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Mortar0341

Lifer
Jan 1, 2025
1,046
17,456
Florida
We've got a Keurig k-duo and I only use the pot side while my wife likes the pods. I buy WalMart-brand French roast, 2 pounds for $16. The two make a fine pot. Gourmet-level? Probably not. But disagree with the poster who saId life is too short for cheap coffee. No, life is too long for retired folks if they run out of money. So, budget is important.
If retired folks run out of money and gotta switch to cheap coffee, they probly be better off just dyin
 
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Jan 30, 2020
2,784
9,048
New Jersey
Hey, if you like thinking dirt water, do whatever makes you happy.

Life is too short to drink crappy coffee. I’d shut off my internet and cell phone before I’d drink cheap coffee for financial reasons. I would turn off pretty much everything before resorting to cheap coffee and even then, there’s a good chance I’d just stop drinking it if that was the last resort.
 
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ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
20,030
15,782
Covington, Louisiana
postimg.cc
We make 12 cups every morning, 52 weeks a year, 7 days a week. We're on our 3rd Hamilton-Beach maker in 30 years, they go about 10 years. Just bought the 3rd one, $20 at Target. We use the "Bold" setting.

 
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irishearl

Lifer
Aug 2, 2016
2,557
4,907
Kansas
Hey, if you like thinking dirt water, do whatever makes you happy.

Life is too short to drink crappy coffee. I’d shut off my internet and cell phone before I’d drink cheap coffee for financial reasons. I would turn off pretty much everything before resorting to cheap coffee and even then, there’s a good chance I’d just stop drinking it if that was the last resort.
Cheap coffee isn't necessarily crappy coffee. The stuff I get is fine and barely distinguishable from brands charging twice as much. It's not always you get what you pay for. Sometimes you get more for what you pay for.
 
Jan 30, 2020
2,784
9,048
New Jersey
Cheap coffee isn't necessarily crappy coffee. The stuff I get is fine and barely distinguishable from brands charging twice as much. It's not always you get what you pay for. Sometimes you get more for what you pay for.
Cheap coffee always has at least 1 (sometimes more) issues that don’t work for me.

It lacks any flavor at all.
It lacks creativity and just tastes nutty.
It’s roasted to hell and back.

Now if you find any of these qualities to be your heaven, congratulations. It’s like if you love unflavored cavendish I imagine……doesn’t matter where the leaf comes from, the threshold for quality is basically existing.

And don’t get me wrong, I have drank all sorts of coffee over the years. Like tobacco, it takes trying variety to understand what you want, what’s good, and why. You have to find a roasting house like a tobacco house that suits your desires. There are expensive roasters who cook the shit out of their beans and I don’t know why anyone pays money for it.

But this thread is about wanting to elevate one’s coffee pleasure, so I absolutely encourage investing in it, financially, open minded and with some time.

All of my brew devices are pretty cheap and don’t require being plugged in. The water kettle and grinder are leisure purchases, but I started hand grinding with a stove kettle.

If you go to a local roaster, you should find flavored and unflavored, single origin and house blends, and to a roast level that fits your preferences (I like medium roasts). Experiment! Even expensive coffee is cheap. I pay $18 per pound (454 grams) and at 18 grams per 360 grams of water (my preferred ratio) even expensive coffee costs me $0.72 for a cup. That’s cheaper than a lot of k cup and Nespresso pods!
 
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Jan 30, 2020
2,784
9,048
New Jersey
If you want a suggestion off the shelf, I might suggest Starbucks Pike Place. It was arguably my gateway to better coffee and I drank it for a number of years before exploring a local roaster about an hour away. It has a lot of flavor, balanced and made a nice, solid cup of coffee for being off the shelf by a big brand. Starbucks the store may not know how to make coffee, but Starbucks the roaster is better than the store would lead you to believe.

Granted, it's been 8 or 9 years since I've had it but assuming they haven't screwed it up since, it was nice.
 
