How do you take your coffee?

[PrettySquareGal]

I have a knack for waking up at early morning hours men fear. And when I do, I need a good cup of coffee.

My favorite java is Jamaican Blue Mountain, however I can't afford to drink it on a regular basis. I only drink Green Mountain coffee brand, and my favorite is Vermont Country Blend. I have tried Starbucks but do not like it at all. I think it's over-roasted.

I make my coffee in a French press carafe. I add three heaping tablespoons for one large, really strong cup. I drink it black, and when it's piping hot.

How do you like your coffee, and what kind do you drink?

 

[PADDY]

Ella Fitzgerald and Black Coffee...

When I invite a lady back to my house for a coffee, well,....that's exactly what she is going to get. The most aromatic, silky, mind tingling, deep, rich tones a cup of Joe can offer!!

Just came across this post while Ella was belting out that lovely number..."Black Coffee!" in the background.

I do absolutely adore coffee, but it's got to be fresh. In another era, I could see myself running a coffee plantation on the slopes of Mount Keyna.

I keep my precious beans in the fridge and will grind just enough beans for one cup of Joe (yes, it does make a huge difference having it that fresh). I noticed in places like Spain and Italy, even in the most poor of cafes, they treat their coffee with a reverence!! and grind the beans for the cup.

(Apparently, from when you grind your beans, the coffee starts to deteriorate in a matter of only a few hours, so keep it fresh folks!).
I have an Italian Gaggia expresso coffee machine and it was a great investment.

I pack the ground coffee into the little metal cup that screws onto the machine, then once the pressure is up, I let the water pump through the coffee and into the cup.

I either add hot milk, steamed milk or have it neat (especially if it is just a small espresso...as Frank used to sing..."I get a KICK out of YOU!!!"

Oh, and I get my coffee from a small 200-year-old purveyor in an old market place. I tend to be drinking Espresso Crema (which forms a beautiful light brown head/froth on the top, or Columbian), but I'm slowing working my way through the range of about 30 different types!!.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Oh that sounds marvelous! I'd come over for coffee if you invited me since it's just coffee! I think it's uncanny that I posted while you were listening to that song!

I used to have a coffee maker that had an alarm, and it ground the beans right before brewing. I don't know if they still make those. I keep my coffee in the freezer, but I do buy it ground now.

My husband and I have his and hers coffee makers. He grinds his beans right before but makes his coffee in an automatic drip weaker than I like it.

I am unable to drink more than my morning cup; otherwise it would be trouble; I get very wired!

 

[MissQueenie]

I used to drink 1-2 pots a day, black, but my doctor made me cut back. These days I consider a really good cup of coffee a treat since I've cut back to a few cups a week. I will still take it black on occasion, but i love it with steamed milk.

Dang, now I want a cup after reading Paddy's post!

 

[Tomasso]

I usually drink just one cup in the morning, mostly flavored coffees with cream and sugar. Amaretto, hazelnut, orange, etc. My partner has a serious coffee jones so she is a regular at the neighborhood coffee purveyor and generally has a half dozen different types in the house at any one time.

Our neighborhood shop is about as good as it gets.

http://www.coffeeandtea.com/

 

[boomerchop]

A mighty fine espresso

I'm with Paddy as a fine cup of espresso is about as good as it gets. I have a Krups Espresso Novo that I picked up in Naples when I was stationed there. Fresh ground beans, packed perfectly and a good shot drawn, drunk with just a small amount of raw (unrefined) sugar. Perfect! Silly side note; my wife dislikes the residue of coffee making; loose grounds, general mess, etc., so my coffee making takes place in the basement! My coffee bar is next to my bicycle workbench and it makes a nice retreat.

For regular coffee, I used to think I liked the dark roasts, but lately I have been trying milder coffees and lighter roasts, but brewing them stronger. It has been a pleasant change. Regular coffee (cafe americano) I drink black. I have a reputation at school for liking strong coffee, but I drink less of it these days. It has got to be good though!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Lightly roasted beans freshly ground. Black. No additions to sully the flavours.

One of my jobs is to make the coffee in the morning for the good lady. I drink it all day in the lab. Helps to keep the mind active ...

bk

 

[LizzieMaine]

When I was a coffee drinker, it was good old-fashioned Eight O'Clock Coffee, made in an aluminum Drip-O-Lator --"The Healthful Cup of Coffee!" as the instruction circular declared. And the more caffeine the better -- back in those days I had to get up at 3 AM to go to work, and I needed all the reinforcement I could get in order to face each day. Sometimes I'd take it with a little sugar, but just as often I'd take it black.

But all that fast living caught up with me, and now I can't digest coffee at all. So it's back to my old standby, Red Rose Tea -- taken straight, no sugar or lemon, and steeped for at least fifteen minutes.

