I like coffee. I roast my own, grind my own and then "drip" brew it. (I am not sure that "brew" is a

[3Hotdogs]

correct term for the process but you get the idea.) I ain't much into fancy stuff like frappe or such. Just a plain, old cup of drip coffee.

Well, the $190 Cuisinart coffee maker collapsed today and Cuisinart -- well they no longer support the fuckin' thing. It is now, useless.

So, off to Costco. The only brand on the shelf was Ninja for a couple'a hundred. Fuck that.

Next, off to Target --- Ninja, Cuzze, and other brands for $100 or more.


Then I find a box on the "special" shelf, $19.99.


$150 or 19.95, the process is the same: hot water is poured over grounds and the process leaches residue from the grounds and you get your coffee. This process is the same for any of the units on the shelf.

So the $19.99 (plus tax) is on the counter making coffee as good as the stuff that came out of the $190 piece or shit. Unfortunately, the new one doesn't have as many buttons to press.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. I grind and use a reusable Kuerig cup. Works great, tastes good.

[2naSalit]

2. I have...

A Melita, a porcelain one and I love it. Had one for the last forty years. You can use any variety of filter, I use unbleached paper. I have a couple different sizes, one that goes with an urn and one that fits over a mug. Pour boiling water over it and let it do its thing, a perfect cup every time. Doesn't take any longer than an electric device. My favorite roast comes from a friends shop and everything he sells is fair trade so I feel good about that part too.

[peacefreak2.0]

4. Hooray! Another Melitta fan.

We couldn’t get lower tech if we tried. A couple of scoops of Cafe du Monde, some cinnamon and I’m a happy person.

[2naSalit]

5. It's about the best...

coffee making system a coffee snob could have unless you make cold press.

[callous taoboy]

3. One thing I love about coffee:

The more patient you are with the drip process, the better the cup. Just a small amount of hot water over the grounds at first- let it soak and outgas. For the first few minutes you may only get a dozen drips into the pot. Next splash of hot water is around the sides to get the grounds into the middle. I love watching the bubbles in the pot race toward the center and bounce back to the sides. Sometimes I’ll go stand on the back porch after the third, more substantial, dose of water so that I can come back into a house filling up with that delicious aroma.

I use a Chem-x that I got for x-mas a few years ago. All glass makes for a better cup, I suppose. The natural filters are hard to find, ordered on Amazon mostly, and are sort of expensive. My beans are a home blend of dark and medium roasts from a fair-trade company called Ruta Maya.

I used to drink three pots a day a dozen years ago when I was slogging through my teaching career. I had to dial that back after I started waking up in the middle of the night with heart palpitations. Now it’s a half pot, and I’m done with coffee before 6 a.m. But, during my college years a dear friend and I turned coffee into a whole myth thing, “the coffee god visited me today...” sort of stuff, special cups were used, a ritual shared pot at a messy dining room table with good wake up music in the background. Great memories with coffee as a central theme.

[SpamWyzer]

6. I grew organic coffee

on my plantation in the mountains of Costa Rica for 15 years. Full process from starting the seeds in "un almacigo", caring for the young plants in "un invernadero", then cutting them out of the ground with rootball/ "terron" of soil intact. Once planted in the rows, the coffee took 3 years to produce the first crop. I would hire the local women of the town and we would harvest, at the best harvest ever 1500 lbs. of organic coffee grown at 1200 meters. The bags would be carried by me down to the "ranchito", 45 kilos each bag. The processing of the coffee takes weeks in all, from "chanclado", the removal of the outer fruit layer or "bellota", the transport from the chancladora was always great fun, me and a worker smelling like coffee honey/"miel" from the bags soaking wet with miel. We would lay the coffee out on screen bottom tables and on tarps in the sun for 3-4 weeks, turning the beans with large spoons "paletas" and when the skin, "el pergamino" was dry and almost starting to separate from the bean, we would run the beans through a mill to remove the pergamino. The coffee then drys in the sun for another 2-3 weeks, darkening the lovely grey green beans to a jade-like color. After they are dark and dry, the time comes to roast the beans, over an open fire under the blue sky. In a large kettle, we would pour about a half gallon of beans at a time and stir them for around 15 to 20 minutes with the paleta. I learned from my teacher, a man who ran a 40 hectare plantation in his middle age, exactly what the best roast was for the arabigo/arabica beans we grew. The color and flavor for each type of roast are a matter of art and not science. Roasting machines do not produce the flavor of the seasoned nose and eye. When all the roasting process for a portion of the harvest, usually a small 35 kilos/ 77 lbs. was completed, we would bag the coffee, whole beans, apply our label, seal the bags and go to the farmers market to sell the already sold coffee to our loyal customers. When Ticos tell you that your coffee is "del mejor que he tomado", it is quite a compliment. Considering the prices of artesanal coffee in the shops and supermarkets, we sold a superior product at a great price and never had enough to satisfy all the way to years end. My story of my life as the grower of "Siete Perros Cafe Organico" in Tierras Morenas de Tilaran, Guanacaste. I would never have given it up. However, my beloved wife was taken by leukemia (discovered too late. *Please pay attention to bruising and claims of headaches.I wish I had understood...) and with my most Herculean efforts, I could not continue. I sold to a group from LA who have not impressed me with their understanding of coffee. They do not know soil or nuances of flavor or event he art of roasting. So I now drink the excellent coffee that my main competitor, Ma'coNilo (Cafe SyM), grows and roasts. I have moved on to a new life with a wonderful friend who would often buy our coffee fro us at the market. My coffee story, thanks for reading it. Blessings on all and it is the little things that make coffee such a treat. I am honored to have had the life.

[Easterncedar]

7. Wonderful story. Thank you.

It’s easy to take coffee for granted. I will appreciate my cup more this morning.

[3Hotdogs]

9. Thank you for your story. I wish you were still growing. I would have loved to

pay for 10 pounds to be mailed to the U.S.

3H

[txwhitedove]

8. French Press with built in filter makes great coffee easily. Then use a 4cup

Mr. Coffee to keep some hot past breakfast. I've used mine for 5 years and love it.

[zeusdogmom]

10. My choice is also a French press

Easy. No filter necessary. Coffee grounds go directly to the compost. Takes up minimal space. Great coffee - does help to grind the beans just before adding water.

Alternative for a single cup is the little AeroPress.

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

11. I use a couple percolators myself.

Got my big electric one I use all the time for 12 bucks and my stovetop one for a few bucks. Both at Goodwill.

There's just nothing like perk coffee. It's so damn good. It's actually hot too, I hate a cup of coffee that isn't hot enough.

[Demsrule86]

12. I have a Phillips espresso maker. This is one of the cheapest espresso machines available.

I paid around $400.00 on sale. This is my second one. It makes excellent espresso. I love coffee...particularly espresso. I swear my kid's first word was venti latte. I don't know if folks remember that coffee quality was not good in the late 70's and 80's. My parents used A&P whole bean and ground it. But it was hit or miss. Some bags were good-some not. I loved Starbucks when it arrived. However, not being independently wealthy, I could not sustain this habit.

So I began making it at home...I have had cheap espresso machines and expensive ones. I had a Jura which I got for $600.00. This was a $3000.00 machine that had been returned. They will wear out of course eventually as our house is like a small coffee shop. Everyone drinks it. I buy a medium Starbucks roast and mix it with good quality columbian. I just finished my morning latte...a little slice of heaven!

[bucolic_frolic]

13. I have a Stainless Farberware electric percolate and drip pot

but many mornings I just boil a teaspoon in a conventional pot for 1 minute and filter it.

[3Hotdogs]

14. Interesting.