Coffee - Your Current Brew

[ripcord]

I'm getting frustrated with finding a decent coffee. We do like darker brews. I'll buy something from Peets, Whole foods, San Francisco Bay, Volcanica even some fancy Hawaiian Kona Earth @ $59 a pound. Ask my wife if this is the one and she just says it's OK.

I don't know if I'll ever find "the right one" for her. Any suggestion on what I should try next?

Get Mrs. Picky a bottle of Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Coffee Creamer to put in it. She won't even taste the coffee anymore. It will be a lot less than $59 a pound, lol.

 

[bdc101]

I'm getting frustrated with finding a decent coffee. We do like darker brews. I'll buy something from Peets, Whole foods, San Francisco Bay, Volcanica even some fancy Hawaiian Kona Earth @ $59 a pound. Ask my wife if this is the one and she just says it's OK.

I don't know if I'll ever find "the right one" for her. Any suggestion on what I should try next?

Gonna go out on a limb here and wonder, if the problem is in the coffee maker and not in the beans?

You get a good coffee machine and it's a noticeable difference in flavor. And if you have a good drip machine then maybe it's time to step up and replace your drip coffee with americanos.

I spent more and more money on coffee machines and witnessed my wife's happiness level go up and up around the 5:30-6:00am timeframe every day. True story!!! Bonus is that I get to drink the coffee too.

 

[CleanSump]

I'm getting frustrated with finding a decent coffee. We do like darker brews. I'll buy something from Peets, Whole foods, San Francisco Bay, Volcanica even some fancy Hawaiian Kona Earth @ $59 a pound. Ask my wife if this is the one and she just says it's OK.

I don't know if I'll ever find "the right one" for her. Any suggestion on what I should try next?

How do you make your coffee? If you use a typical coffee maker, the cone type make stronger and better tasting coffee with the same amount as a flat basket does.

 

[Cropduster172]

Gonna go out on a limb here and wonder, if the problem is in the coffee maker and not in the beans?

You get a good coffee machine and it's a noticeable difference in flavor. And if you have a good drip machine then maybe it's time to step up and replace your drip coffee with americanos.

I spent more and more money on coffee machines and witnessed my wife's happiness level go up and up around the 5:30-6:00am timeframe every day. True story!!! Bonus is that I get to drink the coffee too.

A Moccamaster and a Baratza Encore grinder will likely resolve his problems.

 

[Pablo]

Once addicted to espresso there ain’t no brew good enough

 

[BobsArmory]

How do you make your coffee? If you use a typical coffee maker, the cone type make stronger and better tasting coffee with the same amount as a flat basket does.

We use a cone filter and grind our beans every morning.

 

[Jerrysends]

Currently burning through Trader Joe's Low Acid French Roast beans in the espresso machine. It makes surprisingly good americanos.

 

[Kryptic Mentality]

50/50 blend I roasted comprised of a wet hull Sumatran with a dry process blend from Yemen/Brazil/Ethiopia. Outstanding ristretto territory that will be quite memorable.

 

[Pablo]

50/50 blend I roasted comprised of a wet hull Sumatran with a dry process blend from Yemen/Brazil/Ethiopia. Outstanding ristretto territory that will be quite memorable.

What kind of roaster do you have?

 

[Kryptic Mentality]

What kind of roaster do you have?

Self-designed/built as many purpose built roasters have design limitations, nanny safety, etc. Just over 10 yrs now and over 1/2 ton for personal consumption and still slaying it. Recently wasn't able to roast due to injury/surgery and bought 6 lbs from reputable roast to order outfits and have been way disappointed. I have recovered enough to continue roasting and can only laugh at the overpriced, underdeveloped garbage on the market, averaging $15+ per lb.

 

[GSCJR]

Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Coffee Creamer

That stuff will kill you.

I've been brewing Borbone Ginseng ESE pods in my Grimac Nuvola (back into service, out of storage), I forgot what a tank that thing is! No messy cleanup either with ESE.

 

[JTK]

I really enjoy the 32oz bags of Amazon's "amazonfresh" Colombia medium roast ground arabica coffee, brewed in our Mocomaster thermo carafe.

 

[ripcord]

Self-designed/built as many purpose built roasters have design limitations, nanny safety, etc. Just over 10 yrs now and over 1/2 ton for personal consumption and still slaying it. Recently wasn't able to roast due to injury/surgery and bought 6 lbs from reputable roast to order outfits and have been way disappointed. I have recovered enough to continue roasting and can only laugh at the overpriced, underdeveloped garbage on the market, averaging $15+ per lb.

Where do you buy your green coffee beans these days? I was shocked at current prices.

 

[bdc101]

Self-designed/built as many purpose built roasters have design limitations, nanny safety, etc. Just over 10 yrs now and over 1/2 ton for personal consumption and still slaying it. Recently wasn't able to roast due to injury/surgery and bought 6 lbs from reputable roast to order outfits and have been way disappointed. I have recovered enough to continue roasting and can only laugh at the overpriced, underdeveloped garbage on the market, averaging $15+ per lb.

Would love to see pictures and details! I have had an inkling about building my own roaster for many years. I am currently roasting with a Behmor which I get by with, but is a pretty crappy roaster and I won't be sad when it dies.

Where do you buy your green coffee beans these days? I was shocked at current prices.

Indeed, I would say green bean prices have roughly doubled in the past 5 years. My last order was almost $8/lb for what I would call subpar guatemalan beans, and that was buying a 50-lb shipment which I stacked two sales on. I bought a gift card on sale 6 months ahead of time to use during another sale and it was still that much!

That was from Coffee Bean Corral who I have used for many years, but their prices are out of control. I have started to use Genuine Origin who has better prices, but minimum 65lb shipment. I'm just gonna bite the bullet and go with them in the future. 65 lbs will get me through about 9-10 months in my household and the beans last much longer than that.

 

[ripcord]

I just don't want to be locked into those quantities and want more variety.

 

[Kryptic Mentality]

Where do you buy your green coffee beans these days? I was shocked at current prices.

Primarily from Sweet Maria's... 95% of green I buy comes from them. Have always had top quality, freshness/arrival transparency, etc. No doubt prices have soared mainly due to tariffs and even though relaxed relatively speaking the middle man will still try to recover what was lost on their end.

 

[Kryptic Mentality]

Would love to see pictures and details! I have had an inkling about building my own roaster for many years. I am currently roasting with a Behmor which I get by with, but is a pretty crappy roaster and I won't be sad when it dies.


Indeed, I would say green bean prices have roughly doubled in the past 5 years. My last order was almost $8/lb for what I would call subpar guatemalan beans, and that was buying a 50-lb shipment which I stacked two sales on. I bought a gift card on sale 6 months ahead of time to use during another sale and it was still that much!

That was from Coffee Bean Corral who I have used for many years, but their prices are out of control. I have started to use Genuine Origin who has better prices, but minimum 65lb shipment. I'm just gonna bite the bullet and go with them in the future. 65 lbs will get me through about 9-10 months in my household and the beans last much longer than that.

No doubt, I buy in 20-40 lb increments as bulk pricing/shipping cost does help, churn through at least 120 lbs yearly. Have had green onhand as long as 1.5 yrs and was still spot on. I keep stored in original bags in a large tote, kept in a dark, cool, decent humidity area year round. Some of my favorites are dry process from Yemen and even though my cost averages $11-12/lb buying it roasted will set you back $28/lb or more.