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Advice wanted regarding coffee beans / Last minute Christmas Suggestion Login/Join 
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The lady of the house just announced that she would like to have some gourmet / unusual / delicious coffee beans from Santa.

I bought her Kona beans from Hawaii last year and that was ok.

She will drink most anything from Starbucks or Caribou Coffee so I really want to avoid their items.

Do the coffee drinkers have any special type bean that is enjoyable? She is not into bitter taste, but rather smooth, rich flavor. Suggestions with links would be appreciated, since Santa is due in 9 days!

Thank You in advance.
 
Posts: 617 | Registered: December 30, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Character, above all else
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Wild Bill's Gunpowder Coffee. He's a forum member here who goes by rainman64. A great guy roasting some great coffee!




"The Truth, when first uttered, is always considered heresy."
 
Posts: 2540 | Location: West of Fort Worth | Registered: March 05, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Conveniently located directly
above the center of the Earth
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'Sulawesi' beans have had a smooth rich flavor I've enjoyed over the years. There's tons of variety of beans with differences of flavor that offer a wide variety of subtle coffee taste.

"Aroma, Acidity, Body, and Flavor" are 4 terms commonly used by those who rate coffee flavors.



Here's a little illustration that might help choose:
http://www.scanews.coffee/wp-c...orWheel.01.18.15.jpg

I'd post the image but it is too large.
Peet's and Major Dickison both have some pleasant straight coffee blends that require no amendments to be enjoyable. Good luck.


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Posts: 9849 | Location: sunny Orygun | Registered: September 27, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I've been ordering from Cabin Coffee lately. Beans are roasted the day/next day after your order is placed and you usually have them in a few days.

https://cabincoffeecompany.com/
 
Posts: 711 | Location: Virginia, MN | Registered: October 01, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Striker in waiting
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If it’s exotic and unusual she wants, you can’t go wrong with Kopi Luwak.

-Rob




I predict that there will be many suggestions and statements about the law made here, and some of them will be spectacularly wrong. - jhe888

A=A
 
Posts: 16263 | Location: Maryland, AA Co. | Registered: March 16, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
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If you really want great coffee you need the right beans, properly roasted, and fresh.

You would be amazed at how fast roasted beans start to go stale. And ground coffee goes stale at a rate magnitudes-of-order faster because of the increased surface area.

Roasted whole-bean coffee, I don't care how you maintain it, is going to start noticeably losing flavour after no more than about two weeks. In a month it's stale. (Though see below.)

Ground coffee is noticeably impacted as little as over night, if unsealed. A little slower if sealed. (Yes, this means any ground coffee you buy in a store is guaranteed to be stale.)

Now it may be she's not enough a coffee aficionado that she'd notice this. I've left that degree of connoisseurship behind, myself. But if you really want the best coffee, it has be be either locally roasted or roasted just before shipment.

Beyond that: Kona, the Real Deal, is hard to beat, IMO. There were Costa Rican estate coffees I used to buy that came very close, though.

If you want something quite different, I've always been fond of various African estate coffees. Kenyan and Ethiopian, in particular.

Don't be sucked into the Jamaican Blue Mounting mystique. Every coffee aficionado I've ever talked to has told me the same thing: It's way over-rated and worth nowhere near what they charge for it.

When I used to buy my coffee fresh-roasted from a local roaster, I'd split it in half while still warm. The "working half" went into an Airscape storage container. The other half, with as much air as possible removed from the bag, then double-bagged in a freezer bag, went into the freezer. That process worked pretty efficiently to give me fairly fresh coffee for about five weeks.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Forget the coffee - upgrade her machine.

--k
 
Posts: 178 | Registered: January 27, 2017Reply With QuoteReport This Post
thin skin can't win
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Longbottom Coffe and Tea



You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02

 
Posts: 12350 | Location: Madison, MS | Registered: December 10, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
If you really want great coffee you need the right beans, properly roasted, and fresh.

You would be amazed at how fast roasted beans start to go stale. And ground coffee goes stale at a rate magnitudes-of-order faster because of the increased surface area.

Roasted whole-bean coffee, I don't care how you maintain it, is going to start noticeably losing flavour after no more than about two weeks. In a month it's stale.


Totally agree about using fresh roasted beans. There are a few places near me that roast coffee beans. My current favorite is the Fusion Blend from Sweetwater Roasters. Around here I can pick them up in one of the high end grocery stores, but found that if I order them directly, what the ship was roasted a couple days prior to shipping. The difference is very noticable.


ETA: You really should have a good burr grinder for your coffee beans. I got in on the lower end of a burr grinder with a Capresso Conical Burr Grinder about 2 years ago and have been very happy with it so far.
 
Posts: 1799 | Location: MN | Registered: March 29, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
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quote:
Originally posted by Kranky:
Forget the coffee - upgrade her machine.

--k

Completely wrong in every respect--starting with the fact you don't even know what she's using to brew.

These are the critical things to brew a good cup of coffee:

  • Good, estate Arabica coffee beans, freshly-roasted, properly
  • A decent burr grinder in which to turn said beans into ground coffee without destroying it, just before brewing
  • Good water, free of chemicals or minerals that impart undesirable taste.
  • A proper brewing process that gets water at the proper temperature through the grind in no greater or lesser time than is necessary

There are many ways to accomplish each of those, but if any of them are off, the brew will suffer.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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We have been buying from Lakota Coffee for several years.

