The other adult beverage.....

"Mike" wrote in message
...
On Jan 10, 8:09 pm, "JT" wrote:
"Tom Nakashima" wrote in message

I rarely (like almost never) drink coffee, however when my buddy brews up
a
pot with the above coffeemaker and his freshly ground beans. It tastes
pretty damn good on a cold morning stream side.

JT

For very many years, I was a confirmed tea drinker. Although I liked
the aroma of some coffees, the taste never lived up to the promise of
the aroma. I only started roasting beans because my wife drank a lot
of coffee, and wanted to try it, as others had enthused about it. The
only machines available then were very expensive, and I got the
feeling that they were rather more of a status symbol than anything
else. Anyway, I made one from a article in a magazine. It was a big
success. That was the first time I drank a cup of coffee which tasted
as good as it smelled. I mostly drink tea again nowadays, but I do
appreciate a really good cup of coffee now and again. It is also a bit
more like a "treat" if I only drink it occasionally. There is an
Italian restaurant not too far away from where I live, and now and
then I go there, eat something or other, and have a couple of cups of
coffee, The coffee there is really good.

In many other places, it is simply not worth drinking.

MC

Like you, I love the smell of coffee brewing in the morning, I just don't
fancy the flavor much. When I was a young kid and first introduced to
coffee, if I had been given a decent cup of coffee, I would probably be a
coffee drinker today. If I'm looking for a caffeine boost, I would rather
have a soda in the morning. Course people look at me cross eyed when I
decline the offer of coffee in the morning. Funny, my Grandmother always
told me I would drink coffee someday, so far I haven't acquired a taste for
it.

JT

"JT" wrote in message
...


If I'm looking for a caffeine boost, I would rather have a soda in the
morning. Course people look at me cross eyed when I decline the offer of
coffee in the morning. JT

Seems fitting back in 1885 when the original Coca Cola was made with
extracts of coca leaves.

"Boy you look a little cross-eyed this morning?"
"Yup, passed on the coffee, but had me 3-bottles of coca cola and a stack of
flat jacks."
-tom

"Steve" wrote in message
ews.com...

What was it you liked about the Harrar?
Assuming it was brewed at the correct temp, was it the flowery notes?
The spice? The acidity?

Ah, now THIS is where it gets interesting! As I mentioned, I've been doing
a bit of reading. This morning I found this site:

http://www.lucidcafe.com/homeroast1.html

One of the things the author mentions is that if you're going to talk
seriously about coffee you need to learn the vocabulary (just as in wine,
whiskey, beer, olive oil, etc.). I haven't yet. The story of my attraction
to Harrar goes back several years to a local independent coffee shop I used
to frequent. I went in there for the first time after picking up some stuff
at an Italian market next door. Not expecting much, I was pleasantly
surprised to discover that they actually made drinkable coffee. So, I used
to go in occasionally to get a decent cup of coffee. I would order whatever
they had on tap that day. One day is was Harrar. It was the best cup of
coffee I'd had since my aunt used to grind stuff she got at Kuhn's
delicatessen in Chicago with her old hand mill back in the late 50s.

What did I like about it? Well, it wasn't sour. I frequently hear people
talk about coffee being bitter if it's left on a burner too long (if it's
brewed into a pot on a hot plate it's already too long before the brew is
finished) or brewed too strong or if it's roasted too dark. Never did
understand that. Coffee IS bitter....it's supposed to be....to one degree
or another. The above mentioned ****ups make it SOUR. So, acidity? I
think maybe I don't know enough about the nuances of coffee to say just what
it is I like about this one. I THOUGHT it was the LACK of acidity. But the
descriptions of the East African coffees at the site above make much of
their acidity being one of their stong features. I dunno. Got a lot left
to learn, I guess.

If the answers are yes, you will probably enjoy most of the East
Africans. If it was primarily the acidity, that lemony tang, move over
to the Kenyans.
If it was the spiciness, try the PNGs, or a Latin American with a
review that mentions that aspect.

