Coffee, done right, is delicious.

A high quality bean, appropriately roasted, relatively fresh, freshly ground immediately before use with a bur grinder, and then your choice of method, plenty of grinds but almost always hot water, and preferably some pressure to extract oils, finally filtered through paper.

My weapon of choice is an aeropress or a manual espresso press. An Americano is arguably superior to a cup of drip. I drink it black.

Coffee is fucking delicious.

IMO coffee is basically three distinct drinks:

1) Really, really, really shitty coffee that just tastes like bitter and stale, always. Often lots of ash tray in the flavor. (instant, many k-cups, some exceptionally bad gas station coffee, very bad pre-ground coffee usually bought in a large tin [though not all of that!])

2) Normal coffee. It is coffee flavored. It might taste very burnt if it's a dark roast. It might be bad coffee flavored, or good coffee flavored, but it is coffee flavored. This is nearly all coffee you buy at stores like Target. Ground or whole bean and preparation method makes a little difference, but not really that much. Anything involving a filter versus French-press will be fairly different, but that's about it.

3) Fine coffee, prepared well. It's... heavenly. Delicate. Notes of herbs and berry and all kinda of crazy stuff, clear enough that even this guy's crappy palate can pick it up. It's really expensive. It's basically a whole different drink from the entire rest of "coffee". It goes stale in maybe 3 days after opening the bag, so buying more than a little at a time is a bad idea unless you have many people drinking it. I've not found any method to preserve it longer that actually works.

> I've not found any method to preserve it longer that actually works.

Have you tried vacuum packaging and freezing it? You want to vacuum package it so no moisture is trapped with the beans.

Vacuum packer is a thing I don't have. Might work. I've heard conflicting things about freezing (I've tried it with lesser beans in Tupperware, didn't seem to make much difference either way)

unless the tupperware is completely airtight, oxygen will still leak into the container and cause oxidation. This deteriorates the bean.

The cold temperature will slow evatoration of the volatiles from the bean, but it is unstoppable.

Vaccume sealing will drastically slowdown the oxidation, but since you cannot truly get a 100% vaccume, there will still be some oxygen in the bag, which will cause oxidation anyway. It will just be a bit better than nothing.

And then unthawing the beans requires a moisture free environment (e.g, take it out of the freezer for 24hrs without unsealing it), or the beans will spoil. Once unthawed, i dont believe refreezing will work - it will just spoil it.

So yes, preserving beans' freshness is difficult, and bound to fail eventually. Might as well just pay for fresh beans, and pay for the transportation and packaging (which, i guess is the overhead, and makes buying small quantities more expensive...)

Fine fresh roasted coffee will say good as whole beans for at least a week or so IME, it goes bad extremely quickly after being ground though.

It stays good for a month if properly stored, then starts down. Always grind right before brewing.

The first 3-7 days after roasting its not typically at its best yet.

I don't notice much difference on the mid-grade beans until a week out, but the expensive top-end stuff is going downhill on day 4, maybe day 5. It's not ruined yet, but if you paid 50-100% more than for mid-grade beans, it's not ideal.

If you're genuinely curious, James Hoffman on YouTube is the coffee wizard. All his videos are interesting, even if you couldn't care less about coffee!

Dude made me switch to a V60 filter after 15 years of drinking turkish coffee. I have to say, its amazing, I'm not going back. My coffee expenses are up 300%. Looking at burr grinders.

Seconded, though beware the upgrade-itis from watching too much of it...

By doing absolutely nothing.

Drinking and enjoying black coffee is like whiskey, it takes a few times to get past the “why the hell would anyone?!” hump, but once you do, you never look back.

There's terrible coffee out there. In my opinion (you may differ) Peet's black coffee tastes like burning and I regret it every time, usually in aeroport terminals (I always drink black so I often forget to order Peet's cut with adulterants like dairy).

Tastes are different; I hate really expensive trad whiskeys (Islay, Oban) because there's something in there that tastes to me like the smell of plastic shrinkwrap around vegetables from the japanese markets -- it's not peat, it's something else. But the cheap stuff I don't mind, and suntories are pretty good too.

Peet’s coffee is, IMHO, better than most generic supermarket coffee but it’s not one you’d find in my cupboard. I prefer a lighter roast, usually with a pour over. Mayorga has a seasonal Rio Coco that is a good all around roast.

Regarding whiskey, getting to the stage of sipping on anything Islay takes a while, but there’s a whole lifetime to get there. Along the way there’s plenty of more approachable single malts, rye whiskeys, bourbons, and so much more.

Where do you live? If you are in NYC I can recommend a few places to try that will change your mind about coffee.

I used to think there was no way the coffee out in the west coast could be substantially better than what we have in NYC.

Then I went to Seattle and SF in the same month, and discovered how wrong I was. Those places may be pits right now just like NYC, but they definitely win in the coffee department.

I buy beans and use an aeropress. Even with expensive beans it's way cheaper (5x?) than store coffee. When travelling though ones option are more constrained.

YMMV but I find freshly ground, bloomed for 30s before brewing, and 85C aeropress (inverted method) for 90s is my go-to for getting it to taste exactly how I like it. I thoroughly recommend playing around and experimenting to find your own routine, very cathartic.

