My local Target is now selling DD ground coffee and I picked up a bag. I have tried making it 2 ways, drip coffee pot and melitta single filter. Neither duplicated the made-in-the-restaurant taste. Suggestions?

I put half a pot in the fridge for iced coffee later, so I'm still hopeful.

I have yet to duplicate restaurant taste from ANY coffee I've purchased in the store. However, many of my relatives like to add a pinch of salt to their grounds before they hit the "brew" button - they swear the coffee tastes better that way.

A coffee press is the best tool to replicate restaurant style coffee, at least for me.

Saw it in the supermarket yesterday. Can't help but wonder if it's actually the same coffee. You can get the coffee in the DD stores pretty reliably for 2 pounds for $7-10. I can say that the coffee in the stores is the same.

The only way to reproduce the store-brewed coffee is to go to a restaurant supply dealer and buy a Bunn-O-Matic brew system with the glass pots and have it professionally installed with it's own water supply. Anything short of that is a cheap imitation.

As far as salt, SixAlpha, never heard of that and quite frankly - eeewww! My grandfather used to put an eggshell from the previous day's breakfast into his percolator and swore it took the bitterness away but of course back then the salmonella police wouldn't visit your house for doing something like that.

We have a box of Dunkin Donuts 1-pound bags of coffee beans shipped out to us in Seattle each month. We grind as we brew, not in advance, and run it through a good Krups coffee maker, and while it's fine -- better than Starbucks -- it's not as good as the in-store coffee.

I think it's because we can't get the water hot enough at home. COpltASgldPHX is probably right about needing the professional, plumbed equipment.

Rats. It's easier to drive to DD occasionally than buy a bunch of hardware and install it.

I tried making iced coffee and it wasn't any better. Cheap imitation is right! I'm making it as strong as I can and it's still weak. I'm very disappointed.

Hey, somewhere on FT I met a guy whose father was the chief developer of DD coffee back in the 60's. Who was that masked man?

I'd agree that the hot version doesn't come out quite right - even using a close-to-commercial grade Krups machine and grinding the beans about half an hour before turning it on. On the iced front, though, I've had pretty good success with either of two methods: making a batch as normal, letting it cool, then running it through the machine again with the same grounds as the first time, or just increasing the ground coffee measure by about 50% for a one-pass method. I don't add any cream or sugar or crazy stuff to it, so I know it's almost the same as that which is sold in DD locations.

Here in BOS the DD line was out the door for coffee and Starbucks was empty, so nice to see, not a fan of Starbucks anymore.

I drink it black when it's hot, but I like milk and nonsugar in it iced. I'm already using a couple tablespoons per cup. I'll try rerunning the coffee through the old grounds, but doesn't that mean cleaning the maker after every pot?

Maybe all you need to do is use a separate pot or container and pour the coffee thru the grounds - not run the maker again.

I live in DD country, and can not understand what the big attraction is to DD (or for that matter Starbucks).

When I make coffee in the morning, I use whole beans and grind then when I run the maker! (My maker has a built-in grinder.) Using ground coffee just loses it's flavor. I also have a water distiller, which makes the coffee tastes better (than using tap water). Plus, you can use 25% less beans, saving more money! ^

As mentioned above, really hot water is missing ingredient. However, using a coffee press will get closer - albeit with a different consistency because of no paper filter.

I remember during my previous career in the (US Army) Infantry that adding salt to coffee DID improve the taste but then we took out the old socks before brewing.

In over 30 years of travel I have yet been able to replicate the restaurant flavor of coffee and I tried many variations - more or less beans, burr and blade grinder, more or less water, different coffee pots (should have taken out stock).

FWIW, our current coffee maker makes the HOTTEST coffee of any we've had. My Mom used to put her coffee into the microwave after brewing it, but she doesn't since we gave her one of these (Cuisinart DCC-1200FR Brew Central 12-Cup Coffeemaker). You can also buy the model that grinds & brews.

I've never had DD coffee, but will try some at home soon. I got a free sample in the mail (thanks to the SPAM Forum ^).

Not a fan of Starbucks....stronger than I prefer. Is DD coffee really strong too?

Strong? I'd have to say no. It has an unusual odd flavor, almost naturally sweet. I think the major flavor component is not coffee, but something from a chemical factory in New Jersey.

So, why do I crave it? It's either addiction to the chemicals or nostalgia for a different time. When I drink a cup, I'm 15 years old again, living in New England, eating a dozen donuts and still weighing 120 pounds the following morning. I'm sitting with friends in a booth. We've been smoking wacky tobacky in a parked boxcar on the tracks by the old high school and we're buzzed. We're debating how best to get out of Viet Nam, arguing over whether the Beatles or Doors will be around the longest and annoying the hell out of everyone else in the place except the 16 year old server who comes by to refill our cups every 15 minutes or so. So, I guess it''s kind of a time machine. I have no idea why anyone else drinks the stuff. It's nasty.