grind them yourself (don't let the powder sit for too long). If you're really into this, you can buy green beans and roast them yourself, but I screw that up so I buy roasted beans. Water is added to the ibrik, about 60 grams / 2 ounces. Put on low heat and wait until it gets frothy at the top, mixing occasionally. It should not boil - when it reaches the boiling point, the taste changes completely and it's ruined. The froth at the top has a particular name which I forget, but is considered the best part and should be served to guests. Whenever it starts foaming, remove from heat for a couple seconds and mix - repeat this a few times. When you drink it, whenever you feel the grounds (I believe they're called "zatz", unsure of spelling), let the coffee settle for a bit and try again. By now, you should realize that this is hardly "instant" coffee, but it's worth the effort.
Caffeine content is about 1.0 mg/g, compared to about 0.5-0.6 mg/g for filtered coffee, but the servings are smaller, so you're actually getting less caffeine but with much more flavor. Same idea as with Espresso, but this tastes good, not burnt.
Follow the links. Even if coffee has a small diuretic effect, you still get more water from a cup of coffee than you lose. So, no, it doesn't cause dehydration at all.
Wow, that confirms my suspicion about Nescafe: it's a different blend depending where it's made.
About 8 years ago I was enjoying an excellent cup of coffee in Chihuahua, made similarly to the Indian method above, and it turns out it was Nescafe. But the jar said "made in Mexico", while the stuff I get here in Boston says "made in Canada".
So instead I get Nescafe at the small 'Hispanic' stores around town and look for the "made in Mexico" variety.
I haven't done a side-by-side taste test, nor have I done the requisite Google research, but it's good to know someone else has the same idea.
But it could be the raw sugar...
Ever try Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk? Traditionally it is made with a per-cup coffee press, with condensed milk mixed in. It is strong and sweet. Restaurants serve it both hot and on ice. I agree that most instant coffee is crap, but at home I drink an instant Vietnamese coffee, and I swear it is not bad at all, especially if you like your coffee sweet. You can see the version I like here: Vinacafe. It's the one called "3 in 1 milk coffee." Go to an Asian supermarket and look for it.
They burn it when they brew it, not when they roast it I think. Go get some beans (their french roast is my favorite) and brew it yourself. It's as dark as it gets, but it's not burnt. It's very smooth and just a touch smokey like a french roast should be.
Either way, a cup you brew at home tastes *way better* than what they serve in the shop.
Try Community Coffee http://www.communitycoffee.com.
Go for the Dark Roast.
This is THE coffee in South Louisiana and has been for very many years. It's so good that many restaurants brag that they serve it in their advertisements. I get it shipped to me on a regular basis and bring it in to work every morning in a thermos. If you're serious about coffee for the taste, you should do yourself a favor and try this stuff.
Agreed. There is no better way of making coffee, than french press. I make espresso-strength coffee with it, and it also have the sought-after "crema" on top.
Here is what I do:
1. Put about 2 tablespoon of medium-fine grind in the press. (adjust to liking)
2. Boil water (roiling hot), one or two espresso cups.
3. Pour a little of the water on the grind, mix it. It should just make the grind wet, without drowning it, mix it with non-metallic spoon.
4. Wait 2-4 seconds.
5. Pour in rest of the water, mix it again (crema forms at this point)
6. Insert plunger and cap, but do not press it yet (to keep it from cooling off).
7. Let it steep 30-60 secs. (Adjust to liking)
8. Add desired amount of suger to the bottom of the pre-heated cups. (You can boil the water in them)
9. Either swish the whole she-bang around or mix it with the spoon to move the grind from the top (to make it easier to press down)
10. Press it down, slowly. Just use the weight of your hand (if you press it without abandon, you end up scalding your hand, or coffee on your counter/ceiling, or both)
11. Pour it carefully, so the crema ends up in the cup, not on the wall of the press.
12. Stir to dissolve sugar.
Code poet, espresso fiend, starter upper.
Turkish and Greek coffee are one and the same. It is not called Turkish coffee in Greece due to political reasons. I know of a case in Greece where a waiter said they have no Turkish coffee when a patron asked for. Oh well ...
...etc.), when you say just "coffee", it means Turkish coffee. Which is a strong sludgy mix made in special small containers (called Kanaka in Egypt). The coffee is ground finely into a powder, and a little ground cardamon, and sometimes cinnamon is added to it. The ground coffee and water is brought to a boil, then served in special small cups. Normally there is a layer of fine bubbles that have a lighter color on the surface and considered to be the "face" (wesh) of the cup, and the most flavorful part. Three levels of sugar (or none at all) have common names that are used in a coffee shop. Roasted coffee is used, not the green type, with varying degrees of color (dark, light, ...etc. depending on taste).
... mmm.
In parts of the Arab world (Egypt, Syria,
What is described above is how coffee is consumend in other parts of the Arab world (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the Gulf), there is another type of Arabic coffee, the cadramon percentage is much higher, and the coffee is lighter and not sludgy at all. It is more aromatic, because of the higher cardamon content. In Hadramout (Eastern part of Yemen), ginger is added to give yet another flavor. Served with sweet dates, this is out of this world
By the way, coffee originated somewhere between present day Ethiopia and Yemen, so perhaps this is the original way of brewing it?
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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.
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