Coffee

You have seriously good taste in coffee!

As an everyday coffee I quite rate Illey, not in the class you're talking about, but the best I've found from supermarkets.  To get anything better requires a significant shopping trip for me, so better coffee is a luxury.

I currently use 35ml @ 95°c, 4s pre-infusion, 15s push.

I agree about the High Street chains - useful for company and rest when out and about with friends or for the caffeine in an emergency, but not useful for much else.

Nick From Suffolk's your boy here. Me, I'm an unsophisticated Nespresso fan, can't be doing with all that fuss. 

Of all the 'preset' pod machines, the Nespresso is definitely the best.

The mistake most people make using instant granular coffee is the boiling the living daylights out of it.

I can't drink it the way all my friends make it...

Good preparation technic:  With the kettle brought to the boil fill the cup quarter full simply to warm it. Allow the kettle to cool slightly while swilling out the warmed cup, and putting in a heaped spoonful of Kenco Rappor. Pour the slightly cooled down [not boiling!] water in the cup to fill at half full only (or half empty depending upon if you're an optimist or pessimist). Add a good splash of shaken fresh semi-skimmed milk (about a quarter of the cup quantity). Stir and enjoy. If you're wimpy enough to have need of sugar use Demerara.

I know this instant is not proper fancy pants bean coffee but it's a very easy non-faff way of making a quick satisfying cuppa : )

Debs

Thanks, I guess you can choose your bean etc on the Nespresso machines? - and I think I remember seeing some create their own pods etc? To Tony's point about fuss - once you have a routine - you can prepare a wonderful coffee from bean to cup in about 5 minutes - but there is always a bit of mess admittedly... at least with me  

Debs is spot on with temperature - the same holds true for coffee and tea - the temp is crucial and it must not be boiling - and with milk coffees the milk should not exceed 65to 70 c or thereabouts in preparation. If you sip a coffee, a milk coffee or tea and its too hot to drink after preparation then it has almost certainly not been prepared correctly and you have probably killed much of the subtle flavours - and if too cold then almost certainly you have not warmed the cup / pot correctly and again you will be under achieving the taste

I'd recommend Has Bean as a good place to buy beans from. They do lots of single origin coffee and a good subscription service. The filter methods are generally highly regarded particularly Chemex is good. Would also recommend Aeropress as worth trying.

I would say the most important thing in terms of equipment is a good grinder and selecting right grind size.

Thanks - yes I have discovered the importance of the grinder and the correct grind size - especially with espresso where there is not much room for error. Also discovered that  ground beans deteriorate in terms of the subtle tastes really quickly.. so you need to ensure your grounder is efficient here especially for home use. Looking forward to trying some filter and brewing methods to  aim to experience the different taste balance of coffees.

My coffee is a simple task, use Lavazza beans from tesco, ground with a Krups electric mill, and then a Bodum cafetière.

simple and easy, and a nice flavour

We've got a Delonghi bean-to-cup maker. Simple to use.....beans go in the top, water in the tank......coffee come out of the spouts.

Waitrose and Wittards are good for whole beans.

I am currently drinking Kenya AA medium roast, bought as beans from the local Bean Brothers of Huddersfield. Ground in a DELonghi burr grinder. brewed in a filter machine. Lovely blue fruit notes, and a great smell of coffee. 

Hi Simon , I have a brilliant local independent coffee shop (DetourW12)  that source their coffee from Electric coffee based in Ealing .  I'm led to believe they roast their beans in Sussex ?? As Agent Cooper (Twin Peaks) would say "Damn Fine Coffee" .

https://www.electriccoffee.co.uk

My recommendation is to use an Aeropress.  Make sure you use sufficient coffee - many of the big chains use too little.  As mentioned before, don't use boiling water.  I often find Taylors of Harrogate produce many excellent blends. I particularly like their Lazy Sunday blend

How about a jar of mellow birds?

If visiting Salisbury (I can't think why anyone would!), I thoroughly recommend Coffeelab -  facing the market square, near Debenhams.

