coffee

[cellio]

Dear LJ Brain Trust,

We recently received a Keurig coffee maker as a gift. This is one of those gizmos that takes individual packets for making coffee (or tea or cocoa). Pour in water, put in individual packet, push the button, and out comes a cup of hot drink a couple minutes later. As the pitch goes, if you and your spouse like very different things, this gadget's for you.

To my surprise, I have found a coffee-based drink that was actually pleasant. This is a first, so I turn to you, o brain trust, to guide my further explorations. Because while this was fine, it isn't exactly healthy. Also, I'd kind of like to know about non-dairy options (for meat meals), assuming any exist that I'd like. For this experiment I started with Dani's mantra that coffee is a good source of calcium.

What worked: a French vanilla packet turned into 8oz of coffee (the gadget supports 6-10), about 4oz (!) of half-and-half (didn't have cream in the house), and about two heaping tableteaspoons of sugar (ack). These were added incrementally, alternating half-and-half and sugar in small quantities until it tasted good. So possibly a better answer is more milk product/no sugar, and I don't know how cream versus half-and-half will play out. There is also the question of other coffee bases to try, particularly if I can find them in variety packs or something so I'm not committing to a whole box of something we turn out not to like. I am categorically uninterested in decaffeinated coffees (defeats the purpose of coffee for me).

For calibration, I also like most black teas. For a "regular" tea I default to English breakfast. I do not care for Early Grey but Lady Grey is ok. I like most strongly-flavored or spiced teas, so my instinct is to look for coffees with some flavor additive. (This is why I gravitated to the French vanilla, and I have my eye on the hazelnut packet.) I think what this all means is that I don't like bitter flavors. What does that imply about coffee roast types? I see a variety of descriptors in that space but I don't know what they tend to mean for flavor. And how should I be thinking about the trade-off between stronger coffee flavors and brew strength?

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Sounds like you want a light roast, like a Viennese. These are hard to come by because Starbucks has trained the US to like (heavily burnt) dark roasts, so you'll probably have to go to a non-chain to get some (or online). Mediums might be okay; I like the Costa Rica Peaberry variant from Gevalia.

Not overcooking it is important too. When you hear the last gurgle from the machine, turn the burner off. The longer it sits on the hot burner the more bitter and burnt it gets.

I tend towards non-packet systems. It's convenient, but you have little control over the brewing, or over the varieties of coffee. For the absolute control-freak you want to boil your water separately to a particular temperature and use something like a French press, but I'm okay with a standard cheap drip coffee maker.

[cellio]

Thanks for the clues!

I've only just had the first cup of coffee I didn't think was foul; I'm a long way from being a control freak. :-)

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

There is no burner on a Keurig. You put in the K-cup, stick a mug under the spigot, press "brew", wait, doctor up your coffee, and enjoy.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Yes, my last suggestion about boiling separately wouldn't work for the custom machines. I'm not fond of those since they lock you into their product line. But if it's what you have...

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

No, they don't. I can get coffee from several manufacturers (I don't have any Keurig coffee at all, in fact), or you can get a small basket that fits into the orifice where you'd place a K-cup and use whatever you like. (Those tend to be messy, though, and since I've found coffee I like in K-cups, for me it's unnecessary.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Ah, that's good. I did not know that. It just seemed like they would lock you in.

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I usually try to do my research before I make assertions like that. Which I did before I bought mine, for that reason.

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

I believe the Keurig also does teas.

S

[cellio]

Yes, though I'm not sure it's a win over conventional means. Besides, I'm not hurting for tea; I don't need to buy it in K-cups. :-)

They also do hot cocoa, which I will explore at some point. I tend to make it rarely and with milk, but this could still be handy sometimes.

[dsrtao]

How do you feel about liqueurs?

The fact is, most flavored coffees have the cheapest, nastiest artificial flavors sprayed on them, and because these beans are destined for such chemical crap, they use the lowest quality beans.

Whereas if you start out with a nice cup of a decent, low acid, light roasted bean, you can add one of:

- a drop of real vanilla, or a sprinkling of ground vanilla bean pod
- a tablespoon of liqueur
- a glug of a flavored syrup

to add the flavor you feel like.

Beans that fit this profile:

Brazilian Santos
El Salvador Cerros Las Ranas (Lake of Frogs)
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
Panama Boquete
Sumatra Mandheling

These are all typically light-roasted, with low to moderate acidity levels.

