What Drives Your Coffee Preferences?

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The discussion revolves around personal preferences for coffee, highlighting various types such as instant, drip, espresso, and specialty blends. Participants share their favorites, with Nescafe Taster's Choice and Folger's Original Roast being popular choices for instant coffee drinkers. Many express a preference for rich, flavorful coffee without sugar, emphasizing the enjoyment of bitter and creamy profiles. The Porto Rico Importing house blend from Manhattan garners praise for its balanced flavor, while others mention brands like Peet's, Lavazza, and Dancing Goats for their strong and rich offerings. The conversation also touches on the affordability of good coffee, with some participants noting that high-quality beans can be found at reasonable prices. There is a humorous exchange about the extremes of coffee preferences, including the infamous Kopi Luwak, and a nod to the cultural significance of coffee in social settings, particularly in academic environments. Overall, the thread showcases a diverse range of coffee experiences and the communal joy of sharing coffee-related anecdotes.
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It doesn't matter if it comes in the form of whole beans, ground beans, or instant coffee. What is your favourite coffee? Briefly describe what makes it so good :biggrin:.

I have been drinking nescafe taster's choice for quite a while now and it is probably one of the best instant coffees(imo), but I just bought a coffee machine so I am going to switch to drip coffee.
 
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Folger's Original Roast with Cream, no sugar. I like coffee to be bitter and creamy, not sweet though. (Some people I know think I'm crazy for drinking coffee without sugar.)
 
We still get our coffee from our favorite place in the Village in Manhattan, Porto Rico Importng. It's their house blend. It's a American roast so it's not too dark, but it has just a ton of flavor and is not bitter at all. Yum. The describe it as:

a blend of Mocha, Java, Colombian, and Brazilian Santos.

I actually have 20 Lbm of it on the way as we speak. That is one thing I do miss about living in NY.
 
Black, unsweetened espresso made from Chock Full 'o Nuts regular grind. I traded in some unused air miles for an espresso maker a few years ago and I have a big mug of espresso every morning. It blasts that superheated water through the grounds so fast, there is no time for it for it to pick up a bitter or acidic taste. BTW, that is pretty cheap coffee - you don't have to buy pricey blends to make good coffee.
 
We grind Millstone French Roast.
 
Intravenous. :biggrin: jk

I'll drink just about anything - even the sludge at the bottom of the pot.

My consumption varies, but it's probably two, three or four liters/day sometimes.

An my wife complains that I'm spiking it when I add cocoa (plain or raspberry) mix to it.

I use a rather large mug at home, so I usually knock of 1.5-2 liters at breakfast.

I like to put vanilla ice cream, honey and nutmeg powder in the mug and pour the coffee over that - or just coffee w/ cocoa mix. :biggrin:

I used to drink Seaport, which is an especially strong coffee.
 
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we brew espresso/capuccino at home from dancing goats beans. at work we have a lavazza espresso machine. at our sons house in the bay area we drink Peets. a well equipped coffee room is the most important feature of a math department, as that's where most of the best conversations take place.

oh description: peets ahs so much flavor, you can even brew the same grounds twice, unpalatable as that sounds. lavaza is the premium italian coffee used in Italy. Dancing goats, house blend from espresso royale in athens is a nice rich dark blend, but its the espresso machine that makes the difference. We bought one a few years ago from starbucks and have never bought another cup of their dreck.

we paid $300 and it didn't work right, so took it back and tried some cheaper ones. but by then we were hooked on the good stuff, and it turned out the gaskets were just not quite set in right, so we got another $300 one, and never looked back. we are on our second one now.

instant coffee? [guffaw, chortle.]
 
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now how do all those exotic coffee ads find this page? or is this a product placement thread?
 
Google uses keywords from the thread to generate the ads.

As for coffee, I don't drink the stuff :-p
 
  • #10
instant coffee? [guffaw, chortle.]
forgot the
 
  • #11
then why didn't tasters choice and other schlock make itaa/ did the
y just assume we were gourmet coffee drinkers?
 