Coffee is trial and error until you find something to suit your taste. Nothing wrong with shopping for  coffee at your local Sainsbury's (larger shops). That's where I get my Taylor's Cacao Superior Colombia beans. I also get Lavazza's Crema e Aroma beans from Amazon. No need to go to "posh" shops and pay a premium to buy quality coffee. 

Union Coffee Company supply my beans, mail order. I tend to like the lighter roasts and have had some great Rwandan varieties recently from them. They sell a great variety and never had a poor batch. Their blends are not bad either. I discovered the company when a friend bought me an annual 'subscription' gift which meant I got a different pack each month and that was a great way to explore a good range of styles.

Use a Jura bean-to-cup machine. Lovely and stupidly easy to make a good coffee.

Bruce

I alternate between the various offerings from Taylors of Harrogate and fresh roasted beans from a local artisan roaster.

All fed into a Jura bean to cup machine, powered, naturally, with a Powerline, for that little extra je ne sais quoi. 

When I used to smoke I adored the sensation of having double very sweet expresso with my Malborough cigarette.  Now on ocassions I still have double sweet expresso but its not the same without the cigarette......

I like my coffee how I like my cheddar - it should take the roof of your mouth off. I get this amazing stuff from Gama, a Turkish distributor/wholesaler in North London. It comes out like tar and contains enough caffeine to wake the dead. Which is how it should be.

Rather more mellow is Gesha Ethiopian from the Ethiopian Coffee Co in London (expensive and always in limited supply but worth tracking down).

As as mere moka pot coffee brewer this thread is too hardcore for me.

All I can do is speak up for the coffee at Carluccio's in terms of high street brands. And in my city, good service too.

At this time of year one of my favourite drinks is cold-brewed coffee.  No special equipment is needed (although I use a Hario jug).  It hits a very different spot from an espresso shot (which I also brew) and brings out all the flavour of the beans without even a hint of the bitterness that hot water extracts from them, but it won't take the roof of your mouth off!  It works particularly well with beans with a strong citrus flavour such as some of the east African varieties, which I find too sharp for my taste when brewed conventionally, but is also good with varieties with more chocolatey notes.  And I prefer it at room temperature rather than poured over ice as seems to be recommended on many websites.

Roger

naim_nymph posted:

The mistake most people make using instant granular coffee is the boiling the living daylights out of it.

I can't drink it the way all my friends make it...

Good preparation technic:  With the kettle brought to the boil fill the cup quarter full simply to warm it. Allow the kettle to cool slightly while swilling out the warmed cup, and putting in a heaped spoonful of Kenco Rappor. Pour the slightly cooled down [not boiling!] water in the cup to fill at half full only (or half empty depending upon if you're an optimist or pessimist). Add a good splash of shaken fresh semi-skimmed milk (about a quarter of the cup quantity). Stir and enjoy. If you're wimpy enough to have need of sugar use Demerara.

I know this instant is not proper fancy pants bean coffee but it's a very easy non-faff way of making a quick satisfying cuppa : )

Debs

I wonder how many people are biting their tongues, being too polite to protest at your mention of instant coffee on a thread such as this one! I, too, will confess that I'm partial to the stuff. I'm also very partial to a good strong espresso, but I don't see them as the same drink. After dinner, only espresso hits the spot for me, but in the morning, that would be too much for my taste buds, and that's then I turn to instant. Adding milk first, then hot water, seems to work for me in keeping the too-hot water from the kettle from spoiling the taste.

Cbr600 posted:

My coffee is a simple task, use Lavazza beans from tesco, ground with a Krups electric mill, and then a Bodum cafetière.

simple and easy, and a nice flavour

Same here except with Asda chosen by you Columbian beans.

Willy.

Don't know if it's allowed but Costco sell a large 1kg bag of lavazza beans for around £8.  Very nice it is to. Tesco and Asda prices seem to fluctuate around the £12+ mark

For a double espresso, I like what Pizza Express' serves. Always consistently very good.

At the moment my favourite for a French press is Percol organic all day Americano.   Not heart stoppingly strong, but very tasty and smooth that can be enjoyed throughout the day.