What is Your Favorite Way to Make Coffee?

markov_chain asks: "For a while I've been making coffee using home-ground whole beans and a standard drip maker. I settled on this method for its simplicity and good taste, even after trying numerous other methods (such as the French press, gravity percolators, and pressure percolators), each coupled with either pre-ground or whole beans. So far, the fresh ground beans are the only factor that made a significant difference in taste. However, when I recently spotted a a site that vaguely extols freshness, I began to wonder how much the freshness of the beans themselves affects the quality. Normally I thought the whole beans would retain the quality far longer, due to less surface area exposed to air, but clearly there still must be a decline; worse yet, it is difficult to gauge that decline since the sellers usually do not advertise the age of the beans. I would now like to pose a few questions. What is your preferred coffee-making method, and how does it compare to other methods you've tried? What are your favorite beans?"

Comments

Fresh ground

[AmIAnAi]

I have to agree that fresh, home ground beans beats packaged ground any day. I also think the intense aroma given off when grinding the beans adds to the enjoyment of the first cup.

I found that I had to play with the grinder setting for a while before finding the ideal setting. However, I also found hat the optimum setting varies with the type of bean. I recently changed to a decaffinated bean after getting heart palpitations from too many cups.

At first I found the brew somewhat insipid, but after experimenting with a finer grind, I now get the same intense flavour of regular beans.

Re:Fresh ground

[Detaer]

Pick up a coffee roaster, and some unroasted beams. You can even use a air popcorn popper if you would like. Coffee ground and brewed within 4 hours of its roast has the best flavor. How you brew your coffee will change specific flavor aspects along with the grind of the coffee, preference is really up to you. My favorite method is Turkish, however when time needs to be considered a manual cone filter produces adequate results.

Re:Fresh ground

[Lumpy]

Agreed fresh ground is best but how you store the beans makes a difference. I always used to use a sealed air tight container and a cool dry place for storage. I recently adpated to a different storage system. Co2 pressurized.

I have discovered that buying good high grade single crop coffee beans is far cheaper in bulk, it also ensure freshness from the roaster. Problem, I cant drink 25 pounds of beans in time.

I came across a solution that works very well. I use cleaned and sanatized 3 liter pop bottles. I fill them with beans and then by using a modified cap I seal them up and charge them with Co2. Getting the air out is not important.Gassing them with co2 from a tube can do that but keeping them under pressure with a high concentration of Co2 is important. I then store them in the basement wher e they are in the dark and in a cool place (66 degrees F.)

They amazingly stay incredibly fresh. Way fresher after 6 months than a new bag of starbucks beans at a grocery store (starbucks beans suck to begin with but that's a roasting problem).

It really works! you can easily make a cap or a modified neck of the 3 liter bottle to have a co2 inlet valve. I get my high grade coffee at way lower prices than you can in the stores or "shops", It's far fresher as they ship directly from the roaster company. and I found a way to store for long duration.

the "vacuum" packed crap is a gimmick you do not want a vaccuum you want pressure and co2 to fight the loss of the co2 in the beans.

It's the roast that matters the most

[Nefarious Wheel]

It's in the roast -- the method of roasting -- as much as the variety. Freshness counts, variety counts, but it's the roast that matters the most. I've experienced Jamaca Blue Mountain both in a mild roast and in a dark roast, and they could be two entirely different coffees. The mild roast made me want to compose a sonata, and the dark roast made me want to go scrape barnacles off an oil rig. I ended up doing neither, because I couldn't afford the next cup.

Re:It's the roast that matters the most

[spun]

Jamaican Blue Mountain ranks right up there with Kona as the most overrated coffee on the market today. It has a weak body, insipid flavor, and a medium acidity that does not stand out in any way. It is equivalent to any private reserve Columbian.

Roast is important, not the method, but how dark. To taste the varietal flavors best, a full city roast is recommended. Any lighter and it will have more hay-like or grassy notes than varietal flavors, any darker and the bittersweet taste of the roast will dominate the varietal flavors.

As I said below, the absolute, in fact, the only thing is the amount of time between roasting, grinding, and brewing. I guarantee, 90% of coffee drinkers out there have never really tasted coffee. Once you have tried coffee straight from the roaster, you will know what I mean.

You can roast your own beans at home if you can find green beans. Most coffee roasters will be more than happy to sell you green beans, as coffee loses 10-25% of its weight during roasting, so they can make more money selling you unroasted beans at roasted bean prices.

You need a cast iron skillet and a hot stove. Just heat the skillet up as hot as you can get it and throw in enough beans for one pot. Stir until they are a couple of shades lighter than you normally want your coffee, then throw them into a metal bowl to cool. They will continue to darken as they cool. You will find the resulting cup of coffee tastes far more intense than any you have had previously.

