What lengths have you gone to to get proper coffee?

[Herbsman.]

I no longer drink coffee but when I did I used a bean to cup machine. I don't think that cafetiere coffee is nice at all. It always tastes a bit stale to me.

That's probably because the coffee's stale.

 

[Poi E]

I prefer instant.

we're talking about coffee here

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

That's probably because the coffee's stale.

Of course it is, it's been sat in a cafetiere brewing for 5 minutes.

 

[Herbsman.]

Of course it is, it's been sat in a cafetiere brewing for 5 minutes.

Don't be stupid

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I meant that when in Japan ...

We all went to this place for coffee which turned out to be quite the poncey special beans, fancy pants establishment. Fairly embarrassing to have to walk out saying that it was too expensive.

If you mean Japanese tea houses, well I've never even seen one.


Hey! Stop rolling your eyes at me man!

 

[gentlegreen]

If you mean Japanese tea houses, well I've never even seen one.


Hey! Stop rolling your eyes at me man!

Did you see the blossom the other week ?

Did you have a picnic ?

 

[MullahNasrudin]

Don't be stupid

That's pretty rich, coming from someone who has admitted to filtering coffee with a sock! As any fule kno, there are simpler and easier ways to make coffee. I could make a comment about coffee pots and kettle, but you're not worth the effort. I'l just settle for putting you on ignore, so I don't have to put up with the stream of mediocre tedium coming from your keyboard.

 

[Herbsman.]

That's pretty rich, coming from someone who has admitted to filtering coffee with a sock! As any fule kno, there are simpler and easier ways to make coffee. I could make a comment about coffee pots and kettle, but you're not worth the effort. I'l just settle for putting you on ignore, so I don't have to put up with the stream of mediocre tedium coming from your keyboard.

And who the fuck are you? Do you really think I give a monkeys about what you think, and whether you put me on ignore or not? Arrogant fuck.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Did you see the blossom the other week ?

Did you have a picnic ?

Why yes I did. They are everywhere. There is a lovely park near where my In laws live in Edogawa, I tried a bit of Hanami there but with loads of kids around its a bit hard to tuck into the boose and fags.

Eveyone went for a picnic while I visited Shinjuku to buy pants.

Did a bit of late night one man Hanami on my bike after a long Izakaya session.

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

At home I use a krups grinder and a caffatiere. I tend to use mocha beans (fairtrade since I'm a bleeding heart liberal) and will drink it black, no sugar. The caffatiere gets me two medium sized mugs before I go to work. Does for me.

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

Don't be stupid

I'm not stupid, if you want to drink stewed coffee from a cafetiere that's your choice. Just don't pretend that you're some kind of coffee aficionado.

 

[Herbsman.]

I'm not stupid, if you want to drink stewed coffee from a cafetiere that's your choice. Just don't pretend that you're some kind of coffee aficionado.

Where have I implied that I am some sort of coffee aficionado?

Sorry, but not all of us are rich enough to afford fancy espresso machines.

 

[Gavin Bl]

You could always get that dried out bottle of Camp Coffee your nana used to keep at the back of the cupboard in case middle class guests came.

Just boil it up with a load of milk and remember to take the skin off it, before you get the biscuit barrel.

 

[Herbsman.]

Apparently theres a bloke in Moseley who runs a cafe, he orders sacks of green beans and roasts them himself (but doesn't use them in the coffee he sells to customers . Dunno if he's an expert or what but I might visit him and buy some freshly roasted beans off him, grind them by bashing them in a tea towel with a hammer, then stew them using the sock and saucepan method

Who says good coffee's for rich people with fancy equipment

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

Sorry, but not all of us are rich enough to afford fancy espresso machines.

If you think I'm rich you're a long way off the mark. I don't bother buying cheap things that are likely to break, you don't have to be rich to be sensible.

Not only am I not rich, I'm exceedingly working class.

 

[Epico]

I got a gap year job on a coffee plantation with Don Warrington as my boss.

Fuck knows how that happened

 

[Herbsman.]

If you think I'm rich you're a long way off the mark. I don't bother buying cheap things that are likely to break, you don't have to be rich to be sensible.

Not only am I not rich, I'm exceedingly working class.

I dont buy cheap things that are likely to break either, I save up my near-minimum wage money to buy stuff that is gonna last long so costs less in the long run. But all electric things are more likely to break than their manual equivalents, and the cost more/are more difficult to fix (if fixable) than manual things.

 

[geminisnake]

Have you resisted the allure of the tea house ?

Yes, I'm with Suplex on the coffee thing. I can appreciate that it smells nice but not interested in drinking it, or tea either.

