Best bag of coffee?

robbie1876

After threatening for many years, I finally got myself a proper coffee perculator. Now all I need is nice coffee! Eventually I'll get a proper coffee grinder, but for now I'm buying bags of ground coffee, and am wondering what your favourite coffee is.

I like my coffee very strong, so I've been buying the strength 5 stuff. So far, my favourite has been Bewleys Java 5, but it's still not as nice as I had hoped for. I'm looking for strong, rich and full bodied coffee.

Suggestions welcome!

Kobie

Just got back from Paris with a couple of kilo's of the stuff - Jaysus but they know their coffee.

In Ireland I find that Gloria Jeans (beside the Powerscourt center) do some decent coffee's. My favourite would be the Mocha Java. Stay away from their 'house' coffee's - they just taste burnt. Buy yourself a grinder too, they're only €20 - grind a bit at a time & keep it in the freezer. You can't beat a fresh drop.

I'd be interested in what other people like though.

gonker

Tesco finest coffee are nice cant remember names but they are cheap enough to try
gonk

robbie1876

Thanks folks, I'll try both! I presume then that Gloria Jeans sell beans, but they'll grind them for me if I ask? They'll probably sell me a coffee grinder too, I should definitely go down that route.

Kobie

Yes, they do beans & will grind. I don't know of many other places that actually sell beans in this town. Le Corte in the Epicurian Hall (mentioned in another thread) sell big bags of Italian beans for about €25, but I haven't tried them yet.

Sarsfield

Java is the coffee drinkers coffee. There is nothing else worth putting in a percolator.

Get into buying beans. Grind them yourself. It makes a real difference. Don't grind too fine. The aroma of freshly ground coffee is part of the experience. Bewleys actually does excellent Java beans.

Never buy more than a weeks worth. Freshness is essential.

Use filtered water. No milk. Just a little sugar.

robbie1876

Sounds good. I'll get me a grinder tomorrow in town. Buying in small quantities sounds like it makes sense. How fresh would the coffee beans be from the likes of Bewleys, Gloria Jeans etc?

I can't stand milk in coffee, and no sugar for me thanks! Good point about filtered water, never thought of that. Another quick question: Is making an Espresso simply a matter of putting less water in the perculator? Also, how long should the coffee be left perculating for?

Thanks,

Robbie

Kobie

I'm not in town that often & buy a month or two's beans at a time - I don't think it really matters about buying enough for a week if you get beans, they've probably been kept in storage for months beforehand anyway. It's just when you grind them they go stale, so keep your ground stuff in the freezer.

I bought beans in Istanbul once - the place roasted them themselves so they were still hot when I bought them. Now that's fresh.

Can't help you with the perculator - I just use one of those little expresso pots.

K.

dudara

Percolators don't really make espresso, but you can buy espresso coffee and use an extra spoon or two. To make espresso, I used to use a Bialetti stovetop pot which made great espresso. But then for xmas, we got given a Morphy Richards gaggia-style coffee maker. It forces the water through under pressure and it makes good coffee.

At the moment, my favourite blends are both from the Tesco own-brand range. There's an Italian roast which comes in a pink bag, and there's an espresso coffee in a brown bag, both cost about E3, and I think that they're quite nice for the money.

In our tea-room in college (being postgrads means we gulp coffee), we use Bewley's Java blend in the percolator and it's quite nice.

RevBlueJeans

Lidl Belarom espresso is very cheap and tastes good.

Krusty_Clown

I like Bewleys Java coffee beans (strength 5)..

For bets results, I use an electric grinder I bought from PowerCity, which cost around €20 (and has many other uses!), and a single cup filter which looks like this:



Strength and freshness, can't be beat..

We go through around a 8oz bag of beans every week though, so would be very interested in where you can buy good quality coffee beans at reasonable prices..

Panda

Roberts coffee is decent.

that is all.

robbie1876

Thanks for the responses. I'm getting a grinder and a bag of beans (dunno which ones yet) tomorrow, so I'll let you know what I find (I'll probably post at about 4am tomorrow night as a result of too much coffee...)

robbie1876

Well, I'm currently enjoying my first cup of self-ground coffee! Got me a grinder from Power City (thanks, Krusty) and a bag of Mocha Java beans from Gloria Jeans (thanks Kobie). Feckin' delicious, so it is! Quite a creamy sort of taste to it, which is great, but next time I'll try to buy beans that have more of a bitter taste, that would suit me more. Any ideas?

Thanks for all the help, chaps.

Robbie

Kobie

Well in that case you might like their house blends - though like I said they just taste burnt to me. If you're lucky you'll get the manger there who really knows his coffee & can recommend something (he's even had a few coffees under the counter in the past(!) ). Most likely though you'll get the brain dead part-timers. Nothing else springs to mind - the Irish must like their coffee's smooth.

robbie1876

I'll make sure I talk to the manager next time. I only bought the Mocha Java ones cos I rememberd the name! I was curious looking at the price list on the wall. Most beans were about €8 or so for a half pound, but at the top, there were beans for €16 and up to €25 for the most expensive ones!! I'm too curious to let it pass, so I'll have to get them ones the next time...

