Good Coffee for an Amateur

[willtel]

I need a new bean.

I prefer mild coffee and I'm looking for something else to enjoy. I like Dunkin Donuts Original and lately I have been buying Gevalia Traditional Roast but I long for something a little better.

The best coffee I have ever had was Batdorff & Bronson Guatemala Antigua but something seems to have changed in the last few years and I don't love it as much as I used to.

It will be fresh ground in a burr grinder and prepared in a regular ole drip coffee maker. Mail order is ok and price isn't really a concern.

Any suggestions?

[genrex]

Peets French Roast...

[KFC911]

I have roasted my own beans before and know what the good stuff is...then my roaster broke . I'll be having Peets French Roast in the morning (good suggestion)...I would suggest a french press instead of a drip maker though.

[TimT]

Cafe Britt

Some nice Coffees from Costa Rica....

hard to go wrong with any one of them

[Hydrocket]

Best coffee I've ever had was Cubita, a brand grown in Cuba.

Don't think you guys can get it though....

[KFC911]

I find Peets in the local grocery stores btw. For what it's worth, if ordering from somewhere online...when I roasted my own, I REALLY liked the beans from Yemen and Tanzania Peaberry. Dang it...now you've gone and done it

[dan88911]

If you don't mine the high price 100% Kona Coffee is smooth.

konacherryhill.com is one source.

Another high price seasonal is Jamaican Blue Mountain. Peet's has it this time of year.

Coffee from Costa Rica is reasonably priced and tasty.

[dafischer]

Originally Posted by TimT

Cafe Britt

Some nice Coffees from Costa Rica....

hard to go wrong with any one of them

Excellent choice! When we were in Costa Rica we found this brand:
Costa Rican coffee, the best coffee of the world. Café Rey premium coffee - Café Rey

Not quite as pricey, and has a better flavor, IMO.

[froggert]

i buy most of my coffee from here:

West Coast Roasting Company - Fine Coffee Roasters

it's a small business that roasts each batch when ordered. shipping by priority mail usually takes about 2 days to the east coast. 7 lbs or so fits in a large flat rate priority mail box.

[masraum]

Elephant dung coffee: An exotic brew - thenews.com.pk

In the lush hills of northern Thailand, a herd of 20 elephants is helping to excrete some of the world’s most expensive coffee.



Trumpeted as earthy in flavour and smooth on the palate, the exotic new brew is made from beans eaten by Thai elephants and plucked a day later from their dung. A gut reaction inside the elephant creates what its founder calls the coffee’s unique taste.



Stomach turning or oddly alluring, this is not just one of the world’s most unusual specialty coffees. At $1,100 per kilogram ($500 per pound), it’s also among the world’s priciest.



For now, only the wealthy or well-travelled have access to the cuppa, which is called Black Ivory Coffee. It was launched last month at a few luxury hotels in remote corners of the world — first in northern Thailand, then the Maldives and now Abu Dhabi — with the price tag of about $50 a serving.....

[campbellcj]

OMG. I will need to purge that image from my mind before partaking in tomorrow morning's stiff cup.

[Bill Douglas]

Other factors to consider... Good, you have a grinder. Coffee needs to be kept in an airtight container at room temperature out of the sun. Needs to be used between four and ten days after it is roasted. So you want a supplier that sells plenty of the stuff so there is not old stock sitting around going dry and stale or being shipped from another country or state. It is nice to be able to buy your favorite beans from the supermarket so it's not too much of a mission to get your beans.

[sprio]

I mail order mine from Coffee by Design in Portland, ME. Black Thunder. Great stuff.

[Tim Hancock]

My coffee simply needs to be above room temp and caffeinated. A couple cups gulped down in the morning to ward off the headache that comes from a lack of caffeine and I am good to go.

[KFC911]

Sumatra is another bean I really like (Peets version too)...not a thing wrong with a good batch of Costa Rican (I like a lot), but it's not at the top of my list. I'm too much of a cheapskate to spring for the really high $ beans (even though it's really not that expensive per cup). Hint..."green" beans are cheap and last...this thread is making me reconsider my current habits. I'm sure I'm not getting the "prime" stuff off a shelf (2-14) days after roasting...we have "local roasters" here, but I just won't pay $18 for a lb of freshly roasted Yemen, Sumatra, or Tansania Peaberry...I can afford to, but I don't except on a rare occasion.

[livi]

Zoegas from Helsingborg, Sweden.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by livi

Zoegas from Helsingborg, Sweden.

Thanks for the tip Markus...next time I'm in Helsingborg I'll be sure to try some ! BTW...Merry Christmas!

[balistc]

http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/

[72doug2,2S]

My friend roasts his own and for the serious hobbyist there is no substitute. You can buy a professional roaster, but he buys air popcorn poppers and rigs up his own roasters that way. They eventually fail, but he's found a cheap supply. You have the ability to fine tune your roast to your preference.

I can't be bothered with it myself, but I won't refuse a cup at his house. It is very good!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by 72doug2,2S

My friend roasts his own and for the serious hobbyist there is no substitute. You can buy a professional roaster, but he buys air popcorn poppers and rigs up his own roasters that way. They eventually fail, but he's found a cheap supply. You have the ability to fine tune your roast to your preference.

I can't be bothered with it myself, but I won't refuse a cup at his house. It is very good!

Yep...I went through two POS made in China air roasters (purchased from Sweet Maria's) that didn't last more than maybe 200 roasts...next time will be a metal bowl and heat gun approach. Nuthin' better if you want to put forth the effort imo...now I compromise