Coffee at the café.

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Stu
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by Stu »

Being a Brit who lived for many years in Sweden, I now enjoy the best of both world. I drink British tea, which is fairly strong with a splash of milk, unlike the milk-less, fruit-flavoured weak stuff they offer in Sweden. But I drink Continental-style coffee, made by selecting the right coffee beans from online suppliers, grinding them, and then making them in a proper coffee maker with a vacuum jug. In the UK, most people drink either instant coffee (urgh!) or they go in for the machines with capsules filled with a concentrate, which are just about acceptable, but not as good as the freshly-ground beans and massively more expensive - or they go to Starbucks or Costa and pay even more for a very average cup of coffee.
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by Big and Bashful »

For instant coffee, my favourite for many years was Carte Noire, now L'Or Intense, which is more or less the same stuff.
For real coffee my favourite coffee comes from Taylor's of Harrogate, Hot Lava Java. I buy it in 1 kg bags from Amazon and when in a lazy mood I ask my dalek to grind and then filter it, I used to think filleted coffee was the best way to prepare it (yes I know! deliberate typing error, goes well with a chicken filter). Last year I went on a voyage of discovery which started with a travel mug/french press thing, this taught me how good coffee could be when squashed instead of filleted! Since then I bought a french press thingy and a burr grinder so that when I want to really enjoy coffee I have the french press routine to work through.
For me then, french pressed coffee, black and unsullied by sugar. With instant I use sugar and a wee bit of milk, barely a spladge. I hate milky coffee, in tea I literally only have a few drops of milk and half a teaspoon of sugar.
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by crfriend »

STEVIE wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 9:02 amShould Americano coffee have cream or milk added or not?
It's a matter of personal taste. As far as I am aware, I've never heard the notion of "Americano coffee".

Personally, I regard coffee as a drugs-delivery mechanism and don't dilute it. My tastes lean towards a medium-dark roast drunk black. Of course I'm just one out of millions.
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r.m.anderson
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by r.m.anderson »

I don't know how you can drink coffee with the spoon standing vertical in the way poking an eye out trying -
Oh I was supposed to remove the spoon before drinking the solid blob of caffeine laced mud -
I wonder what would happen if a freeze dried cube of coffee was ingested ?
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by Uncle Al »

:hmmm: IF the spoon stands straight up in the cup of coffee, then that
qualifies as a home made, DIY, sealant for the cracks in my driveway :lol:

(I like a good stout(strong) cup of coffee but not THAT strong ;) )

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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by Faldaguy »

What question Tom?
by denimini » Thu Apr 08, 2021 6:13 pm

I usually have coffee and toast as a start to the day and the only one unless I have visitors calling in for coffee.
I like good coffee and get it freshly roasted sent by post and have a serious commercial based espresso machine. Until recently the nearest place to get a cup of real coffee was 200 kms away.
I enjoy good coffee .......... as I enjoy a glass of reasonable wine at the other end of the day ................. and a number of nice cups of tea in between (my own blend).
I find this thread "SHOCKING" -- such a lack of spat over tidbits! I recall a couple threads on Wine -- my what intemperate group we were then!

Like NZ Freestyler I confess to being a bit of a coffee snob -- but it is dang hard to do so at the commercial coffee shops, all now run by clerks hired with no background and ten minutes training on button pushing 'automatic' machines. They seldom even know what beans they are grinding, what roast, grind, nor of any nuances of grind, time, and method. Grrrr; but coffee shops are for sociability and 'guilt-free' sweets more than for aficionados of coffee.

I've been exposed to the coffee urn in military days where the 150 cup perk was filled with a pound of coffee on Monday; and each day through the week another pound added (to keep it fresh!) before getting dumped Saturday night-- to the most carefully cultivated beans hand harvested, roasted, and prepared with considerable testing and finesse. Despite Tom's assertion, aroma alone does not make the instant chemicals undisguisable from a good blend well prepared. What if anything a few decades of being a coffee snob has brought home is that there is a grand range of beans and brews that can be pleasant, and not any one is necessarily superior in all circumstances. Nor is it even possible to attain a truly consistent outcome as even the beans from single source trees will vary dramatically from season to season.

I find the most pleasure actually comes from buying a variety of green beans; roasting and blending them at home -- and experimenting with numerous additions from the bar, spice rack or dairy. A truly heavy fresh cream in a full roast or cold brew extract coffee can be exquisite. And as to milk products in an Americano -- I think that is an Oxymoron, as with dairy they become lattes. Americano is in most of my experience, just a watered down espresso.

So fellas, where might we establish the SKIRTCAFE coffee and pastry shop, frequented by MIS?
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Re: Coffee at the café.

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Well, sorry faldaguy, your denigration of the humble Americano just put the icing on the cake on your self-proclaimed description as a coffee snob. Tip, while it is good to extol the virtues of your favourite beans and methods, knocking the drinks that some of us less enlightened plebs are quite happy with does nothing to ingratiate yourself with others. All it does is generate a sense that your tastes are better than others and hence superior. If that floats your boat, fine, but don't take pot shots at other's more humble dinghies. To me a description of yourself would be "pretentious". Grrrr.
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by Coder »

My preferred drink is mint hot chocolate, but because I can’t drink milk, settle on decalf with peppermint-chocolate non-dairy creamer. It is far from a coffee purists dream, but is an occasional treat.

