Coffee

[BrummieDave]

Can someone recommend a ground coffee (suitable for a cafetiere) ? Hopefully something readily available in most supermarkets.
I like a full flavour without the bitterness. I'm tired of my own crap stuff.

Getting back to the OP, Taylors (of Harrogate) Lazy Sunday would perfectly fit the bill; it's a ground coffee, ideal for cafetieres, full flavoured but without any bitterness, and available at all major supermarkets.

https://www.taylorsofharrogate.co.uk/pr ... zy-sunday/

[UncleEbenezer]

Admittedly, it'll take a lot to part me from my trusty Krups 963,

Never seen a machine quite like that. It looks a little like an oversized espresso machine, pushing water through the coffee at high pressure. But if that works on the scale of that device, why don't we see machines like that (or bigger) in cafés?

Maybe I should say that Krups are presumably joking when they say it makes four cups?

If it were indeed espresso, that would be four large cups!

Am I overdosing? C'mon, If I'd put the same volume of ground coffee (heaped tablespoon) into a cafetiere, nobody would have turned a hair at me downing a frothy mugfull of it. Would they?
BJ

One heaped spoon sounds fine for one coffee. The puzzle is that that machine looks as if it would take a lot more!

Your quantities don't add up. You say a jugful is "about half a pint", which is the size of a regular mug. But if you don't drink it as espresso, you'd expect half a pint of coffee from your machine to make maybe three pints of latte, once you've frothed and added in the milk.

My best guess: it's a halfway-house machine. If you've had it 35 years, you must've bought it before Blighty (or Northern Europe in general) had discovered espresso and its derivatives. You're in a time-warp!

[6Tricia]

I used to buy and enjoy Lidl Bellarom Arabica, strength 6 ground coffee (500g) - then I bought a bean to cup machine and was delighted to find that they also sell the Bellarom beans too, albeit strength 5. One 200g packet of beans fills my machine.

Tricia

[bionichamster]

I have been given coffee that has apparently passed through the digestive system of a Balinese rodent.
Apparently it is quite expensive and delicious.
It remains unopened.

A cat, not a rodent, I believe. They say it's best if you civet before you drink it. Wikipedia:

Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is coffee that includes partially digested coffee cherries, eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. Fermentation occurs as the cherries pass through a civet's intestines, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected

BJ

I suppose if we're being pedantic civets aren't cats either

I spent some time radio-tracking a civet (among a number of other species) in Ethiopia, it spent a bit of time in a village raiding the garbage pits. The Asian one that is prized for it's barista qualities is a different species of course, no idea if it has the same habits, although most of the coffee comes from caged animals unfortunately.

Also while in Ethiopia I was invited by some locals round to their hut where they performed a traditional coffee ceremony, all very involved roasting on little charcoal stove and grinding etc, took about half an hour or more to make it, smelled great in the hut but the drink was absolutely vile as they insisted it be seasoned pretty heavily wth salt On the plus side it wasn't the worst thing they gave me to drink!

BH

[tea42]

Before I had my bean to cup machine I liked to use Café Noir. Strong and very flavoursome from a cafétiere. Available practically everywhere...

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/ ... 9oEALw_wcB

[bungeejumper]

Before I had my bean to cup machine I liked to use Café Noir. Strong and very flavoursome from a cafétiere. Available practically everywhere...

I think you mean Carte Noire? It's our usual go-to whenever we're camping in France - agreed, it's reliable and works well in a cafetiere.

Minor complication is that France has several different Carte Noire blends in different roast categories, which gets a bit confusing, especially when one of them is a decaffeinated and another is an instant coffee in a jar. And something else is called Divinement Expresso. No idea what that is.

Just to add to the fun, Carte Noire is now part of the Kraft Foods/Mondelez group, which means quite a lot of people boycott it. French in name only, it seems. You can't rely on anything any more, can you?

BJ

[djbenedict]

Also while in Ethiopia I was invited by some locals round to their hut where they performed a traditional coffee ceremony, all very involved roasting on little charcoal stove and grinding etc, took about half an hour or more to make it, smelled great in the hut but the drink was absolutely vile as they insisted it be seasoned pretty heavily wth salt On the plus side it wasn't the worst thing they gave me to drink!

Ahh, Ethiopian coffee is quite an experience. When I've had it (only in a restaurant, not someone's home), there is a special little incense burner to produce a smell that complements the flavour. I don't remember it being salted, although apparently adding salt (in moderation) can improve the flavour.

Another interesting variant is Saudi Arabian coffee, which has cardamom seeds ground into it. This is easy to replicate and makes a nice change once in a while.

[terminal7]

I am a (recently) fresh roasted Costa Rican/Columbian bean to grinding to placing in cafetiere with a sprinkle of brown sugar man.

T7

ps no mention of George Clooney - expressos all round barman

[Gaggsy]

I might be converted if there's a silent coffee grinder

Here you go - https://www.hario.co.uk/products/hario- ... ee-grinder ( tis available elsewhere ) . Not silent, but as near as you are going to get.

That looks quite expensive at £35.
But having read people saying the difference that grinding your own beans make, I was tempted.
I was in my local Waitrose yesterday and bought a hand grinder on sale for £8.49. The quality looks good but I haven't tried it yet.
Might be worth hunting down - La Cafetiere Edited - looks like this one: https://www.barnitts.co.uk/products/details/268791.html

[richfool]

I was in my local Waitrose yesterday and bought a hand grinder on sale for £8.49

(My bold underlining), that sounds painful!

I have a DeLonghi coffee machine. The grinder is part of the machine. Stick the beans in the top and it does the rest. I don't find the noise an issue. It's irritating having to carrying out the regular descaling procedure.