Wake Up and Smell the Coffee?

I have a Cuisinart machine that grinds the coffee while the water is heating... it is good, especially when I use Melitta drip filters instead of the gold filter that came with it. I wouldn't recommend it though -- it is a pain in the neck to clean. We have a Mr. Coffee as a back-up and I think it makes fine coffee as long as we use freshly ground. The Melitta is good too, and probably the easiest to use, but pouring all that water makes it time-consuming.

I think the French Press leaves a lot of sediment... and they don't make enough for me. I wish people still used those hourglass glass pots which was a Melitta-like drip. Those were great, but easily breakable. I haven't seen one in years.

I'd like an espresso machine, but I'm afraid I'd blow it up.

Patiodog, maybe they'd sell you green beans? I bet they would. I'm with you (up to a point) on the do-it-yourself approach. I use a hand grinder every morning that I've had for 25 years. My hat is tipped toward you for roasting your own!

(It's really very easy. You just dump it in and watch it go. The only trick is knowing how dark different types of beans can get before they start to burn -- since I'm a dark, dark roast junkie. My folks had a hand grinder -- and one of those hourglass things that Piffka mentions. The former was one of my favorite toys as a kid -- that and a greasy ratchet I asked for for years. The latter survived a day and a half on a hot burner one time, though I think it did finally break a couple of years ago.)

I've been intrigued by the idea of roasting my own, but it seems like it should be done the morning the coffee is made. My workday a.m. ritual is pretty labor-intensive (and fast-paced): grooming, feed the cat, grind beans, cook oatmeal from scratch, out the door in 50 minutes to catch the bus. Hard to imagine adding roasting in that time frame!

Really, it's still far superior to the store bought product, even the gourmet stuff, after several days in the freezer. I drink so much terrible coffee at work that I'm not a very good judge of flavor any more, but the smell that wafts out when you grind home-roasted beans alone is worth it. The roaster does very small batches -- enough for about 8 cups of coffee or half a dozen double-shots at a time -- which may have something to do with the aroma. I think it's well worth the effort, and it is a money saver in the long run, especially if you make coffee daily!

Also interesting is the flavor you get from a very fresh, very light roast. It almost tastes like very strong black tea. It's a complex flavor that breaks down very quickly, though...

So you can roast it in advance, then use it for a few days? Now I'm getting intrigued, patiodog! A coupla questions: Where did you get the roaster, and how big a device is it? My kitchen is really small...

It's about eight inches in diameter, and maybe a foot high. Here's the link:

A coffee roaster

It was a gift, but I think the site linked is where it came from...

A word of warning, if you decide you want one: you want to disconnect your smoke alarm before you roast, because the husks start burning before the beans are even done roasting. Also, I've found it works a lot better if you let the glass heat up (i.e., run it for a few minutes with no beans) before you start. Otherwise the first batch takes forever and yields scorched or flavorless beans. There was nothing about this in the instructions.

Thanks, patiodog. Which model do you have?

Fresh Roast Plus Home Coffee Roaster.

If it's quiet, like the page says, I'd hate to hear loud!

We have a Bunn Coffee maker ... nearly instant gratification, and a convenient source for instant hot water for various cooking needs as well. An old Braun grinder does a fine job on the beans, which we roast in an equally old Siemen's roaster. We tend toward the darker, or French Roast, of Arrabica beans. We'll roast up a bunch of beans at a time over an afternoon, freezing them in Zip-Lock bags. When coffee is desired, a grinder-capful of beans is extracted, ground, and in about 2 1/2 minutes, there is fresh, hot coffee. We rarely grind more coffee than is needed for a single pot at a time. Both the roaster and the grinder are noisy critters, but both fill the house with fresh-coffee smell. We go through gallons of the stuff.



timber

Thanks, patiodog and timberlandko. I think I'm ready for the next step: Roasting my own coffee!

I once bought raw coffee beans on a trip to Haiti (Haitian coffee is the best I've ever tasted), and roasted it in the oven. It cooks a lot faster than you'd think...before I knew it, the fire alarms in the apartment building were going, and the coffee beans were ruined. In Haiti, they roast coffee in a pot over a charcoal fire, mixed with a very small amount of brown sugar.

Thinking about it, for all the niceties of grinding and roasting and high-tech restaurant-style brewing schemes, you just can't beat store-bought coffee brewed over an open fire in a battered, smoke-blackened old enamel ware coffee pot, poured steaming, rich, and black into big-handled mugs, enjoyed with a dear one as the sun peeks over the treetops, dispelling the mists, glinting multi-colored off a lightly rippled lake, and rousing the forest critters. Camping Coffee is the VERY best, IMHO.



timber

I just knew we'd get some votes for campsite coffee, lol! I am happy to use the French press I found for $2.00 in a thrift store. I always keep a teakettle on the stove with filtered water and the time is reduced to less that 6 minutes or so. Just boil the water, and take it off boil when it starts to simmer. Grind fresh coffee beans while waiting. Put about 2 - 3 'coffee measureres' in the bottom of the glass bottle. Add the hot water to near the top. Set the plunger/lid unit lightly on top of the bottle. Wait 3 or 4 minutes and push down gently. Ooo la la!

I find that the unit I have has a plenty fine mesh filter in the plunger, but I have to make sure it is screwed tightly together with the filters, mesh, stem, and lid. If I loosen it up while cleaning, it can let particles through. I get about 3 full mugs of coffee from my press. This is exactly right for my morning wake up routine. I am so happy to have strong and rich flavor back, after spending too long drinking a friend's Gevalia electric drip version.

I think that filtered water and great, fresh beans ground right at each preparation is the best. I can't abide coffee preground, sold in cans anymore. Oh yes, I think the French press is most economical, too.

lol I don't know that campfire coffee is always the best but you sure can't beat the setting!

This thread is very timely cobalt! I'm getting pretty disgusted with my existing coffee maker and have been considering buying something new. All these choices... I may have to do some on-line shopping today..

fishin, you bring up an interesting point. It seems to me that I have gone through many 'phases' of coffee preferences!

Last year, I bought an electric percolater on sale for $8, and used it to heat the water while I readied my one-cup only Melita plastic filter right onto the mug I was going to drink from. I still ground the coffee, but used the little one-cup paper filters. The water stayed the right temp in the percolater; if I wanted another cup, it was all set to go again.

One caution: train your pets that they may NOT bug you for their breakfast until you have had your coffee! LOL

The pets and coffee..probably the best reasoning for buying the timer pot...believe me!

....pet-grinder. did you say?...have to go back to work today......grumble, moan.....being bothered by demanding pets, haven't had coffee...pets in BLENDER.........?!

I make coffee for myself 2 or 3 times a year, tops. When I do, it's with the manual Melitta filter. I've got an electric drip coffee maker, but it's for making tea in. My mother started to feel sorry for Setanta having to use the Melitta filter when he was here, so she bought him another electric drip coffee maker. I've given a lot of the french drip dealies from Bodum as gifts, and enjoyed the resulting beverage.

My dad grinds a day's worth of coffee each morning in the old wooden Melitta box they've had since they came to Canada. The smell of fresh ground coffee still brings back memories of Sunday mornings as a child. I'd always snitch a couple of coffee beans to snack on. It could explain my activity level in those days.

That's what I do almost every morning. I take my newspaper, and read it at my favorite coffee shop, while sipping their 'house' blend. c.i.