Why can't i make good coffee?

It has a lot more to do with the bean. There are two types of coffee bean: arabica, and robusto. The arabicas grow at high altitudes; I'm talking like 5000-6000 feet, and are a pain to grow and pick. But they are so goooooooooooooood. The robusta grows at a lower altitude, and is much cheaper to produce. Robusta beans have more caffine, which is why your "folgers" and other cheap brands put lots of robusta in their coffee. It's also why you get that yummy robusta burnt-rubber aftertaste from drinking cheap-ass coffee. If you want REAL coffee, do yourself a favor and go here:
www.sweetmarias.com

 

is there a reason this is in the hippy section that i am not seeing

 

The rule of grounds:One scoop grounds for every two cups of coffee.

 

Don't use filter, that's the wrongest idea I've heard ever.Use coffee beans, grind them than put the product into a percolator.It's very strong and delicious I think.I drink it with sugar and whipped cream, Fantastic!!

 

Lucky me who happends to live neighbor to a coffeplace. Dont havto do my own. Just go down and buy mine :-D

 

I use more coffee that that.

 

i just got a cofee maker the other day. one of those auto drip ones. i just drank like two cups, i think im gunna go back for more. its odd though, the filters cost me more than the whole damn machine. plus it tastes a little burnt. is there any rule of thumb for the reuse of already used grounds?

 

the rule of thumb is to gently remove the used grounds, walk toward the waste basket and deposit. it's analogous to food (fresh grounds), fecal matter (used grounds).

 

If you're drinking the coffee for the caffeine rather than taste and are thrifty Folgers is a good choice. I think the most expensive coffee in the world is Jamaican Blue Mountain at ~$120/kg. That's 30x the price of Folgers! A compromise would be a decent quality 100% Arabica bean label.

 

I usually drink organic coffee, but sometimes I drink chock full o'nuts original blend. It's relatively cheap, easy to find, strong, and tastes good.

Killodin-- Blue Mountain is wonderful, but also as you said definately expensive.

 

Actually, Kopi Luwak (at about $1000 a kg.) is the most expensive coffee. It's from Sumatra, and the reason it is so expensive is the way it is processed. The coffee cherries (with the beans inside) are eaten by an animal called the Palm Civet, then the civet poops out the partially digested beans. Then the Sumatrans pick the beans out of the poop (great job, eh?) and wash them off (thoroughly, I hope) and dry them. Ta da! N-E-S-T-L-E-S...what comes out of a Civet's ass...coffffffffffffffffeee...

 

what u gotta try is the hippy eight ball
you get yourself some hash, make some coffee
smoke the hash and drink the coffee at the same time
arty:haha

 

Thanks for the info Freewheelin Franklin. From wiki: "One small cafe in the hills outside Townsville in Northern Australia has Kopi Luwak coffee on the menu at A$50.00 per cup. The locals line up for it, and it has gained nationwide press."

"It is assumed that the civet has evolved as a frugivore of this fruit for hundreds of thousands of years, and is by now adapted to forage on—and later excrete—only the cream of the crop. When the fruit is at its peak, the seeds (or beans) within are equally so, with the expectation that this will come through in the taste of a freshly-brewed cup."

BTW, I tried the technique suggested somewhere earlier in the thread but without filtering - basically adding hot water directly to a mug (stainless steel travel mug) filled with coffee grounds, stirring, waiting 4 min., then adding cream & sugar. It works great, and you use up less coffee. Thanks.

 

Even better is using a french press http://www.bodumusa.com/shop/line.asp?MD=1&GID=3&LID=10&CHK=&SLT=&mscssid=UE9QRNDJ3P8L8L2MG81TXM18E67SCUH0
Same principle; you pour hot (not quite boiling, about 90-95C) water into the freshly ground coffee, stir, then push down the plunger which has a screen that pushes all the coffee grounds to the bottom of the pot.

 

I make my coffee in my own unique way (when I can afford to) : roughly 5 heaped teaspoons of coffee to 1 pint boiling water, stir and leave for a few minutes. Filter through a tea strainer (I make tea in much the same way, but not using so much cause it's stronger) and drink. If I want REALLY strong coffee I'll reduce the volume of the strained coffee by half or three quarters in a saucepan. Eventually you get thick, yummy caffeinated goop

 

^Same here....
What's the thing about coffee, anyway?....
Actually, I drank some kind of ice coffee yesterday just because of the cream on top of it, but I didn't like the taste....If it wasn't for the precious cream.....

 

i'll check for you the tunisian way of making cofees!

 

no, it's because you dont love enough those for whom you're making coffee.

this is the Bellavista's coffee theory ...
it does not apply to making coffee for yourself ... drinking coffee alone is degrading (again Bellavista).
btw, are you sure the water you use isnt' too hard ?
also, talking about traditional coffees, almost everyone in italy uses this little espresso steam-pressure coffee kettle:

did you try it ? makes a very strong, dark "homebrew" espresso.
only one thing, keep the valve clean and never fill with water above its level or else the coffee kettle will explode and you'll have to repaint the walls in your kitchen, at least.

 

I make great coffee, but not filter one,
i love the turkish, nescafe, and sometimes capuchino

i'm a specialist at trukish

 

You could always try instant coffee, takes ALL the hassle out of it. And tastes just as good in my humble opinion.