Coffee Brewing...Your favorite method

[Radioman]

I am sort of a coffee fanatic. I love the taste of my own coffee. I have a conventional drip coffee maker, an espresso machine, a French Press, an Aero Press, and a Turkish coffee maker. And I love them all. I just got the Turkish Coffee maker for Christmas this morning and am still learning how to adjust the portions to my taste. For those not familiar with Turkish coffee makers, go to youtube and search on Turkish or Greek coffee. Turkish, Greek, and several other areas of the world all make it pretty much the same way, and tack on their countries name.

I'd like to know how other coffee lovers make theirs and what you like and don't like.

Merry Christmas everyone,
Steve NG0G
73 49 111 01001001

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I use a French Press daily. It has a "greener" flavor than a coffee maker, a little more acidic, but I like it. Once in a great while we will get out the espresso maker.
How does your present work? Do you like the flavor better?

[Tod]

I am partial to a coffee press. I have a Bodum Columbia press and a Zassenhaus knee mill. I try different beans, but so far my fav are Dunkin Donuts'.

http://http://www.htmills.com/images/LF-coffeegear.jpg

[gregabob]

One of my customers gave me a bag of beans after I repaired his truck (Sark's Coffee). I then bought a grinder and haven't gone back! I buy whole beans (Don Francisco's Kona Blend) grind enuf for 1 mug, brew and let it sit for 10 mins or so before pouring. Add a little whipping cream and a teaspoon of raw sugar and I'm good to go.
I've also been spoiled rotten by genuine Vermont light amber maple syrup and real butter. Goes great on corn cakes made from Kentucky home raised bread corn flour! A couple fresh eggs scrambled with home grown peppers added for a lil 'bite' and that's a makin' of a good breakfast.

[nhlivefreeordie]

I have most of the previous mentioned systems and like all of them for one reason or another, and will use a certain technique with certain beans. I keep 6-8 varieties of green unroasted beans on hand most of the time. The system that I use every day and probably my favorite, all things considered, is a Bunn, self feed unit, this resides in my kitchen, the ONLY drawback is that you must make a 12 cup pot each time, not a problem for me though...I LOVE my coffee.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/encan_995.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/WorkShop/DSCN0887.jpg

[DiggerDirect]

I like mine right from the old metal perculator, which sits atop the woodstove this time of year, on the stove top burner during warm weather. Nothing like the smell of fresh brewed coffee all through the house in the mornings.
I have taken to using a filter in the grounds cup. Secret with them old perculators is dont wash 'em to much, have to let them 'season' lol. If I want expresso I just set 'er up the night before on the woodstove before goin to bed, next morning whats left is about the best 'eye opener' there is. Your mileage may vary.

[Radioman]

Gregabob that breakfast sounds great. Every other day I might make some very multi grain pan cakes with sunflower seeds added to the batter, Then real butter and real maple syrup.

To answer the questions about the Turkish coffee maker, it's very good. I had never had one, or even had coffee made that way before. It is a small brass container shaped sort of like a lab beeker, in that it is wide at the bottom and the top two inches or so are much narrower. The coffee is normally served in small cups. You measure the water needed by filling each cup and pouring the water into the coffee maker which is called a bliki. Then you add one heaping teaspoon of a very, very finely ground coffee to the blicki for each cup of coffee. Then add sugar to taste. Then you put in on a gas burner turned up so that flame is about the same size as the bottom of the bliki and start stirring the coffee/sugar/water mix. Stop stirring after the sugar is disolved. Watch the mixture carefully as it will slowly start to boil. When it does coffee foam will rapidly rise up to the top. Just before it boils over the edge lift the bliki off the flame and let the foam go back down. Do this a couple of times, then turn off the flame and pour a little in each cup. This is to distribute the foam equally between both cups. Then add the rest filling the cups up. My coffee cup is a root beer mug, so I pour the whole thing in mine without worrying about evenly distributing the foam. Then let it set a couple of minutes to let the sediment fall to the bottom, and for the coffee to cool. You'd think that this would make very bitter coffee, but it does not. It tastes very good, Different from coffee made other ways, but very good.

I like it as well as coffee made in my French press, or Aero Press, or the Espresso machine. It's just different.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I like mine right from the old metal perculator, which sits atop the woodstove this time of year, on the stove top burner during warm weather. Nothing like the smell of fresh brewed coffee all through the house in the mornings.
I have taken to using a filter in the grounds cup.

We have one of those "camp" perculators that brew on the stove top. I always end up with grounds in it, that we just don't like. I remember Grandma adding egg shells to her old coffee pot on the wood stove that were supposed to make the dregs settle, so they wouldn't be in all the coffee.

