So, this morning I had a knock-down, drag-out fight with my coffee maker.
I guess you could say I provoked it: forgot to take out the filter from yesterday…tried to grind coffee…..overflowing grounds everywhere….baaaaaad coffee…you get the picture. At first I didn’t think it would be so bad. Empty the filter; make a new pot. NO. Apparently leftover ground coffee had been dispersed into every nook and cranny of the inner workings of this high-tech machine. What else could a girl do but take the whole dang thing apart (grinding mechanism, filter, pot, the whole shabang) and clean every single little corner. Needless to say, dish-pan hands before your first cup of coffee is not the best way to start off the day.
But neverfear: I won the fight in the end. Although it is now brewing happily away on my third pot of coffee (but the first that will actually be drinkable…I hope), I am starting to consider my options. Perhaps a French Press? They seem to be quite fashionable. Or maybe I will resort to my mother’s do-ahead method of cold-drip coffee concentrate… I’m not sure if I can relegate $50 a week to Starbuck’s (sorry Dean)…
OR 
????- Good ol’ fashioned coffee maker
- French Press
- Cold Brew
- or something else…?
hiddenart
Because the cold- water method has less acid, my stomach is happier when I drink that brew. And I’ll bet it’s less expensive.
Dean
Good coffee is much more expensive, to be sure. My favorite independent coffee house uses coffee from Intelligentsia in Chicago (http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/) which is wonderful, but pricier than Starbucks or another coffee chain.
It’s going to depend on how much coffee you drink. An 8-cup French Press uses .12 pounds of coffee, which will make a 1-lb bag last 8 presses. If you’re doing one press a day, that’ll last you just over a week. A pound of Starbucks coffee runs between $9.95 and $13.45, depending on what type of roast you purchase, so you’d be looking at between $1.25 and $1.69 per press. I’d say, find the best deal on bulk, quality coffee. (You get 5% 2 lbs or more at Starbucks, for example, or a 5-lb bullet of Pike Place Roast at Starbucks is 20% cheaper than buying it in 1-lb bags). Also, now through Dec 15 you get 20% off in store on whole bean and merch.
Okay, now that I just spent a paragraph selling Starbucks, let me give my non-Starbucks-employee thoughts…
When it comes to national, mass-produced coffee, Starbucks does it best. Better than Caribou, or Biggby, or whatever. Sure. But the indy shop will produce a better roasted and flavored coffee day in and day out. Unfortunately, it often costs 1.5 or 2 times as much.
Whichever way you go, just get what you like. As to “what makes the best coffee,” go to your local indy that serves slow drip coffee and try that. Amazing…
Oh, and one more thing, since you’re working from home, make sure you keep your coffee receipts since you started that job and you should be able to use them as a tax write-off.
hiddenart
@Dean – When I buy coffee out, I support the independent coffee shop, Its a Grind. Very yummy. Closer to my house (read less gasoline cost) than the local Starbucks. BUT the owner is an Ohio State Fan.
Not a problem for me, but WWYD?
Dean
I’d probably not shop there. But it depends on where he buys his coffee from and how it tastes. The coffee gods will make a sports exception every now and then.
ncs1975
Coffee, Isn’t that the HOT (yuck) drink that is somewhat similar in appearance to the “nectar of the gods” ?http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/