I'm sitting here enjoying a fresh cup of coffee, a product that shares many flavor charactoristics as cigars. We even use coffee as a discription when we assess a cigar. Though I drink a few cups of "joe" at work every day, I enjoy coffee at home on the weekends. I find myself taking time to really taste the elements of a good roasted coffee, enjoying the complex flavor.

Now this isn't a cup of Folgers or Hill's Bros. I'm talking about, but what some call "Gourmet" or hand crafted coffees, roasted and produced like a micro brew beer, perhaps in smaller batches.

About a year ago I ordered some cigars on-line and received a free pound from Mayorga Coffee Roasters. It was a good medium/dark roast with a full complex flavor and hints of dried fruit and berries, yet smooth.

As an interesting topic this weekend, what coffees do you all enjoy?

Mike

( I'll take it black, thank you)

Three words. PEET'S. There should be one in or near Benecia...their "ESPRESSO FORTE" is a nice roast. Please nobody say the "S" word...

Curse one Bloofington for starting a thread I forget when that caused me to go out and try coffee. While not a 4 cups every day drinker, I have learned to grind my beans at home and brew now. Like my cigars, I like the full-bodied Sumatran beans, but I also love 100% Kona (I believe Doc recommended this one if memory serves)when I want something flavorful but not as stout.

Yes, Peet's is very good and originated here in the SF Bay Area. Benicia is less than 20 miles from where Peet's first started, Berkeley. I haven't purchased any lately, but still have about a third pound of their holiday blend.
Like my cigars, I enjoy bold complex flavors in my coffee.

I drink 2 or three long espressos is the morning. My favorite is a hand-made espresso blend from a coffee roaster in Montreal's Little Italy. Otherwise, the Illy dark espresso from Italy is quite nice.
I never drink coffee after 5 in the PM: or else, trouble falling asleep.

Coffee is one of the joys of my life (like cigars). I like my coffee strong and my cigars full flavored. I'll usually buy french roast beans or italian roast beans and grind them just before I make the coffee.

I've always sweetened my coffee and always used cream.

So far (knock on wood) I can drink it all day long and all evening with no ill effects. I'm often finishing up the last of a cup just before I brush my teeth before going to bed.

No Peets that I know of on the east coast.

Not to be a shill for sources or anything...but you can order Peet's online... Their stuff is really good. Now...it ain't no Kona, but it is still very, very good.

Their "Major Dickason's" blend is excellent, too. W-dog...try either the Espresso Forte or the Dickason's. Very good for espresso or even for drip or melior pot.

French/espresso roasts are burnt. The beans are ruined. Very few roasters go beyond FC+ for their own personal use. Vienna roast is even really pushing it to burnt levels.

The roasteries only sell that burnt espresso/french crap because most consumers don't know any better and enjoy the charbucks style of coffee.

Thanks RyJ for the recommendations.
I currently use a drip system, but thinking of getting a french press, as I understand it's the best way to make a cup of coffee.
Any recommendations to this method?

There are others who can advise you much better than I, but here's what I do:

coarse grind (using a burr grinder); 2 tbsp. coffee per 6 oz water; bring water to boil, let it sit for 30 seconds off the heat, then pour onto coffee grounds. Stir grounds and let steep for 3 minutes. Then plunge. Stop by Peet's and ask for a demo. The thing with a press pot, and any coffee for that matter, is that you need to make sure that the coffee is as fresh as possible, and you can't be using the beans from the holiday blend 8 months ago!! LOL! That will ensure the best flavors. Might want to check out "coffeegeek.com" and if you do, you might just end up buying your own tabletop roaster, some green beans, and open your own store. If you allow cigars, I'll be there!

The press pots are good, and people also swear by vaccuum pots, although I can't quite figure out how to make the vaccuum pot work right! You put the grounds in the top part, water in the bottom...water heats and then rises to the top part where it bubbles from the heat in the bottom chamber, take it off the heat, and the water gets sucked back into the bottom chamber, but it ain't happening, so I stick to the vaccuum pot or espresso.

The "Moka" pot is also good for espresso, and involves 2 chambers. Fill the bottom chamber with water up to the pressure valve. Fill the recepticle with coffee, level with top...fairly fine grind...then screw on the top part and put on heat. Water boils and the steam is forced through the coffee and comes out to the top chamber.

I think I'll go make me a cup!

Very interesting. More to the cup of joe than I thought. I need to spend more time reading up on this topic to get the most from my beans! LOL

Being new this this forum, I search the food and drink catagory and found interesting conversation on this topic from more than a year ago. Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum, but hey, coffee, cigars and a fine cocktail are always worth sharing conversation.

http://forums.cigaraficionado.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/47...=340104962#340104962

Enjoy,
Mike

No longer available? Can't connect.

I enjoy a good cup of coffee in the monring as well as a few cups at work.

At home I use a Senseo coffee machine. It uses the coffee pods and makes a fantastic cup.

At work we all take turns bringing in various blends to try. One week will be a nice Columbian, the next will be some Hawaiian brew.

I love a good cup of coffee. I drink several cups during the day while working. I like to have a cup after dinner if I am dining out. I prefer a good robust coffee that has tons of flavor.

coffeegeek.com is hands down the greatest resource devoted to coffee questions, although there are indeed some very eager beavers who roast and are really into coffee at some of the cigar sites. It's just that you have to deal with the personalities and egos in that context that makes it so difficult. Beware of smiling faces and one hand extended out to greet you. People have found that the other hand is ready to pounce upon you.

I am enjoying a cup of Community dark roast and one of my wifes chocolate frosted cinamon rolls right now. Dang she can bake!

Community Coffee is the coffee of choice for us Cajuns®. Paquette rouge mon frere!

I've found the French press requires a fair bit of experimentation to get right. Also, you need to be fairly precise on the timing of the final plunge lest your copy end up brackish and undrinkable. After a few years of the French press and not have the time to do it properly, I just switched to a good Capresso drip machine and a Capresso burr grinder. It makes outstanding coffee. (You must get the coffee maker with the thermos-like carafe, not the glass carafe.)

That said, I still wish I knew the secrets of how they make it in Vienna. The coffee there, for whatever reason, is the best in the world.

I dig French press with a good, dark roasted bean after dinner; I absolutely love Kona anytime (thanks, SLK!); and I like the blend a local store offers as a medium blend for the morning.

I do not like sour, overly acidic coffee, and I am adament about using cream/half and half.

On the weekends when I have time to grind my own, I enjoy Kona or Costa Rican. During the week, it's pretty Tim Horton's, Starbucks on occasion or the local Mobil station.