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Alton Brown did a good eats episode on coffee that is worth more than a hill of beans. ;) Goes into a lot of detail on the physics and chemistry of different grinders, different brew mechanisms, etc.
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Personally, I like the Jose Vanilla Nut at Costco. I don't have the time to grind the beans at home, so I grind them there, transfer the coffee to mason jars and use my Tilia Food Saver to put a vacuum on them.
Probably not up to coffee connoisseur standards, but I like it and its reasonable. |
Having been a coffee roaster and retail store owner in a previous time, you do have a local roaster that is very good White Rock Coffee http://www.wrcoffee.com/
And there are huge differences in coffees from around the world. Just a brief primer there are two main types of coffee trees, the Robusta and Arabica. While Robusta coffee beans are more robust than the Arabica plants, but produces an inferior tasting beverage with a higher caffeine content. Your store brands such as Folgers and Maxwell House are made from robusta beans. Robusta is much cheaper than Arabica beans. And the caffeine content is about 3 times as high as Arabica. In general Arabica coffees that are grown at higher elevations tend to be lighter in body and higher acidity...best respresented by the Costa Rican coffees such as Tres Rios. Coffee acidity is typically a highly valued quality especially in Central American and some East African coffee such as Kenyan AA. On the other end of the scale would be the full bodied coffees, which have a heavier mouth feel. A Sumatra Mandheling would be a good example of a full bodied, low acidity coffee. Also the darker the roast the fuller the body will be and hense less acidity and less caffeine. There are many wonderful coffees out there that cost far less than Kona and Blue Mountain. And by the way, a lot of the coffee that is sold as Jamaican Blue Mountain is NOT. If you are going to pop for the real deal purchase the Wallingford Estate Jamaican Blue Mountain. Try the Costa Rican Tres Rios or Terrazu, Puerto Rico's Yauco Selecto, Guatemala Antigua, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or Harrar, Yemen Matari Mocha or the blend Mocha Java which adds Estate Java to the Matari Mocha for a rich cup of coffee. A good source for additional information is the Specialty Coffee Association of America http://www.scaa.org/index.asp Hope this will be of some assistance, as you might gather I am a bit of a coffee nut :) Sam |
Originally Posted by GuyverII
(Post 8822035)
Good comments.
I just started receiving Boca Java coffee and am in love--The Banana Fosters flavor is just delightful. It's pricey, but coupons/discounts can be found on the Internet. ^ |
Try non-Kona coffee from Hawai`i! It's as good as Kona, comes with a wide variety of characteristics, and is often cheaper, too. Just about all of other islands grow coffee now. I love the full-bodiedness of Moloka`i coffees and the milder Kaua`i coffees. The Ka'u region on the Big Island has made a name for themselves locally with its coffee.
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To summarize some of the "facts" presented so far in this thread (trying to keep this general so that no matter what your personal preference in coffee is):
1. Choose the coffee that YOU prefer. If it's cheap, more power to ya. There is some correlation between price and quality, but price is also affected by trendiness of a particular bean (e.g., Jamaica Blue Mountain); supply (Kona produces less than Costa Rica); organic/biodynamic farming methods; and "fair trade" status (see "trendiness"). 2. Each type of bean has an optimum roasting point beyond which the flavor is diminished. Make sure the bean you like is not overroasted. 3. Minimize the time from roasting to grinding the beans. 4. Minimize the time from grinding to brewing the beans. 5. Use quality water for your brew. 6. Excluding espresso, the preferred method for making coffee is with the French press. (This point may be met with more disagreement than the previous four). |
I agree with "drink what you like" philosophy, but beware of flavored coffee because most use the lower quality robusta beans since the coffee flavors will be masked anyway.
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coffee grinder
Originally Posted by samftla
(Post 9703010)
Having been a coffee roaster and retail store owner in a previous time, you do have a local roaster that is very good White Rock Coffee http://www.wrcoffee.com/
And there are huge differences in coffees from around the world. Just a brief primer there are two main types of coffee trees, the Robusta and Arabica. While Robusta coffee beans are more robust than the Arabica plants, but produces an inferior tasting beverage with a higher caffeine content. Your store brands such as Folgers and Maxwell House are made from robusta beans. Robusta is much cheaper than Arabica beans. And the caffeine content is about 3 times as high as Arabica. In general Arabica coffees that are grown at higher elevations tend to be lighter in body and higher acidity...best respresented by the Costa Rican coffees such as Tres Rios. Coffee acidity is typically a highly valued quality especially in Central American and some East African coffee such as Kenyan AA. On the other end of the scale would be the full bodied coffees, which have a heavier mouth feel. A Sumatra Mandheling would be a good example of a full bodied, low acidity coffee. Also the darker the roast the fuller the body will be and hense less acidity and less caffeine. There are many wonderful coffees out there that cost far less than Kona and Blue Mountain. And by the way, a lot of the coffee that is sold as Jamaican Blue Mountain is NOT. If you are going to pop for the real deal purchase the Wallingford Estate Jamaican Blue Mountain. Try the Costa Rican Tres Rios or Terrazu, Puerto Rico's Yauco Selecto, Guatemala Antigua, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or Harrar, Yemen Matari Mocha or the blend Mocha Java which adds Estate Java to the Matari Mocha for a rich cup of coffee. A good source for additional information is the Specialty Coffee Association of America http://www.scaa.org/index.asp Hope this will be of some assistance, as you might gather I am a bit of a coffee nut Sam |
Why exactly <$259? :confused:
As long as it is an adjustable decent burr grinder, you'll be fine. Not a blade grinder. Be guided by something like Amazon ratings. |
Originally Posted by norenewa
(Post 22802805)
Any suggestions for coffee grinders? What brand and type do you recommend in the less than $259 range?
Combine it with a great French press, good locally-roasted beans, and you'll have an unbeatable cup of coffee. |
Originally Posted by uk1
(Post 22803571)
Why exactly <$259?
As long as it is an adjustable decent burr grinder, you'll be fine. Not a blade grinder. Be guided by something like Amazon ratings. |
Originally Posted by Scifience
(Post 22804230)
Quote:
Originally Posted by norenewa Any suggestions for coffee grinders? What brand and type do you recommend in the less than $259 range? I'm a big fan of the Breville Smart Burr Grinder. I've had mine for around a year now, and am very happy: it's well-built, the easy LCD settings make it easier to use compared with a lot of the more "professional" models, and it's the best balance I found of reasonable price and good performance. Combine it with a great French press, good locally-roasted beans, and you'll have an unbeatable cup of coffee. I have an excellent local roaster and grind my beans daily but I am hearing cleanup can be a chore. |
Originally Posted by norenewa
(Post 22806395)
Thanks. I have been looking at the Breville but what is the cleanup like?
Breville has a PDF of the manual online including cleaning instructions if you want to take a look. |
Originally Posted by Scifience
(Post 22808078)
Quote:
Originally Posted by norenewa Thanks. I have been looking at the Breville but what is the cleanup like? Cleanup isn't too bad—I do it every time I put in new beans, and it takes about five minutes. The grinder comes with a little brush, and you just take the hopper off, twist one of the burrs apart, and brush clean from top and bottom. Breville has a PDF of the manual online including cleaning instructions if you want to take a look. |
Timorese coffee, the last great nation which does not practice insecticides. About as organic as you can get, but some batches do not perform highly on the scale of smooth.
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