Now, I’m no coffee snob. My typical blend is half Folger’s decaf/ half Dunkin’ Medium. Bought ground, mixed well, made into cold brew. Nummy as hell.
So- is Café Bustelo THAT dark and strong? Should I dip a toe in and get some and try cutting it with decaf?
Does it have a unique flavor?
The only exposure I’ve had is a friend of many decades who swears by it. She’s half Cuban half Puerto Rican. She tosses a few spoonfuls of grounds in a pot, boils it up, pours into a cup and minds the grounds meandering around the bottom of her cup. Says it’s the only way.
I like it (I’m not a coffee snob either, but I do like a stronger brew). I switched over when the price of Peet’s went through the roof. I wait for the 10oz bricks to go on sale for $3.99 and stock up. I like to mix it half and half with Cafe du Monde chicory blend, but that stuff has gotten pretty expensive as well.
I’ve never heard of that way of preparing Bustelo before.
The way I do it is pack heaping spoonfuls of Bustelo into the reservoir of a moka pot (those little Italian espresso stove-top percolators) and overstuff that pot like an American child. While it’s brewing, I take a handled cup and fill it with two tablespoons of white sugar. The exact moment the coffee starts brewing, I extract a little bit of what comes out, add it to the sugar, and beat it to death until I get a runny paste called “crema.” Then, I add the rest of the coffee, stir, and serve. The coffee should have a thin line of foam at the top.
I just LOVE Cafe Bustelo. I first bought a little packet at the dollar store for ‘emergency coffee’ and when I used it, I thought it was excellent. So I’ve been buying the yellow foil brick in regular grocery stores. I see it being advertised on tv now, so it’s not a strange exotic thing. Strong, powdery, one or two cups in the morning gives me a great energy spurt.
Aficionados & coffee snobs don’t like it, but I do. It’s also a very fine grind, so you’ll have to adjust the portion accordingly.
A genius must be working in their marketing department. Because the container is bright/bold yellow, and you can pick it out in a microsecond when looking at a wall of coffee brands.
I don’t drink caffeinated coffee often because it gives me anxiety. But I do have some instant coffee for rare occasions I want it, and this is the best flavor of instant I’ve tried.
The brewing Bustelo is very finely ground. It will clog a French press. It works and makes a good cuppa. But you gotta be careful in the pressing. Or you’ll have coffee dripping from the celing.
I saw you can get Bustelo in the pods now, for Kuerig.
It’s not instant, it’s ground coffee. Just ground finer than the usual. I still have to dump the grounds out of the filter after I make a pot. The taste is strong.
I have only used the little instant single packs which I take when I go on vacation. Depending on where I am headed it might take awhile to figure out the coffee implementation and these are almost as good as a cup of brewed beverage.
They taste awesome especially when paired with my favorite creamer.
Chiming in on the Cafe Bustelo love. I bought a Moka pot recently and it works fine with that. Also, I purchased a can of the decaff variety so I can drink small, powerful cups of dark coffee without blowing my socks off.
I am eating restricted. So I develope fetishes about certain tastes.
My daughter had a jar of Bustelo instant coffee. I started getting a spoon and just getting the tip in the granules and eating it.
I told my doc, he thought it a form of Pica.
But he checked my Iron and it was really low.
I’ll forever claim Bustelo caught my iron deficiency.
Darkness of the roast doesn’t really mean “stronger” coffee. In fact, I’m pretty sure the darker roasts have less caffeine (if brewed with the same portion of water, grind, and method) than a lighter roast.
Cafe Bustelo is fine with me. I had a roommate who loved it, so it was our coffee. Currently, cans of Bustelo are our coffee-shortage/tariff back-up (as they were during COVID).