My wife and I always sought out local coffee shops while travelling to swim meets while our daughter swam for the Razorbacks. We found our favorite in an unlikely place, Columbia MO.

Lakota Coffee
 
Posts: 1053 | Location: Texas | Registered: February 20, 2018Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I converted my wife from going to star bucks everyday to drinking Black Rifle Coffee and she LOVES it.
 
Posts: 3468 | Registered: January 27, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Earlier this year I took a trip to Costa Rica. It was my first trip to Central America. I had the opportunity there to drink coffee every day, and never had a bad cup. "Terrazu" is considered the best of the best. I buy it locally at Wegman's but you can find it online for roughly the same price.

https://www.coffeebeandirect.c...a-rican-tarrazu.html




You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.

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Posts: 2857 | Location: Peoples Republic of North Virginia | Registered: December 04, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Something wild
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This, by all means:

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe



"And gentlemen in England now abed, shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's Day"
 
Posts: 2746 | Location: The Shire | Registered: October 22, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Costa Rican whole bean is almost as good as the best Kona, and a damn site less expensive & available.
 
Posts: 1498 | Location: Arid Zone A | Registered: February 14, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Striker in waiting
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quote:
Originally posted by Nuclear:
Costa Rican whole bean is almost as good as the best Kona, and a damn site less expensive & available.


Please, if you do go Costa Rican (which I highly recommend and bought on a subscription basis for many years), for the love of God, don’t buy them here. There’s just no real reason to.

Find a plantation and order direct. Your beans will be much more fresh that way.

My go-to for Dota Tarrazu beans (because I’ve been to the plantation) is Down to Earth out of La Fortuna.

Here’s a handy link.

-Rob




I predict that there will be many suggestions and statements about the law made here, and some of them will be spectacularly wrong. - jhe888

A=A
 
Posts: 16263 | Location: Maryland, AA Co. | Registered: March 16, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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WOW,

I knew if I asked the collective I would get great ideas.

My thanks to all of you for your suggestions!

Knighthawk
 
Posts: 617 | Registered: December 30, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of fpuhan
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quote:
Originally posted by BurtonRW:
quote:
Originally posted by Nuclear:
Costa Rican whole bean is almost as good as the best Kona, and a damn site less expensive & available.


Please, if you do go Costa Rican (which I highly recommend and bought on a subscription basis for many years), for the love of God, don’t buy them here. There’s just no real reason to.

Find a plantation and order direct. Your beans will be much more fresh that way.

My go-to for Dota Tarrazu beans (because I’ve been to the plantation) is Down to Earth out of La Fortuna.

Here’s a handy link.

-Rob


I agree 100%. I can get very good Costa Rican Terrazu coffee at my local Wegman's, but not everyone has a Wegman's nearby, and ever their bags of coffee have been sitting... how long?

I just checked my current bag, and it was roasted on September 25, 2018. That makes it nearly TWO MONTHS OLD.

One of the online shops states they roast on Tuesdays and ship the day after.

I've found a "clearing house" site, TicoShopping, from which can can order from pretty much any of the Costa Rican growers.

I visited Don Juan's in Monteverde, and I can vouch for the singular excellence of the local growers. Getting fresh-roasted coffee within days of picking and roasting is unparalleled.




You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.

NRA Benefactor/Patriot Member
 
Posts: 2857 | Location: Peoples Republic of North Virginia | Registered: December 04, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Striker in waiting
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quote:
Originally posted by fpuhan:
quote:
Originally posted by BurtonRW:
quote:
Originally posted by Nuclear:
Costa Rican whole bean is almost as good as the best Kona, and a damn site less expensive & available.


Please, if you do go Costa Rican (which I highly recommend and bought on a subscription basis for many years), for the love of God, don’t buy them here. There’s just no real reason to.

Find a plantation and order direct. Your beans will be much more fresh that way.

My go-to for Dota Tarrazu beans (because I’ve been to the plantation) is Down to Earth out of La Fortuna.

Here’s a handy link.

-Rob


I agree 100%. I can get very good Costa Rican Terrazu coffee at my local Wegman's, but not everyone has a Wegman's nearby, and ever their bags of coffee have been sitting... how long?

I just checked my current bag, and it was roasted on September 25, 2018. That makes it nearly TWO MONTHS OLD.

One of the online shops states they roast on Tuesdays and ship the day after.

I've found a "clearing house" site, TicoShopping, from which can can order from pretty much any of the Costa Rican growers.

I visited Don Juan's in Monteverde, and I can vouch for the singular excellence of the local growers. Getting fresh-roasted coffee within days of picking and roasting is unparalleled.


Don Juan’s is also excellent. Mrs.BurtonRW learned that she actually likes good coffee sitting on the porch of their retail shop on the road down to Santa Elena.

I can also vouch for Tico Shopping. It’s a reliable outfit and has a bunch of my favorite things from CR that are impossible to find stateside.

Good call.

Don’t bother with Britt. It’s the Folgers of Costa Rica.

-Rob




I predict that there will be many suggestions and statements about the law made here, and some of them will be spectacularly wrong. - jhe888

A=A
 
Posts: 16263 | Location: Maryland, AA Co. | Registered: March 16, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I recommend Happy Mug Coffee. I've been buying their Costa Rican La Minita and it's been roasted that week I ordered it. Shipping has been running two days. Really good stuff.


http://happymugcoffee.com/spec...a-minita-coffee.html
 
Posts: 1312 | Location: Tampa, FL | Registered: June 26, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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