Re:It's the roast that matters the most

[Pensacola Tiger]

You can roast your own beans at home if you can find green beans. Most coffee roasters will be more than happy to sell you green beans, as coffee loses 10-25% of its weight during roasting, so they can make more money selling you unroasted beans at roasted bean prices.

Green beans are less than half the price of roasted beans. Green beans are available at several websites, just search on 'green coffee beans'.

Stovetop roasting is interesting, but it is difficult to produce an even roast. Using a hot air roaster, even an old hot air popcorn popper, will make a real difference in the final product.

After working at Starbucks for 3 years,

[justkarl]

I can affirm that the pump-powered espresso machine is the best way to brew coffee ever(However, it's expensive.). If you're still a drip coffee fan, go for the french press. All of the essential oils and flavors stay intact, unlike filter-brewed coffee.

Re:After working at Starbucks for 3 years,

[Once&FutureRocketman]

The Gaggia Carezza is the cheapest pump-driven espresso machine that I have found. I have one, and it makes excellent coffee. Of course, "cheap" is relative.

Simplicity

[Durrok]

1. Open can of whatever was on sale at Meijer
2. Make coffee
3. Pour enough milk/sugar in that I don't taste the coffee
4. Consume

I'm way too tired in the morning to do much else or worry about the freshness of my beans. :p

Jackoffee

[chord.wav]

With a little spurt of Jack Daniel's

Easy way

[coren2000]

I like to push the GO button on the coffee machine at work.

My method

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Just get a jar of Sanka http://www.shopping.com/xDN-food_and_drinks-sanka_ coffee and make it medium weak. Then, grind up two No-Doz http://www.novartis.com/consumerhealth/OTC/NoDoz.s html and a Commit Nicotine lozenge http://www.commitlozenge.com/ and put them in the coffee. Chase it with some Tequila, and that's all you need every morning to get you ready to take on the world. The ENTIRE world.

Chemex

[LunaticTippy]

I like your style, but I am a bit more cautious.

I use a Chemex coffeemaker, which is every chemistry geek's dream. It is a very simple all-glass vessel that accommodates a lab-grade folded square filter. You pour hot water through the grounds and end up with a very nice cup o' joe. It looks elegantly labware-like.

I like it because the water never touches metal or plastic, which impart a flavor. I like it because the lab-grade filters make for a very mild flavor even with lumberjack-strength brew. People marvel at how good my coffee tastes "for how strong it is."

I suppose if you want to be truly geeked-out you could use a vacuum pump and extraction funnel. I've done that myself to show off, but it is a lot of work to do before I've had me coffee!

Re:I'm your coffee answer man!

[BobearQSI]

Also check out http://www.thecoffeecritic.com/ and read about thier 'Brewing Secrets.' I like to get my coffee from them. They roast it and ship it the day it is ordered, and by UPS ground its 2 days from them to me. You can also buy green beans from them if you get your own roaster.

The important thing is to consume it right away, like within a week - in an airtight container, they say 14 days, but in my opinion its a little less.

And never freeze your coffee, like I've heard some people say. I've read that it is the release of carbon dioxide and other minerals that makes coffee go stale and lose its sweet taste. Freezing does delay this, however, freezing causes the air moisture, along with impurities in the air, to freeze on the coffee, and when thawed, leaves unpleasant flavors and aromas in the coffee. So don't freeze it unless the air in your freezer and between the coffee beans inside the container is completely free of impurities of any kind. The coffee will also more readily pick up any smells present when frozen.

Overrated? Kona?

[Upaut]

Have you really had Kona coffee, not just the 10% crap that many sell these days? Kona has a microclimate that is just right, coupled with perfect mineral composition, leading to what I think of as "perfect" beans. Just as different weather and soil can lead to "perfect" wine making grapes. I do admit, it is what you do with the beans next that leads to the magic...

And while a cast-iron pan is a wonder for cooking damn near everything, you cannot evenly roast with it. Hell, I have two home brew coffee roasters at home. One butane, one hot air. Both makes a wide range of wonderful roasts, with noticable differences with both meathods. And I care not only about location, but size. I prize Kona because its "perfect" bean is the smallest I have ever encountered, enabling a better medium roast without undercooking, or a perfect french without burning. I have found small beans all over the world, each making a fine cuppa', but it is Kona that still makes my heart sing.

