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I might be a coffee snob

fisherPete

By fisherPete
in Coffee & Tea

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

@kayb

 

not difficult.  what you describe is coffee , pre-ground in bags

 

the cheapest available.

 

passed through a coffee-system that has not been cleaned

 

and left at too hot a temp for two long.

 

why not get of hold of a manager and express yourself ?

Edited by rotuts (log)
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kayb

kayb

Posted
Posted
On 8/28/2018 at 12:07 PM, rotuts said:

@kayb

 

not difficult.  what you describe is coffee , pre-ground in bags

 

the cheapest available.

 

passed through a coffee-system that has not been cleaned

 

and left at too hot a temp for two long.

 

why not get of hold of a manager and express yourself ?

 

 

I fully intend to email the manager. 

 

At least the two-block walk to the nearby coffee shop got me a little exercise this week.

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted

I think there's a long, long road between "I don't like bad coffee" and "I'm a coffee snob." There's plenty of perfectly adequate, inoffensive tasting coffee will wake you up in the morning and put a smile on your face, but that won't have the qualities to satisfy an aficionado.

 

Last month I was listening to a podcast by Matt Perger, a former world champion barista and roaster with many opinions (I may be showing my had here, regarding the snob continuum ...). He made an interesting point: tea, wine and beer have histories of many thousands of years, and for most of this time people were concerned with how to make them all taste good. Coffee has only been a beverage for a few hundred years, and almost all the study into making it taste good came in the last fifty. You could even argue that most of it is from the last 20. So coffee snobbery (or enthusiasm, or whatever you want to call it) has only even been an aspiration for a short while. It's new club, and it's evolving quickly. 

 

If you're intrigued, be sure to join before climate change wipes out all the good farms.

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Notes from the underbelly

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted

This has been going around for a while, but it seems apropos (and maybe some of you haven't seen it):

Maybe Just Don't Drink Coffee

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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fondue

fondue

Posted
Posted

DH and I agree that coffee snobbery has been achieved if your coffee maker costs a month's rent (lookin' at you Technivorm!), the day is begun with grinding the beans (kept in the fridge!) and you know which country your beans come from.  Sufferin' succotash.

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rotuts

rotuts

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roasting , grinding , extracting and enjoying coffee all can be easily done at home.

 

Selecting the beans , not so much.

 

is you enjoy coffee , why not pay attention to these variables , which you can easily do ?

 

thus have your own Personal Perfect Cup ?

 

nothing snobbish about it.

 

on the other hand , if you buy by price , not result , that's a different matter.

 

good luck making your own wine.

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

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I dunno.   Everything written here about roast date and whole bean is true, and I've lived that life.     But at this stage of my life, I'm al about KISS...keep it simple, stupid.    I used to spend the national debt for coffee beans  twice a month, and be involved in sophisticated. brewing systems.    Now, I buy my coffee at the flea market.    Peet's, whole bean or preground.    We prefer African blends, Kenyan,  Ethiopian.     We pay $5 a pound.    Yeh, this stuff is freshly out of date.    Just past the two week roast date.     I make it rich and strong for me, and husband dilutes his a little with hot water.    We use an electric teakettle and french press-pot -> morning coffee in 5 minutes.    

 

We think it's just fine, and guests rave about our coffee.    Maybe we just have no taste and tacky guests.

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eGullet member #80.

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paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted
On 9/26/2019 at 3:33 PM, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I dunno.   Everything written here about roast date and whole bean is true, and I've lived that life.     But at this stage of my life, I'm al about KISS...keep it simple, stupid.    I used to spend the national debt for coffee beans  twice a month, and be involved in sophisticated. brewing systems.    Now, I buy my coffee at the flea market.    Peet's, whole bean or preground.    We prefer African blends, Kenyan,  Ethiopian.     We pay $5 a pound.    Yeh, this stuff is freshly out of date.    Just past the two week roast date.     I make it rich and strong for me, and husband dilutes his a little with hot water.    We use an electric teakettle and french press-pot -> morning coffee in 5 minutes.    

 

We think it's just fine, and guests rave about our coffee.    Maybe we just have no taste and tacky guests.

 

What you describe will still make better coffee than what most people drink  most of the time. 

 

The first hurdle is making coffee that doesn't taste bad. Most coffee tastes bad. It's low quality to begin with, then it's roasted to death. The only way to enjoy it is to smother it in milk and sugar, or to become desensitized to bad coffee (most people choose both). 

 

Peet's is going to be decent coffee, even if it's a few days farther past the roast date than what's ideal. That just means you'll lose some aroma and some fruit flavors, but it won't actively make it taste bad—like typical burnt Starbucks coffee. 

 

Then it sounds like you've figured out how to brew it in a way that you like. Done. Nothing to complain about.

 

You're making the equivalent of the table wine at a nice French café ... completely satisfying, completely inoffensive. It won't blow your mind, but it's not expected to. And if you're used to the kinds of wine you'd get served at a beer bar in Brooklyn, it will taste like heaven. 

 

p.s. ... brewing it a bit on the strong side and then diluting it afterwards for anyone who prefers it that way is exactly the right way to do it. Will give better results than using too low a coffee / water ratio during the extraction.

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Notes from the underbelly

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kayb

kayb

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HELP! About to be out of coffee beans, I turned to my usual mail-order source, Cafe Brazil in Dallas, whose Brazil Estates blend I have been ordering for the better part of 15 years. They no longer carry it; in fact, they no longer carry any medium roasts at all except for flavored blends, which I abhor. All they have is dark roasts, which I also dislike wholeheartedly.

 

Who can give me leads to a good, full-bodied, medium roast coffee bean I can dependably order? I was paying in the neighborhood of $12-15 per pound for my Brazil Estates, and would like to stay in that range. 

 

I'm far from a coffee purist. I fill my refillable K-cup with it and brew in a Keurig, unless I take a notion and want to go with the French press. I drink it with cream, no sugar. I want NO bitterness. just a rich, buttery brew.

 

Tips?

Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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rotuts

rotuts

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I sued to get coffee from here :

http://www.connoisseurcoffeeco.com/index.html

I grew up one town south , and always brought back 4 - 6 bags of their coffee

on trips to visit my parents. friendly people , excellent coffee

I mention them as they , in the past , have different roast levels for most if not all

of their coffee's I don't know if they still do , nor can I comment on their prices and

shipping fees. My father used to send both my sister and myself a selection from time to time.

so look into them re roast levels etc

good luck

I now roast my own , or Id still be getting coffee from them

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 11/13/2019 at 9:13 AM, kayb said:

Who can give me leads to a good, full-bodied, medium roast coffee bean I can dependably order? I was paying in the neighborhood of $12-15 per pound for my Brazil Estates, and would like to stay in that range. 

 

 

We have enjoyed this Brazilian from Peet's.

Edited by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

eGullet member #80.

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