Also, frozen coffe drinks, though I haven’t had one in a long time as they are kinda unhealthy.
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by Kirbstone »

Hi FG,
Your lengthy expose of your coffee making techniques do somewhat remind me of my aforementioned Clement Freud. He famously pulled the rug out from under his coffee-making castle by joking about it.

Dublin's Grafton Street (posh shopping) had for more than a Century a coffee establishment halfway down called Bewleys. The smell of ever-freshly roasting beans just inside the door would knock you for Six. A great meeting place and a Mecca for Believers. We all sincerely hope it'll survive and open again after Covid. Their selection of beans for sale was impressive to say the least. Their weakness however is absolutely zero space for outside imbibition, which has to be the future of such places now.
Cork, our 2nd largest urban village is investing 17 mi. in totally pedestrianizing many small streets and installing on-street dining facilities. Grafton St. is already pedestrian and could well do the same.
In September '19 on a trip to Hungary I visited a charming large village North of Budapest called Szentendre. It had well patronised on-street dining down the middle of several streets, all served by shop-front establishments adjacent. Very civilized indeed, but they enjoy a better climate than we do, alas.

Tom
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Re: Coffee at the café.

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by Sinned » Sun Apr 11, 2021 3:33 am

Well, sorry faldaguy, your denigration of the humble Americano just put the icing on the cake on your self-proclaimed description as a coffee snob. Tip, while it is good to extol the virtues of your favourite beans and methods, knocking the drinks that some of us less enlightened plebs are quite happy with does nothing to ingratiate yourself with others. All it does is generate a sense that your tastes are better than others and hence superior. If that floats your boat, fine, but don't take pot shots at other's more humble dinghies. To me a description of yourself would be "pretentious". Grrrr.
Hey Dennis, sounds like you need a cup of coffee! :P
No denigration of the Americano, just a barista's definition; an Americano is espresso with water; add milk to it and you essentially have a watered down latte. The definitions do seem to vary, or get modified, in different countries. The Kiwi Flat White is often confused with a Latte, but there are subtle differences. I'm not knocking anybody's drink choice -- what floats your boat is fine; but in the same manner that wine connoisseurs note subtle differences in vino, there are differences in the lowly coffee bean and its preparation. Meanwhile, the comradarie and donut in the coffee shop makes it all go down just fine! [Do we dare raise the specter of doughnut, vs, croissant, vs sticky bun....?] :roll:
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Sinned
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Re: Coffee at the café.

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Sorry, fg, it's probably just the way I interpreted your text. A problem with not being able to add inflexion. I'll take your comments in a lighter manner. Not a fan of wine connoisseurs either. I read the blurb on a bottle and it'll say ".... infused with the flaours of wild blackberries and a hint of cherry and redcurrant ...." but all I get is slightly fruity. Hell, I even have difficulty differentiating betwee raspberry and strawberry ice cream! A well defined palatte I have not. That's why Americano or Nescafe with milk and sugar is enough for me. Kudos to those who can differentiate between them all.

I love minted chocolate and can take it made with milk. Mini marshmallows and a dollop of cream on top. Goodness knows how many calories ....
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Re: Coffee at the café.

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by Sinned » Mon Apr 12, 2021 1:50 pm

Sorry, fg, it's probably just the way I interpreted your text. A problem with not being able to add inflexion. I'll take your comments in a lighter manner.
I think the 'inflection" note is noteworthy! It is indeed difficult to convey much in print that we do automatically in person. I do tend to be facetious, flippant, sarcastic, roguish, jesting and not always "amusing" in my efforts. Maybe I need some lessons from Tom -- a master wordsmith at times. Maybe a few more smilies?
I love minted chocolate and can take it made with milk. Mini marshmallows and a dollop of cream on top. Goodness knows how many calories ....
Only a dollop? My wife would join you anytime, but the voltage of her smile exceeds the meter when I use the cream skimmed from the top of fresh milk from the neighbor Jerseys for the body and whip it for the top! How about a maraschino cherry too? Go for the gold key!

Many folks like their Mochas, but chocolate and coffee doesn't fire my synapses as much as using say a crème de coco or coffee cognac. One of the women at our Friday chess lessons loves it when I use those with say Bailey's or Amarula with a dash of mint liqueur --maybe close enough to your chocolate that we could convert you to coffee yet? :D

As to your Nescafe; you ain't alone: Nescafe accompanied the crew on Apollo 11 and became the first coffee to reach the moon.

Pura vida, (from a coffee exporting country)!
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by KiltedintheValley »

I make my coffee each morning in a French Press and add just a bit of flavored creamer (nothing in particular, but whatever I'm in the mood for when I grocery shop). I like the full flavor a French Press offers over other methods I have attempted at home.

Now for the coffee beans themselves, I buy just about anything Dark or French Roast. I like to buy my beans at one of my local Costco's when they have what I like in stock. Otherwise, I'll purchase something at my local Aldi.

When I do purchase coffee from a local coffee shop (about 1-2 times/month), I always get a Tall Americano with a bit of cream and sugar.
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Re: Coffee at the café.

Post by Rokje »

I drink my coffee strong and black. No milk, no sugar, just hot water over ground coffee beans, and enjoy.
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JeffB1959
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Re: Coffee at the café.

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I like the aroma of coffee, but not the taste. My thing is tea which I've loved ever since I was a kid.
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