New to coffee.

rockmongrel

Hey guys, as the title says, I'm new to coffee. I've enjoyed it in coffee shops and the what not so now I've decided I want to be able to make good coffee at home. Problem is, I have no idea how to go about this. I have no idea what the difference between a coffee maker and espresso machine is and the resources thread means nothing to me as I've no idea what any of it means. I am the epitome of newbie I suppose.
So... any help would be great

jochenstacker

rockmongrel wrote: »

Hey guys, as the title says, I'm new to coffee. I've enjoyed it in coffee shops and the what not so now I've decided I want to be able to make good coffee at home. Problem is, I have no idea how to go about this. I have no idea what the difference between a coffee maker and espresso machine is and the resources thread means nothing to me as I've no idea what any of it means. I am the epitome of newbie I suppose.
So... any help would be great

Well, the right coffee for the right occasion I'd say.
Also, it's down to personal preference in the end :-)

Espresso, either from electric or good old fashioned boil on the hob. Sipped from way to small cups with way too much sugar and never any milk.
Or cappuccino. Make espresso, boil milk and use about 1 quarter espresso to 3 quarters of boilt milk.
To start with, maybe just get the old fashioned stove top boilers, decent coffee and if it's not your cup of tea at least you don't have a machine worth a few hundred quid doing nothing.
Here's a diagram of a stovetop coffee maker. TK Maxx seem to always have a few dozen of these in store at decent prices.
http://www.fantes.com/espresso-stovetop.html
If it is for you and you want to go all out nuts, Gaggia are every Italian's wet dream, the Ferrari of coffee makers and priced accordingly.
That way lies cappucino and some major machinery.

For ordinary coffee coffee, get the good old push down coffee maker, again not too pricey and nice coffee. Perculators are nice too, but too fiddly for my taste. Any major supermarket should have these, but again TK Maxx has a good selection at decent prices it seems.

When it comes to coffee powder itself, Illy and Lavazza seem to go down best with most Italian style coffee (of course) and regular style coffee, well, hard to say. There's an awful lot out there and most expensive is not always best. But of course you buy cheap crap, you get cheap crap.
Aldi seems to have a nice and quite varied variety of coffee that seems especially suited for your press down type coffee makers.
Douwe Egbert seems decent for the price and after that we're talking organic and serious gourmet stuff.
Best try as much as possible, have a bit of fun with it, sometimes you win, sometimes not.
Just avoid coffee from Cyprus. Avoid it and refuse it as a gift. It tastes like the smell you get when welding, mixed with asphalt.

That should cover most your bases without needing a mortgage for Italian space age machinery.
When it comes to cappuccino and any other concoction requiring foaming of milk and/or adding crushed ice cubes, it's really a lot of outlay to be able to do it (badly) at home. And personally, I just like plain coffee from a perculator or push down jobbie, no need to have a team of experts send your coffee to space and back again, but that's just me.
And if I really want a half-caf, double-tall, iced, latte with lemon rind, whipped cream, hazelnut syrup and straw, I just hop into whatever outlet sells that, cause that would take hours to make at home and days to clean up.

When it comes to what to have, when with what, the sky's the limit.
Regular coffee served with milk, cream, condensed milk and with or without sugar. Just milk for me please. ;-)
Espresso just with loads of sugar, or see below
Cappucino with boilt milk and lots of it, because it's nothing more than an espresso with mostly boilt and foamed milk.
Americano is a failed attempt to fill up an espresso with hot water to make regular coffee, what most pubs and caffees serve as coffee today, it is an abomination and best avoided.

But one good tip for the evening:

Make espresso. Take small espresso cup, put in shot of brandy, spoon of sugar, top up with espresso.
Then you have Kaffee Gux, the ancient Swiss equivalent of vodka with red bull, just classier and just as deadly.

IsThatSo?

Ok, few questions

What kind of coffee would you drink mostly?
Cappucino, Latte, long black (americano)?

What is your starting budget? i.e. do you want to start small and if you fall in love with coffee maybe upgrade your production system?

Do you want a reasonably quick coffee? or do you want to fuss over it and spend a bit of time enjoying the ritual of making the coffee?

The combination of answers from the above will give the coffee lovers here some good info to make recommendations

Have a good read of this forum also, there are a few pages of threads and you really will pick up a lot of info as we take our coffee quite seriously:D

jochenstacker

When it comes to coffee there's only one hard and fast rule:

THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR INSTANT, EVER!

:cool:

rockmongrel

IsThatSo? wrote: »

Ok, few questions

What kind of coffee would you drink mostly?
Cappucino, Latte, long black (americano)?

What is your starting budget? i.e. do you want to start small and if you fall in love with coffee maybe upgrade your production system?

Do you want a reasonably quick coffee? or do you want to fuss over it and spend a bit of time enjoying the ritual of making the coffee?

The combination of answers from the above will give the coffee lovers here some good info to make recommendations

Have a good read of this forum also, there are a few pages of threads and you really will pick up a lot of info as we take our coffee quite seriously:D

Mainly cappucino, but its all fine with me. My budget atm in about 100 euro, and I'd prefer to start small :P
I don't mind the fuss of making it, got a good bit of time on my hands and am quite a patient person.
Thanks for all the help guys

Gran Hermano

For €100 your best bet is to pick up a moka pot, try and get a Bialetti one if possible as they are not much more expensive but are better quality than most.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_Express

For frothing milk, best bet is to have a quick look at the other thread here

Check the posts at the top of the forum for suppliers of fresh coffee and
get your hands on freshly roasted and ground coffee. Make sure it's ground fine moka pots or pick up a tin of Illy ground coffee in Tesco/Superquinn as it's the right grind.