Inverted became inferior to me once I found out how to create negative pressure with the plunger on top of a cup. Same taste and process but without the flip.

care to elaborate? isn't the whole point that water escapes before you manage to put the plunger in place?

or do you mean that you've gotten fast at putting the plunger on, and then leave it there for a bit before pushing it down? (in which case, do you skip the stirrer step?)

Yes, a minimal amount of water will escape but I haven't found it to negatively impact my brew. One of the best things about the aeropress is the experimentation and variety, so I encourage you to try this and see if it makes a difference. James Hoffmann has a video on this technique (jump to 2:00 to see the start of the recipe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6VlT_jUVPc

Use high quality beans, keep them fresh in a sealed container aways.

Grind for the appropriate brewing technique.

Use an AeroPress or a French Press, use water that has been boiled and just finished dropping past the bubbling point.

Let it steep, and stir.

Drink it black, and get used to it.

> Drink it black, and get used to it.

If you're going to end your advice with "get used to it", do you really need everything that came before?

it does take some time to learn the appreciation - like spicy foods.

Drinking it black means you taste the full flavour without the bitterness being masked by milk or sugar. But for me personally, drinking esspresso without milk is only good if the beans are excellent, and brewed to perfection by a proper barista (a level of skill i have yet to truly attain - that's why i buy my esspresso instead of making it myself).

But a milk-based coffee drink like latte or cappacino doesn't require that level of quality, and would still taste really good. So for the home, i recommend making milk drinks yourself, with medium quality fresh beans, while you buy esspresso from a trusted barista/cafe that you know is using great (single origin!) beans.

I'm generally (and a little counterintuitively) against improving the quality of things I try. I noticed that the hedonic treadmill makes it so that my level of enjoyment is the same as the lower-quality thing, it just makes it so I can't go back.

For example, I used to have these shitty speakers, but I'd enjoy music very much all the same. Then, I got great speakers, and could hear all the nuances, but I enjoyed music the same amount, the only difference is that I now needed expensive speakers to do it.

From then on, I decided that ignorance in these matters is usually bliss, and avoid (for example) looking at OLED TVs as the blacks on my TV don't bother me, but they would start to if I bought an OLED TV and I could never go back.

hahah, that's a nice philosophy.

thanks for "expounding" it :p

Haha, you're very welcome!

For the "keep it fresh" part, I use Fellow Atmos containers for my beans (I'm sure there are other options too). They allow you to pump out the air by twisting the lid back and forth. I live by myself and only drink 2-3 cups of coffee a week, so it's been useful since a standard 12 oz bag lasts over a month for me.

i use a burr grinder, temperature controlled kettle, weigh the beans and the water, and use a pour-over method with a decent paper filter.

but in my experience, freshness is the biggest factor to good coffee--mainly being freshly (and adequately) roasted, but also freshly ground before use. everything else seems to be relatively marginal after that.

edit: i buy locally roasted coffee that's delivered to my door for about the price of starbucks or peets ( <=$1/oz ). that's been the biggest difference.

You can use a French Press for cold brew, too. Just leave it cool and plunge it in the morning. I think you can even leave it out of the fridge overnight?

> Drink it black

I learned to drink MIL-SPEC coffee black at Boeing, because the Boeing creamer tasted like it was mined.

I liked McDonalds coffee before they tried to copy Starbucks. Horrible and black and perfect for road trips!

What is your experience with coffee? Have you mostly had Stabucks/Dunkin/Folgers and the like or have you ventured out into trying third wave coffees? I recommend getting a drink from a third wave coffee shop if you haven't already.

Great coffee comes down to many factors: the beans, roasting, grind, brew method, and temperature.

A great resource for learning more about great coffee is James Hoffmann's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb0O2CdPBNi-QqPk5T3gsQ

> Great coffee comes down to many factors: the beans, roasting, grind, brew method, and temperature.

Sounds like what wine salesmen say.

Best way to get flavour out of coffee is cold brew (not cold trip).

Leave coarsely ground coffee in water for 12-24 hours at room temperature and then filter the beans out.

Lasts for about 2 weeks in the fridge and you can have it straight, with ice, water or milk.

Some coffee shops use this technique to find out the flavour of coffee prior to using it for hot coffee. As the heat denatures some of the proteins in coffee, doing it cold extracts all the flavours without damage.

Otherwise find a good espresso place (not a chain). I have no idea how many or if they are around in US much.

I find cold brew doesn't bring out the body of the coffee - it's too "thin". If i grind too fine, it would be too bitter.

A "hot" brew is similar, but you get to smell the volatiles while brewing (which you lose if cold brew).

TBH, i'm not a fan of cold brew.

For people who want a cold drink but still want a hot coffee’s flavor, an Iced Americano, where an espresso is brewed directly onto ice, is very close.

