I'll give you another "yuck"

Went to church this morning and had some of the coffee that I've been drinking there for years..Folgers....What a difference! I couldn't believe I'd been drinking that for years and actually liking it! lol

I suppose I never really knew what good coffee is suppose to taste like, until I tried freshly grounded French Press.... There's a big difference.

A good cup of Espresso with it own Creama from being shot out under pressure is another special joy too.

Tried Folgers once and had to wonder if it was actually coffee.

Another treat is to visit an Arabic family for Ahuey Arabie. Can be a social event where you site around for an hour chatting while passing around a brass coffee grinder that looks like a big pepper mill with everyone taking turns spinning the crank grinding up the beans fine like baby powder. The the grinder goes of to the kitchen and emptied into a special pot where the grounds and the water are combined and brewed on the stove. No filters and everyone gets some of the grounds in their cup. Drink it black or add some Lebanese Arrack.

Rocky....I see that you're really into this. I came across this video, and it's inspiring me to give it a try. I can see doing it for a special treats.

Also if I had to do it again, I wished I'd come across his Burr Grinder rather than the Bodum I purchased. There's not so much noise in the morning, and it's not as expensive.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...lL._AA160_.jpg

[youtube]_7DPugzqt7o[/youtube]

What do you think about this?

[youtube]-8-ZyyQy3hU[/youtube]

Pass on the French press. Too much work, too much cleanup, and the coffee isnt strong enough. I'll stick to my 30+ year old percolator.

Not sure how you think it's too much work.

Boil water
Grind Beans
Add water
Wait 4 minutes
Pour

Im not up for that at 4am!

Also, its not the brewing, its the cleanup.

The 30 seconds it takes to clean the glass and strainer is well worth it

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...cL._AA160_.jpg.

My sister's is about 15 minutes of disassemby and washing every time. Hers also tends to get grounds in the coffee.

She got the wrong french press then. It's easier than a drip coffee maker to clean up. Just pull out the strainer, pour out the majority of the grinds and rinse. It literally should be 30 seconds. Generally all I do is rinse it out. Like a Moka Pot you don't need to scrub every nook and cranny with soap and water. It's not like people wash and scrub their drip rigs every use. I've seen some pretty nasty build up in people's coffee machines and yet it doesn't bother them I guess because they never take the time to look inside their machines but maybe it's because the French Press is so out in the open and visible.


If you're getting excess sediment in your coffee it's because you're using too fine a grind. French Press coffee requires a pretty coarse grind. And again I still don't get the American obsession with not having a little bit of grinds at the bottom of your cup, it's a normal part of the coffee experience the world over. Heck there are entire practices dedicated to reading the fortunes spelled out by coffee grinds at the bottom of your cup.

That's just one more advantage of French Press. Many people never take the time to remove old coffee from their machines, thus changing the taste of fresh coffee.
I gotta believe most people were like me, that just got used to the taste old coffee, bitter coffee.
Hey Rock, I have to say you're starting to inspire me to experiment with making Espresso.

I clean my percolator regularly....stainless steel, so its easy. I despise grounds in my coffee, hate ot with a passion. I want to be able to FINISH the cup without gagging!

There are no grounds in coffee with a good french press.

It won't get you a real creama however I do use them from time to time.

Prefer the stainless Bialetti to the Alziemerinium:

I have a few of each of these:

http://www.bialettishop.com/Espresso...nlessSteel.htm


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

You know what I'm gonna post a video, first I gotta make it and caption it though. You can get a pretty decent espresso out of the very inexpensive Mr. Coffee ECM-160. It is steam powered and many people poo-poo them but when done right the quality definitely surpasses Moka Pots which tend to overextract the coffee because of unregulated temperatures and sending steam through them.

Hi
As long as my coffee is strong and black its fine with me
Never was one for all of these fancy fraps capps etc
Take care and ride safely
Yours Hank

Here it is fresh off the youtube video editor. The coffee machine is a Mr. Coffee ECM-160. It's probably the highest quality and also the least expensive of the steam powered espresso makers I've run across at $40. Many are cheaply made and tend to not seal tightly so they leak or just don't provide the kind of brewing pressure.

Of course you need to buy a grinder, I use the Hario Skerton ceramic grinder, I've modified mine with a ball bearing for smoother, more consistent, and less effort grinding. And of course the tamper, it's a 49mm tamper.

All put together you can buy all three pieces on Amazon for $91 and make your own Starbucks style espresso drinks for a lot cheaper and better quality plus experiment with different beans, roasts, and grinds to customize your coffee experience.

If you don't feel like grinding your beans yourself I find the best preground espresso actually is Cafe Bustelo, very inexpensive yet still pretty good espresso coffee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxA5EB-gHcE

When I am in a hurry I will use the Cafe Bustelo Instant Espresso for my Tiramisu and Chocolate Cappacino Cheescakes.

They have been around for many years and make a decent product.

Hank, I'd encourage you to try a French Press made coffee....Strong and black just as you like it. I promise you, you'll be able to taste the difference in smoothness compared to what you now drink.
French Press is not about "fancy fraps capps etc" Its just a process that brews coffee in a more pure and clean way.

To be fair the best coffee I ever had was from the old fashioned glass vaccuum pots.

I grew up with one similar to that in the link below and it was by far the best. Had good entertainment value too. Put the water in the bottom and coffee in the top. Set it to boil and let it go until all the water ended up in the top after which you turned off the burner and waited for the coffee to filter back down through the grounds into the bottom pot.

