Ivylad is a coffee snob. We brew our coffee in a French press. We buy whole beans online from Green Mountain coffee. For Father’s Day I’m giving him whole bean Jamaican Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona Peaberry.
I myself am willing to try that civet cat-poop coffee.
Are Jamaican Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona Peaberry good gifts for the coffee connoisseur? Or are there other coffees I should be looking for?
I like putting Starbucks down, but everything else tastes like pencil shavings to me. Their French Roast, Espresso, Sulawesi and Komodo Dragon are all wonderful.
I hate to say it too, but I’ve tried beans from all over the world, and for my taste, Starbucks beans are the best. Maybe I’m just another addict, but I need that strong (many say “burnt”) flavor. That being said, I’m sure the beans you bought will be well appreciated.
For my money, Cafe Britt Dark Roast out of Costa Rica (I’ve Heard their Terrazu is also great but I haven’t tried it).
It may seem cheap at $8.95/12 oz bag, but that’s actually the rapacious export price. You kind find virtually the same quality $2/pound in any Costa Rican supermarket.
The best coffee I’ve had in the USA is Espresso Vivace in Seattle. Caveat: I don’t buy their beans myself, I just go to the café and have them pull me drinks. My own coffeemaking is limited to drip. Therefore, YMMV.
French roast Columbian.
Coffee from Sumatra (especially if from Aceh), including the Starbucks coffee, is my favorite.
Starbucks roasts taste burnt/over roasted to me. Peet’s kaloussie-sulawesi IMHO, is much much much better than Starbucks.
I am the coffee anti-snob. Kind of a coffee pleb. I prefer instant to just about every “real” coffee I have ever tasted.
Oddly enough a few months ago I would have had an opinion on this however, last week I remarked to some people that I have suddenly lost my taste for coffee. I thought it was just that my regular coffee shop had changed barista but I have found that all coffee suddenly tastes really acrid so I am now drinking tea instead. Weird stuff.
Starbucks coffee is fine for latte & cappucino, but I agree that it’s too burnt for “regular” coffee. Unfortunately, it’s the brand served in our office. And the lady who usually makes the first pot uses twice as much as necessary. Generally, I pick up a latte on the way to work, then have a few cups of tea in the afternoon. When I’m being cheap, a shot of hot water & some of that silly flavored creamer makes the office coffee drinkable.
Our new Inner City Costco sells Ruta Maya Coffee. Their medum roast really hit the spot–it tastes like coffee, not an ashtray!
Not that I’m a coffee purist; at home, I use a Mr Coffee knockoff. But I’m all ears about the exotic beans…
Have you purchased the Kona or the JBM yet? If not, would he/you be interested in getting into roasting your own green coffee? About $200 (or less - with caveats) will get you started, and the coffee will be fresher, tastier and ultimately less expensive.
My husband has expressed interest in roasting our own beans (we have this, which I understand will work) but we haven’t taken that step yet.
I agree that you can’t go wrong with Sumatran. Lately I have been very happy with the African coffees from Level Ground Trading (they’re also organic and fairly traded); they have Latin American coffee as well. My most advanced coffee-snob friend has lately been raving about something called “Three Peckered Billy Goat”; don’t know the roaster but you could Google it…I’m a little afraid to, personally!
It should work, but the smoke from roasting beans will set off every smoke detector you have.
I recently got into roasting my own beans using the iRoast2 and my wife and I have been delighted and amazed at the results. We’ve never had coffee this good!
This green Kona from Sweet Maria’s, roasted using the iRoast2, is absolutely amazing.
The best part is that the green coffee will store for a year or more and doesn’t go stale until it’s roasted. The iRoast will make enough to last two people a week - about as long as you want to keep roasted coffee, and roasting this way is not rocket science - it’s easy.
I’ve had Jamaican Blue Mountain and it is exquisite. Expensive as hell, and worth every penny of it. When I’m in the Caribbean this fall I’m going to try to score some.
I’ve never had Kopi Luwak, but I want to.
Thanks, Fritz. I am bookmarking your link for his Christmas present!