Totally Rad Coffee

[kickarse]

So, I don't remember a thread about this at ALL. I thought I'd start one.

Who likes GREAT coffee? I'm not talking about Dunkin Dognuts or Starbucks.

To start the new coffee year off right I just bought a couple Nissan Thermos tumblers, one for me and one for the wife.

18oz - For coffee
http://www.amazon.com/Nissan-18-Ounce-Stainless-Steel-Insulated-Tumbler/dp/B0000639WN

12oz - For tea or coffee - Has a tea infuser top too...
http://www.amazon.com/Nissan-12-Ounce-Stainless-Tumbler-infuser/dp/B00004S1CV

Can you guess which ones mine?

Anyways, my favorite brand is New England coffee. Probably the breakfast blend or straight up Columbian.

Even though I love coffee I can't make it at home, for some silly reason, it just comes out just plain wrong.

[cobble75]

hmm dunkin donuts IS great coffee :)

[kickarse]

^^ Just want to let you've just been laughed at by every coffee lover everywhere.

Anyways, even McDonald's and the Cumberland Farms gas station coffee is better the D&D. Sorry to break it to you, you must've never had great coffee.

[djhyjak]

Vinacafe is the best, sipping some right now. a great Viet coffee

[cobble75]

^^ Just want to let you've just been laughed at by every coffee lover everywhere.

Anyways, even McDonald's and the Cumberland Farms gas station coffee is better the D&D. Sorry to break it to you, you must've never had great coffee.


LOL, I have had coffee all over the world my friend. I dont compare dunkin donuts to high quality gormet coffee, but for coffee you get on a whim its the best :)

ah a mention of scumbies... Makes me homesick

[kahunablair]

LOL, I have had coffee all over the world my friend. I dont compare dunkin donuts to high quality gormet coffee, but for coffee you get on a whim its the best :)


Indeed.
You could sit there and cook yourself up a Filet Mignon or two, but sometimes you just want to do the drive-thru and get a Big Mac.

[az0madman]

Whoo! Was thinking about brewing coffee at home and save a ton of money. I started to drink tea in the morning, but that doesn't have enough kick in it for me. Need suggestions on a good coffee maker though. Preferably one that has coffee ready when I wake up since I don't got the time to make it myself. I know crap about making my own coffee.

[tokenuser]

Dissing Starbucks?

True - the barrista brewed coffee inhouse is not that great, but their Sumatra beans, ground at home and drip filtered aren't too bad at all.

I don't drink coffee (or tea), but I do know that my day goes so much better if my wife gets her 4 cup pot of coffee each morning.

[kowgod]

Trader Joe's. Delicious and fairly traded.

On my way to work, I grab Dunkin Donuts.

[alex]

King's Road Cafe coffee... get it whole beans take it home, grind for use and drip to perfection. Best coffee I've had made at home. In the wild, I go back and forth.

- Alex

[kickarse]

I wasn't trying come off harsh about D&D, or be rude. D&D serves it's purpose but it's not great coffee by any extent of the imagination. I do, however, like the blueberry coffee. And I HATE flavored coffee!

I haven't had any of TJ's coffee yet. I'm afraid of what it'll taste like.

As for Starbucks, yes only the in house coffee sucks. The beans/grounds are actually good!

For a good cheap drip coffee make get a Melitta, especially if you don't need it to watch your kids or do your laundry. There's a Melitta BCM4 4-cup for something like $30-40 and then a Melitta MEMB1B 10-cup for around $70.

Check out -
www.madcoffeemaker.com
www.localsonlycoffee.com
www.coffeereview.com
www.coffeegeek.com
www.coffeeforums.com
www.singleservecoffee.com

[oceancyc]

One of my absolute favorites is Cafe Du Monde (http://shop.cafedumonde.com/mpr/mdb-cafed?cfg=cafed&fnc=3&style=4&form=detail.htm&header=coffDetailHead.htm&footer=detailFooter.htm&rno=14). The chicory just tastes great. But usually I'm pretty boring and just drink Folger's Columbian.

[heyseuss]

ColOmbian ppl.

[pct1theory]

Yeah, only Dunkin Donuts for me, I grew up with it, well when your father and uncle owns a franchise of Dunkin, it's hard to not have lots of Dunkin coffee :D

[kickarse]

King's Road Cafe coffee... get it whole beans take it home, grind for use and drip to perfection. Best coffee I've had made at home. In the wild, I go back and forth.

- Alex

That reminds me of Java Journey around here. Very good barristers.

