Coffee drinkers?

[KidKimura]

Anyone else like a good cuppa bean juice? I've been trying to learn more about good coffee recently, with some help from a friend that runs a small independent coffee shop.

I've just cracked open a bag of Finca San Jose Red Bourbon from Has Bean Coffee, freaking incredible!

[senor_robusto]

hey kidkimura,
you'll find everyone on here drinks coffee, from casual everyday drinkers to die harders! not sure where to place myself on the scale though.....

my nespresso machine gets a sound thrashing on a daily basis, and i also have bags of cafe direct's machu picchu and mayan palenque on standby in case i run out of nespresso capsules! also love taylors hot lava java and after dark! when i can get it though, nothing beats cubita cuban coffee......

alex

[KidKimura]

That's good to hear! I have to try really hard to limit my coffee intake, or I'd be constantly wired!

I actually ended up getting rid of my espresso machine when I got an aeropress, it just ended up gathering dust. I know a few people with pod machines, and I was really surprised by how good they are.

If I'm getting coffee from a supermarket I tend to go for Taylor's, their after dark is pretty spot on. Generally though I try to drink whatever my friend at Vagabond Coffee is selling, or whatever Has Bean area are selling online that looks good.

I do enjoy a good quality tea too, I'm a bit of a hot drink hoarder!

[L_DOG]

I drink so much coffee I lose count after the morning! It would be nice to venture to decent coffee as I tend to drink the cheap, strong shit to stay alert at work.

iExplore on my Tappytalk part duex

[monkey66]

If you are at the point of buying form Hasbean perhaps consider SquareMile (if you have not already). More expensive but far better roasters. It is not to say Steve (Hasbean) cant produce great beans but the sheer number of beans plus the volume and next day delivery means he errs on the side of under-roasting a little too much for comfort.

Have you ever tried a Chemex, really great, low maintanence filter jug.

BTW try searching the forum as many coffee discussions have taken place.

[KidKimura]

I used to do the exact same thing, getting through a dozen cups a day really isn't too good or you though!

O would rather have 3 cups of the good stuff though, still much cheaper than the overpriced crud try sell in a lot of big brand coffee shops! Saying that I do end up spending too much money in the costa by my work!

[KidKimura]

Cheers monkey66, I've had a look at their stuff but have yet to buy any yet, I may indulge once pay day rolls around. I was thinking about getting a second aeropress for work, but might look into getting a Chemex instead.

[JamesA]

I'm very fond of my Senseo machine, makes a great coffee. That Nespresso looks pretty cool tho!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Vortigan]

Some great tips here in this thread I'm also very interested in getting into decent coffees and exploring what's out there.As it stands I'm limited to a cafitiere and whatever I can pick up from Starbucks in order to take a step up from the likes of Douwe Egberts,Kenco et al

[KidKimura]

I only ended up getting an aeropress because my caffetiere broke, and I bought a bag of Jailbreak from my buddy to go with it, and BAM, I was hooked!

I had an espresso machine before that I'd just use with whatever looked good at the supermarket, but this has now been donate to my brother.

Has Bean is a pretty cool place to start out, I'm pretty new to it as well and I've yet to try something that I didn't love.

Going to smaller, independant coffee shops is a great way to have a chat with people that really know what they're doing, I've found staff in Starbucks to generally be horribly under trained.

[Nightwingvyse]

I looooove coffee. I bring a thermos full of it to work every day. I'm a big fan of expresso too. The best coffee you can get is freshly made at home in a French Press. I recently ended up getting stuck with some Aldi store brand Colombian coffee and was all ready to throw it out, but found it's gorgeous. Despite how much coffee i drink, I never accompany it to a cigar. I just don't think they mix imho.

[crusse]

Despite how much coffee i drink, I never accompany it to a cigar. I just don't think they mix imho.

How strange - black coffee is my default drink when I'm smoking! I agree that it can overpower some more mild and delicately flavoured cigars but I find it to be a perfect match with most Bolivar, Partagas and Ramon Allones sticks, as well as a lot of NCs (especially maduros). Different strokes for different folks I guess...

[Vortigan]

Yeah I'm the same,more often than not it's coffee with a cigar.Sometimes like a nice tea with it,usually ends up being Earl or Lady Grey.And the cold choice at the moment is fat Coke,picked that up here on a thread somewhere and it really works for me

[monkey66]

I looooove coffee. I bring a thermos full of it to work every day. I'm a big fan of expresso too. The best coffee you can get is freshly made at home in a French Press. I recently ended up getting stuck with some Aldi store brand Colombian coffee and was all ready to throw it out, but found it's gorgeous. Despite how much coffee i drink, I never accompany it to a cigar. I just don't think they mix imho.

Got to pull you up on this. Whilst one can make a reasonable cup of coffee with a French Press it is far from the best method. It is fundamentally flawed as the coffee remains in the base liquid continuing to extract for as long as you are using it.

OK results can he had with careful brewing/plunging, then a single pour to a couple of cups. Far better to use a filter machine at home, ideally a simple pour over like a chemex.

Probably the biggest three improvement for home coffee is sourcing good beans (Hasbean is a very good place to start). Consuming them within the 3-10 day 'magic window' post-roast (any coffee without an actual 'roasted on' date is not serious) and grinding yourself with a decent burr grinder.

The quality of the grinder is not too critical for filter/cafitere but only a pro-level grinder will do for proper esperesso. This is one of the many reasons I do not recommend home espresso machines unless one is prepared to go all-in.

Some good discussions here:

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/showthread.php?8834-Nespresso&p=138051#post138051

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/showthread.php?8616-Coffee-grinders&p=135604#post135604

[KidKimura]

I think a Chemex is definitely the way to go if you need to make several cups at a time. A friend of mine was telling me about how people at his work try to make 3 cups worth with 1 aeropress, madness!

I'd love to buy a little Cona, but if I clog up the kitchen with any more gadgets I think the other half will kill me!