Posted on 05/24/2015 2:26:58 AM PDT by rickmichaels
Even when loaded with a mound of sugar substitute, all coffees are not created Equal. The world's second most popular commodity varies in quality, and, when you're staring at a shelf, it can be hard to detect the cream of the (unfairly traded) crop.
So to help identify a legit bag of beans, we consulted our buddies at Austin, TX's Cuvée Coffee to share with us some red flags to look out for. These aren't all deal-breakers, but if you see several in combination, be wary.
(Excerpt) Read more at thrillist.com ...
Yes, i just buy a bag of whole bean coffee, grind a bit in the morning in my little electric grinder, and stick it in my coffee maker.
At Costco I pick up 2 lb bag Colombian beans (a little too weak ) and a 2 lb bag of Sumatran beans (a bit too strong) and blend them in a big bowl then rebag them. I grind them up, like you, just before I make a pot. Delicious. And you WILL wake up
Yep—you two have got it.
A morning grind of fresh beans from my local market that roasts its own (Fairways)—or if a packaged brand, Eight O’Clock French or Italian roast—goes fine in my French press.
After 20+ years of drinking Army coffee I just buy Maxwell House.
Gosh, I thought my coffee this morning tasted pretty good until I read the label and applied their criteria.
Am I going to die because my coffee is blended french vanilla from an unknown country?
What about Organo Gold?
Get the beans green. Pour a cup into a popcorn popper for about 8 minutes, until you hear the beans crack a second time. Let them rest a day or so.
Send flavored coffee must use the poor quality beans, using taste too cover the deficiency.
A chemist friend recommends avoiding artificially flavored...well, anything. Send the chemicals used are nasty, and soon degrade into worse (like formaldehyde).
24 years in the Navy, so Maxwell House for me, too. And as an occasional treat, a cup at 7-11 or AM/PM.
I’ve read other sites regarding bulk food in bins at Whole Foods and the claim is the same: it’s very fresh because of the high turnover.
From where do you purchase green beans, and are there other options than a popcorn maker (i.e. dry iron skillet)?
Yeah, I did a dramatic eye roll right there too.
Here’s a piece of advice from someone who once worked in a specialty coffee shop (me). If the coffee is marked down, way down, it is probably old. That Jamaican Blue for $14.99/lb has been sitting around a while.
Also, since coffee shops buy the beans in bulk and resell them, they sell them in the 20lb bags they get from the roasters, but put them in bins. If you want a fresh flavored coffee, get a popular one like Hazelnut or French Vanilla. Don’t get Babka or Butter Rum.
Us poor redneck bluecoller types in Texas just pick up a can of Folger’s for the coffee pot at work.
We’re all going to die from something. Drinking non snob coffee is good enough reason.
I always hated Keurig coffee makers because they seemed so inefficient and wasteful of plastic. Also, the cost of a home brewed cup of coffee seemed too high.
Well, when I worked at Fort Knox I was forced to use one. And once I discovered Costco brand coffee (it’s usually on sale) and how good it was, I started using the thing. I became completely sold.
Then I was in Sam’s club last week and they had the “super duper deluxe” one on sale for $109 with 20 bucks worth of coffee included, so I bought one for the home. I’m enjoying a cup right now.
All I can say is this has completely changed my home coffee drinking experienc. It has done as much for home coffee brewing as the Mr. Coffee did.
You don’t realize just how great it is until you’ve used it for a while. We had a gravity feed grinder, bought all of our coffee whole baan and this makes BETTER coffee. And no more making a full put that we use over a few days, reheating with the microwave. We make only what we need and it now even makes the larger caraf if you really need it.
With the refillable filter (which we haven’t bought yet) my wife will be able to even make her market spice tea with it, though I can’t comment on how good it will be until we try it. She usually uses a french press so we’ll see. I’ll need that adapter for the 5.5 lbs of whole bean I still have in the freezer...
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