Grinding coffee beans

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mdwinks
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#81

Post by mdwinks »

I've been enjoying coffee from Duluth Coffee Co. I get a variety of medium and dark roasts. It's a nice locally owned business. I only mention this because I see you're in WI, so perhaps you sometimes make your way to the Brule River, and the Superior/ Duluth area.
-Mark

Franknrod
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#82

Post by Franknrod »

If you are really into coffee, you can roast your own. I started doing this several years ago after my brother visited from Kenya with fresh roasted coffee beans. I could not get anything as good locally nor on the internet but came across the website below. I have never looked back and have been roasting my own coffee for nearly 20 years!

If you have time for a new obsession - check out Sweet Marias (and other sites)!

https://www.sweetmarias.com/
Frank Payne

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owenscaddis
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#83

Post by owenscaddis »

I have been enjoying coffee from a local roaster for years- Pannikin's in Leucadia, CA. I am especially fond of their Costa Rican and Ethiopian coffees.

JoshR77
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#84

Post by JoshR77 »

reelytrout wrote:
04/13/18 05:59
I purchase coffee from “Birds and Beans”. The “Scarlet Tanager” roast is my favorite. This coffee is Smithsonian certified “Bird Friendly”. Great tasting coffee, enviromentaly sound, and at the cost of Starbucks.
I use the Birds and Beans too, really great taste.

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VanfromMaine
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#85

Post by VanfromMaine »

I got a Stanley pour over coffee maker for Christmas matches my 16oz thermos great setup for tailgate cooking

Jonesg
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#86

Post by Jonesg »

Hard to beat starbux french roast beans, black and oily and it packs a punch.
Bought a mr coffee barrister machine, makes decent cappucino.
I've been hammering the machine 4 times a day for 3 years and it keeps on going, not a bad cup.

billems
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#87

Post by billems »

I like strong coffee. Strong enough to float a horseshoe. Peet's Major Dickason's Blend. Rapid eyelid movement while awake.

60InchDV8
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#88

Post by 60InchDV8 »

Grinding beans for fresh coffee is well worth the effort to improve the taste. I use a small portable hand turned grinder that I can take on fishing trips.Roasting your own beans in an iron skillet on the stove or over a camp fire is easy and also worth the effort and provides the freshest taste possible. There are many fine coffee makers on the market. I would recommend an Italian stove top Bialetti Moda Coffee maker. Simple and efficient with no filters required or electronics to fail in a couple years. You can use them outdoors over a camp fire or even a BBQ with wood chips.which is my favoured method as this imparts a Smokey tasting note to your favourite coffee blend. I have two, a small one for espresso or Cafe Americano and a larger one for two large cups of regular coffee. On my annual early spring canoe camping trips to wilderness Speckled trout and Ounaniche waters, the smell of roasting and grinding beans and then brewing them is very pleasant ands cheers us up on a cold fish less rainy day.
Regards from the Restigouche....Jim

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kermit
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#89

Post by kermit »

"the smell of roasting and grinding beans and then brewing them is very pleasant and cheers us up on a cold fishless rainy day".
Wow, I can smell the cofffee. Makes me want to head out...NOW! (Bialetti Moka Express 6 Cup coffee make on it's way)!
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WF70
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#90

Post by WF70 »

My taste in coffee is as basic as a memory. In the early 50s my mother would drive up to the Court House to shop at the A&P where lined up at the end of the checkout aisles were those beautiful, deep red, fragrant coffee grinding machines. I was dazzled by the smell. The A&P brand? 8 O'clock.
Raised on a Pacific island my wife's grandfather grew most of the food for the family table. He'd drive his old bull cart 45 minutes up the mountain to the farm every morning where he had pigs, chickens, cattle, fruits and vegetables, and some coffee trees, generational descendants from the Spanish era of the 1600s to the 1800s, from which he harvested the family coffee beans. From such unsophisticated origins we became unsophisticated coffee drinkers. At this stage of life to me the nostalgic taste and aroma of a family favorite is a most important component so we (I) still use Eight O'Clock.
An interesting notion "roasting your own". Got the pot; my cast ironer with its 45 year history. Hmmmmm.

ablecane
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#91

Post by ablecane »

I remember those grinders in an Ohio A&P years ago, too. Still drink 8' o'clock when I can find it.

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Drossi
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#92

Post by Drossi »

ablecane wrote:
10/05/21 08:26
I remember those grinders in an Ohio A&P years ago, too. Still drink 8' o'clock when I can find it.
My FIL got me a Quisnart with a grinder about 20 years ago, when my 1st son was born. I'm on the 4th one since. 8 o'clock blend was my go to for inexpensive beans but they closed all the A&P's by me. :(

Grinding your own just makes better tasting coffee.....fly tying furs! Years ago before you could buy pre-blended furs my uncle would "borrow" my moms coffee grinder to blend his dubbing. He'd return it and tell her that his coffee was all ground and that he'll take it again once he needed to buy another pound in a month or so. :)

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truchaspike
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#93

Post by truchaspike »

I order green beans from Sweet Maria or Mr. Green Beans and roast with an air popper. When on fishing/camping trips I roast in an iron skillet on a Coleman stove. I like Ethiopian beans roasted to the end of the 1st crack. Banko Gotiti is my current favorite. I grind with a Lido ET burr hand grinder and I brew in an Aeropress - love both of these devices.