  • #12
Astronuc said:
forgot the
Do we have a smilie with a more disgusted expression? I don't even want Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, or Tim Horton coffees anymore. My home-made espresso is too good. Instant is out of the question. My wife used to keep a little around the house to "perk up" her brownies with a mocha flavor, but that's all it ever got used for.
 
  • #13
My favorite is: Don Francisco's cinnamon Hazelnut.


When Consumer Reports magazine compared coffee from mega-chain Starbucks with java from three fast-food restaurants, the surprising winner was – McDonald’s.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/1/29/102949.shtml

I am starting to suspect that Mac Dees adds a secret ingredient to their coffee. Sort of like when it was discovered that they added sugar to their french fries.
 
  • #14
Illy Espresso, made with a proper Bialetti coffee maker. Or if I am in the mood Cafe Hellinica (glykys)
 
  • #15
McDees had announced that they were going to start selling high quality coffee; and it makes sense because $5.00 a cup certainly doesn't. It may be nothing more than a free market doing its job. Does anyone really think their coffee is worth 3.50 to 5.00 a cup in a competitive market?

I never would have predicted that people would pay what they do for a cup of Joe.

However, in my experience Consumer's Reports is full of it. I never trust what they say anymore.
 
  • #16
McDonald's is my favorite coffee.
 
  • #17
I like Starbuck's Italian Roast, brewed at home, not by them. It's a strong, dark roast, but not bitter or burnt tasting like a lot of dark roasts commonly available.

My former favorite was Millstone's Bed and Breakfast Blend, but I can't get that in the stores around here :frown: so that prompted me to switch to Starbucks (the other brands here are offered either in too light of roasts or are burnt tasting). The Bed and Breakfast Blend was also a dark roast and not bitter (it's quite different from their Breakfast Blend).

But, if you're switching from instant, all of these will taste too strong to you.
 
  • #18
Dark, smooth, strong and rich ...like my man:wink:
 
  • #19
My man (who insists he's not my man - pfffft, right :wink: ) is thin, light, rather sharp and sour at times, obviously he would not be good to drink.
 
  • #20
Evo said:
My man (who insists he's not my man - pfffft, right :wink: ) is thin, light, rather sharp and sour at times, obviously he would not be good to drink.
Maybe you could use him to pickle cucumbers. :smile:
 
  • #21
Evo said:
My man (who insists he's not my man - pfffft, right :wink: ) is thin, light, rather sharp and sour at times, obviously he would not be good to drink.

turbo-1 said:
Maybe you could use him to pickle cucumbers. :smile:

:smile: :smile: lol...


Espresso. Perhaps with a few frops of milk. Half of a sugar.
 
  • #22
Evo said:
McDonald's is my favorite coffee.
Once again, you have driven me into a state of despair, and the only way out was for me to devour a couple of squares of Lindt Excellence 70% dark chocolate. I hope you can live with yourself.
 
  • #23
Thankyou everyone, this thread will give me a bunch of new stuff to try. I agree that the instant coffee is not very good at all, but I am poor and couldn't afford a coffee maker, :-P.

FredGarvin said:
We still get our coffee from our favorite place in the Village in Manhattan, Porto Rico Importng. It's their house blend.

I had a look at their webpage and it looks like I may be able to get some shipped over the border, sounds really good. I will have to try it.

Moonbear said:
I like Starbuck's Italian Roast, brewed at home, not by them. It's a strong, dark roast, but not bitter or burnt tasting like a lot of dark roasts commonly available.

I ended up getting a 1lb bag of Starbuck's house blend, its quite good.

mathwonk said:
we brew espresso/capuccino at home from dancing goats beans. at work we have a lavazza espresso machine. at our sons house in the bay area we drink Peets. a well equipped coffee room is the most important feature of a math department, as that's where most of the best conversations take place.

I have to try an espresso, I haven't yet. Peets doesn't seem to be available in Canada :-(. Sounds very good though.

astronuc said:
forgot the

:frown: Oh cmon, its not THAT bad. :redface:
 
  • #24
If you can find any, which may not be possible on the mainland, 100% Kona coffee [Hawaii] is very good. Unfortunately we can only get a 10% Kona blend around here.
 