Any questions, just holler.

JIZZLORD

a trip to tk maxx is good advice. i got my first wee moka there before i splashed out on my lovely stainless steel bialetti.

due to student poverty i'm still in the beginners phase. the best advice i can give is watch out for the bodum and bialetti brands. bodum make the french press, bialetti mae the moka.
in terms of beans there is often too much stuff knocking about for the casual drinker. the grind required for different machines/styles is different, and while freshness are important the casual drinker will survive with oldish stuff from dunnes/tesco.
most of the serious lads here have spent hundreds and even thousands on grinders, machines and coffee roasters. but if you get a french press and a moka all you need is course stuff for the press to produce regular coffee and relatively fine stuff for the moka to produce an espresso like product. Mokas and presses are idiot proof. they're the best place to start. i'd love to move up to the espresso machine leagues but don't have the cash but for the moment i'm happy with what i've got

coffeeee..lover

If you go in to Hedgeys on Princes Street, they're great . They make coffee whatever way you want strong or weak. They also use Cork Coffee Roasters coffee which is roast here in cork and is one of the best around.

the beer revolu

coffeeee..lover wrote: »

If you go in to Hedgeys on Princes Street, they're great . They make coffee whatever way you want strong or weak. They also use Cork Coffee Roasters coffee which is roast here in cork and is one of the best around.

One of the best if you like a very American style coffee.
Very bitter and in your face.
Not alot of subtlety going on there!

That's not to say that it's not good coffee but it's a very particular style and not to my taste at all.

nodolan

coffeeee..lover wrote:

If you go in to Hedgeys on Princes Street, they're great . They make coffee whatever way you want strong or weak. They also use Cork Coffee Roasters coffee which is roast here in cork and is one of the best around.

I'm a regular there. Love the coffee and the staff who (owner included) are great craic altogether.

nodolan

nodolan wrote:

I'm a regular there. Love the coffee and the staff who (owner included) are great craic altogether.

They're gone :eek:

Gone out of business - they closed last Saturday. Another casualty of the recession.

the beer revolu

nodolan wrote: »

They're gone :eek:

Gone out of business - they closed last Saturday. Another casualty of the recession.

I'm very sad to hear that.
I may not have been a fan of their coffee but alot of people did like it and it was a nice cafe.

Edit:

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were saying that Cork Coffee Roasters had closed up.

RE Hedgey's. THis is not the time to be selling overpriced, very average pies. Not surprised they're gone!

Nevyn

rockmongrel wrote: »

Mainly cappucino, but its all fine with me. My budget atm in about 100 euro, and I'd prefer to start small :P
I don't mind the fuss of making it, got a good bit of time on my hands and am quite a patient person.
Thanks for all the help guys

http://www.bialettishop.com/MukkaMain.htm

Mukka Express
Description
Get ready to revolutionize your cappuccino experience!

Combine a novel Idea with exclusive design and add simple use to get a perfect cappuccino. Presenting our new Mukka Express.

The ingenious novelty that allows you to prepare two creamy mugs of perfect cappuccino just like the one at the Italian Espresso bar. The first of its kind “Mukka Express” is available in two versions. Each features an attractive and modern design and claims its own distinct personality.

Choose between the crazy & fun design also known a the “cow”, or the more classic and elegant polished aluminum. Mukka Express is easy to use and very simple to clean and allows you to prepare 2 cups of cappuccino or milk coffee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i6YGTnSuyM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcUAikj2RBI

panda_cub

Does anyone know where I could get the Mukka Express that Thaedydal recommended? Anywhere in Cork/Dublin, but preferably not online?

murphyebass

http://www.powercity.ie/?par=60-10-XN2120


Just to be controversial how about a good ol Nespresso.

You wont get many on here vouching for them but it makes damn good coffee, very easy to use, no clean up or hassle.

Here if you dont believe me watch this idiot talk talk about one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyMMcCtJ4WI

If your looking for good coffee and convenience Nespresso is for you.

If your after the "god" shot and want and are willing to get involved in the whole process then Gaggia Classic and a good burr grinder.

I for one am incredibly glad I decided to choose Nespresso because well to be honest I couldnt be bothered with the "god" shot.

ps you will hear the arguement that you cant use your own coffee... well now you can www.nexpod.com. you get empty cartridges that you can refill with your own blends.

As for the enviorment..... screw the enviorment.

Mr Magnolia

A 'good shot' would be more the nemesis of the nespresso than the 'god shot'.

Convenience is by far the biggest advantage bandied about nespresso, not care, not freshess or certainly not quality. I'm not one to knock what so many people find adequate and convenient about it; if they're/you're happy then that's great. As always, people need to make an educated choice before investing hundreds.

murphyebass

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

A 'good shot' would be more the nemesis of the nespresso than the 'god shot'.

Convenience is by far the biggest advantage bandied about nespresso, not care, not freshess or certainly not quality. I'm not one to knock what so many people find adequate and convenient about it; if they're/you're happy then that's great. As always, people need to make an educated choice before investing hundreds.

not freshness or quality? as I said you can use nexpod for your own coffee if thats what you want. That particular arguement is long gone.

if nespresso is too expensive then buy a french press. Good quality without the need to spend loads.

plus 160euro for nespresso machine and frother is hardly hundreds in fairness.