It’s been years since I bought coffee at the grocery store. But I can no longer afford the mail order stuff at $6.50 per 1/2 pound. So what are some good affordable brands?
IMHO, Maxwell House Slow Roast tastes like a much more expensive coffee.
Chock Full O’Nuts. As Bill McNiell said, “They ought to call it 'Chock Full O’Flavor.”
A coffee trick.
Buy any ol’ crap of ground and then get out your wonderful Krupp’s electric coffee grinder. Spoon what you want into the grinder and give it a 3-5 second quick grind. I know it sounds strange to re-grind ground coffee, but trust me…
You now have a “fresh grind” that you can tell just by smelling it.
The grind is finer, so water pouring through will make the coffee a little stronger and a lot more flavorful.
Try it. Makes all the difference.
8 o’clock bean is quite good.
Cosign.
I’ll second 8 o’clock Bean. It is quite, quite good, for the price. Better than Folgers or any crap like that.
Cafe Bustelo
I’m a Chock Full O’Nuts man. Regular, French Roast, Columbian, they’re all pretty good and I can get it anywhere. I can’t seem to make as good a tasting pot with Maxwell House or Folger’s. Maybe I’ll give 8 o’clock bean a try.
See this thread:What’s a good, cheap brand of coffee?
I recommended Costco’s house roast coffee. My sister came to visit for Christmas from Pheonix and took bag a few bags of Costco Sumatran beans. There is a Costco in Brentwood which roasts their own beans.
StG
I think you have to experiment to see which brand tastes best to you in your coffeemaker, with your water.
You can also get a bag of good coffee beans and add the freshly ground coffee to the cheaper coffee. It makes the beans last much longer when you mix them, and improves the cheaper coffee. Or better yet, combine this with DMark’s idea, and grind them all together.
I am partial to the Wal-Mart brand (“Great Value”, I think it’s called). Be sure to get the 100% Arabica variety (red can). They also sell a 100% Colombian variety which isn’t as good. It’s cheap enough at about $4 for 39 oz. It isn’t the best coffee you can buy, it’s remarkably good for that amount of money.
IMO, the quality of the water you make the coffee with is almost as important as the bean itself.
Mineral and calcium laden hard water can make even the most expensive grind taste and look like swill.
I’m fortunate that our (deep drilled) well water makes great coffee without benefit of filtration or softeners. I’ve several friends and family members that are self-avowed coffee snobs rave over my coffee. They were simply amazed when I told them that it’s just Folgers.
8 O’Clock Colombian (Brown bag) About $3.50 for 12 oz. bag.
Get a $15.00 Bean grinder at Wal*Mart (Mine is a Braun I think)
Unbleached filters
Trader Joe’s French Roast is about $8 for a 1-pound, 10-ounce tin. Very reasonable, indeed!
French Market Coffee and Chickory is about $5 for a 1-pound can, and you use much less of it per brew. An excellent value, and tasty too.
It’d be a drive for you to get it, hillbilly and I don’t know if they sell it by the bag anymore (but having seen your picture, I’m sure you can charm it out of them if you so desire) but if you go to Hendersonville, stop off at the Circle K on Old Shackle Island and try some of their coffee. Unless things have changed, it’s probably the best Stop-N-Rob coffee out there. You could also try Uptown’s Smoke Shop in Green Hills in Nashville (It’s near Davis-Kidd, best damn bookstore in this town!).
MJB
Another vote for Chock - best buzz for your buck.
Hevay coffee drinker here. I’ve been drinking Chock Full O’Nuts for years. I love it, and it’s nice and cheap. Plus I admire that they’re keeping the Twin Towers on their cans (which depict the Manhattan skyline.)
A restaurant I used to work for was known for their Oh-So-Delicious house coffee…and the secret was a tablespoon of cinnamon added to the ground coffee before brewing. Plain, cheap, generic coffee…
Made it taste all spicy and rich; people lost their minds for that coffee.
Starbucks brews their coffee at 190 degrees, vs. the usual 160 degrees of home coffee makers…gives it a much richer flavor…so it’s a good idea to get a French press so you can use hotter water.