  • #25
100% special kona is good, but at $40 a lb, it is not as good as the price.

there is very fine coffe available for $10/lb.

and peets has a website and sells by mail presumably to Canada.

i used to buy golden assam tea by mail from Canada.
 
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  • #26
mathwonk said:
and peets has a website and sells by mail presumably to Canada.

Ahhh you are very correct, they do! I will have to resurrect this thread after I order some (I will) :cool:

edit: Also, I will look out for a kona blend, thanks Ivan.
 
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  • #27
mathwonk said:
100% special kona is good, but at $40 a lb, it is not as good as the price.

On the islands it is reasonably priced, but the supply is so limited...
 
  • #28
My favorite is a Dark Roasted Sumatran from Sivetz coffee (A local Roaster). I have also drank a lot of Kenyan roasted by Allan Brothers.. The main Allan Brothers roaster is about 1 mile from my house, when the wind is right we get the aromas floating by... :!) .

I am now, however just at the end of a supply I bought from Costco last Dec. ($3/lb for pretty good coffee is to good to pass up.) I am looking forward to getting some more Sivetz soon.

As a side note, my son is working toward starting a coffee roasting business near Philadelphia. They have kinda put the coffee business on the back burner to care for my latest grandkid. (Born 9 May)
 
  • #29
I drink Maxwellhouse Masterblend, with Speedway gas station coffee my second choice. The only thing I like in it is 2% milk. I'm very much like Astro, I drink it all day long.
 
  • #30
Integral said:
As a side note, my son is working toward starting a coffee roasting business near Philadelphia. They have kinda put the coffee business on the back burner to care for my latest grandkid. (Born 9 May)

Congrats on the newest grandkid!

hypatia said:
I drink Maxwellhouse Masterblend, with Speedway gas station coffee my second choice. The only thing I like in it is 2% milk. I'm very much like Astro, I drink it all day long.

Hee...one of the grad students in my lab only likes gas station coffee. Granted, it's not that bad in the gas station nearest here (Sheetz...not sure how common that brand is outside of this area), but if I make anything stronger (like the Starbucks) he needs to add water. When I lived in MI, Speedway coffee was decent, especially for a gas station (that was before I got myself hooked on the stronger stuff).

If you generally like gas station coffee, then Folgers is a good one. I bring that to the lab for those who don't appreciate the stronger blends (which reminds me, I need to stock up on snacks and coffee out at the farm...I have a long experiment next week and need to bribe my helpers).
 
  • #31
The best flavored coffee: Seattle's Best "Cinnabon" with cream, no sugar.

It can be a little strong, but YUM!

http://www.seattlesbest.com/products/Product.aspx?productID=8"
 
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  • #32
you must be buying the cheap stuff ivan, the high end 100% kona reserve, or whatever, was $40 on maui last summer. in the lahaina coffee shop downtown. or you have a good source.

kona reserve is offered by amazon at $260 for 5 lbs.
 
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  • #33
mathwonk said:
you must be buying the cheap stuff ivan, the high end 100% kona reserve, or whatever, was $40 on maui last summer. in the lahaina coffee shop downtown. or you have a good source.

kona reserve is offered by amazon at $260 for 5 lbs.

Huh, I guess the price has gone up a lot since I was there last. I'm sure that we have never paid more than ten bucks a pound. My cousin brought back a few pounds for me this year but I never asked what he paid for it.

Of course, everything on Maui is expensive. Maybe you should try out a cheaper island. :biggrin:
 
  • #34
Integral said:
My favorite is a Dark Roasted Sumatran from Sivetz coffee (A local Roaster). I have also drank a lot of Kenyan roasted by Allan Brothers..