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Mortar0341

Lifer
Jan 1, 2025
1,046
17,456
Florida
If you want a suggestion off the shelf, I might suggest Starbucks Pike Place. It was arguably my gateway to better coffee and I drank it for a number of years before exploring a local roaster about an hour away. It has a lot of flavor, balanced and made a nice, solid cup of coffee for being off the shelf by a big brand. Starbucks the store may not know how to make coffee, but Starbucks the roaster is better than the store would lead you to believe.

Granted, it's been 8 or 9 years since I've had it but assuming they haven't screwed it up since, it was nice.
It's funny you say that, cause that's what we've been drinking. And we like it, like you said it kinda introduces you to better coffee, now I'm on the lookout. Lol. So right now I got, Starbucks pike place, cafe bustelo, and green mountain breakfast blend. I haven't tried the green mountain yet. Today was my first day with the Cafe Bustelo. It's okay. It's got a different flavor than I'm use to but I enjoyed how dark and rich it was. I found it's best if you pour strong short cup of it rather than more water in it..me wife enjoyed the strong short pour of it, we've probly each had 4 of it them today, so I guess we have been enjoying it.
 

HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
6,707
47,423
Midwest
It is not a consistent way to make coffee if you jump around from bean to bean, but I've been using a Chemex daily for about 12 years and on weekends/holidays since a little over a year ago, in addition to the Chemex in the wee hours of the morning, it's mocha lattes later for me and the Missus and the occasional espresso. The Rocket was last year's big pre-Christmas Black Friday splurge, but I've really enjoyed learning about using it (had a Bambino Plus before that and it was good for what it could do and once you add steamed milk and chocolate I won't pretend there's a lot of difference, but strictly working on espresso, there's a huge difference in what you can create).

IMG_6002.jpeg
 
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bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
10,604
42,618
RTP, NC. USA
Prefer espresso during the summer. During winter, tea. But as to best coffee machine, it's really hard to say now days. I used to swear by Mr. Coffee for just the regular drip coffee. but the quality of machine has gone down. Taste wise, manual coffee machines are better. But the temp goes down too quick. Espresso machines aren't exactly a joy to use. I prefer ones with least automation. This give me to full control to dial them in. If I wasn't so lazy, Aeropress is the best of all things combined. French press comes close, but I hate chewy coffee.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
18,422
33,512
47
Central PA a.k.a. State College
Cheap coffee isn't necessarily crappy coffee. The stuff I get is fine and barely distinguishable from brands charging twice as much. It's not always you get what you pay for. Sometimes you get more for what you pay for.
And with coffee and other food stuffs you often pay for marketing as well as product. Though I still find that my favorite coffee is too expensive for my tastes.
The only truly bad coffees I have had were incredibly cheap, and sold by office supply companies not for general consumers.
 

irishearl

Lifer
Aug 2, 2016
2,557
4,907
Kansas
I was just kidding about the dying thing by the way. And yes of coarse Bang for the Buck is what I'm looking for, but it also has to be quality. What's the best quality bang for ya buck.
I was about to say that it sounded like something a guy who hadn't entered their 40's would say.;)
 

HeadMisfit

Can't Leave
Oct 15, 2025
492
334
You can use a filter but I’ve only tried a couple of times.

What are these health reasons you speak of? Never heard that and I’ve had my coffee without filters for well over 20 years.
its just schmuck land drivel.. coarser grind actually has less surface area to release oils.

Its the reason gevalia ground coffee is so popular for brewing high srength coffee, they grind it like FLOUR.

every detriment of french press i can find is asosciated with all methods of making coffee by pouring hot water through it.

Although no one wants to discuss the issues of coffee pods and hot water releasing chemicals from the plastic, the acids in the coffee increase the chemical leaching. And the fact that the hot water in those machines goes through plastic and gets lot of bad chemicals out anyway.