After the old coffee maker pooped, my sweet wife bought me a new one. It was particularly sweet since she's a coffee junkie, and was abstaining at the time since she was pregnant. She got me one of these:
<img src="http://www.livingincomfort.com/images/cugrbr12auco1_pic.jpg">
I was happy with it for a while, but the occasional jam on the grinder, and the amount of daily cleaning and prep to make it happen, eventually drove me to hate this MF.
So I complained about it a bit, and come the <i>Winter Holiday Season</i> my father bought me one of these:
<img src="http://www.cooking.com.edgesuite.net/images/products/Enlarge/391845e.jpg">
Which would be fine, a nice basic dripper, if it weren't for a couple of drawbacks:
<ul>
<li> It has a really annoying beep when it finishes, which requires a nonintuitive set of button presses to disable.
<li> Ditto for setting the clock (I don't use the timer, but I hate seeing clocks that aren't right)
<li> The water guage, although a cool glass tube that uses the water to magnify the numbers that mark the depth, invariably gets air bubbles in it, and is wildly inaccurate.
</ul>
So I've come to terms with a couple of things for making a good pot of drip coffee.
<ol>
<li> If you set it to slow-brew mode (1-4 cups) for a whole pot, it comes out _much_ better.
<li> I really want one of these:
<img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B0000X7CMQ.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg">
<li> Until then, if I pour my pot into the thermal carafes that I currently own, immediately as the pot is done, I have good coffee for about 8 hours.
</ol>
I'm having a tasty cup right now.
As I mentioned in point 3 above, I do pour my pot into a thermal carafe, I'm just not so crass as to use a proprietary eponym without a proper capitalization.
I like "thermos" for its efficency over "vacuum flask"...
for the record - I got one of those cuisinharts in 2000 as a wedding present
tenD is on the money - so many pieces to clean - arrgh!
My set up now is a Hamilton Beach<img src="http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/kitchen_appliances/beverage/coffeemakers_12/images/47224.jpg">
with a cheapo $12 USD coffee grinder.
(I didn't get a white person's hand with my model though)
My only criticism is that it doesen't brew hot enough...
Thermal carafe, dammit! No vacuum is necessary! Thermos makes grills!
<img src = "http://www.mrcoffee.com/images/products/large/ar4.jpg">
<img src="http://www.networkingtheinternet.com/images/bush-swastika-bl.jpg">
I have heard the exact opposite.
I guess the problem with coffee grounds is that they don't decompose, so they sit there and take up space. If you <a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGGL,GGGL:2005-09,GGGL:en&q=coffee+septic">google</a> it, you'll find a bunch of sites saying not to put coffee in your tank, but not why. A couple of them mention that they don't decompose. I had been under the impression that it had to do with pH, but I can't corroborate that. Speaking of which, good Zippy today.
<img src=http://zippythepinhead.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/2006/images/040706.gif>
And I always hear that one _should_ put coffee grinds in the composte because it helps. Or better put the grinds sprinkled over your tomato plants.
Like I said, I had thought that it was related to pH, but I no longer think that is true, it seems to be merely due to the fact that coffee grounds will not break down in septic tanks, and the time between pumpings is directly related to the amount of nondecomposing material present.
...and I love that grit on the bottom!
There's a Gevalia promo pot sitting in the basement. Judith signed up for their scheme; we got the hardware. Haven't tried it yet.
Splitting the 8 (?) cup french press works for us. I like the idea of bring the carafe _from_the_drip_machine_ to the office, however. Since my thermos (lower case intentional) is never enough.
good night and good luck.
I, too, have the Gevalia machine in my basement. I should get rid of it before I move... we actually have 4 drip machines in the house I think.
Convenience:
<ol>
<li>Grind at store.
<li>Paper filter (also for taste, but less so)
</ol>
Taste:
<ol>
<li>Brew whole pot on 1-4 cup mode.
<li>Transfer immediately to thermal carafe.
<li>Do not insert pot for first minute or so of brewing. I'd left this one out, and it's the most important one. I've always hated the "sneak-a-cup" feature on coffee brewers, however I have found a great use for it. I leave the pot on the counter until I speculate the hopper is filled with coffee. This is the gambling part. When I stick the pot in the coffee comes out dark and delicious, and all of the grounds are nice and activated for the remainder of the brewing process. I really just wanted to share this tip.
</ol>
There.
That's like switching from Parliament to Marlboro Light.
Ground beans have greater surface area so more of the bean oxidizes when in contact with air (hence the prefered storage method: whole bean, airtight container, block the light, keep at room temperator) so it stands to reason that they would accumulate more moisture from condensation.
I don't know what I did differently, but today's pot sucks ass. I retract any expertise I may have claimed to have.
Pecan?!?
All scene points lost. Sorry, pal.
thats alright - I was saving all my scene points and my soul to buy a Hummer I could drive to Walmart and the Gap - and also extra $$$ to drink flavored coffee and listen to Hawthorne Heights. I dont miss my soul or integrity half as much as I thought I would.
Gotta go - American Idol is on. Buddy all the way!
See you later, slaves
<ol>
<li>grinding at the store
<li>columbian supremo
<li>pecan
<li>hazelnut
<li>decaf
</ol>
(1) 'prediliction' was my faked 'word of the day' in 10th grade English. Mr. Pingree assigned one student a day to present a word they learned from reading the newspaper of the day before. His little attempt at brainwashing youngster into that famously liberal activity, reading the news. I hadn't read the paper the day before, so I swiped a word from whatever HHGG volume I was reading at the time. 'prediliction' I can't use it without feeling a little guilty.
The intended effect was reached. Enjoy your (more soulful) store ground 'pure' coffee...
I still think condensation is a concern, if you're refrigerating in the waxed paper bag from the store; then all hope is lost.
Although grinding at the store is approaching heresy (as bad as flavored coffee?) it may not matter as much as when and how the beans are roasted. Unless you're mail-ordering, the beans at the store are probably not carefully roasted, nor stored properly, and old to boot.
<ol>
<li> Since the move has taken me away from <a href="http://www.idylwildefarm.com/">Idylwilde Farm</a>, which had been my source, I'm going to Peet's for Major Dickason's and Italian Roast... I like it West Coast Muddy, I suppose.
<li> I've taken the grounds out of the freezer and gone to the airtight container.
<li> I've switched to a finer grind.
</ol>
Good.
Count me in with the mudders; I like Starbucks coffee.
According to Kummer, the French started roasting their beans so dark in order to mask the flavor of the cheaper robusta beans they primarily use. It was Alfred Peet who thought to darkly roast the finer quality arabica beans, back in '66. It was then Peet's disciples who started Starbuck's in Seattle.
I can think of worse corporations than Starbuck's; no soul, of course.
They use water over 210*F?
(Awaiting howl from NP...)
Peet's, the chain, generally serves beans roasted darker than Starbuck's. So, if all y'all unmuddy coffee drinkers prefer Peet's to Starbuck's, you crazy.