I really like Sumatran and Kenyan... in fact I need to buy some. :-p
 
  • #35
as you probably know better than me, there is part kona, 100% kona, and 100% kona peaberry reserve(?). and i myself never bought the peaberry until last summer, and its the expensive one, and the best, but still no better to me than good 10$ coffee available almost anywhere, like starbucks, seattle best, espresso royale,...

maui is my favorite island, and has the best wine store too, where the wine is no more expensive than in atlanta. but maybe the coffee is more there. i suspect kona coffee is the beneficiary of good marketing and small supply, and the general popularity of the islands.

but i feel the same about pricy african coffees like "blue mountain" or whatever. being an italophile, nothing beats a hot espreso from almost any coffee shop in italy, and their top brand is lavazza, available for $10, or $20/lb even at ripoff tourist markets like pike place in seattle.

i used to proudly use a bialetti too at home, and had several sizes, but once one of my italian friends sampled my fare and pronounced it "horrible". It took many years after that to admit it, but now that I have my own espresso machine i know what he said was true.
 
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  • #36
ok here is the royal kona website offering 100% kona peaberry at only 13.95 for seven ounces which people on this site can chnge to poundage at about $32/lb i guess.

http://store.hawaiicoffeeco.com/Royal_Kona_Coffee_100_Kona_Peaberry_RK078114.aspx here it is for $27.50/lb, b

http://www.koacoffee.com/peaberry-dark.html but still that is triple what i have been paying for years for excellent dark roast coffee with less cachet. i think its a ripoff unless you are rich and addicted to it. for $45 i have been getting 5 lbs of good beans and a free cup of coffee. and that's less per lb than instant poison.

wrt price on the other hand, i know lots of peiople who claim that $40-$50 a bottle is too much to spend for wine, but they always drink it when offered. so ill just have to come to ivans house for kona and sumatra i guess.
 
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  • #37
I had assumed that this is just a supply and demand diddy. After all, the Kona coast is not that big. In fact, I am wondering if the price might have jumped due to internet sales. Not that long ago Kona coffee was virtually exclusive to the islands.

I don't know if we have tried the Kona peaberry but will watch for it in the future.
 
  • #38
Only a very limited range of cofee varieties is available at the local market here.
Of all I have tried so far, my personal favourite, which happens to be the most popular as well is the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_filter_coffee" .
The rich aroma, strong flavour and the distinct sweet taste are trademarks of India's favourite coffee.
 
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  • #39
peaberry apparently means that only one pea instead of two, of coffee, is in the pod, which occurs only for 5% of the crop, so this stuff is much higher than standard kona, and supposedly more intense.
 
  • #40
We have been drinking the half-caff from Trader Joes, but if I had my way we'd drink Starbucks morning blend all the time.
 
  • #41
Twisting_Edge told me about this coffee a few months ago, turns out to be tru. Sorry for the wiki article, but it was the most to the point.

"Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for up to $600 USD per pound, and is sold mainly in Japan and United States, but it is increasingly becoming available elsewhere, though supplies are limited. [1]"

"Kopi Luwak or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee cherries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The animals gorge on the ripe berries, and excrete partially-digested beans in their feces, which are then harvested for sale. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Philippines (where the product is called Kape Alamid), in the country of Vietnam, and the coffee estates of south India."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak
 
  • #42
Again and again one has to ask: Who first tried this, and why?
 
  • #43
well i have had people to whom i bragged about my expresso roast claim it smells like dog poop, and there may indeed a certain resemblance even with the best of coffees. so perhaps this civet processed stuff is carrying that idea to its most absurd extreme.
 
  • #44
$600 USD per pound,
I didn't realize civet poop was so expensive. :smile: :smile: :smile:
 
  • #45
thats the asking price on ebay.
 
  • #46
Ivan Seeking said:
Again and again one has to ask: Who first tried this, and why?

haha, yes indeed it does beg the question :smile:
 
  • #47
evo, you started this. rescue us!
 
  • #48
I just ordered some peets house blend mathwonk. :smile:
 
  • #49
Ivan Seeking said:
Again and again one has to ask: Who first tried this, and why?

I'm thinking it was someone REALLY desperate for a cup of coffee. :smile:
 
  • #50
Moonbear said:
I'm thinking it was someone REALLY desperate for a cup of coffee. :smile:

Yeah, I've probably been there. :biggrin:

That's funny, Jim never asks for a second cup of my civet poop.
 

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