Caffeine is the lubricant which greases the wheels of American civilization.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

When I was a coffee drinker, it was good old-fashioned Eight O'Clock Coffee, made in an aluminum Drip-O-Lator --"The Healthful Cup of Coffee!" as the instruction circular declared. And the more caffeine the better -- back in those days I had to get up at 3 AM to go to work, and I needed all the reinforcement I could get in order to face each day. Sometimes I'd take it with a little sugar, but just as often I'd take it black.

But all that fast living caught up with me, and now I can't digest coffee at all. So it's back to my old standby, Red Rose Tea -- taken straight, no sugar or lemon, and steeped for at least fifteen minutes.

Caffeine is the lubricant which greases the wheels of American civilization.

But...but...your signature! I pictured you eating another slice of pie with another cup of coffee!

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's *spiritual* coffee now. But the pie, thankfully, will always be literal!

 

[jake_fink]

Coffee in the morning is Ben Franklin's fault. Samuel Johnson woke up to a nice pint of beer.

I like coffee, though, and it likes me. I really like espresso, short, black and hot. I have it at one of the cafes I like (never Starbucks, sorry), or I make it myself. But that's all about the taste and the moment, coffee is for sipping, for sittting with and reading over.

I make my coffee the hardboiled way. I scrape yesterday's grounds into a wool sock, tie a knot in the sock and drop it in a pot of boiling water. I add egg shells and tobasco sauce. I leave it to simmer for fourten hours. Mmmmm-mm, that's some good coffee.

A really good documentary about coffee called Black Coffee aired here recently:

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/blackcoffee.html

 

[Quigley Brown]

I live within walking distance of...let's see...1, 2, 3, 4, 5....6! coffee shops, but I rarely buy a cup at any of them...to expensive. I like anything that tastes coffee (Hagan Daas ice cream!). At home I just have an old Krups AD coffee maker, but I'll make it as strong as I can with pre-ground brand name blends...I'll buy fresh beans and grind them at home on special occasions. I like it sweet and put in a bit of those flavored creamers by Coffee-Mate. They're always coming out with a new one...most recently is Coconut which isn't too bad.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Lightly roasted beans freshly ground. Black. No additions to sully the flavours.

There's this collection of paradoxes about coffee (don't remember where I've seen it), something like

I don't get the concept of coffee.
You take the beans, so it's bitter, then you put in sugar to make it sweet.
You boil the coffee, so it's hot, then you blow and wait until it gets cold.
You roast the beans, so it gets black, then you put in milk until it gets whitish.​

I've seen the same basic ideas re Martinis, ending in "Then you say 'To you', and drink it yourself."

Concerning the original question, I always sweeten my coffee, but the amount and way of milk depends on the type of coffee. I don't like flavoured coffee at all, with the rather rare exception of added cocoa. (Still, I'm not talking about pre-flavoured coffee.)

 

[Quigley Brown]

I make my coffee the hardboiled way. I scrape yesterday's grounds into a wool sock, tie a knot in the sock and drop it in a pot of boiling water. I add egg shells and tobasco sauce. I leave it to simmer for fourten hours. Mmmmm-mm, that's some good coffee.

Where in the heck did you come up with that recipe?

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

I scrape yesterday's grounds into a wool sock

Still better than today's grounds into yesterday's wool sock.

 

[Quigley Brown]

Still better than today's grounds into yesterday's wool sock.

Well, the boiling water should take care of that little problem.

 

[scotrace]

Teach Me

I have to throw myself on the mercy of the thread. I like Starbucks.
Around here, it's the only "better" coffee available. I mix it 50-50 with Chock-Full-O-Nuts in the morning.
Black and strong.



So what do I want to try to educate my coffee palette?

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Well, the boiling water should take care of that little problem.

So after all, because of the heat, I wasn't obliged to write "cat allergy alert" in fineprint on my premium selling pipe tobacco, the Couche Chynk Blend?

 

[The Reno Kid]

I have to agree that Starbucks roast their coffee too dark. I like a medium roast, fresh ground a pot at a time. I also like to add a splash of milk. I have found that all coffe makers are not the same, though. I currently have one made by Cuisinart that I love. For an occasional treat, I have a French press.

When I was a child, a (rather colorful) friend of my mother's would make coffee every Sunday. She used a big commercial 5-gallon pot with a dispenser thingy on the side. On Sunday mornings, she loaded it up with grounds and water, then set it on the stove and turned on the heat. By about Wednesday or Thurday, it started to get some serious "body."

 

[Naama]

I think I'm alone when I say that I drink my coffe (ice) cold, with soy milk and one tea spoon of brown sugar? Sometimes I also put frozen strawberrys in it to cool it faster

Naama