[jason-h]

I'm with you guys on the Dunkin action, as far as fast food coffee that's the way to go. That being said, i have found myself obsessed with coffee and tea. you never understand the difference until you have really good and really bad back to back. I had a Vietnamese coffee at a restaurant named Mekong here in richmond and it changed the way i looked at coffee after that.
I have found when using my mr coffee coffee brewer that i have to make sure that the water is initially cold so that the heating element doesn't overcook the coffee. I get my coffee and tea from http://www.rostovs.com/ they are great and the roaster is right there always going. They have the coffee out in baskets so you can smell the beans. Awesome. My favorites are the vienesse and copenhagen. I got a vietnamese drip and it makes a good cup and very simple. My wife bought me a french press and it does make an awesome cup of coffee. the process is a little involved and cleanup kinda a pain. they are also only 1 cuppers. I drink alot more than that in a sitting. So i go back to the Mr Coffee. It makes a great smooth cup of coffee and alot of it. prep and cleanup is easy. It took a little time to get the measurements right for a good consistent pot of coffee but now that i understand how to, i can adjust and change the strength to match the different kinds of coffee.
I didn't do tea until kevin ran the special with http://www.adagio.com/
and i got hold of the Ingenuitea tea maker. This is a very cool contraption. I followed the instructions on how to make the different teas and that opened up an entirely new world for me. I think right now my favorite is the Yerba Mate. Just a really good tea all around. Also surprisingly I didn't know i liked Chamomile until i steeped it correctly.

[vx69]

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, it's delicious.

[tokenuser]

As mention above - I don't drink coffee, but I'll weigh in on the donut debate.

For all the DD fans out there, there is better. Tim Hortons. Its a Canadian, but they are invading from the north, making strategic incursions into the northern states. Before you know it, we will also have Swiss Chalet eh?

From the south Krispy Kreme launched a national invasion, but it supply lines were cut and apart from its base of operations in the south, and pockets of resistance around the country, they are dwindling in numbers.

[tamtamg]

I guess I'm not as much of a foodie as I thought I was. Good old starbucks is taste pretty good to me. A grande Carmel Machiato w/ a Triple shot of expresso with a single pump of syrup is my drink of choice. Plus my starbucks is right next my building, perfect for getting a cup of joe before heading out to classes.

[kowgod]

See, that's not coffee anymore, though. That's a pop.

I drink my coffee black.

[vx69]

I drink my coffee black.

everyone should drink their coffee black! (y)

[gonzooo]

I think you're stretching the word "rad" a bit with this tread.

Rad cigarettes next?

[oliviakay]

I'm a big fan of Caribou

[kowgod]

I'm a big fan of Caribou

I go to Caribou a couple times a day, every day at work.

I spend a lot of money on coffee. I need it to get through the day. I just look at it as a business expense.

[tokenuser]

I think you're stretching the word "rad" a bit with this tread.

Rad cigarettes next?Would you be happier if this thread was renamed:

Totally Rad Joe?


... and why is coffee referred to as a cup of joe?

[kickarse]

I think you're stretching the word "rad" a bit with this tread.

Rad cigarettes next?

Your so funny... l o l ...

Anyways, I do like Jamaica Blue Mountain, the real stuff, but it's like $30 for a pound/16oz. There's also a Hawaiian coffee called Kona which is a Coffea Arabica bean, originally from Ethiopia or Yemen, grown in the Kona Districts of Hawaii. Real Kona is VERY expensive and usually come in blends of percentage. I've only had a %10 blend. Tasted like nuts, but very smooth.

I happen to hate a French roast though. Just too bitter for me.

As for the reason it's called Joe... http://ask.yahoo.com/20061016.html

There are a couple of really good baristas around me (MA). Java Journey (Sandwhich, MA), the Hot Table (Springfield, MA), Shelbourne Falls Coffee Roasters (Shelbourne Falls, MA), Northampton Coffee (Northampton, MA), Reo's (Hadley, MA) coffee.

To me DD tastes like the smell of odorous feet. Starbucks is always too bitter and over cooked, and I know if you don't like it you can always ask for a fresh pot. I'll usually only get a cappuccino from either of them but not coffee that doesn't use sugar to mask it's taste.

I seriously thought of opening a Cafe, perhaps another Java Journey. And I'm thinking about roasting my own beans soon.

[cobble75]

Would you be happier if this thread was renamed:

Totally Rad Joe?


... and why is coffee referred to as a cup of joe?

as per wikipedia:

"Cup of joe" is an American nickname for coffee. The phrase goes back to the mid-1840s, and is of unclear origin, though it is possibly short for "Old Black Joe," the title of a popular Stephen Foster song. In any case, it predates Josephus Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy who banned the serving of alcohol on ships in 1914.

Another possible origin lies in the birth of America's taste for coffee, which developed in the 19th century after tea was no longer available from British merchants. The phrase may have come into the American English language via a misunderstanding of the French word chaud, which means "hot" and is pronounced similarly.

[tokenuser]

There are a couple of really good barristers around me (MA). Java Journey (Sandwhich, MA), the Hot Table (Springfield, MA), Shelbourne Falls Coffee Roasters (Shelbourne Falls, MA), Northampton Coffee (Northampton, MA), Reo's (Hadley, MA) coffee.Pssst - Barristers practice law in Commonwealth countries, baristas make pretentious coffee.