When on the road I have several coffee shops I like to visit: Coffea, Sioux Falls; Jack Morman, Salt Lake City; Ohori's, Santa Fe; and Dunn Bros, Minneapolis.

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spruce grouse
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Re: Grinding coffee beans.

#94

Post by spruce grouse »

davemaine wrote:
01/03/21 15:17
Baratza burr grinder--I held out buying a burr grinder for a long time due to the cost. Big mistake. These things make much better coffee and, most significantly, the cup tastes the same every time!

As for coffee, you all need to try Speckled Ax. Roasted in a wood fire roaster right here in Maine. The owner of the company is also a fly fisher who has been know to fish bamboo. Great stuff.

I have no personal stake or affiliation other than I like the coffee and Matt's a good guy.

https://speckledax.com
I was using a manual burr grinder (see above post) but I kind of messed it up changing grind size (went from a French press to a Hario 60 pour over) and it was getting hard to hold onto with the arthritis in my hand (I wind left, but grind right). I got myself one of the less expensive Baratzas and it works great and is so easy. I am drinking more coffee at home now and less at the local coffee bar where “everyone knows my name”.

I’ll have to check out Speckled Ax next time I’m up in Maine, Dave. I’m partial to 44 North from up in Deer Isle, myself.
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“On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes... In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery."

sanderson
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#95

Post by sanderson »

truchaspike wrote:
01/29/22 15:07


When on the road I have several coffee shops I like to visit: Coffea, Sioux Falls; Jack Morman, Salt Lake City; Ohori's, Santa Fe; and Dunn Bros, Minneapolis.
I'm in Sioux Falls, Coffea is good, but were you in SD, pre-chains? Black Sheep Coffee Roasters were awesome, always new beans, Kenyan, Kona, Ethiopia, SE Asia. Man, they always had something new, and good! Roasted right by the front door as you walked in.

billems
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#96

Post by billems »

Peets Major Dickason's Blend, from ground beans. Strong stuff that'll put some jump in your wig!

mfrench
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#97

Post by mfrench »

my coffee machine:
Image

Grinder:
Kitchen Aide burr grinder, at least 25 years old now. fantastic.

We shop Winco, and, I think the brand available is BrickHouse Coffee? Redhouse Coffee?,.... from Winco bulk bins area. I don;t have a bag available right now; shopping again on monday morning.
I've been on Sumatra Mandheling (single source - medium roast) and a Double French Roast 50/50 mix for quite a while now.

jmyates
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#98

Post by jmyates »

As coffee is a all day drink for me I broke down and purchased a Baratza Encore burr coffee grinder a couple of years ago. Nothing like fresh ground coffee in the morning. Usually get beans from Costco(Petes or Starbucks usually).It really makes a difference in taste and pretty cost efficient.In addition my wife got me a Nespresso machine for Christmas allowing a quick expresso in the afternoon and while it's "not" very cost efficient it's a nice treat once in a while........

Mitch

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j.robillard
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#99

Post by j.robillard »

I've been avoiding chiming in on this thread, because I'm a coffee expert with decades of experience in the industry and I'm now one of the main quality control techs for one of the top specialty coffee companies.

Mitch has it right. Your grinder is one of the most important tools for good coffee and most grinders are rubbish. Baratza's grinders are great, and a good buy for the money. Many of the burr grinders made by kitchen supply companies just powderize the beans and do nothing good for a brew. When it comes to drip coffee, even particle size, at the correct size for the length of brew time, makes for more balanced and better tasting coffee. Too fine, or too many fines makes for bitter cups. Too large particle sizes, means sour flavors. A mix of both, sour and bitter.

In rankings of grinders from least good (I'm trying to be sensitive to people's purchases) to best it'd be: pestle and morter (that's meant to be funny), blade grinders, most burr grinders by box store kitchen equipment companies selling for less than $100, dedicated prosumer grinders like Baratza products, and professional grinders like DItting, Malkonig and Mazer. In this case, you get what you pay for.

If you want the best cup for the money and for the least effort, here's my recommendation: a Baratza Encore (follow their instructions for settings, they are very well dialed), a Bonavita drip brewer (dose 7g of coffee for every 4oz of brew water) and your favorite coffee beans. Lastly, keep everything clean. Coffee oils are very volatile and go rancid in no time. If you see brew residue on anything it's tainting your brew. Also, if coffee is in contact with stainless steel, a UC Davis study shows some ionization occurs and sour flavors, similar to vinegar, develop in the liquid.

Long story short, decent equipment, clean equipment and fresh coffee make for a good cup. BTW, 7g of coffee to 4 oz brew water is the "Golden Rule" for coffee brewing. It works for everything, but espresso.

Jeremy.
The fly rod not only catches trout; it is a handy fulcrum allowing me to cast to those things that seem so far beyond my grasp.

-Harry Middleton.

jmyates
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Re: Grinding coffee beans

#100

Post by jmyates »

Interesting Jeremy thanks for your input.My coffee brewer is a Moccamaster by Technivrom.Interested in your thought about it opposed to the Bonavita.

Mitch

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