Another thing you can try to get low acid extraction is cold brewing coffee.

[alienor.livejournal.com]

The fact is, most flavored coffees have the cheapest, nastiest artificial flavors sprayed on them, and because these beans are destined for such chemical crap, they use the lowest quality beans.

Ya, this. I can't stand flavored coffee, even though I love flavors in my coffee.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tips! It had not occurred to me to add the flavoring afterward. I like liqueurs. (Mmm, need to get some suitable for this purpose; I don't think Chambord or the honey one would work well, though the Godiva might be interesting...)

[dsrtao]

But the Chambord AND the Godiva might work. At least, chocolate raspberry is one of the classic flavor combinations, so...

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how well this would work with your setup (I grind my own beans and make the coffee in a French press), but I occasionally flavor my coffee with some ground cinnamon or ground cardamom. I add the spices directly to the coffee grounds and steep everything together-- maybe you could try adding something to the coffee pot before it drips in? I also find that the spiced coffees taste better to me without cream so that could work when you want a non-dairy drink.

[cellio]

Thanks for the suggestions.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I was thinking Ethiopian, so that's seconded.

If you like the vanilla flavour, you could try using vanilla sugar (keep a vanilla pod in your sugar jar) - ah, but is the high sugar content one of the things you're trying to finesse. There are parts of the world where cardamom is a traditional flavouring (bash a cardamom pod to release the seeds, throw the whole thing into your cup, don't try to swallow it) and might work for you...

[cellio]

I hadn't heard of vanilla sugar before -- interesting. I do want to get the sugar content down, though. On the other hand, something like this could add an interesting dimension for other uses of sugar (e.g. sprinkled on fruit).

[spiritdancer]

For vanilla sugar, a pretty good ratio is one vanilla bean per 2 to 4 cups of sugar (I used 2 cups of sugar, since that was the jar size I had handy). I split a bean, scraped the seeds out & mixed into the sugar, then I tossed to bean skin into the jar as well. I plan to pull the skin out when I'm using the sugar.

You definitely want to use a good quality vanilla bean (I had some on hand from Penzey's). Dried out vanilla beans are no fun to work with :)

[cellio]

Thanks. I've never bought vanilla beans before, but we have a Penzey's here so it sounds like that can be fixed.

Not helping here

[hlinspjalda.livejournal.com]

What worked: a French vanilla packet turned into 8oz of coffee (the gadget supports 6-10), about 4oz (!) of half-and-half (didn't have cream in the house), and about two heaping tablespoons of sugar (ack).

That's what my jarl calls "candy bar coffee." ;-D

Re: Not helping here

[cellio]

Yeah, that's why I want to refine this.

But oops, typo! Two heaping teaspoons! Very different. :-)

[alienor.livejournal.com]

I notice that some comments are giving you alternate brewing methods and such, but I'm guessing that you want to know how to get what you want with the Keurig?

I looked through their offerings. Most of what I could identify as what I'm guessing you would like (your tastes sound similar to mine for coffee) are labeled as Breakfast Blend, so that would give you one place to start.

People who add a lot of additives can get away with less additives by using a light roast since it's milder. Folks who don't add much are generally trying to get the STRONG coffee taste, and that's when they want a dark roast.

As far as the specific additives, I'm not sure how you feel about artificial sweeteners. My standard coffee flavoring is a Splenda sweetened Torani almond syrup (http://www.torani.com/products/sugar-free-almond-syrup). They have a huge range of flavors (both in real sugar and splenda versions). I'm not sure what vendors are available to you (and shipping the bottles is prohibitive), but I buy mine at World Market.

As far as non-dairy options, I know the vegans on the tea boards I frequent use a variety of milk-substitutes (almond milk, soy milk, etc). You're probably more familiar with them than I am. I imagine that they would work for coffee. Coconut milk may be especially interesting for flavor. (mmm, now I'm going to have to try that!)

As a random data point, I also like dumping a half a packet of hot chocolate into my coffee, but that's not particularly helpful on the "make it more healthy" quest! :-)

[cellio]

I'm guessing that you want to know how to get what you want with the Keurig?

Yup.

Thanks for the tips! I didn't think to try Splenda but will next time.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

While not all dark roasts bring out bitter notes in coffee -- e.g. Trader Joe's does some dark roasts I really like, as opposed to Charbux -- a light to medium roast is more likely to get you less bitterness. Also of great importance is the quality of the beans. The "robusta" beans, which tend to be cheaper, tend to have more bitterness and less harmonious flavor in general. This is why "100% arabica" actually has some value as a selling point (though not as much as the marketers and ad-folks would have you believe, but that's typical for marketers and advertisers).