Always made a good smooth pot of coffee. That is until my sister dumped the glass top hot off the stove into a sink with crushed ice in it.
http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Santos-S.../dp/B00005NCX5

2 cups at Subway in the morning. Then a pinch or two 3 or 4 times a day inside my lower lip like Snus. Something to chew on,and the taste stays with you! Try it you will like it!!!

At work we have a boiling water dispenser in the break room so I grind up a ziplock bag of enough Mayorgan Been for the work day to take with me and use a Melitta Pour Over brew basket on my own larger cup to brew fresh a cup at a time.

https://shoponline.melitta.com/produ...COFFMKRSPROVER

Melitta has a distrubution center right here in Tampa Bay where they manufacture their filters and have an open house every now and then where you can walk in off the street and purchase direct at a heavy discount.

Starting my MSF course this morning...Bringing my own freshly brewed Honduras coffee in a thermos....

I'm spoiled,:nod:

im very lucky,i grew up in a french family so ive been drinking coffee everyday since i was 11. and now im lucky enough to be a barrister in the best cafe in town. coffee all day everyday.

They didn't understand Itallian culture where I grew up and would not allow my thermos of coffee in the first grade. They insisted it would stunt my growth and leave me puney. By 3rd grade I was wearing mens clothing sizes and by 6th grade I was being mistaken for a teacher.

Good thing I didn't bring it with brandy in the winter for a little extra warmth.

I grew up to be the 6' tall 210 lb size 44 13 year old student they would used as a sparing partner when the military came in to do an martial arts exhibition. Dear old Dad had already passed on his Army Ranger training which would frustrate the hot-shots that came in from the Reserves. Dad said see where they are aiming and don't be there. Why be dumb and wait for them to kick you upside the head. Be polite and step aside always helping them on their way too.

Dad was a coffee drinker too.

Hi
The ultimate machine for coffee and high performance vehicle lovers
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3749/1...2ce6aa7e_c.jpg
espresso-veloce-v12-xl by inuyasha50, on Flickr
For more info
http://www.espressoveloce.com/
Take care and ride safely
Yours Hank

coffee addict here but i try not to drink to late at nite so i can sleep

After 8 cups a day for well over 40 years, I quit Jan. 1, hoping I'd feel better. Haven't felt better yet, tho...

My wife now has me drinking 2 cups of carrot juice a day. Not quite the same kick as coffee, tastes real bad, and still not feeling better....

Hi
Recent studies have shown coffee to be quite beneficial to our health and well being
http://authoritynutrition.com/top-13...its-of-coffee/
Take care and ride safely my friend
Yours Hank

Yea, I try telling her that all the time. It doesn't help.
Carrot Juice, anyone? Please????

I drink coffee, as it's a very healthy drink,AND, I love my morning veg/juice drink.
I use a small handful of baby kale, couple of ounces of a combination of tart cherry juice/aleovera juice, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder,half of an apple, a dozen grapes, a few chunks of frozen pineapple, 1 TBLS of chia seeds,fill the nutribullet cup with water to the max line, spin it for 20-30 seconds, and whamo, a delicious drink, for swallowing my vitamins and suppliments, that keeps me full until lunch time.
I got a Vitamix, when my folks passed away a few years ago, and it worked just fine for us.
We got a NutriBullet from a friend for Christmas and wow what a great juice maker it is.

It's processed foods that are *crack* to our bodies, if you will.
They rob you of nutrition, and make you feel a constant state of hunger.
Eat better, live to ride longer!!

I'm slowly getting into that mode, but I sure miss my old stuff I ate. I can't remember the last brats I ate...

I'm allowed 2 cups of joe a day.

My wife does health care for a living and everything I want She says its gonna kill me.. WTF !!

At 57 I'm gonna die sooner or later, So let me have my junk food goodies.



PS, I'm sitting here eating carrots & celery sticks that She thought I needed. >:

Hey gimpdog,
[I'm slowly getting into that mode,]
Since both my folks was from North Carolina, I know how good the food is!!
However good tasting and good health are usually miles apart from each other.

I started by dropping off the sodas, the purchased teas, then the white bread for grained. Dropped all worthless carbohydrates.
I dropped off 3/4's of the red meat we ate, increased intake of fish, fowl, vegtables, a wider variety of grains, legumes, reduced my egg intake, but I'll not give them up.

Started walking more, started to really work our small garden, weeding and all!!
I stared walking dogs at the SPCA, and just love doing that.
My wife went from a cabinet full of nonsense cold remedies, nasal sprays, pain relievers, decongestents, allergy crap, that was never needed, never was useful.

In a short while we both dropped 50+ pounds, and still on the reduceing side.
We don't get colds, or the flu, or sore throats, nor coughs, all simply due to knowing what vitamins and suppliments to take.
We get regular blood tests to chart our numbers to get them to optimum levels.

I avoid the AMA doctors and their nutrient babble, as much as possible. Their prime directive, get you on a *petroleum based chemical* as quickly as possible.
As once there, you'll need another one to fight the side effects. Then another to counteract the side effects of that one, and on and on.

Yeah, I know the drill w/ pills and meds. I was taking 19 different perscription meds 2xs a day at one time, mainly for DB and mostly for pain. Am slowly reducing that amount...

I really seem to like this kind. (can't imagine why)


http://i1336.photobucket.com/albums/...ps67d90b2d.png

My wife does some tax work from home for family members, and a few close friends. A couple of them work at the local Starbucks plant here in town.
They always bring her Starbucks coffee as part of her payment for doing the taxes, so this year I'll get her to ask for a bag of the Italian Roast to try it.

I just wonder, is that what a scooter tastes like????