Kobie

Try them if you like. I got the Jamaican Blue once & didn't really think much of it. I usually get the Mocha Java plus one other one - it's interesting to try them out.

dathi1

A friend of mine from Turkey brought over Turkish / Arabic coffee which I started to use last week..its sort of like espresso except more silt.............jezus the buzz in the mornings is unreal.

dee mm

Have to say the same about Blue Mountain didnt really float my boat. Hawiian Kona is stunning though, Gloria Jeans sell it. But best place to get it straight from Hawaii Kona Premium Coffee Company
WWW.KonaPremium.com

Get 2lb bag every month or so throw it in the freezer grind it when you need it, bliss.....

Kobie

Never did try that one - I'll give it a go next time I'm in, though buying my beans direct from Hawaii sounds pretty cool

bonkey

Originally posted by dee mm
Get 2lb bag every month or so throw it in the freezer grind it when you need it, bliss.....

I'm amazed at the number of people who still recommend doing this, especially with expensive coffees.

Firstly, unless you really treat your coffee carefully when freezing it, you'll do as much damage to the bean as you will give it longevity.

Typically, beans will keep optimally in an airtight container for about two weeks from when they were roasted. Freezing properly will add up to another week on top of that.

However, if the beans are already older than that (which will be true of virtually anything you buy in Ireland) or haven't been stored properly in an airtight container (e.g. every single bean that Gloria Jeans sells, including Kona and Blue Mountain) then you're basically closing the shed door after the horse has already bolted, and while freezing won't really damage the bean much any more, thats cause there's little damage left to be done....which means that again, there's SFA benefit to gain from the freezing.

Its a common myth, but if you doubt me than go and google for "coffee freezer" and just look at the number of hits you'll get back telling you its not as good an idea as many seem to think. If you have to freeze something, then I'd go towards what this site is suggesting - freeze in "one week" chunks, and take out one week's worth at a time. Do *not* take coffee from teh freezer every time you want a cup of Joe. It absolutely destroys the entire point of freezing in the first place.

Personally, if I was buying Kona or BM (neither of which I think is outstanding, but anyway)...I'd get it from source, like dee mm, in a small enough quantity that it would last about a fortnight, grind per brew, and probably make it using sparkling mineral water in the machine. And I wouldn't even let it know that I have a freezer in the house....I'd just use a good airtight container, preferably ceramic.

jc

dee mm

I agree totally with you bonkey, storing coffee is a real pain, but you just gotta buy when you need it. You can time how long it takes to get coffee from your farm, and it is as fresh as its going to get. Now another option is to roast at home, that can be fun if a little smokey! Gloria Jeans have some nice coffees but they really aint fresh. Your call, but fresh coffee rocks!

robbie1876

Nice one bonkey, thanks for the advice. Throwing a 2lb bag of beans into the freezer and using enough for a cup at a time is still a hell of a lot better than drinking the instant muck that I had been doing up until recently!

However, since I have started down this road to the perfect fresh cup of coffee, I may as well keep going. Any ideas where to get one of those ceramic airtight jars? In the Argos book there are plastic and glass airtight jars, are these ok? The ceramic ones just have normal lids, not the airtight seal type.

Next thing is getting coffee fresher than can be got from Gloria Jeans. Is there anywhere around town that freshly roasted coffee can be got? Do Bewleys roast their own coffee? What's involved in roasting beans at home?

Thanks,

Robbie

bonkey

Originally posted by robbie1876
Nice one bonkey, thanks for the advice. Throwing a 2lb bag of beans into the freezer and using enough for a cup at a time is still a hell of a lot better than drinking the instant muck that I had been doing up until recently!

Absolutely...but the point I was trying to make is that taking it out one cup at a time more or less will negate the benefits of freezing......unless, as seems to be the case, you don't have a decent airtight storage thingy.

However, since I have started down this road to the perfect fresh cup of coffee, I may as well keep going. Any ideas where to get one of those ceramic airtight jars? In the Argos book there are plastic and glass airtight jars, are these ok? The ceramic ones just have normal lids, not the airtight seal type.

Glass is okay, as long as its either tinted or kept in a reasonably dark place out of sunlight (at the back of the cupboard is ideal). Plastic, I find mostly ok, as long as its not near any other strong odours and is never used for anythign else.

For the "real deal"...you probably need to fork out serious cash somewhere like BT. To be honest...its probably not worth it.

Next thing is getting coffee fresher than can be got from Gloria Jeans. Is there anywhere around town that freshly roasted coffee can be got? Do Bewleys roast their own coffee? What's involved in roasting beans at home?

No clue on this front, to be honest. When I lived in Dublin, I generally got coffee in Gloria Jeans, but always had a good look at what I was getting. If the beans look a bit oily, they're perfect. If they look a bit dry, buy something else.

jc