New World Italian Style

[gobbo]

OK, this is the half-italian style, like my heritage. Get a Mokka pot, also known as a stovetop espresso pot (it isn't really espresso, more pressure percolated). The Italians in the know use the aluminum ones, the taste is better, the steel ones cost more. I use steel because I'm aluminum-shy. A 4-cup model does me two cups. Buy vacuum packed whole beans, one pound bags. Make sure they're fair-trade and shade grown, so you cup doesn't have the bitter flavour of exploitation or deforestation (hey, those birds migrate through my forest in the summer). A medium roast has more complexity, but a dark roast has that espresso flavour kick. Not too dark--or you'll get that Starbucks charred flavour with hints of unlovely burlap. Fill the pot to the level of the safety valve, no more. Grind the beans fine but not to dust. Use them immediately. Don't pack a Moka pot down firmly the way you would an espresso maker. The trick with a Moka pot is to never ever let it boil dry, take it off when it starts making the spitting sound. Best to use a medium-high setting on the stove, not maximum. When you're done, rinse the pot out right away, don't let it sit, and don't use soap. The slight residue from the oils sticks to aluminum better, thus the flavour improvement. If you're going for a cappucino or latte, you can heat milk in a small pot and use a small battery powered whisk to get a foam that's even better than steamed milk. That's it, ciao!

Jamaica Blue Mountain

[jamrock]

Jamaican Blue Mountain ranks right up there with Kona as the most overrated coffee on the market today. It has a weak body, insipid flavor, and a medium acidity that does not stand out in any way. It is equivalent to any private reserve Columbian.

Excellent and informative post about roasting coffee, but I absolutely disagree with you about the taste of Blue Mountain coffee. Where did you have Blue Mountain coffee, and how was it prepared? Was it a blend of seconds from different plantations, as is typically the case with the crap that's usually exported under the Blue Mountain cachet? "Blue Mountain" only refers to coffee grown in designated regions of the Blue Mountains, between 3,000 and 5,500 feet, and YMMV. I'm sure that you wouldn't be surprised to discover that some absolute rubbish beans qualify for the Blue Mountain name.

For some reason, about 95% of the Blue Mountain coffee crop winds up in Japan, and my brother was taken aback on a trip to Tokyo to find chilled cans of the stuff available from vending machines. Japanese buyers pay top dollar for the entire crops from select plantations sight unseen, and the second rate stuff, usually from the plethora of rural folk with some plants growing behind their houses, finds its way to the rest of the world at ridiculous prices. I should add that the interior of Jamaica is very hilly, and many, many homeowners will casually keep a couple coffee plants in their yards in the same way that many North Americans or Europeans will keep a kitchen garden, and expecting them to produce top-class beans is like expecting Mrs. Smith down the block to produce export-quality squash. But hey, they live in the designated growing areas, so they're technically growers of Blue Mountain Coffee(TM). I actually have a few plants in my yard and the coffee is pretty damned good, but since I live at about 2,000 feet above sea level and nowhere the Blue Mountains, it qualifies as "Jamaica High Mountain". Compared to the top quality beans, what is typically available in North America or Europe is an embarrassment to the Blue Mountain name, and I sincerely hope that your experience with Blue Mountain wasn't tainted by an encounter with this second-rate battery acid. I've had Kona, and Colombian, and they don't compare to top-class Blue Mountain.

I drink Blue Mountain coffee every morning, one of the perks [sorry!] of living in Jamaica (my user name is how locals fondly refer to our blessed, cursed homeland, "Jamrock" or "The Rock"). I am fortunate enough to be able to get the green beans of Blue Mountain coffee and I roast them exactly as stated in your excellent post, and grind them myself. I like a robust coffee, so I prefer a fine-ground dark roast, and I despise drip makers, because the water doesn't get hot enough. My favorite preparation method is the Moka Express, a much-battered example of which resides permanently on my stove. Best coffee maker EVAR. Blue Mountain generally has a mild flavor (certainly not "weak" or "insipid"), but it's anything but mild how I prepare it.

That being said, the very best coffee I've ever had wasn't Blue Mountain. It came from the farm of a friend of mine who lives about 20 miles away and 1,000 feet higher up than I do. He used to keep a couple acres of coffee for his personal use, and once in a blue moon he'd generously bestow a few pounds of green beans on each of his friends. Much to my horror, he eventually got sick of locals stripping his plants at night, and decided it was better for his blood pressure to cut them down and remove the temptation, rather than camp out with his shotgun and get himself into serious trouble.

It's always been somewhat interesting to me that the soil and climate of the hilly interior of Jamaica are so conducive to top quality specialty crops. The coffee of course, but Jamaican ginger also enjoys a global reputation for it's strong, sharp flavor. And not to mention the Indica variety of ganja, which has an unusual minty scent and highly aromatic smoke. Or so I've been told....