Switched to iced Yuban Traditional Roast with Salted Caramel syrup today. A bit more bitter than the Yuban 100% Columbian. Tastes earthier. Not recommended in the iced form. Will try hot tomorrow.
@leejackson You'll never make coffee with pre-ground as you can grinding up beans on the fly, but you need to invest in a decent grinder for it to be really worth the bother. Those electric-fan things won't fly.
@mcfate My goal is to review K-Cups, which is what I have - a Keurig machine. I don't have any other brewer or grinder to review. Sorry.
@leejackson Okay. I'm totally not a K-Cup fan, I'm hand-grinding beans and pounding them into a (single-walled) portafilter and pushing hot-water through them at 15 bar.
We do ESPRESSO here.
π
@mcfate Thanks for the suggestion, but I've just finished a round of experimentation with the Primula Burke cold brew coffee kit. Mrs. Capt. would fire her blunderbuss at me if I started another coffee kit experiment so soon afterward.
https://smile.amazon.com/Primula-Burke-Cold-Coffee-Maker/dp/B0711WZ7S7
Consider a low budget espresso machine. The quality has improved significantly over the years. They usually come with a milk frother. Obviously, it may not last as long as a more expensive model and the coffee won't be at coffee shop quality, but so long as it states a pressure of 15 bar and you treat it with care, a forty to fifty dollar machine ought to serve quite well.
@stueytheround @mcfate Unfortunately, Mrs. Capt. has spoke. No espresso machine for me. π
@leejackson
Boooooo! Hissssssss!
ESPRESSO IS PROOF THAT GOD LOVES US AND WANTS US TO BE HAPPY.
@stueytheround @leejackson Sorry about the veto. Just in case it is any comfort, Espresso and Lattes are money pits that will doom you to chasing "better." I am well down that path of insanity and gear escalation. @mcfate is on target about a grinder being key. It seems many people ignore the advice around buying a "good grinder" and end up buying a not so good one at first then upgrading.
@SimplyZippy @stueytheround @leejackson
Depending on what you're doing, a good grinder can improve your coffee more than a new coffee-maker can.
Not if you're using a percolator or the Hell-spawned byblow known as a "French press". Pitch that shit RIGHT out.
@mcfate @SimplyZippy @stueytheround @process
My chosen fate is to be sort of a Consumer Reports for those of us stuck with a Keurig machine, out of desire or necessity, and to test out combinations of K-Cup coffees and condiments readily available to the average CoSoNaut.
@leejackson @SimplyZippy @stueytheround @process
I'm in search of the Perfect Cup of Coffee, and at a weekly cost of around what one venti macchiatto would run me at Starbucks.
I'm getting pretty damned close at this point.
@leejackson Well, I went a few years using cheaper, hand-pumped espresso machines, but they're not durable. I spent more on those in two or three years than the Breville DuoTemp ended up costing me.
Here's a tip for you: get an Aeropress. Thirty bucks, you can thank me later. It's not quite espresso β you'd need to be the Incredible Hulk β but it's as close as you can get for that price.
Even easier to clean than a K-Cup machine.
https://aeropress.com/