Coffee. What are your preferences?

I thought I would start a coffee thread
Just curious about members preferences about the subject
Was thinking about it because my cheap coffee maker broke.
Hit Walmart and bought a new one for only 10 bucks.
Any advantage to a more expensive brand? I figure not, dripping hot water onto ground coffee in a filter, pretty simple.
Do you make coffee in the morning or are you a starbucks person? I always make.
Starbucks-what do you order? Occasionally a caramel frappe on the weekend in hot FL
Tea? I never drink
Make at home, what brand do you buy? I buy whatever good coffee is on sale that's reasonably priced. currently Italian Lavazza Classico, was 2 fo1 sale
Cream? always for me
Sugar? Yup

If I could drink more of it, I would drink some good espresso exclusively. But I think the downing of the equivalent of 5 or 6 espressos just to have the same amount of liquid as a regular cup of coffee would wig me out, or cause palpitations.

I have a Cuisinart. I like it because it has a hopper where you just fill it up with beans. When you start it in the morning it automatically grinds the proper amount of beans for the coffee and brews the pot. I do like fresh ground beans.

I make the coffee, not the wife, for various reasons. Lately I have been grinding dark italian and making sure a proportion of the coffee contains it. The missus insists on it being very strong, but she adulterates it with milk. This makes me adulterate mine with a bit of water, I want it black otherwise.

I have noticed my previous preference, folgers gourmet, has changed, way too weak now. I don't buy it anymore. Maxwell house dark roast is now the ticket, with a bit of the dark italian added.

I make one or two pots of coffee a day. We usually buy the beans at Costco. For Christmas we got quite a few small bags of them and are still working through those. At home I take my coffee with Irish Creme.

Out of the house, my favorite coffee places are Peets and Tim Hortons, which I haven't had the pleasure of having for a while, as they are primarily Canadian. I do not like Dunkin Donuts coffee nor gas station coffee. When I order coffee at a place like Starbucks I usually just get a drip.

I don't drink coffee.

Quote: Dalex64

I don't drink coffee.

steam i s better than hot water and time is essential but water quality is fundamental issue. Keurig Kartridges are simple. Coffee is better with someone to drink it with. As Saul learned, water with cucumbers is for customers only.

Quote: Fleastiff

As Saul learned, water with cucumbers is for customers only.

Do explain!

I used to make one pot of drip coffee in the morning after grinding the beans myself, but I got a Keurig 350 a month ago and use it exclusively now. There are dozens of varieties of K-Pod makers out there (Folgers, Peets, McCafé, Starbucks, Tullys, SBC, Dunkin' Donuts, etc) that cost about $6-$9 per box of 12 when on sale (down from $8-$11). The K-Pod makers also come in regular, French Roast, medium/strong/breakfast roast, decaf, hot cocoa, many types of tea, chai, etc. I know a couple people with Keurig machines, so I went crazy and bought about 20 different boxes right away and gave away my own "variety pack" mix for Christmas gifts. Your local Kroger and Safeway affiliates are cheapest, Walmart is most expensive by far. I've found $3 boxes of 12 generic brand K-Pods at Big Lots or Grocery Outlet-type stores. Campbells even makes a K-Pod chicken noodle soup where the broth is in the pod, and a separate dried noodle/spice packet to put in your cup. Unfortunately, the hot water doesn't have enough time to cook the noodles by the time it's ready to drink, so further microwaving becomes necessary after brewing.

Keurig is a German company, so machine is engineered well and visually exudes quality. Machine was $150 and has a 40 oz. illuminated water reservoir and a grayscale touch screen to select coffee strength. Takes about 60 seconds to preheat, and another 60 to brew into your cup (don't forget to have your cup waiting on the tray or you'll have a mess!) The sound the Keurig makes while forcing hot water through the pod and into your cup is the stuff of nightmares though. It's a rhythmic "mmmm-pa mmmm-pa mmmm-pa" to start, then the fizzle of steam/hot water going into the cup. It even frightens my cat, who scampers to another room when he hears it.

I eschew cream and sugar and use a tablespoon or so of flavored creamer instead, Irish Creme preferred.

Quote: terapined

Any advantage to a more expensive brand? I figure not, dripping hot water onto ground coffee in a filter, pretty simple.

Yes. But you have a few that are like $800-$15000 which grind the beans and make either drip coffee or espresso automatically. The most expensive ones also froth milk from an attached container (automatically as well).

For regular drip coffee only, any kind will do.

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Do you make coffee in the morning or are you a starbucks person? I always make.

Starbucks is good when there's nothing better around, except for doughnut coffee. Krispy Kreme knows the secret to the ultimate doughnut, but they can't brew a good cup of coffee to sell a doughnut.

When buying coffee from that kind of place, I usually get a mocha, without whipped cream or chocolate sprinkles. The best is from a bakery chain called El Globo.

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Tea? I never drink

If I have the time and patience, I dip into my supply of Lapsang Suchong (or something like that) smoked tea. But making tea at high altitudes is an exercise in frustration. The water's never hot enough, and the thing cools down awfully fast while brewing.

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Make at home, what brand do you buy?

At home I mostly have instant, because washing the coffee maker afterwards is too much of a chore. For the office, where I drink the most coffee anyway, I get a half kilo of freshly ground from a local coffee shop near my place. It's insanely cheap at about $10 per kilo.