# Give me coffee advice **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** coffee\ **Created:** [January 25, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863 "2009-01-25T02:22:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/1 "2009-01-25T02:22:48Z")
I could see myself becoming a coffee drinker if I found one I liked, so recommend some. I don’t really like the coffee taste, but I’ve found that I really like regular black coffee with a ton of sugar, but I don’t want to start drinking sugar like that for obvious reasons. Are there any sweet coffees with a mild “coffee taste”? Or, what is a good sweetner that won’t kill me? ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/2 "2009-01-25T02:33:02Z")
100% Kona coffee is quite mild (ignore that 10% shit- don’t even bother with it). Support a small family farm [here](http://www.coffeeofkona.com) if you like. 🙂 Tell Suzanne that Debbie sent you. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/3 "2009-01-25T04:28:41Z")
Like **EJsGirl** , said, kona is really good. It always seems to be lightly roasted. Basically, any light roast is good. If you go to a place like Whole Foods you can pick out a bean of your choice from the barrels and grind it for free, right there. Keep the ground beans in your fridge. I eventually purchased a grinder and I still make my coffee in a Bialetti. Alright, so I very rarely drink coffee and since you say you’re a beginner looking for something sweeter, I’ll let you in on the best coffee ever from a non-gourmand’s perspective. Dunkin Donuts flavoured varieties-available ground at your grocery store (any old grocery store, not availableat Shmancy Whole Foods…I think they only carry Peet’s). I probably gained a couple of dress sizes in grad school drinking their damn coffee-mostly because I’d lighten it with cream. Now I live on the West Coast, where they don’t seem to have any DD so the other day I went looking for it, found it, and made it in the Bialetti (it’s a stovetop coffee maker popular in Europe). It tastes EXACTLY like from the stores. Because I’m calorie conscious I lighten it with skim milk and do not find that I need any additional sweeteners. My fave is hazelnut but vanilla is awfully good, too. They have this new one, cinnamon spice, that looks AMAZING. I don’t drink it often enough to go out and buy another bag of the cinnamon spice, though. I lighten with skim milk/1% milk and don’t add any sweeteners for either kona or Dunkin Donuts. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/4 "2009-01-25T04:38:50Z")
Ugh, Dunkin’ coffee is so sour and acidic. Plus they brew every flavor in every machine so everything tastes like mixed up chemi-blech. I would actually steer you to a low acid coffee. If you have a Trader Joe’s, I suggest the low-acid French Roast. That’s a very dark roast but it isn’t bitter or sour at all. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/5 "2009-01-25T04:40:16Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I could see myself becoming a coffee drinker if I found one I liked, so recommend some. > > I don’t really like the coffee taste, but I’ve found that I really like regular black coffee with a ton of sugar, but I don’t want to start drinking sugar like that for obvious reasons. Are there any sweet coffees with a mild “coffee taste”? > > Or, what is a good sweetner that won’t kill me? Splenda tastes exactly like sugar IME when used in coffee. Also, this kind of goes against your sugar prohibition, but honey in coffee is amazing (I put 3/4 less sugar in it and replace the rest with honey to taste). You can buy it in little squeeze-bottles at the grocery store. Personally, though, I can’t stand coffee without cream and a _lot_ of sweetener. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/6 "2009-01-25T05:07:44Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Ugh, Dunkin’ coffee is so sour and acidic. Plus they brew every flavor in every machine so everything tastes like mixed up chemi-blech. > > I would actually steer you to a low acid coffee. If you have a Trader Joe’s, I suggest the low-acid French Roast. That’s a very dark roast but it isn’t bitter or sour at all. That’s why you can buy the flavoured grounds at the grocery store and brew it yourself. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/7 "2009-01-25T12:51:50Z")
I put Splenda in my coffee. You will want a good whole bean and grind it right before you use it. We buy ours online and make it in a French press with filtered water. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/8 "2009-01-25T15:15:17Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/9 "2009-01-25T15:55:44Z")
I’ve always thought that the Sumatra bean is rich-tasting without the bitterness/acidity. We have a coffee machine that grinds the beans right before brewing. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-coffee-advice/482863/10 "2009-01-25T20:11:41Z")
If you put milk and/or sugar (or substitute) in coffee, it makes little difference what type you use, but if you drink it black, it reallys pays to buy good coffee. I did a taste test and I found the really high quality beans produced a taste I could drink black. However I am not pay $22.50 for a pound of coffee, but it made a huge difference.