[cellio]

Thanks for the info.

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

I'm a little confused... you're new to coffee? It sounds like you've discovered that coffee is a lot more pleasant with a lot of rich milk. In fact, I personally think that most of what distinguishes "good" coffee from "bad" coffee is what you put in to lighten it. Cream will make any coffee taste wonnnnnnnderful. ;-) Half and half will too.

The grocery store sells fat-free half and half that I enjoy quite a bit and is healthier for you than the regular stuff, but I don't think it has fewer calories. Personally I don't think coffee adds much to your caloric intake -- I think what you're describing is about 50 calories, and with the caffeine you won't want more than 2-3 a day. 2 tsp of sugar isn't bad; you can probably make it with less if you make a smaller beverage (ie. 4 oz coffee/2 oz milk). Sugar in the raw works best. You'll want to put in the sugar first so that it distributes evenly before you cool it with the cream.

For non-dairy, there's Rich's creamer, no doubt familiar to you from shul: http://www.allinkosher.com/p-43563-richs-coffee-rich-non-dairy-creamer-16-oz-parve.aspx -- I guess it's fine.

[cellio]

I've tried coffee many times in the past, but I guess never hit a good combination of coffee and additives. I infer that most of the coffee-makers around me like a darker roast than I do and I know I've been down the sugar-but-not-cream path without the faintest glimmer of success. I've also been down the cream path without much luck stomping the bitter; looks like the right roast will fix that.

and with the caffeine you won't want more than 2-3 a day

I'm not so sure about that. :-) But really, I'm unlikely to make that much a day, and I already know that there's nothing I can do to the stuff that comes out of the coffee-maker at work to make it palatable.

Thanks for the creamer tip. I don't actually know what they use at shul; I've never gone over to the coffee table to look.

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

I like Green Mountain Golden French Toast (unfortunately seasonal) with real cream and sugar. I don't drink it often. I also like their Donut House coffee, when I don't want flavoring -- I generally keep that for guests.

I bought a big box of Land o'Lakes MiniMoos, which are shelf-stable half and half creamer cups, so I don't have to worry about keeping cream in the house.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tips.

There's actual cream in the MiniMoos? I wonder how they make that shelf-stable.

[alienor.livejournal.com]

I looked into them awhile ago. I couldn't find an answer (about how they do it), but I did find that they're only officially stable for 2 months (i.e. that's the expiration date, and there's accounts of people getting boxes from the internet with much shorter times on them), and the smallest quantity you can buy is 180 ct.

Of course, like anything, the expiration is pretty conservative, so who knows what the actual shelf stable life is.

[siderea]

To my surprise, I have found a coffee-based drink that was actually pleasant.

NOOOOOOO!! SAVE YOURSELF NOW!!!

What worked: a French vanilla packet turned into 8oz of coffee (the gadget supports 6-10), about 4oz (!) of half-and-half (didn't have cream in the house), and about two heaping teaspoons of sugar (ack). These were added incrementally, alternating half-and-half and sugar in small quantities until it tasted good. So possibly a better answer is more milk product/no sugar, and I don't know how cream versus half-and-half will play out.

Or at that point you could try leaving the coffee out. :}

I think what this all means is that I don't like bitter flavors.

OK, so you need to know that "dark roast" and "french roast" and "italian roast" mean "paint strippers", and should be avoided like the plague. Should you be inclined to non-gadgeted coffee, I highly recommend Equal Exchange brand "Organic Breakfast Blend" (and possibly "Organic Breakfast Blend Dark" which I seem to recall isn't much of a dark roast).

Also, if you have occasion to try cold-water process brewed coffee, do. It's a process of preparing coffee which leaves almost no bitterness; it's quite scrumptious.

[cellio]

Or at that point you could try leaving the coffee out. :}

True, but then I'd lose the caffeine. :-) (Seriously, if I can replace some of the artificial sweeteners delivered via Diet Coke et al with other palatable caffeine sources, without the caloric costs of regular Coke et al, that's useful data to have.)

Thanks for the info about paint strippers. I didn't know anything about various international trends until now. Good to know.

[siderea]

True, but then I'd lose the caffeine. :-)

Drop a Penguin Mint in there. Or use Water Joe.