Starbucks coffee tastes like basswood, you know, the stuff they make popsicle sticks out of.

ollano

I drink espresso , I make it here at home with a pump machine & at the cigar shop there is a coffee shop right across the street, I get a double shot & a cup of black coffee every morning when I open up,,a Don Carlos #3 & my day is off to a flying start !!!
Enjoy, Vince

I spend time at Starbucks when I am on the road b/c they have T-Mobile Hot Spots for wireless internet, but I am not a big fan of their coffee. I'll buy a double shot of expresso when I am without my Bialetti on the road.
What they HAVE accomplished though is quite a feat: they have convinced America that it is OK to spend $5.00 on a cup of coffee. Now THAT'S marketing!

If you can't get Cuban beans, then Bustelo is a the best substitute I've tried.

With that said, Cuban beans, Turquino, Serrano are available in Canada so that's what I have, every day.

Bustelo is like Sanka with a few spoons of dirt in it for earthiness.

I can understand why people buy Turquino and Serrano if that's what is easily availble. But some people actually go out of their way to get them. That's like moving out of the US and going out of your way to buy Folgers. Sure they are much better than American market brands...but in the world of coffee, they are supermarket quality.

Right you are Sobek.
Try buying raw beans and roasting them yourselves. I favor the Colombian Medellin. I don't prefer to roast them to meet the espresso level. I like them lightly roasted, full of flavor, full of natural oil, full of caffeine.

Expresso is my choice, sometimes with a splash
of Sambuca. I roast my beans using copper stove-top roaster that's been in our famuily for over
80 yrs. Then use a burr grinder so the expresso is perfectly ground fresh for each cup, I prefer
an 8 oz. mug alternately sipping a snifter of Hennessy while smoking the cigar of choice for that evening. I also have to admit that occasionally my wife & I enjoy a good naijr with
cardomen (yes it is like mud near the bottom)
but it also is a wonder brew when prepared properly and provides a kick...several times that of expresso....not for the weak of heart -
especially in an 8 oz. mug...

"Life has many pleasures, but
none so noteworthy as that of
a great cigar." Llord Nakcor

quote:

Bustelo is like Sanka with a few spoons of dirt in it for earthiness

Now come on Sobek... you need to come over for a cup of Sanka/dirt at my house! There are 2 different discussions in this thread - (1) "real" expresso; Italian in origin and a whole deal in itself and (2) Cuban coffee - also called "espresso" here in Miami - and a VERY different deal than the aforementioned "real" espresso. I have never had Bustelo without copious amounts of sugar nor would I. But, I can assure you that I can make it taste pretty sensational.

I love espresso. After my last trip to Rome I got back to NYC and woke up jet lagged, headed down Columbus Ave. looking for a Italian style "Bar" that I could stand at and order a "dopio" (double) and all I could find was Starbucks. No place to stand, the espresso was bitter, no crema and awful.

And you know what? IT WAS SCALDING HOT! I mean McDonald's burn your crotch hot. I have since noticed that good espresso is just the right temperature to drink when it hits the bar. Some in the US might call it warm.

Yup. Starbucks espresso is pretty rank stuff.

In no particular order:

1- Arabic Yemeni Coffee - Dark and Black or light and yellowish
2- Saudi coffee - Green light beans+Cardamon
3- Illy - Espresso Pouches
4- Blue Mountain - Hediard Paris
5- La Tassa D'oro - Rome
6- Home roasted coffee

quote:

Originally posted by pmpimbura:
Yup. Starbucks espresso is pretty rank stuff.

The worst tasting cup of coffee possible is from starbucks... (Id rather go to McD's for a cup before them)

funny you bumped this thread to the top, before the a.c. big smoke i was hanging out with a friend of a friend who made us some cuban coffees with some baileys before we went over, absolutely incredible. I went home that weekend and bought a Bialetti and I'm trying to imitate the drink.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryan:

quote:

Originally posted by pmpimbura:
Yup. Starbucks espresso is pretty rank stuff.

The worst tasting cup of coffee possible is from starbucks... (Id rather go to McD's for a cup before them)

I add it to my coffee when I need a pick me up, when I dont have time to sit & enjoy the espresso, I do have a small espresso maker but the coffee shop across the street from the Cigar shop makes great espresso, I have my own cup there, it holds about 6 good shots , NO SUGAR maybe a little Irish whisky or a blended scotch, if its single malt, I would rather have it on the side, not in the espresso. Enjoy, Vince

Glad this thread got bumped. I just got an espresso machine for a wedding gift. I made the first shot tonight after reading the extensive instruction manual. Its a pretty easy to use machine and the end result was very tasty. It came with some of the Illy espresso pods but I also went out and got some Illy espresso grind to try later on when I get the hang of packing it. I am going to have to try some of the coffees that are mentioned here.

I picked up some of this bustelo everyone but sobek is talking about. I haven't tried it yet but I look forward to the dirty sanka flavors that await.

I regret to say that i sell starbucks coffee and espresso (i work at barnes and noble in the cafe) and think that their espresso is pretty damn gross. The coffee shop i worked at before had really good beans, but i cant remember what it was. One thing i have learned through working there is that espresso turns even more bitter after about 15 seconds of brewing. When we brew it, we are supposed to mix it within 10-15 seconds with whatever drink it is for, like a mocha or whatever, or the espresso turns to crap. i think its crap anyway, but i tasted the difference between right when its brewed and about 20 seconds, and the flavor change is really apparent. it turns very bitter in that short period of time, but i dont know why anyone likes that stuff anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by pmpimbura:
I picked up some of this bustelo everyone but sobek is talking about. I haven't tried it yet but I look forward to the dirty sanka flavors that await.

I just can't drink pre-ground or pre-packaged coffee of any sort. It's lifeless. It's especially worse if you have to shovel sugar in it to make it drinkable. Good coffee should be great black or with minimal sugar. Anything else is coffee flavored water, and not coffee.

Sobek, even the best coffee is 98% water. So technically its all coffee flavored water. Do you roast your own beans or do you get them fresh every few weeks? Just curious because I found a place near my house that you can pick up freshly roasted beans every week. I used to think it was absurd that they post the roasting date on the label but I guess the shelf life is only like 2 weeks after roasting for optimum flavor. Maybe I'll have to give them a shot.

I think Jadawin hit on something. After doing this espresso routine daily for a few days I do notice that the first sip is the best by far. Anyone else notice this?

I got too lazy to roast, so now I just have regular accounts that send me fresh beans every week or other week. Usually getting them shipped is still fine because some people prefer not to use beans roasted on the day of....reason being they foam up alot and many coffee buffs press or vacuum brew and too much foam means you can only brew 1-2 cups only in most regular sized apparatuses by those methods.

I definitely recommend trying out your local roasterie. Go with any roast but dark for the best preservation of flavor. If you want a stronger cup, just use more beans. Dark roast is very hard to pull off and usually most roasteries butcher the beans.