Lets talk about COFFEE

[patrickBOOTH]

What is "relatively cheap" to you?

 

[VLSI]

Like 20? Is it possible to get anything decent for that?

 

[A Y]

$20 for a pound? Absolutely. There's a ton of good stuff under that price range. So what have you had in the past that you've enjoyed? There's a pretty wide range of coffee and roasting styles.

 

[VLSI]

Haven't really Basically starting from scratch. In the past I'd just go to the local coffee shop and get a pound of "Kona" and that was that, no clue when it was even roasted, I'm not sure they even knew. Is there anywhere that offers a variety so I can just start sampling new things each week to find whats to my taste?

 

[A Y]

Where do you live? The first thing to figure out is whether you like darker or lighter roasts. If you like darker roasts, go to Peet's, because they offer a variety of classic coffee types. For lighter ones, try Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. You may have local independent stores that are good, too, but those two national chains should work anywhere in the country.

Try to get fresh coffee that's been roasted less than a week ago, because old coffee has muted flavors, and differences won't be as obvious. Coffee can be decent up to a month after roasting, but the fresher, the better.

 

[VLSI]

North Carolina. I finally bought an electric grinder because my hand grinder was a pain in the butt and wobbly, so now I'm trying to look into getting some decent beans as well. Since I'm not sure what's here locally, I figured some of the online shops would be easier to get coffee I know had been roasted in the past week.

Placed my order with peets. They threw in a pound for free for some reason. Worked out to ~10/lb after shipping. Good deal, looking forward to getting it

 

[A Y]

I hope you enjoy the Peets! Which one did you get?

Since you're in North Carolina, you definitely should check out Counterculture, who have places in Durham and Ashville that offer free weekly cuppings (that's the way roasters and coffee buyers judge coffee) along with more advance classes at those two locations. They're one of the best examples of the light roasted coffee scene. http://counterculturecoffee.com/education

 

[b1os]

Begin to drink one week after roast date ~. Anything up to 4 weeks shouldn't be a problem whatsoever, three months is passable. Just grind freshly, every time before use. Store the beans in a cold dark place. (I have found that the vegetable box thingies in the fridge work well and I put the beans in tin boxes)

 

[patrickBOOTH]

^ I would say it depends on your style of brewing. For espresso I agree waiting a few days after roasting, for regular brewing methods I highly disagree.

 

[b1os]

I assumed espresso.

Why do other brewing methods don't need the beans to "gas out"?

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I am not sure of the chemistry behind it, but after about 7 days with pourover, or french press the beans tend not to bloom and the taste, while not bad becomes much more bland.

 

[b1os]

Seven days after roasting? Jesus.

 

[A Y]

Starbucks now has their own single-serve system, called Verismo.

Interesting features are that it dispenses milk from its own pods (so it makes milk drinks like lattes in one go), and makes brewed coffee as well as espresso. They're making a big deal out of having 100% Arabica beans, compared to Nestle, which uses Robusta in Nespresso. Anyway, this looks like yet another way to inflict more damage on the environment in the name of terrible coffee.

http://www.verismo.com

 

[b1os]

Brewed coffee in an automatic machine?

 

[Rambo]

wow, that's straight gangsta right there. they just took a dump right on Nestle's head. ****, even the machines look similar.