Best Coffee

This period in history seems to be peak coffee drinking time. There are coffee shops springing up everywhere - chains and (seemingly) independents.

Some coffee in Britain is rank. Some is pretty damn good these days, there's no denying it.

Because of the diversity of ways in which you can take your coffee, it's hard to classify a coffee as being 'best'. In Casa Kremlin we have a bean grinder and Cifriana boils it up using a 'cafetera' on the stove like this:-



It has about a dozen parts to it that unscrew or clip together and only she knows how it works. I've washed it up a few times, but can never get all the pieces to go together correctly. Anyway, it makes a super-strong espresso type coffee that you have black with sugar in a little eyewash cup thing and chug back in one swallow. Goes well with a glass of rum and a cigar in this style.




As for beans, it depends on what's going. If we pass by Oxford I get Colombian, Brazilian or (if possible) Cuban beans. Sometimes Cuban 'Del Escambray' beans appear and they are very nice. Best of all though is the Jamaican Blue Mountain without a doubt. Super expensive though. I've had some as gifts a few times and that stuff is nectar.

In the Supermarket, most beans seem pretty good and the descriptions on the packets accurate. Taylors ones are nice when they're on offer.

Much of the rest of the time we drink white instant coffee from a jar. It depends what's on offer, but I aim never to go above £2.50 per 100gms. Poundstretcher is good for it. We used to like Carte D'or, but it seems to have suddenly changed its name to just D'or now and redesigned the jar, but it tastes the same. On offer at plenty of places.

We boycott Nestle, but I have had their Alta Rica once or twice and that was admittedly quite nice.

As for takeaway chains, we don't use them so much, preferring the free one from Waitrose, which is really very good and very competitively priced! Much better than Starbucks which my daughter got once and I tasted - it was just hot frothy milk with a faint suggestion of coffee taste. I have had Costa a couple of times and it wasn't too awful. It was drinkable.

I've also been in a couple of independent coffee places and they have been excellent. Really tasty coffee, but of course deadly prices.

As for the worst coffee, I would say it has to be this by a country mile:



Although there's also a lot to be answered for by this:-



Although admittedly far less bad than that duo, when out visiting you're far more likely to have your mouth assaulted and your stomach upset by this invasive pest horror:-

 

I have a filter machine at home, I usually buy one of the following: Sainsbury's Guatemalan or Peruvian or if in ASDA I get their Nicaraguan. I find African and Colombian coffees a bit too bitter for my liking. Although I have a coffee grinder I do usually buy the ground coffees.

As for instant coffee, it's all crap. As a nation that has fallen in love with coffee more over the last couple of decades I'm surprised how popular instant seems to have remained.

 

My personal favourite (Brexiters look away now)



Mind you we get through lots of tubs of Sainsbury's instant



Tip: always keep the lid for use on the bottom of the next tub, it will save your worktop.

 

Furthermore my wife's uncle works in the coca plantations* in the Peruvian Andes, he sends me some of the local coffee whenever someone is visiting Peru. That coffee is really good.


* in Peru they grow coca for tea, which incidentally is very nice too

 

I have had Peruvian coffee and it was very decent.

I thought Dubya pledged to wipe out Coca production in Latin America? Another broken promise.

 

I have a Nespresso machine and use it all the time. I accept this might not be to everyone's tastes and will probably devide opinion.

 

It was surprising returning here from Lithuania (where they take their beer and coffee extremely seriously) to see how many coffee shops had opened and, generally how poor their products are.

That's how we make coffee Chez de bois. I have tried lots of brands of beans/ground stuff (some exceptionally high-end stuff as well) but I've got far too lazy to grind beans (either by hand or with the faffing about putting the grinding attachment on the Kenwood Chef) so what goes in is normally Lavazza (cheap from CostCo - who also do a pretty alrightish selection of beans), Lidl's Arabica gold and, at a push, Tesco's Frech blend (which needs extra sugar).

The only way to drink coffee is what the Spanish call a Bombon (1 part espresso to 1 part condensed milk - which is sadly a wonderful memory for me since I became lactose intolerant). Coffee should always be drank sweetened.



Best coffee I ever drank was made sitting outside the shed/shack that the representative of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church lived in on top of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The priest started off with green beans which he roasted, ground and made into wonderful coffee which was sweetened with honey from, what I've subsequently learnt was, a ganja plantation.

 

Isn't cleaning an issue with these things?

 

There's also a lot to be said for the way Turks and Arabs make coffee .... unfiltered so be prepared for a mouthful of grounds but often a most excellent brew once you are used to it.

 

As an Italian, I take my coffee very seriously...that is all.

Filtered coffee is an abomination.

Cappuccino is all froth and no substance - however I don't have a problem with it, with some brioche a delicious breakfast.

Americano is purely an American concept of filth

Any man who drinks a latte has girl bits - there, I said it.

Mocha...there's a circle in hell for the creator.

All you need is an espresso, done correctly, focused, powerful and hits the spot. Drop a little Sambuca in it...it's got a kick, perfect after a meal.

