Strong coffee is a myth

[smokeywolf]

Even with the Keurig, we have a grinder next to it and use the strainer cup and freshly ground beans.

Drank coffee occasionally from age 10. Learned to drink coffee when I started working at a truck stop at age 17. The "Truck Stop Cafe" made and served real coffee.

 

[Rockydoc]

My wife and I like coffee with chicory by Community Coffee from New Orleans.

 

[Rockydoc]

I don’t know how to make coffee with chicory from whole beans. Chicory isn’t a bean.

 

[Ian]

You can buy roasted chicory root chunks and grind it in a blender or crush it smaller and run it through the coffee grinder. I prefer a brand called "French Market", it's already blended up and ready to go but I like to use it 50/50 with Folger's.

 

[Rockydoc]

Ian, is the French Market just chicory, not a coffee/chicory blend?

 

[Missionary]

Had some "Cuban coffee" at an airport that made our 1st Shirts "Turkish coffee" in Germany see like child's play.
Then there was a cup of Hatian coffee served in a little cup that got my attention real fast..
But if you want to hear the bees buzzing just chew some beans from Juan Valdez land..

 

[Ian]

Doc, it's a blend, about 50/50. It makes a beautiful reddish brown drink but is half-caff, so I boost it with rotgut Folger's. Not easy to get Community Coffee here, if I could buy it at the store I'd be drinking that instead.

Amazon.com

 

[RBHarter]

Y'all are killing me .
Graveyard coffee in truck stops and hospitals are the apex of use a metal spoon if you're anemic cause it'll hold it in suspension for long enough to get it down .
My BP mostly keeps me away from the coffee pot these days .
I prefer the coffee like my Ms , light , sweet , and full bodied ........vs dark , bitter , and waiting for my heart to explode .

I'm pretty sure USN coffee doubles as paint stripper in the fleet .

 

[popper]

I can't take the flavored coffee, or the real espresso stuff - Italy's is the worst. Greek is almost as strong.

 

[Bret4207]

Coffee should be hot, strong and black. The best I ever had was some Hawaiian fresh ground stuff a friend had, brewed strong. Truth is I think most coffee stinks. Some just stinks a lot worse than others. Most is weak, a lot gets left in the carafe way too long and I believe a lot of it is mediocre but no one cares because they add milk and sugar and chocolate and vanilla and cinnamon and Lord knows what else in an attempt to hide the flavor of the coffee. My in laws percolated their coffee, for weeks I think. Bitter, burnt, not real good. I like the coffee I make with what I can get around here, which isn't great. There's a of of flavor lacking in ground coffee out of a can, but I don't even know where to look for better stuff.

 

[Snakeoil]

My girlfriend when working in Colombia was an intern attorney working for the government. She knew I liked good coffee. One day I pick her up for dinner and she has this big grin on her face. She hands me this burlap bag. I open it up and inside is a brown paper bag of coffee beans. On the bag it says in Spanish, "NOT FOR RESALE. FOR DIMPLOMATIC PURPOSES ONLY!"

That was damn good coffee.

The water for making coffee should never reach boiling temperatures. Putting boiling water thru coffee is what can ruin a really good coffee.

I covered the Caribbean as well and some here may have heard of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. Supposed to be very exclusive. So, I bought a bag while I was in Jamaica. Worst garbage I ever tried. Tasted like pee. Did not even taste like coffee. Maybe you need to smoke a big doobie for it to taste right.

CWL mentioned dessert. Here is a trick if you want coffee, but really don't want coffee. Use black coffee to make Swiss Miss dark cocoa. I think if you opened a shop that just served that you could put Starschmucks out of business. Of course, you'd have to wear your hair in a bun in order to do that. Judging by some of the admitted ages here, I'm not sure we could conjure up a bun if we put everyone's hair on one head.

 

[Ian]

"NOT FOR RESALE. FOR DIMPLOMATIC PURPOSES ONLY!"

Yeahhhhh. Columbia, you say? I can think of a few local specialties to put with coffee beans if I were serving to those which I wanted to....influence.

 

[Winelover]

We have an expresso machine (Breville) that Cindy brought home from work, that no one wanted. Their global company purchased it for a visiting German executive. Hans would drink 28 tiny cups of expresso per day. When he went back to Germany, it sat unused. The office was moving to a new location and didn't want to take it with them. We use it occasionally.

