OK, I admit, it’s been a long day. Ground stops in Atlanta forcing my plane to be an hour late leaving, nothing to do but eithet fuss & fume, or go with the flow & zone out. I did the latter, and fortunately, made my ATL connection 'cause it was also held up. But in keeping my mind occupied with other things, I got thinking about coffee.
Since I don’t think there’s a definitive answer, I’m posting in IMHO instead of GQ. I am not a coffee drinker, and neither is my wife, so I don’t have any preconceived notions here.
I’ve brought back Kona coffee for my relatives & friends and it was praised to heaven as sheer ambrosia. But I’ve also heard that ___ was the best. One thing that often fills in the blank is Jamaican Blue Mountain. And so on.
You coffee gurus: What would you say is the best?
I hope this doesn’t turn into a great debate, but if so, OK, I’ll still be educated, and the mods can move the thread.
A very short answer might be that Consumer Reports did a test with coffee tasters last year.
They said that there are only two beans…the flavor results from how they’re grown.
Their tasters then selected what was “best” from what was available to the majority of the public.
The winner was the coffee sold by Duncan Donuts!
I’ve never sprang for the Blue Mountain; but my favorite of the more widely available and normal expense level is Sumatran Mandheling. Nice, clean, robust flavor and low bitterness. It’s terrific and, IMHO, better than Kona.
We drink a lot of coffee, and we’re very happy with the Eight O’Clock brand at Jewel here in the Chicago area. We prefer the Columbian to the French Roast. And we always have French Vanilla creamer. Mmmmm…I’d better go pour another cup!
Duncan Donuts coffee is really good. But, only the coffee that is brewed in their shop. If you buy the coffee to brew it at home, it tastes nothing like it does when they brew it. Why the heck is that?
Kona doesn’t do much for me, and I’ve had it right in Kona. It’s not bad, but it’s not worth the price IMO.
There really is no national brand that is “the best.” Coffee goodness depends a lot on freshness; find a local roaster who goes through a lot of stock. Grind it right before you make it. Buy a decent coffee maker. That’s the best coffee.
I despise French Press coffee. Gritty, cold, completely devoid of mouthfeel. All you French Press guys keep telling me it’s the best, but I’ve never had a good cup of coffee out of one. I was just out of town for a long weekend at a bed and breakfast that brought a French Press full of coffee around to your room every day; it was so bad that we didn’t get it after the first day, preferring the french bakery down the street with lovely strong drip coffee.
Get a decent drip maker that heats the water up to a good temperature, or use a cone and boil your own coffee. Don’t listen to the French Press crowd, their brains have been addled.
Blue Mountain is good, but it’s gotten much more expensive in recent years and I’ve been told that the quality has declined a lot. Which is not to say it’s not a very nice cup of coffee, but there’s no way I would pay as much as it costs.
Hell no! Where did this stupid idea that French press coffee is better than anything else come from? If you want your coffee full of silt, then go with a French press. Otherwise, get a good drip coffee maker, which has tighter control over the water’s temperature, allowing the right components of the coffee flavor to be released in the right amount.
French presses, as far as I’m concerned, are for ridiculous people who’ve heard that they’re better and don’t have the tastebuds to notice that they’re not.
Anyway, good, fresh coffee of any variety is good. The differences between varietals are slight, and it comes down to what you happen to like. As long as it’s freshly roasted and ground recently - preferably right before you make it - it’ll be good.
Fresh-roasted organic fair trade Mocha Java. A blend of dark-roasted Sumatran and regular roast Ethiopian.
Available from Alternative Grounds in Toronto. (I don’t know where else you can get fresh, organic and fair trade non-South American coffee in this city.) Luckily I live close to there so I don’t suffer much.
As far as the French press “yes!” vs. “hell no!” debate goes, I purchased this as a happy medium. It’s a vacuum brewer that provides, by all accounts including my own, coffee with the tastiness of a French press, except without the grit.
Bodum’s products get pretty inconsistent reviews, but I’ve been really happy with my little machine. There’s also a larger version, and a glass stove-top version (which I also have).
I used to always drink dark roast. I don’t know why. I’d somehow gotten it in my head that it was “better” or more macho or something.
Lately I’ve discovered that I actually prefer a lighter roast. In fact, the lightest roast I can get my hands on.
My mom always said that you should always give things another try, even if you think you don’t like them. There are always different varieties and different preparations that will be new to you, and also your tastes will change over time.
My brother brought me some Kona last spring, from his holiday on the big island. It was good, very smooth, but I usually buy the S.F. Bay brand of french roast from Costco. I keep it in an airtight container, in a dark cupboard, and grind each pot fresh. I could never go back to buying ground coffee, and instant coffee? yuck!
It is amazingly good coffee for folks that don’t prefer all the hoodilly coffee BS and just want a good cup of coffee. If I need coffee, I’m not aware enough to go into the double shot half caf soy froth blah blah blah. If you can actually order it that way, you don’t actually NEED the coffee.
Then again, any port in a storm. Just Give Me Coffee. (Did I mention I have a baby?)
