Lately I've been having a couple of old favorites stocked up. Choc Full o'Nuts and Eight o'Clock in beans.
I knew it. I kind of found my equilibrium with shaving. Happy with my hardware and just searching for soaps, creams and aftershaves now. But then I started to work on my coffee making technique. First, pulled out the Bodum Bistro french press that someone gave us for a wedding present and sat unused for decades, literally. Then bought a nice Baratza Virtuoso burr grinder based on research that showed it excelled at the medium grinds needed for french press. Then I bought a set of vintage Victor diner mugs in like-new condition to drink my wonderful brews in. Then I bought a Bialetti Mokka Pot for a little variation at reasonable cost. Then I bought a scale to weigh the water and the beans. And now, I'm chomping at the bit to buy a Cafelat Robot so I can pull some mean espresso shots. That means I'll need another grinder that excels at the fine espresso grind. And since the espresso machine is manual, I'm thinking the grinder can be manual as well. I knew this day would come after I did all that research for a real espresso machine and after much angst concluded that the best option for me is the Lelit Mara P62T. But I'm not willing to spend that much on a coffee machine so the Cafelat has become the alternative until I feel I can justify the Lelit. And it's not like I'm one of those people who drinks coffee all day. I actually make my pot of french press in the morning and have my 2 or 3 cups to get me going and that's it for the day. And when I watched the video of someone demoing the Cafelat machine and they showed the rich creamy goodness flowing out of the naked portafilter I knew that machine was for me. Now I just have to prepare the wife for a new accessory. Well, make that accessories. I now need to get some nice espresso cups and cappuccino cups. And the need to be authentic ones. I'm finding they aren't cheap. The ones I like the best are the Illy espresso cups. And of course the cappuccino cups need to match. But I digress. My real motivation? My neighbor has a Nuova Simonelli Musica espresso machine that he just gushes over. I want to be able to make as good a shot as his fancy machine for a fraction of the cost. Yeah, that's right. I'm jealous. And he got it for a song since it was probably hot and came off the back of a van. Well, that's not really my motivation. I have grown to really love a nice cup of coffee. And with winter setting in, it's the best way to start the day. Ok, now that I've gotten that off my chest, Emily Litella would say "Never mind."
Reminds me a little of my sister who married into an Italian-American family... her parents-in-law were born in Italy but came over as young children. As a consequence, they are more Italian than the Italians. But, I digress. My sister was given multiple espresso sets by them as wedding presents. Each set with an intended audience and application... the week day set, the Sunday set, the "good" set, the company set, and so forth. Since neither she nor her husband drink espresso, they all went to a tag sale after a suitable amount of time had passed. I think they kept one set in case the in-laws decided to check. In case you are wondering (and who wouldn't be?!), the same thing happened when it came to baby blankets when she was pregnant with my nephew.
At Publix, I found a small can of Don Franciso coffee made by Gavina, which supposedly is the roaster that provides McDonald's coffee (which is still quite good). The stuff I bought is also quite good, and reasonably priced.
Well, I am going to get kicked out of the club, but I am loving the "Starbucks Holiday blend" It is medium roast with good flavor, not acidic, and a bit of chocolate to me. It's not bad. It's not the best coffee ever, but at 0530 in the morning, it's easier to put the pod in the Kuerig, and press the button. I can hardly put in my shoes that early much less try to make coffee. Now, Sunday mornings are for my cafe Bustello. I make that in the perculator and have 3 cups.
Aldi of all places, has some really good French roast. It’s in a metallic blue bag and I liked it so much I went back and bought several more bags. $2.99 a bag is insane for coffee I really like!
I've been anxious about that one for years, but the suggestion was made to me here that perhaps it isn't sold in the Northeast.
Sanka is probably on its way out, in the same fashion as was Rise Original Shave Cream(the idea being, "let's try something NEW and see what happens").
Four Sisters Donut shop blend $5.50 for 28 oz bag at Big Lots.A nice light-medium roast.I may have to go back and get a bag of the Italian Roast.I had not heard of this brand but it gets reviews on Amazon.
I have to amend my original post....it's 5$ for 24 oz.Has an expiration date of 3-31-2020.It is a fine grind slightly larger than my la llava espresso .It is a dark color but the coffee has no burnt flavor and is rather mild. I may have to get a bag of the Italian Roast.I think it is a bit stronger.
The reason I asked about roast date is because I’ve read that for coffee to be at it’s peak freshness it should be used within 2 to 3 weeks from it’s roast date and 20 to 30 minutes from being ground. Other sites have said whole beans can be good until a month after being roasted. But then again I’ve seen yet more sites saying beans can last 6 months from roast date and ground coffee 3 months. I guess it all depends on how religious you are about your coffee. I tend to go through a pound of coffee in about 4 to 6 weeks since I’m the only one who drinks it in my house. I only grind enough beans for what I plan to drink at that time. I thought all the crazy time frames were nonsense until I started following the rules of thumb and without question the taste of my coffee became noticeably better, smoother and far less bitter yet full flavored. Now that I’ve tasted the difference, I can’t go back.