> doing it cold extracts all the flavours without damage

Well, no, flavors fluctuate with temperature. Temperature changes flavor degradation and dissipation, and what compounds are released or not released. Heat can actually contribute the preferred flavors that may be lacking in unheated brews, and vice versa. Hot coffee can be the best tasting coffee, for a very short period of time. Cold-brew coffee is stable for longer, and has less astringent, bitter, and sour flavors, which lends it a cleaner, brighter flavor, but can make it lack "body". Point being, you still have to taste it hot to find out if it's going to taste good hot.

> Best way to get flavour out of coffee is cold brew (not cold trip).

Can confirm that this is the best way to brew all but the finest beans. Elevates mid-tier beans quite a bit.

> As the heat denatures some of the proteins in coffee, doing it cold extracts all the flavours without damage.

Isn't it already roasted at this point?

Yes, but roasting the green beans to roasted coffee beans does a lot of chemistry - to make the flavor what you like. There’s such a thing as brewing green coffee beans, though. I think they say it’s grassy?

First, buy good beans. https://www.javapresse.com/blogs/buying-coffee/ultimate-guid...

Second, buy a cheap hand grinder and grind 'em right. https://www.javapresse.com/blogs/grinding-coffee/grinder-bes...

Third, buy a cheap plastic V60 funnel and some paper filters, and hand-pour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI4ynXzkSQo

If you're just learning how to do this, buy a good bag of coffee just to practice a bunch until you taste a difference. (Do this any time you learn to cook. Cook 36 eggs in one go and you will become an expert omelette maker in an hour)

Cold brew is also delicious. Both the "let it sit overnight" variety, and "brewing into a carafe of ice".

Oh, and clean all your stuff each time before you use it. Stale leftover coffee (in your brewer or coffee mug) makes your coffee taste like shit.

Move to Italy or Australia.

Australia? Do we have good coffee?

Yes we definitely do in my experience. I was born and raised in Italy and I've lived in Australia during the last 10 years. Before coming down under, I had a job where I had to move frequently so I've experienced coffee in many other countries as well. Australia is up there with Italy in my opinion. I've also heard good things about some parts of the US but I don't have first hand experience.

We do. Well, parts of us do, especially those parts with an Italian-identifying community. Australian-trained baristas are in demand globally as a consequence.

Yes, Melbourne is well known for it but everywhere is pretty good. Its theorized that's why Starbucks failed in Australia. No one would tolerate sugared up mud water made by untrained teenagers when high quality coffee is everywhere.

I mean there's still a few in the CBD and I like the different flavours, sure it's like smoking menthols but who cares? If it tastes good and you enjoy it - all the power to you.

They were actually sold off and are owned and operated by 7-11 Australia, not Starbucks anymore.

Copious amounts of sugar and fat seem to work for most people.

That said, yes, I would love to know how to make it more palatable without making it so unhealthy. I'm extremely sensitive to bitter flavors, black coffee is a lost cause for me.

> I'm extremely sensitive to bitter flavors, black coffee is a lost cause for me.

Perhaps coffee just isn't for you? The bitterness is part of what is enjoyable.

Tea is probably more your thing.

try high altitude grown coffees from East Africa, usually little to no bitterness

You can mix in a tiny (like a few specks) of baking soda or some salt in the ground beans before brewing. I do it for culling acidity in decaf, but I think it helps with bitterness, too. There’s also “Kona Red” coffee if you want to just try what it can be like done well.

A Cappuccino is delicious, lightly sweet and hard to make at home. But you may try it out.

On the cheap, a french press. More expensive, espresso (and that whole rabbit hole).

For my taste, there is moka pot between espresso machine and a french press.

There’s a whole art to coffee making. People have mentioned the grind and the strategy for brewing, but the freshness of the beans is a big deal. Look for brands with a “roast date” instead of a “best by” date. Also i personally think pour overs (hario or chemex) are the way to go. With good, fresh beans, the right grind, water that is not too hot, a well bloomed and timed pour... you really can start to taste the notes in coffee similar to the way you do in wine. There is no bitterness (that usually means the coffee was burnt).

A quality grinder will allow you to dial in the ratio of fines to dissolved solids. An oversimplification is that espresso is mostly fines (let rest and you have sludge), and coffee is mostly dissolved solids.

I prefer a coffee that is done at a low temperature (80-85c) and ground more towards an espresso to pull a little more flavor out.

I use a Commandants C40 with 40 grind settings.

I think that they're pretty directly related, though maybe that's because I associate the smell with the resultant feeling of being caffeinated. However, I do recall smelling coffee brewing that both did not smell good and then did not taste good either.

"though maybe that's because I associate the smell with the resultant feeling of being caffeinated"

Maybe not, as I am not a coffee drinker and don't like being caffeinated - but I really do like the smell of coffee, too.

Organic whole beans. Grind them yourself, and experiment with how fine or coarse you like it. I use a Hario v60 and pour over ice, which is called “flash chilling”. Serve with ice. This method tends to extract the flavor really well in my experience.

French press and proper technique (temperature, time and grind).

coarse ground coffee 60g/1 L of water 4:00 min steep stir the crust wait 30 seconds plunge enjoy coffee

I find it lovely to use as an ingredient for a cupcake-in-a-mug; the texture really complements the coffee flavour.

try getting some specialty coffee from a local coffee roaster or coffee shop not in grocery stores!