McDonald’s coffee is pretty darn good for purchasing. Give it a try. Brewing your own, go with some kind of Columbian. Green Mountain fair trade Columbia is great IMO. However most reputable brands of Columbian are very drinkable. Most breakfast blends are another good place to go, they are usually Columbian or Columbian blends. Dunkin Original, Krispy Kream, McDonalds with the yellow piping all good to go.

Don't try Kona coffee, everything else will taste like crap after having that cross your palate.

quote:

Originally posted by divil:
McDonald’s coffee is pretty darn good for purchasing. Give it a try. Brewing your own, go with some kind of Columbian. Green Mountain fair trade Columbia is great IMO. However most reputable brands of Columbian are very drinkable. Most breakfast blends are another good place to go, they are usually Columbian or Columbian blends. Dunkin Original, Krispy Kream, McDonalds with the yellow piping all good to go.

I was pretty surprised that McDonald's has pretty decent coffee.

I'll give a 2nd vote for Green Mountain.
Breakfast Blend
Colombian
Nantucket Blend

I'm not a huge fan of dark roasts, so I stick to medium & some light roasts.

Can't recall where I heard it, but was told years ago that lighter roasts have more caffeine than dark roasts. Not sure how accurate that is.

My broski sent me a bag of Black Rifle Coffee Company Decaf for Christmas. It was DAMN good!!! I brew in a simple Mr. Coffee set on STRONG.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by divil:
McDonald’s coffee is pretty darn good for purchasing. Give it a try. Brewing your own, go with some kind of Columbian. Green Mountain fair trade Columbia is great IMO. However most reputable brands of Columbian are very drinkable. Most breakfast blends are another good place to go, they are usually Columbian or Columbian blends. Dunkin Original, Krispy Kream, McDonalds with the yellow piping all good to go.

I was pretty surprised that McDonald's has pretty decent coffee.

I'll give a 2nd vote for Green Mountain.
Breakfast Blend
Colombian
Nantucket Blend

I'm not a huge fan of dark roasts, so I stick to medium & some light roasts.

Can't recall where I heard it, but was told years ago that lighter roasts have more caffeine than dark roasts. Not sure how accurate that is.

Correct, the roasting releases oil, and darker roasts cook more of the oil out and the caffeine goes with it.

Drink it like the Wolf, Lotsa Cream Lotsa Sugar to begin with.

I like good coffee but can drink any decent coffee without complaints. I only use 1/2-1/2 now, occasionally some sweetner if it's kind of crappy coffee.

Being a Navy guy breeds a wide tolerance for coffee quality.

You were USMC for how long? And never did? Wow! The Navy runs on coffee! I figured that the Marines did, too.

You have mail.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
You were USMC for how long? And never did? Wow! The Navy runs on coffee! I figured that the Marines did, too.

I think Marines run on smokeless tobacco.

McDonald’s small coffee 2 cream. I’m not a sugar fan plenty are though. If you have a Tim Horton close by try them.

Light roast use enough coffee, for me the cream really reduces the bitter element.

quote:

I've often wondered if coffee is so good why is everyone adding 3 to 10 different things to it to make it drinkable?

Who says everyone?

My wife is a huge coffee lover. She can sit around and drink it all morning long. Me, it tastes like shit, even the gourmet coffees. I just do a five hour energy shot (from Costco 48 bottle packages) every morning and I'm good to go. YMMV.

Basic definitions
Americano= Expresso diluted with hot water
Expresso=strong black coffee made by forcing steam thru ground coffee beans
Cappuccino= Expresso based with steamed milk foam
Latte=Expresso with lot of hot steamed milk
Macchiato=Expresso with a dash of frothy steamed milk
Mocha= chocolate flavored variant of latte

So, European coffee is much stronger than American coffee. A coffee aficionado will gravitate towards Expresso. Expresso is a very small small amount of coffee.
For a noob- start with American coffee. Coffee with a little cream to balance the flavor , reduce the bitterness. Coffee has caffeine, which the coffee drinkers crave. Expresso is shots of caffeine. Start with “Fresh” coffee- MacDonalds is a good start. Milk, cream, half and half to balance the flavor.
This is a start. You don’t want the “burnt” taste - avoid leftover coffee, sitting in the pot for hours.
That’s all I got. Good luck.

Drink tea... all of the social aspect, none of the terrible taste you have to get accustomed to.

Try the Columbian or Breakfast blends BLACK first before adding anything. Your taste buds might just suprise you. I prefer lighter roast coffee because I drink it black. Always have. I think to some degree dark roasts are popular becuase only they can stand up to heavy creamer and suger infusions.

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
If you have a Tim Horton close by try them.

I got hooked on Tim Horton's when I was working up in the Northeast. I still order their coffee on Amazon. It's our standard coffee around the house.

An inexpensive Mr Coffee is a good start. Use premium filters and distilled water. If you like the coffee, then buy more eleborate equipment.

As posted above, find a good brand and try the offerings in the variety of roastings; light/medium/dark/french/cubano, etc.

I like the Cambraia brand from Brazil.

http://www.cambraiacafes.com/coffees

The Trung Nguyen brand from Vietnam. An excellent 'undiscovered' brand.

http://www.trung-nguyen-online.com

This may be an help.

www.coffeereview.com

Don't fall for the hepcat appeal of dark roasts, often those just taste of burnt.

What is everyone's thoughts on the reusable Keurig cups with using your own coffee? My thought was that I can buy beans from the store in small quantities and get a good varity that way but not sure if the delivery method is good. Thoughts?

I just had french press coffee for the first time the other day and that just might be my new thing.

Never understood why people put stuff in their coffee. Ordered a coffee in Mexico once, and got a tall glass that was about 1 part coffee, 9 parts milk. Yuck.

As you can tell, everyones taste is very different. Start with a good black coffee before you add anything to it. With so many different coffee blends out there, the choices are stupid mind-boggling, so try as many different coffees as you can before you add anything to it. What tastes good to one person might taste like dish water to someone else. I started drinking coffee at the age of 15 and at 72 I will still only drink it black. Additives ruin it IMHO.

Off subject: I see many recommending Mr. Coffee as a good coffee brewer. About 30 years ago I had a girl friend that used a Mr. Coffee brewer and it was some of the Worst coffee I’ve ever had. Have they improved since then?

I've been drinking Black Rifle Coffee for about a year now. I've tried a number of their coffees and my favorite is Freedom Fuel (and Just Decaf for the evenings).

https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

I've often wondered if coffee is so good why is everyone adding 3 to 10 different things to it to make it drinkable?

Who says everyone?

I agree.

I like my coffee plain. No sugar, no milk, no cream. Just black.

OP, don’t over think this. Just go out and try some. See what you end up liking. If you have a local coffee shop, NOT A STARBUCKS, go in and ask them to let you try some things. You’ll find something you like.

Lately I’ve been stopping in my local Barnes & Noble. They make a mighty fine Americano, I really like it. As someone else posted in this thread, an Americano is a shot of Expresso diluted with hot water.

Good luck to you.