[skin87]

I absolutely hate everything about Starbucks. Every aspect of it annoys me; however, they are the only coffee places in my are that have driver-thrus, and laziness conquers all.

And before someone argues that I should just make my own, I don't drink real coffee, I drink the mochas and all those other cousins of coffee. I have an espresso machine, but the whole process of making it and frothing the milk, etc is a pain in the ass. So I am forced to go to stupid starbucks.

[heyseuss]

I'm a big fan of Caribou

I swear that Hustler store youu took photos of has the best coffee in the area. I used to work a couple buildings down from it and went there everyday. Good coffee plus sexy stuff everywhere.

[lnknpk04]

Whatever is on sale at Kroger. Savings in the bank tastes delicious!

[moneytime]

^^ Just want to let you've just been laughed at by every coffee lover everywhere.

Anyways, even McDonald's and the Cumberland Farms gas station coffee is better the D&D. Sorry to break it to you, you must've never had great coffee.

Not so fast, kickarse. I didn't laugh. I agreed. I too have sampled high quality blends, but Duncan Dounuts is well, my cup o' ...tea? err..I mean..coffee. lol!
Seriously though, I feel bad for the west coasters who have never known a morning of chocolate and glazed munchkins and a large cofee.
Keeps ya going all day! lol.

[foenix]

I love coffee of all grades, I even have a soft spot for Dunkin's ice coffee in the summer, mostly for convenience and not a lot of places around here serve it in the boonies I live in.

But I really have a soft spot for gas station coffee, mainly because I grew up on it, and find Green Mountain Roasters to be some of the best mid-range coffee out there. It's not the best, but for balance of price and quality, it's great. I've become almost a connoisseur of gas station coffee.

When I'm out, I add quite a bit of sugar to it, but at home, last year, I started adding honey on a random recommendation from a friend. It's better than sugar, and I use less for the same flavour. It was weird at first, but it's great.

As for the good stuff, I got hooked on Coffee Fool by following a link from Sarah Lane's blog, and it changed my view of coffee. Still love the crappier coffee, but wow. That stuff was GOOD. I buy a few bags o' beans a year and use them up quickly. Its the first coffee I've not put sugar/honey into because it just doesn't need it.

J

[kickarse]

Not so fast, kickarse. I didn't laugh. I agreed. I too have sampled high quality blends, but Duncan Dounuts is well, my cup o' ...tea? err..I mean..coffee. lol!
Seriously though, I feel bad for the west coasters who have never known a morning of chocolate and glazed munchkins and a large cofee.
Keeps ya going all day! lol.

I also grew up on D&D, going there almost every Saturday. But as grew up my tastes just changed I guess. IN reality it really depends on the place you get it from. Not ALL of the coffee is horrendous, I don't mind the Box of Joe even.

I do have to agree about Gas Station Coffee. Cumbies or Cumberland Farms has a semi ok coffee. Green Mountain is actually ok.

[acidburn]

Trader Joe's. Delicious and fairly traded.

The coffee at Trader Joes is great. I have yet to try one I didn't like. Good prices too.

Right now I have one of their Ultra Dark roasts, Sumatra I think. Volcano is really good too.

[kickarse]

^^ What would you suggest then for the guy who likes his straight up Columbian or a really smooth, hint woody taste, breakfast blend?

[tokenuser]

^^ What would you suggest then for the guy who likes his straight up Columbian or a really smooth, hint woody taste, breakfast blend?For the woody taste - isn't the hickory coffee popular in Louisianna about as good as it gets?

DISCLAIMER - I still don't drink coffee. I get my caffeine cold, out of a can, but love the smell of coffee beans, and brewing coffee.

[tectec]

I didn't do tea until kevin ran the special with http://www.adagio.com/
and i got hold of the Ingenuitea tea maker. This is a very cool contraption. I followed the instructions on how to make the different teas and that opened up an entirely new world for me. I think right now my favorite is the Yerba Mate. Just a really good tea all around. Also surprisingly I didn't know i liked Chamomile until i steeped it correctly.

Yerba mate is probably my favorite as well. it just seems to have more kick than your everyday coffees or teas.

I always pick up a pack of Sol Mate whenever I see it available at Whole Foods. Its a delicious sparkling yerba mate drink......really interesting flavor with the fizziness in there too. http://www.drinksolmate.com

Guayaki has some nice bottled yerba mate products as well if you're in the mood for something a little sweeter. Nothing beats making it fresh though :)

[dougleach]

My favorite types of coffee are Ethiopian and Kenyan. As far as suppliers go, I like one of our local coffee shops (Kansas City's City Market Coffee House). They roast their own. In a pinch though, I'll get stuff from the Roasterie. I can get them at the grocery store, and they are still local. I like their Full Vengence blend also. I'm not big on buying pre-ground coffee, or flavored coffees anymore.