We purchase whole beans exclusively and grind as needed. Keep five different kinds/origins around and rotate daily. All are dark roasts. I have severe acid reflux/GERD. The darker the roast, the less acidic the coffee but more flavorful. The Columbian and Hawaiian coffees are the lightest roasts and the weakest flavor, IMO.

Expresso grind are beans ground to a near dust. That's why expresso is so strong. I grind my coffee beans for my regular coffee, the same way. Since, I limit myself to one 10 ounce mug per day, I want it strong.

 

[Fiddler]

Call me what you want, I like a little coffee in my cream and sugar (+ Irish Cream at supper).

 

[Glaciers]

Boy as you read this you find there’s no shortage of coffee “opinions”. Must be a bunch of individuals.
Well I have come to a couple of conclusions about coffee over the years. My coffee is relatively strong, it won’t float a horse shoe much less a stainless spoon. Used to grind beans, drip, perk, toss grounds in and boil.
Have had people tell me that my coffee is weak, maybe if you drink 2 cups a day. Well my day usually starts with the first pot at 4 or 5 in the morning and there’s a second when Karyn gets up, she has 2 cups, maybe a third, then sometime in the morning I make a third pot. Save any and all old coffee for morning, reheat in microwave while making the first pot. Never throw coffee out unless it’s a couple days old or has a white fuzz on top.
My coffee’s not strong but the again I still have my stomach lining.
I like coffee, I drink it until about 8 PM at night.
Do you know how Starbucks got started? I remember when it first came out, everyone was a a Twitter over the new “gourmet” coffee. There was qualifications to drinking it. You could have a cup, 2 if you were weird and had something to prove, but the qualifications are you had to hold your little finger out while holding the cup And you had to bring your own oil absorbent pad to soak up the drain oil on top.
You see this guy in Seattle wanted to get into the coffee business so he made a deal with some third world country for a container of beans. Well to his dismay the beans had been over roasted and burned. He was ruined. So he came up with an idea. Called his coffee “gourmet” coffee and charged 3 times what it should just to convince folks it was the real deal. Seattle was the perfect place to start as that area has more people that still believe that the Emperor has clothes on.
Since then things have improved in the Northwest with a lot of good coffee huts with excellent verity of coffee.
I don’t use Starbucks. Never will. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. YMMV, and that’s good.
Got to go get another cup.
Later

 

[Winelover]

Can't say I've ever had Starbucks offerings.

 

[Glaciers]

They’ve improved, but…. Personally I don’t think you’re missing anything.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

They’ve improved, but…. Personally I don’t think you’re missing anything.

Agreed. I dont patronize them. But sometimes at trade shows its all thats there. I have had very good strong flavorful and swill. DD is not as "good" only passable or swill. Mc Donalds surprisingly has real good flavorful coffee. But its not very strong.

CW

 

[Rockydoc]

Doc, it's a blend, about 50/50. It makes a beautiful reddish brown drink but is half-caff, so I boost it with rotgut Folger's. Not easy to get Community Coffee here, if I could buy it at the store I'd be drinking that instead.

Amazon.com

I buy my Community Coffee online from Sam’s Club. The local Sam’s doesn’t carry the chicory coffee but I can get it delivered to my door, free shipping, with my Sam’s Club app. I get the K cups, 80 of them for around 32 bucks. If you don’t have a Sam’s account, you can order it online directly from Community Coffee. It costs a little more from them than Sam’s, but still a good price.

 

[Bret4207]

Agreed. I dont patronize them. But sometimes at trade shows its all thats there. I have had very good strong flavorful and swill. DD is not as "good" only passable or swill. Mc Donalds surprisingly has real good flavorful coffee. But its not very strong.

CW

The only time I've ever been in or drank Starbucks coffee was done in NYC right after 9/11. It was the only coffee place available nearby. I ordered a large, black coffee. The guy just stared at me for second and asked what else I wanted in it. I told him nothing and he just looked at me, shook his head and gave me a large cup of mediocre black coffee. The guy I was with got a double mocha latte something or other and he was real happy with it. I think I paid near $5.00 for that cup o'joe. Crazy.

Dunkin' used to be better coffee I think, darn sure the donuts were 100 times better when they were made fresh at each shop. Tim Hortons makes pretty good joe and the donuts are good. There's an Amish lady up here that makes good old fashioned "sinkers" for some of the auctions. Those donuts are a MEAL!!! The coffee is usually horrible or worse, but the sinkers make up for that.