(no subject)

[jgrafton]

Really pointless LJ poll:

Note: assume well-prepared, good coffee, not any of that instant crap or anything.

[Poll #1207500]

(ps if you answer anything other than "Delicious!" you are wrong :)

Comments

[carmiendo.livejournal.com]

i said Delicious! but! i have not been ALLOWED to drink coffee since PRE CHRISTMAS in an attempt to wean myself off of caffeine.

I MISS IT THOUGH.

[jgrafton]

awww, sadness. :(

[chrisamaphone]

qualification: good coffee is delicious. most coffee, though, is pretty bad.

[jgrafton]

yes, the implication was well-prepared, good coffee.

[angeldesignpro.livejournal.com]

Today I made a super-latte at work.

1/2 cup full of coffee, 2 espresso shots, 1 shot of caramel syrup, 2 sugar packets, and then steamed milk and foam to the top.

[bewaremybrain.livejournal.com]

So, does well-prepared mean whatever the individual taking the poll considers well-prepared? Because even though I consider coffee undrinkable without large amounts of chocolate, milk, etc., I do believe that it can be well prepared without all that stuff.

[jgrafton]

well-prepared, as in properly made at the right temperature, with a good method, good quality coffee, etc. how you like it I guess is up to you; I used to only really like flavored espresso drinks, but now I drink coffee straight with a bit of milk or cream and a touch of sugar.

[uberjason.livejournal.com]

Absolutely disgusting. When I worked at Starbucks and got a free pound of coffee beans each week, I just gave them to my parents.

[jgrafton]

note that I said good coffee. starbucks doesn't count. :)

[uberjason.livejournal.com]

Any coffee - I've never found a single good coffee. Way too bitter. Even the addition of milk, cream, sugar, whatever, never does it for me. By the time it's palatable to me, it's way too loaded up with sugars/creams/milks/sweeteners for me to reasonably consume it. :P

[wjl.livejournal.com]

good coffee is not bitter (at least, in my opinion -- a common conception seems to be that coffee is supposed to be bitter, but i think that's just a form of self-loathing).

[uberjason.livejournal.com]

Can you recommend me a brand/preparation method? I'm willing to try it, although I'm pretty sure I'll still hate it.

[carmiendo.livejournal.com]

you might try cold-brewing it - basically grinding the beans coarsely, soaking them in cold water overnight, and then straining. that makes coffee concentrate and then you'd mix it with water to make it the strength you want. so this method is supposed to turn out not nearly as bitter. i've never actually done it since i'm off caffeine, but if i wasn't i'd definitely be trying it.. here's a link:

http://www.howtobrewcoffee.com/concentrator.htm

[carmiendo.livejournal.com]

haha in retrospect that link was not a good one. anyway, it's not too hard to google.

[wjl.livejournal.com]

i've heard this is great, too! but i've never tried it.

[pluralofplural.livejournal.com]

One key is freshness; if you can, go find a local roaster, and ask 'em for what they've got that was most recently roasted (the half-life on coffee after roasting the stuff is fairly fierce). You probably want to start with a lightly roasted arabica from central America, if the stars align and you can manage to find some that's fresh.

As an alternate solution, the Italians have been doing freaky things with preserving coffee in various ways. You might try the medium roast coffee from the good folks of the Illy coffee company; look for the silver tins with red accents.

Another key is keeping all the stuff clean; coffee oils can build up on things and lead to nasty coffee.

As far as preparations go, one good way to do it is get a cheap filter basket, park it on top of a carafe, put in a tablespoon of grounds for each cup of coffee (8oz of water, more or less) and then drip through water that's a bit off the boil (boiling water will make it bitter - let it cool a bit).

On the other hand: all of that might be a pain in the ass.

[wjl.livejournal.com]

i've never found brand to make a huge difference for bitterness, just flavor. i'm a big fan of preparation using a french press, though! 5 minutes of boiling hot water over coarse-ground coffee -- delicious. and in a french press, you avoid filtering out all the wonderful oils that lend so much flavor.

(thinking along the lines of the cold brew suggestion below, i think a coarse grind is key to avoiding bitterness -- the bitterness seems to come from either too long an extraction time or too fine a grind.)

[xsavvyx.livejournal.com]

We have this thing in rhode island which is alright, called coffee milk. It's coffee flavored milk! Coffee is disgusting otherwise. (Oh, maybe coffee ice cream is alright too.)

[genkisamurai.livejournal.com]

I've never really had coffee that I could distinguish from instant.
Either my instant is/was really good, or so much of coffee's taste is psychosomatic (the boy needs therapy)

[moonbladetear.livejournal.com]

While I used to drink a lot of it I almost exclusively stick to Loose Leaf teas for my caffeine source. Although I did get into the habit of afternoon and late night cappuccino from my trips to Germany.