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

[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.