 

[quarsan]

What lengths have you gone to to get proper coffee?

Thousands of miles. I went to Koffeh in Ethiopia and that was worth the journey. Later I went to Tanzania where I sampled the lovely stuff that is grown alongside dope on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.

 

[mrs quoad]

I'm not stupid, if you want to drink stewed coffee from a cafetiere that's your choice. Just don't pretend that you're some kind of coffee aficionado.

This statement is ignorant, snobbish idiocy

Cafetieres can - absolutely - be used to make great coffee. Putting some beans through an espresso machine absolutely kills them, whilst others are absolute shite in a cafetiere.

Drip / filter machines - like cafetieres - bring out different qualities in beans. One is a slower diffusion of flavour, the other is - essentially - torturing beans to living buggery by wringing every last morsel of goodness out in a matter of seconds. Beans respond differently to each means of extraction.

Likewise, different means of extraction respond better to different levels of roast. Someone who puts a French / Viennese roast into a filter / cafetiere is asking for a cup of sewage-flavoured over-wrought carbonated bitter crap. Anyone who puts a light (or - - cinnamon) roast into an espresso machine will get a crap shot with bugger all crema, if they get owt. There is - of course - a continuum of roasts in between, many of which'll work as a level of compromise in either. I'd rarely go as far as Viennese even for espresso.

I have beans (like an Ethiopian decaf Sidamo) that I would not touch in an espresso machine. Likewise a Columbian Huila Antioc. I mean - hey, go for it. But you'll get a gash, ashy, messed-up cup.

Similarly, there're others that I reallyreally wouldn't put in a cafetiere. Like Brazilian daterra decaf. Again - it produces a hollow, wrought, undrinkable cup. But is excellent in espresso.

One of the key factors - IME - tends to be the level of roast that the bean responds best to. But, then again, beans also seem to respond very differently to various extraction processes per se n all.

In brief - your snobbishness towards Herby is unqualified balls. Likewise your attitude towards cafetieres. Which - if used properly (I've always used 'em for 4 mins with water 4 seconds off the boil) can produce an excellent cup. Well, yes. Leave them to stew and you'll get a bitter mess. So don't leave them to stew. Duh.

 

[dessiato]

I was staying in Grimsby once, fancied a good coffee, knew I couldn't get one anywhere in the town so drove to Lincoln, went to a place on Steep Hill, and then drove back. When I got back a colleague wanted a coffee, so we went back to Lincoln, had coffee and drove back. A total of about 250Km just for two cups of coffee!

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

My cafetiere broke once, and I ran out of coffee - all there was was instant. I fucking hate instant. I looked in the freezer and there was some of that foil-packed pre-ground stuff from Aldi, that had been in there for months, so I boiled a pan of water, put the coffee in a sock and filtered it through that.

Is that what's meant by proper coffee?

 

[Disaster]

I fly to Rwanda each morning to collect my own beans.

 

[Herbsman.]

Is that what's meant by proper coffee?

Well, no, not really

What I meant by 'proper coffee' was 'actual coffee beans that have been roasted and ground, then extracted using hot water' as opposed to 'freeze dried 'coffee' granules'.

 

[mrs quoad]

What I meant by 'proper coffee' was 'actual coffee beans that have been roasted and ground, then extracted using hot water' as opposed to 'freeze dried 'coffee' granules'.

Not a world away from saying 'proper sex is something that involves looking at a woman, or at least being in the same building as one'

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Well, no, not really

What I meant by 'proper coffee' was 'actual coffee beans that have been roasted and ground, then extracted using hot water' as opposed to 'freeze dried 'coffee' granules'.

I didn't think anyone drank instant coffee anymore.

 

[Herbsman.]

I didn't think anyone drank instant coffee anymore.

LOL you are very naive then

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

LOL you are very naive then

Maybe they do in Britain, but with a Starbucks on literally every corner here, there's never a need to buy instant.

Or some other chain. Coffee is so huge, that I even started drinking the damn stuff.

I don't get coffee. It gives you a bit of a buzz, but it has a comedown that's twice as bad as how you felt before you drank it. And if it's not just right, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, and causes heartburn.

The only time it was actually useful for me, was on a trip up to Kamloops one Friday after work. I was dead tired, but stopping for a coffee every hour kept me buzzed enough not to fall asleep at the wheel.

 

[Herbsman.]

I drink it for the taste, not the effects.

However, the effects do come in useful when youve been on standby all day and then 5 jobs come on within half an hour

 

[gentlegreen]

I drink it for the taste, not the effects.

However, the effects do come in useful when youve been on standby all day and then 5 jobs come on within half an hour

Doesn't it make your heart pound unpleasantly ?