I'm going to have to do a comparison tasting to get any kind of idea at all
of what I'm looking at and for. And I'm going to have to have some sort of
score sheet that lists specific characteristics to evaluate. I've done that
with wine and learned a lot about why I preferred some over others.

You're going to enjoy this journey.

Oh yeah, of that much I am sure!

Wolfgang
and thanks for the help.

"Steve" wrote in message
ews.com...
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:21:24 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

Espresso is a law unto itself.....it's SUPPOSED TO taste like asphalt.

Oh dear, we have got to get you to a _real_ espresso bar.

A bit of hyperbole.

I've had good espresso. Down in Miami, back in '71, I used to drink Cuban
coffee. With all the sugar in that stuff it was damned near as THICK as
asphalt.....but it was good!

Wolfgang

"Larry L" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote

none of the
reusable (reuseless, if you ask me) wire mesh crap.



I always get "coffee stuff' at various gift times and once got a gold
plated filter ... pretty nice, imho

To each his own. Paper filters better (much smaller pore size) and you
don't have to wash out the nasty greasy funnel.

. Or, even better, plop a nice big gob of ice cream
in it! But that's not coffee. That's just a coffee flavored dessert.


I, too, sometimes enjoy cream, and/ or flavorings ... but only after I'm
awake for the day G

I love my coffee in the morning, but I wake up easily without. I'm ready
for dessert as soon as my feet hit the floor.

Wolfgang

"Mike" wrote in message
...

For some reason, I still can´t see attribution arrows ( ) on your
posts!

For reasons unknown to me they are showing up here, or not, seemingly at
random. Affects some people's posts sometimes and not at others. Some
people's posts never show up without. It's a mystery to me.

Anyway, personally I prefer a good dark roast espresso to anything
else, for me it has the most intense coffee flavour of all. Many
espressos I have drunk in various places were simply awful, and I don
´t even bother trying any more now.

I like espresso well enough occasionally, but not as regular fare. To much
of a blast for one of my delicate sensibilities.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...
I frequently hear people talk about coffee being bitter if it's left on a
burner too long (if it's brewed into a pot on a hot plate it's already too
long before the brew is finished) or brewed too strong or if it's roasted
too dark. Never did understand that. Coffee IS bitter....it's supposed
to be....to one degree or another. The above mentioned ****ups make it
SOUR. So, acidity? Wolfgang

The general basic rule of thumb is; if coffee sits longer than 10 min. the
bitterness starts to set in. And I do agree, "bitter" is a coffee term and
to
what degree is coffee bitter?
I'll heat the water in a pyrex pot, wet and set the coffee filter in the
Chemex
hourglass glass maker, grind and set the beans in the filter, and
immediately pour the hot water over the beans I then figure I then have a
shot time to not taste any bitterness. So that's where one cup of coffee
comes in to play on the
weekends.
Starbucks black coffee is bitter to me.
-tom

"Steve" wrote in message
ews.com...
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:29:57 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

Somewhat surprisingly, the Kwikee Marts around here (well, some of them
anyway) are starting to use something more akin to boutique coffees and
brewing them directly into giant thermos jugs. Still ain't the nectar of
the Gods, but it's a damned sight better than what's been available for at
least the last forty years.....and much better than Starbucks.

Wait until you try a McDonald's coffee from their new outlets and
recover from the shock of being served a pretty decent cup.

Many years ago they did make a pretty good cup of coffee. Can't remember
just when it was but all of a sudden it went right into the toilet.....also
a long time ago. Not that I get into McDonald's much anymore (maybe three
or four times a year for a Big Mac), but it would be good to know that
there's good coffee available somewhere on the road.

Wolfgang

"Steve" wrote in message
ews.com...
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:10:03 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

Crema?

The emulsified oils and proteins that appear on the top of (proper)
espresso as a reddish tan "foam".

Ah.

Thanks.

Wolfgang

"Mike" wrote


For some reason, I still can´t see attribution arrows ( ) on your
posts!




Mike, for some reason when I reply to YOU they aren't generated by Outlook
to quote you ( see this example ) ... I noticed this when we were talking
about casting from floating devices, I had to add them manually to indicate
quoted sections ...