Coffee

[feral chile]

Hi Guys,

I'd appreciate some tips on making coffee that tastes as good as it smells. My filter coffee always tastes like used socks. I've tried filter machines, plungers and different brands of coffee, different brewing times and coffee amounts, all to no avail. I might as well boil up some old socks and drink the resulting stock.

Any help would be much appreciated, as I love fresh coffee when someone else makes it!

Edited July 29, 2012 by feral chile

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I have one of these (I burnt out the motor on my last machine!) which makes great coffee (well it's great coffee as far as I'm concerned ie it tastes of pure coffee not old socks);

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DeLonghi-Treviso-espresso-cappuccino-maker/dp/B0000C6XCE

It's down to personal preference but I only make one cup of coffee per load not two as in the photo. That's because I like strong coffee. This gives me the flavours I remember when purchasing coffee abroad ie the real deal.

I use only ground coffee ie I don't grind my own beans but suspect doing so may be superior again. I also found that it's important to experiment with differing coffees from around the world to see which ones suited me best. You'll come up against some dud one's but you'll probably also find one or two which hit the mark.

On a trip to the far east earlier this year I bought someone some expensive Civet Coffee which I also tried while at their house. It's suppossed to be one of the greatest quests a coffee drinker can go on to drink this stuff. My purchase (from a reliable source) was very poor in it's taste I thought. As oppossed to this I bought some Vietnamese coffee on line and it was delightful (but vastly different to my usual coffee). I think it was because it brought back happy thoughts of being in Vietnam ie for me I don't just think it was the taste.

Not sure if any of that helps but I can go off on one when it comes to coffee - evidently!

[The Nal]

Cleaned the coffee machine yesterday. If the filter (where you load the coffee in) isn't clean i.e. the holes are blocked, it'll taste like shit. You can burn that with a flame to clean it.

Otherwise, keep it simple and use one of these.

Edited July 29, 2012 by The Nal

[feral chile]

Thanks for the replies. I'll have to experiment some more. it's difficult though, because filter coffee gets me high as a kite.

[grumpyhack]

Not the real ground but a superb substitute we've found as the best instant. We now take to fests.

[eFestivals]

Any filter maker.

Sainsbury's French Blend coffee (strength 5) - there is no better coffee.

You really really can't go wrong.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Any filter maker.

Sainsbury's French Blend coffee (strength 5) - there is no better coffee.

You really really can't go wrong.

[Tin Can Toaster_122328]

Hi Ya

At Tin Can Toaster we used Japanese Coffee droppers, hand pouring the water from a special teapot. By doing this it just takes the water off of boiling and by hand pouring this through the coffee it avoids burning the coffee grits. It might take a little longer but where ever the Tin Can Toaster goes, by the time we get to the end of the festival, we have complete new customers coming over, who have been advised our coffees the best! Oh and my favorite coffee, its caffe direct organic Macchu Pichu. Its got a melow flavour with hints of chocolate. YUM

[worm]

Any filter maker.

Sainsbury's French Blend coffee (strength 5) - there is no better coffee.

Edited July 30, 2012 by worm

[eFestivals]

You've got to be joking? Each to their own I guess.

Whittard's Pico Duarte (Strength 3) is my favourite coffee around.

you can fall for marketing guff and pay over-the-top for poor coffee if you want to.

Anything from 3 upwards is fine, you simply adjust the timing.

please do tell me how you speed up gravity...?

Strength is different to taste. A strength 3 can have more taste and character than a 5, but the 5 will be darker and more bitter. You need the right bean for strength 5 as a lot of them taste like crap. Guetemalan Elephant is good. French blend and breakfast blend are generally a mash of rubbish at such a strength, but you can get good ones. Italian blend is usually better though.

the italian blend will be the bitter one. It's great that you know so much about coffee tho.

----

If you want a coffee that you can stand your spoon up in and still taste a month later, I recommend Syria.

[AcademicPistol]

Tea FTW!

[The Nal]

Just had a lovely cup of tea but for my money you can't beat a bit of Lavazza Rossa in the morning. Espresso followed by a nice cafe latte.

Edited July 31, 2012 by The Nal

[Spartacus Mars]

Not the real ground but a superb substitute we've found as the best instant. We now take to fests.

[the_hedge]

Tea FTW!

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Tea FTW!

[worm]

you can fall for marketing guff and pay over-the-top for poor coffee if you want to.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

If you want a coffee that you can stand your spoon up in and still taste a month later, I recommend Syria.

[eFestivals]

It took some searching but I eventually found a supplier for Syrian coffee in the UK. It's called Damascus and hasn't got cardiman in as some syrian coffee's do ie. it's pure coffee. So just bought me some. Can't wait to try it.

my experience of Syrian coffee was a cup I had at a stop-over at Damascus Airport. I really could still taste it a month later.

[Katster]

I like tea and coffee at different times for different reasons. I was drinking too much coffee recently and it did me no favours so i limit myself to two cups a day at the very most, but generally i stay away from it. I tried iced coffee at the secret garden party and it was lovely. Would have been even better with some rum or something in it!

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Got my Syrian coffee yesterday and have just had my second cup of it. It does seem strong but hasn't got that nice a taste to it, in my opinion. I'll have another few cups to see if it grows on me. If it doesn't it'll do as a reserve if I run out of my usual coffee.

[windy_miller]

Not the real ground but a superb substitute we've found as the best instant. We now take to fests.

[eFestivals]

I bought some of this last week when I was camping, and it didn't really taste that much different to any other instant coffee to me. If you read the ingredients, it turns out it is 85% freeze dried anyway. Only 15% of it is fine ground proper coffee.

I'm not impressed with it either, but as I've not drunk instant coffee (other than trying this once, at a fest) for years I've got little to compare it against for other instants.

[windy_miller]

I'm not impressed with it either, but as I've not drunk instant coffee (other than trying this once, at a fest) for years I've got little to compare it against for other instants.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I'm not impressed with it either, but as I've not drunk instant coffee (other than trying this once, at a fest) for years I've got little to compare it against for other instants.

[windy_miller]

It's impossible to go back to instant coffee once you've had the real thing. I once tried. Once only.