Kevin's Watch

+JMJ+

Peet's Holiday Blend 2014; Syphon brewed

Kimbo Espresso Arabica.... I get the bag of beans and grind them in small increments so its freshest.

I change up my coffee pretty regularly so when this bag runs low I will probably go with something different.

Whatever is in the mix SD puts together...

+JMJ+

McCafe Breakfast Blend; Syphon brewed

a cup from chick-fil-a

sgt.null wrote:a cup from chick-fil-a

I just recently went to chick-fil-a for the first time. Ok food, but fantastic environment and service.

Orlion wrote:I just recently went to chick-fil-a for the first time. Ok food, but fantastic environment and service.

That sums up the place rather nicely.

I'm like SB, I buy a small bag of beans, a Starbucks dark roast in this case, and grind them as I use them.

I like to drink Turkish coffee on occasion and got for Christmas a Turkish coffee grinder and pot.

For Tea... Im a Twinnings - Earl Grey tea drinker. Since I tend to drink it later in the evening, I typically go decaf <ducks object thrown in his direction>

+JMJ+

Peet's Holiday Blend 2014; Syphon brewed

Green Mountain Three Continents Blend in the K-cups. Yes, I'm one of *those* people.

Although maybe not for much longer, as the Keurig's motor whined at me yesterday morning without giving out any coffee. It was then I learned that you can dump the contents of a K-cup into a regular coffeemaker and get a pretty decent cuppa out of it. But that's a lousy long-term solution...

The irony here is that I've only had the Keurig machine for two or three years and it's already cranky, whereas I've never had a problem with my regular ol' coffeemaker (one of the 4-cup models that Gevalia used to give out for free), which I've had for more than 15 -- and I bought it used. I've been thinking about getting one of the new Keurigs that can brew a pot as well as a cup -- but there's hardly any point if I'm going to have to keep my old coffeemaker around anyway for when The New Hotness dies in 3 years.

What do you guys use to make your coffee?

I have a regular old coffee machine that is probably 10 years old. I also have a Krup espresso machine.

I'm looking forward to learning about Wosbald's syphon method.

I use the $15 Mr. Coffee drip machine with the auto-off. Into this I put Folger's "Classic Roast" from the Costco-sized container.

So, yeah, I won't really be posting in here too much.

But I did come to say: they went all K-cup here at work and boy, what a pain the machine is. We have 18 flavors and you can't make any of them.

+JMJ+

Menolly wrote:I'm looking forward to learning about Wosbald's syphon method.

CLICK.

wayfriend wrote:I use the $15 Mr. Coffee drip machine with the auto-off. Into this I put Folger's "Classic Roast" from the Costco-sized container.

So, yeah, I won't really be posting in here too much.

But I did come to say: they went all K-cup here at work and boy, what a pain the machine is. We have 18 flavors and you can't make any of them.

The ones we have at work usually work pretty well, but they do get a lot of use/abuse, so they need service fairly regularly.

I checked online for a solution to my machine's issue. The never-fail method is apparently to unplug the machine, remove the water tank (it slides off the side on my model), upend the machine over the sink, and spank it on its bottom with the heel of one hand. I did that this evening and it worked like a charm. I ran a tankful of water through it, one cup at a time, to rinse out all the crap that was dislodged, and it seems to be okay now.

Apparently there's a flaw in the design. You know how they vacuum-seal coffee in the big canisters? Well, the K-cups are also vacuum sealed. That's how the coffee inside them stays fresh for, like, ever. In order to brew the coffee, the machine pokes two holes in the K-cup: one in the foil top for the water to go into, and one in the plastic bottom for the brewed coffee to drain out. The cup itself has a paper filter lining, and the bottom pin doesn't pierce the paper. But I guess the top pin pierces the K-cup first -- and when that happens, it blows the vacuum seal and forces some grounds up into the water line. Some folks have minimized the problem by shoving the K-cup all the way onto the bottom pin when they first insert the cup. I may try that and see if it makes a difference.

+JMJ+

Starbucks Tribute Blend 2014; Syphon brewed

The Keurig continues to act up. I can get consecutive cups out of it, but the next day I have to go through the process of clearing the line (and sometimes the spanking maneuver, as well) all over again. Sigh....

We buy nothing but Starbucks beans and grind them ourselves.

Lately, however, I've been on a matcha (green tea) kick. The powdered form of green tea has the most antioxidants of any green tea and the most intense green tea flavor, since you're basically drinking ground up plants, straining nothing.

You've got to get the good stuff. Cheap brands are awful. We buy maeda-en, a Japanese brand I pick up at the Asian market where I get my sushi grade fish. You can find instructions online how to make a cup, complete with videos or pictures. I like to sweeten with a little bit of honey and then the rest Splenda. It tastes like real sugar (well, honey), without all the calories.

Apparently, Americans just like to drink bad coffee.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/w ... ad-coffee/

+JMJ+

Peet's Colombia Luminosa; Syphon brewed