[Tod]

have't seen this mentioned yet. I haven't tried it but some people swear by it:

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/06/coldhome/

[Radioman]

The Turkish device is called Cezve (pronounced Jezve) if the same device is from Greece it's called a briki, or ibriki, not bliki. Thanks everyone for all of the replies to my query.

[Lynnkay]

For a number of years, we were discarding our old Mr. Coffee's (or other similar brands) because they finally just quit working. Finally, I decided to try going back to the old fashioned percolators like I used to see in kitchens when I was a child.
We found an electric one at Wal-Mart, and we love it! The coffee has that old-fashioned, real-brewed flavor and it's actually hot, not just warm. The plastic chambers in the standard, average coffee makers are just not as efficient, imho. The chambers inside this percolator are stainless steel. It's more work to clean and make coffee each a.m., but it's well worth it.

[NCLee]

What was the brand of the one you found at WalMart? I've been thinking about getting one, too. But, didn't have any idea they were still being sold. Was planning to do some looking at flea markets and yard sales.

TIA!
Lee

[crunchycon]

I have a French Press and a conventional drip at home. I like the French Press a little better, but the conventional drip is convenient, and it has a thermal carafe so the coffee doesn't cook all day.
Actually, my favorite coffee comes from my mother's 36-cup Mirro percolator that I recently inherited from her. I use it in my classroom (I'm a corporate trainer - don't worry, I'm not serving coffee to third-graders!), and it not only makes a great cup of coffee, but it keeps it at the right temp all morning.

[Anon001]

I, too use a French Press. During the winter months I keep it sitting on the top of the wood stove cabinet. It's just about the right temperature for me. During the summer, I have one of those Thermos air pump type thing... when my coffee is ready, I put it in that thermos and it stays plenty warm.

Since I'm off grid, I don't use anything that uses a "direct short" type of heat. In other words, nothing with a heating element or filament. So, it used to be perked until I got a French Press.

Paul

[sally]

I like my new Aeropress coffee maker better than a french press, because it can use finely-ground coffee without leaving dregs in my cup, and because cleanup is quick.

[Anon001]

Sally,

I added, to my french press, some of the material that I use to filter raw honey. I just cut it in a cirlce the size of the screen. Now I get no dregs in my coffee cup.

Paul

[sally]

Paul, you amaze me. This forum contains some of the most resourceful people I know. :)

[Anon001]

Sally.... I can't remember the old saying, but "something" is the mother of invention?.... in my case, poverty is the mother of invention... LOL

[nhlivefreeordie]

Sally.... I can't remember the old saying, but "something" is the mother of invention?.... in my case, poverty is the mother of invention... LOL

I think you were looking for "Crisis is the mother of invention"...when living it, crisis is the equivalent of poverty......sometimes....

[CastIronCook2]

Paul, like you, we spend a lot of time off-grid. So, that good old copper kettle on the wood stove and an insulated, double-walled French press works for us. Might as well let the wood do the work, eh?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4251607481_f6bc6a6961_o.jpg

[Faye]

Necessity is the Mother of invention. It is getting necessary for me to find a new coffee pot. I have a Mr. Coffee, a stovetop percolator, a stovetop drip pot and a french press. I cannot stand dregs in my coffee and the only thing that does not have them is the Mr. Coffee but it just does not have the flavor. I have been thinking about an electric percolator but figure I will still have the same problem.

[NCLee]

Don't know if this will work, but you may want to experiment with it.

Use your stove top percolator. Grab one of your Mr. Coffee filters. Cut a hole in the center small enough so you have to force it over the stem of the grounds basket. Put in in the basket and trim off any excess. (Depends on the size of your pot.) Take it out of the basket, Use it to mark another one for a "pattern". Put back in the basket, and make about a half pot of coffee. (Don't know if it'll affect the operation of the pot, so I wouldn't do a full pot on the first try.)

If it works, use your "pattern" to pre-cut some more filters.

If it doesn't work, tell me that I had a dumb idea. :) If it does work, let us know as others may want to try it, too.

Lee

[Dayzee]

have't seen this mentioned yet. I haven't tried it but some people swear by it:

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/06/coldhome/


Yup, cold-brewed makes the smoothest, tastiest coffee I ever drank. A Seattle coffee nerd introduced me to the method. I don't make it often as I think it takes too much coffee. I bought the expensive brewing system from Amazon, but the way it is illustrated in Tod's link (above) works fine. I have also put the coffee grounds in a (clean! :D) nylon stocking and soaked the whole works over night in cold water.

Most of the time, however, I have an old Mr. Coffee that I have used for years. It brews right into its thermal pot and stays hot for a lot time and doesn't keep on cooking and getting bitter. Reheating a cupful from the thermos pot in the Micro is also fine and still tastes fresh.