The way Southern Italians get the little foam topping on espresso. When the cafetera starts producing the first drops of coffee, pour it into half a glass of sugar and stir it til it has a creamy texture (schiamata). Once the cafetera has finished. A spoonful of the 'schiamata' into an espresso cup, pour in the coffee and stir and you get your foamy layer. Delicious.

Also do me a favour, if you ever see anyone ordering a cappuccino or latte with a meal...please beat them within an inch of their lives....I've seen it happen.

 

If I have to have milk then Macchiato ... but only on the continent, the UK cafes really don't have a clue.

 

Have a variety of contraptions, and usage depends on lethargy levels...Nespresso if lazy, cafeteria and ground if slightly less lazy, grinder and espresso maker if really full of energy. ( and agree with Clive, Jamaican Blue is the best)


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Coffee is for poofs.. get a brew on!

 

Glad someone said it!

 

Hey Lendl your little signature penguin is rubbish, the only thing it's got right is I'm using Windows!
Not sure about reaching Wembley though .... it maybe true

 

Forgot about that thing...hardly ever get here using a browser nowadays...


Deleted it

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Carte dor is good. Lidls Columbian is good. I never pay more than £2 per 200g fro instant. Nescafe is what the boss buys for the office and it's junk. Luckilly we run out sometimes and I manage to get something nicer on offer with petty cash.

At home I have a bean to cup machine which was a large initial outlay but beans are so much cheaper than instant and the coffee is better than any one I've had on the high-street using bulk lidl beans but generally go for what's on offer. As CotK says Taylors are normally decent but overpriced imho. Sainsburys own brand are good.

Instant white coffee is an abomination.

 

Is the foam not the crema, created by the pressurised water being forced through the tamped down beans and a function of the oil & Co2in the ground beans? I wouldn't but sugar anywhere near a decent coffee?

I might be wrong, the pub quiz knowledge talking here. I certainly get a decent foam from my machine.

 

If this is true Meister, I tip my bargain hunting hat to you!

Are you sure you don't mean 100g though?

 

Actually, from what I remember it's vice vera you only drink poor coffee unsweetened.

 

Yes, in the Neapolitan dialect it's known as 'schiamata' which is 'foamy'. The cafetera doesn't usually create enough pressure to foam...well mine doesn't. From the mega expensive coffe machines in places like Costa etc, it creates more pressure.

The southerners use sugar to get the foam, I grew up on it.

What I will say though, coffee granita is amazing, especially on a hot day.

 

Yep. £2 little jar £4 big jar. I had an abbot moment.

 

I like my coffee served in a small porous sachet, made with boiling hot water and a dash of milk, preferably with some additional tea leaves in.

Oh, and without the coffee part too.

 

I always use one of those stove top "cafetera" ones - easily the best way for taste and strength. As for what goes in it - Lavazza is the only option. Everything else is second rate.

 

Interesting. How did you come across it, Bob? I'd never seen one before and as I said in the opening, I still have little idea how all the bits go together. Obviously these are used in Cuba, but where else in the world?

Cifriana likes to maintain the mystery and won't let anyone else near the cafetera, as apparently it can be "dangerous" in the hands of amateurs!

 

We bought one on honeymoon in Italy. Don't think we have ever used it.

 

TK Maxx usually have a few at *reasonable* prices. I had a very good/expensive/stylish Italian one (>£100) that made 3 mugsworth at one go (1l?) for quite a few (10?) years. The rubber seal went (and I tried replacing it) and as I was the only one who drank what it produced I thought about replacing it with a smaller model and one day in TK Maxx I noticed they had a few (all under a tenner) and replaced it.

 

They are called "Moka pots" and originate from 1930's Italy.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot

Readily available in kitchen design type places and on Amazon.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product...p=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00004RFRU



An essential piece of kit for the modern upwardly mobile suburbanite

 

Thanks Steve. I didn't know anything much about them - googled 'Cuban Coffee Pot' for the picture I posted. Looks like they're used throughout Latin America then, presumably via Spanish influence.

I was a bit daunted by the explanation of pressure valves, gaskets, pulleys and trapdoors though - and most especially the 'strombolian phase'! Maybe I'll leave it for her to sort out, same as now. However I will definitely tell people in future that the coffee won't be long now......

"just waiting to finish off the Strombolian phase..."

 

Taken from the Stromboli volcano and related to "relatively mild explosions"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strombolian_eruption



PS The Bialetti pot in the Amazon link is from the original company that made them.. youve no doubt noticed there are many more options. Not sure if it's in any superior but my ex had the exact same one so, knowing her, it's a good one.

 

Yes, sometimes in the evening whilst watching telly I suffer a Strombolian phase.....

 

I'm more krakatoa..

 

A mate lived in Italy for a few years, went out to stay with him and that's what he used - said it was standard in most Italian households. I realised it was the way forward and got one when we got back.

Got several of various sizes, biggest one makes well over half a pint.

Of all places, TK Maxx seems to be the best place to get one for a decent price. Fancy Italian shops charge a fortune for them.

 

Clearly I didn't read your post before my last one. You can get replacement seals off eBay for less than a quid.

One other thing - don't put them in a dishwasher. It ruins the metal.