OT: How do you coffee? AKA: Friday morning drinking thread

Brewer: 10 cup Chemex

Filters: Chemex

Beans: Five scoops total of freshly-ground mixture of Peruvian Norandino Decaf from Higher Grounds up in Traverse City + whatever Costa Rican I have on hand at the time; ratio between decaf and full-test usually 4:1 or 3:2; I buy the Higher Grounds decaf because it's the only medium roast decaf I've found. I dislike dark roast coffee, which is why I much prefer McDonald's drive-thru coffee to the bitter battery acid that Starbucks serves.

Grinder: Small, inexpensive Krups 

Grind: medium coarse

Water: tap water heated to boiling in kettle on electric stove; wait 30 seconds after removing kettle from heat; pour enough into Chemex to let the grind bloom for 30 seconds, then pour continually to yield about 4 cups total

Serve with generous helping of half & half; reheat individual servings in microwave

I do 50/50 coffee and water in my oatmeal + brown sugar, diced up fruit (apple, pear, peach, strawberry, etc.), and cinnamon. Tastes good and gets my caffeine fix. Don't care what kind of coffee. Could be whatever my wife made that morning or some instant coffee mixed in. 

Otherwise, not much of a coffee drinker, although when I do drink it, I prefer something like a macchiato (the real kind) so I get the caffeine without all that liquid. Usually, I just drink tea. Earl Grey and varieties of green (matcha, regular, zen, etc.) are my go-to, although that turmeric ginger herbal from Trader Joe's is pretty good, and nothing wrong with a calming chamomile mint at night. 

I'll actually turn on the electric kettle right now to get some coffee going while I type this.  In my opinion, the most important part is grinding your own beans.  It's important to take into consideration both the texture of the specific beans you are using and the rate of water flow allowed by your sieve.  If your water goes through the beans and sieve too quickly due to being ground too coarsely, your coffee will be too weak.  On the other hand, if you grind up the beans too finely, the water will flow through too slowly, resulting in overly strong and bitter coffee.

If I were to make one adjustment to the initial purchase I made, I would choose a larger electric kettle.  I prefer to make a larger batch than the size of my current kettle, which makes it so I have to heat up my water twice... costing me to lose approximately 6 minutes every day lol.

Chock full o' Nuts, Upper West Side dark.

BOOM! New York Roasted!

I'm about as pedestrian as it gets: Maxwell House Half-Caf (on instructions from my doctor, who told me to cut back on the caffeine to help get my blood pressure down) with powdered creamer and a little sugar.

The MGoGirlfriend likes Tim Horton's or Dunkin's, so I make her a separate pot. What she doesn't drink goes into the fridge with a generous splash of flavored creamer, which I have the next day as a half-assed iced latte.

It would probably make the coffee snobs puke, but it's good enough for me.

When I have time I make Turkish coffee, cooked in a cezve on the stovetop.

Boil the water with bit of sugar (i don't measure, maybe a teaspoon). Remove from stove. Add two spoons of coffee (ground extremely fine, again, I don't measure) directly into the cezve until it boils again and gets a nice froth on the top. Pour into cup. Enjoy! 

Mornings, though, just drip coffee with a timer set for when I wake up in the morning.

Holy shit, you guys make this complicated! Random medium roast, black.

And what the fuck is a pour over?? I'm guessing it's a relative of a reach around.

My wife got me into pour-over coffee while we were dating since she'd be doing it for a long while. We have a Chemex (which we usually use when people come over) and a couple of Melitta pour-over cones plus an electric kettle. Last year, I got her a Baratza Encore coffee grinder for her birthday and it's a pretty decent setup. The quality of coffee matters too. I'm a huge dark roast fan and pour-over is perfect to get that rich cup of coffee. I can't and won't go back to a drip coffeemaker or K-Cups.

Favorite coffees right now are Trader Joe's French Roast and Five Country Espresso Blend; Old City Coffee (Philadelphia)'s 1893 and Old City Blends; and Henry's House of Coffee (San Francisco) Bella Finca blend (this is our current go-to blend right now). 

Give it to me black and I'll take care of consuming it. Thats how I coffee.

When you want to splurge, buy a pound of 100% Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee beans (if it is the real stuff, it will cost you upwards of $60/lb).  I'm cheap, so I rarely buy it, but wow is it good. 

with whiskey, minus the coffee

I have had many coffee brewers over the years, French press, Chemex, pour over Hario and Hario grinder, and I've settled on a Technivorm Moccamaster drip brewer. It yields great results - filters are very important, of course, as is your grind - while brewing a cup in 6 minutes without much intervention. It is the best drip brewer hands down, and the difference between this machine and any pour over option is not sufficient in my opinion to justify the effort. 

However, it is *really* expensive (>$300). Not as expensive as a decent espresso maker, but expensive for a drip brewer. But if you love coffee and drink it every day, it's worth it. Hell I've spent more on a bottle of wine that doesn't last through dinner. 

Nespresso mmmm

Diet Coke, can, not plastic bottle. 

I have a pretty nice Rocket Espresso machine that I bought at the start of the pandemic when I had extra time every morning at home to make something better than what my Keurig was producing.

Usually I’ll make a nice bastardized drink along the lines of:

• Double Shot Espresso made with some Black Cat coffee
• 8 Ounces Whole Milk (Can be steamed or just put in as is)
• 1-2 Scoops Isopure Salted Caramel Protein (best tasting and most I’m able protein ever imo)
• Single Serving Of Stevia
• 3-4 Espresso Ice Cubs (make them once per week)

Put it all into a blender and blend for a few seconds - or just long enough to annoy my awful neighbors across the hall. Toss into a shaker cup and enjoy a turbo charged 60g protein shake that tastes amazing and really gets you going in more ways than one ?

Coffee is disgusting.  I don't coffee, I dont cappuccino, I don't mocha frappe creme whatever the hell they do these days.  I don't even coffee cake.  

Kuerig k- cup, Kirkland medium roast.

A small pour of Coffee Mate Cinnamon Vanilla Creme.

My fancy grind-and-brew died because the electronics went kaput, which greatly annoyed me. Now I have full analog capability. I use an electric kettle (which we already had because my wife also likes drinking different teas) but could do on stove and measure temp with my Thermapen. Grind in a small hand-crank burr grinder. Use an Aeropress for the brew. Beans from local roasters in Chicago, although I had a monthly subscription with Chicago Bean Scene that sent a variety box each month, which was enjoyable. I drink it black.

The effort for one 10 oz-ish cup means I really only drink the one cup, which is better for me really. Aeropress is easy but between that and grinding and water it takes me a few minutes of hands-on work.

If you seek pour over, which I highly recommend, I second the Chemex.  Classic mid-century modern design and the only coffee maker displayed in MOMA, they make brilliant filters that bring out the very best in coffee. Their filters are very thick, resulting in a very smooth cup.

Any electric gooseneck tea kettle will add incredible convenience.

Last tip, get a quality home burr grinder so you can properly grind your coffee to the right grit for proper extraction (balance of heat retention and water retention to set a proper filter bed).  When I pour over, I set it close to the most coarse, when I drip much more fine.  Key w/coffee is not too fast (leaving flavor behind), not too slow (over stripping the bean, or getting a stuck pour over).