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Cold brew maker at Target is like $20. It's the best desision you will ever make if you like iced coffee.
A year + later the discussion is still about devices and brewing methods. Regardless of method if you brew bad beans, you'll get bad coffee. If you brew mediocre beans you should get mediocre coffee. If you brew great beans you'll probably get great coffee. This list is a great place to start.
Here are the home brewing devices certified by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. I've had the Technivorm and currently own the Bonavista. Both do an excellent job, equivalent to my home pour over technique, but with less fussiness. It's still more fuss than a Keurig though, because I still weigh the beans and grind them fresh in a burr grinder.
This is why I've gone cold brew. The only real questions are grind size and time you let it brew. After that it's pretty hard to #### up. If you're going to grind at home, you so need a burr grinder...a step I haven't committed to yet.
They used to do this for the church meals etc in the small town where I grew up. (Not Minnesota). My sisters and I were just talking about this and I plan to try it out. I do believe it makes a difference, and they do it in Europe IIRC.
Seeing all her equipment and expresso machine might have fooled my taste buds but it was dam good.
Well it's simple to get confident in making good coffee. That's a given, so it's about the beans. If someone gets one the approved brewers you listed and can follow basic instructions, he/she will be extracting beans correctly immediately. The quality (even greatness) of the coffee is now dependent on the beans. If someone opts for a pour over device (I use a Kalita Wave daily), the same applies with a small learning curve. If you haven't dialed it in in a half dozen brews, you're a dope. The same goes for press pots and the aero and etc. Properly extracting beans is simple. I'm pretty sure it was you who turned me onto Vigilante's beans, and they have put out some awesomeness in the past year. If we're still learning to make coffee after six pages, we're doing this wrong. It's like learning the alphabet vs learning to read.Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Ketamine Dreams said:
I'll have to check them out. I'm pretty impressed by Coava, apparently I'm not in the minority, as they've been written up in a few best of pieces for 2016.
Probably 90% of the coffee I drink at home is via Kalita Wave 185 pour overs. There's a list of reasons, none of them because it is The Best, mostly because it's the most forgiving. The rest is cold brewed in a mason jar then filtered plus very little via a Neopolitan flip pot (my daughter's thing learned from her grandma). I don't do espresso at home (not equipped beyond an old Bialletti) or even like it all that much. Some Italian I am, eh. I really enjoy the morning ritual of brewing and slowly consuming 24 oz of black coffee. So little shots of espresso are kind of weird and too fast and pointless and how the hell do you sip something so tiny without feeling like a dork.proninja said:
I didn't care much about the quality of coffee for 25 years getting by with muddy French pressings or Black and Decker + Yuban auto drips at home and whatever at restaurants. Two things changed me. One, my mom dying of cancer taste buds sometimes failing from chemo became furious, that me her caregiver, could not bring her a decent cup of coffee. Two, a niece took a job in a Beverly Hills coffee and chocolate place and started giving me all the Blue Bottle I could brew. Made mom happy and I became obsessed with the citrus and stone fruit and honey and cloying sweetness in some of these black coffees. The difference to me between mainstream premiums like Illy, Starbucks, Peete's, etc., and Maxwell House, Folgers, Yuban is real but minor. I'm with Chaka. It's coffee. Beans and water. The difference between those premiums and near competition quality beans properly extracted is... well, they're not the same beverage to me.proninja said:
Very cool, thanks. The grinder on our espresso machine broke down a little while ago and I don't want to spend $200 to get it fixed (again). I have been using a spice grinder to grind beans and the results have been frustratingly inconsistent. Just ordered one of these (Java Press or something like that, I think) from Amazon today and expecting it to arrive this evening (Prime rules).
Got it yesterday. Drinking it now. Wow. Just buy it. It's probably the same as the last two years, but it's been so long since I've had it that I feel like this batch may be even better. Fruit and tea qualities, milk chocolate, honeysuckle, super smooth hint of acidity giving it a subtle sourness, not bitter, not even close. The aroma from opening the bag filled my kitchen and dining room with extraordinary fragrance. Adding milk or sugar would be criminal, but pulling shots would be interesting. I may be exaggerating because I've been disappointed with the coffee selections lately, but this is probably the best coffee I've had, and I've paid big dollars for geishas several times. ymmv.proninja said:
I have a Cuisinart brewer that grinds and brews... in a box in my garage. If I didn't forget it, it would be at the Salvation Army. I would avoid it, whichever it is. It was a malfunctioning mess. You're moving on from the Keurig because? If it's just to use better beans that you grind yourself, you can do that with the Keurig.
Thanks! I should have clarified initially that I think the Keurig is in its final months and let's me consider if there's a better or easier option for my situation. I prefer the idea of grinding fresh per cup and is where the idea of grinder+brewer combos sounded appealing but wasn't sure if I was just overthinking it.
I didn't get a 24 hour flash sale but the Pacamara and an even higher rated Kenyan are 12 oz for $12 again. I'm running out of the Pacamara tomorrow and ordered one of each just now.proninja said:
Okay those are both world class near competition grade coffees and they're gone. Five stars. I'd take the Pacamara in a pinch, but you won't get better pour overs or Aeropressed coffee for $7-10 a cup in any 3rd wave hipster joint. So I've made a $50 Blue Bottle purchase to get free shipping (which ends up being a better deal than their subscription service).
I love how all beverages are now starting to adopt the wine scoring system. Some of these industries are making a killing off of simple things like a score of 90 points +. I have seen the beer and spirit industry explode for high quality, at least perceived high quality products, why not coffee
. 
I think Lavazza is great, haven't had any flavor that wasn't wonderful, but the Kilimanjaro flavor is my favorite coffee I've ever had. It's really good.
I've only tried the green bag. Had to look it up. Gran Selezione - chocolaty. My memory was I thought it was burnt from the roast. Kilimanjaro - crisp, fruity. Yup, that sounds like me. I'll try a bag when the Blue Bottle is gone in a month.
Not heresy. Get reusable k cups and pack them with quality coffee. Save money. Drink better coffee.
https://www.lacolombe.com/pages/coffee#
The Peru was a little letdown but only because reading about the farm, the altitude, and considering the price, I figured it would knock my socks off. Not quite. Really really good coffee but I've had better lately. The Rwanda, whoa. Posting now because I'm drinking it for the first time. Maybe it's me but I seem to really prefer African coffee. It's awesome. I'm not good at deciding something is the best, so I like to consider things in tiers. This is in the top tier, no doubt. If I get taste note nerdy, it's sweet black, milk chocolaty and semi sweet chocolate combined, not a hint of the roast or bitterness, a lemony citrus aftertaste. No jasmine, dern it, but so very good.
Yeah, I read great things about the best Harrars then bought this stuff and it's gak. That probably has something to do with the grade 4 screening. If you can recommend a good Harrar I'll give it a go.proninja said:
Nice set up. As I got nerdier than press pots with the Kalita, I started following brew champs and their instructions, weighing the beans (43 grams), grinding one click coarser than drip, measuring the water (700ml), heating to 205 degrees, rinsing the filter, pouring in widening circles for as close to 3:30 as possible. Meh, one process at a time I dropped all that. Now I eyeball the beans, grind, take the water to a boil, wait a half minute, pour over dry filter and drink. I could do it drunk and blind. The taste of the coffee has hardly varied. Starting out a little nerdy is probably good training, but after awhile it seemed both silly and unnecessary.proninja said:
Port of Mokha - Hayma Micro Lot: Mohamed Hadi - 8oz WHOLE BEAN $ 80.00 1 $ 80.00
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