Tell me the secret to a great cup of coffee please

[BlondGirl]

I used to make great coffee. Now I work in a place and the stuff tastes like shit.

I have tried using bottled water, bringing in the coffee that I buy personally, and using a percolater.

NOTHING helps. The place I work at has shitty coffee no matter what.

Tell me, please--what can I do???

(It is not that I have come to dislike coffee--I love it--am a regular at IHOP having theirs because I can't seem to get any that is decent at work when I really need it!!!!!!!!!)

 

[mrbenh]

go to Dunkin' Donuts

Dude!!

 

[Mischka]

I bring my own thermos of coffee to work. I buy Gevalia whole bean coffee (www.gevalia.com) and grind some every morning. It stays hot and fresh all morning, and I don't even have to leave my desk for a refill.

The reason most offices have bad coffee is because the coffee pots are not cleaned regularly. They need to run a cycle of vinegar and water, then one of water, every week to keep the insides clean.

 

[Starfish]

I thought you wanted to sit down and tell secrets over a cup of coffee!

 

[Weird Harold]

I have tried using bottled water, bringing in the coffee that I buy personally, and using a percolater.

NOTHING helps. The place I work at has shitty coffee no matter what.

Two possibilities:

1: The Warming plate is too hot. If the first cup is good, and each cup thereafter gets worse, then the coffee is getting "burnt" by whatever is used to keep it warm.

2: There is something in the atmoshpere where you work that is affecting your tastebuds. I hate hospital coffee because the antiseptic smell of hospitals makes it taste funny no matter how good it really is.

Mischka also has a very good point about keeping the pot clean, although I have found that "washing" a coffee pot generally destroys the taste of the coffee for a while -- especially with metal pots. Rinsing the pot with boiling hot water, and then wiping the oily residue away with a paper towel keeps the taste of the coffee consistent without exposing more new metal to react with the fresh coffee.

Glass coffee pots can be washed with soapy watter, IF you rinse them well, but metal pots should only be sterilized and wiped down.

(Sort of off topic, but the best workplace coffe maker is one like the GE/Black and Decker Spacemaker (tm) that has a removeable water reservoir and removeable filter holder. It lets you refill the reservoir without mess and have the next pot ready to make as soon as the first is empty.)

 

[Siren]

here is the secret

 

[Angel]

I bring my own thermos of coffee to work. I buy Gevalia whole bean coffee (www.gevalia.com) and grind some every morning. It stays hot and fresh all morning, and I don't even have to leave my desk for a refill.

The reason most offices have bad coffee is because the coffee pots are not cleaned regularly. They need to run a cycle of vinegar and water, then one of water, every week to keep the insides clean.

Did you get the free coffeemaker and mugs too!

I love their coffees.

 

[Mischka]

I got the coffee maker with attached thermos. And I'm addicted to their coffee. Mr. Mischka and I are trying to trim our budget, and we've made other sacrifices so we can keep getting our Gevalia.

 

[Savage Kitten]

I think the secret to a great cup of coffee IS

who you share it with

 

[Mischka]

Savage Kitten, that is one of the cutest cats ever. Here's a great little kittie that I found recently. She just cracks me up.

OK, that didn't work....

 

[Siren]

SavagePussy

 

[Mischka]

Savage Kitten in the morning before a cup of coffee:

http://www.mycathatesyou.com/images/kitty_01.jpg

 

[Siren]

hahaha <Mishy Masher

 

[Savage Kitten]

hehehe

I luv it!!! Look's like she's sayin "Come on sucker, make my day!" hehe

 

[*Lazer*]

Just put a big splash of whiskey in it and the taste improves dramatically

 

[Adoratrice]

I love dirty sock water!

I make really strong coffee...then I put two packets of splenda and two Tablespoons of irish creamer in each cup. yummy.

 

[The_old_man]

Two requirements for good coffie:

1: Fresh roasted, fresh ground GOOD beans.
2: CLEAN equipment.

The greatest majority of canned coffie is junk. Most of the hole bean in stores is not much better. My great uncle was a roaster/blender for a large wholesaler, he brought home a pound every night. Still warm.

The oil in roasted beans can, and does, go rancid if not kept cool and dry.

 

[The_old_man]

Mischka


Your kitten just wasted some Glenfidich!

 

[riff]

I drink Community Coffee Dark Roast (it's a Louisiana brand).

Sometimes I brew it by the pot, but prefer to use a presspot by the cup.

 

[bluntforcemama]

Folgers sucks.

 

[BlondGirl]

I use my own coffee pot with the excuse that I can only drink decaf. (This way the people at the office don't get offended when I gag at their coffee--but I dronk theirs on occassion when I am desperate and still coming of the bennedryll from the night before and must function.)

I scrub my coffee pot every time BEFORE using it--and most of the time rinse it out after using (Sometimes I forget though-LOL) Could the problem be soap residue? Hhhhmmmm...... Maybe I should try using some salt to scrub the pot instead. (leaves no residue-just abrasive enough to get such things clean--hhhmmmm)

I do not have a burner but got myself a great carafe at WallyWorld for 5$--it is awesome.

The theory that the environment might be to blame might have some merit--I have truly tried various methods outside of grinding my own in the office. Is there a small (QUIET) hand grinder that can be used inconspicuously?

Even the patients come in bitching about how bad the coffee is--they leave full coffee cups all over the place--I fertilize the plants with them--the plants are looking really beautiful now that I have been here a while!!!!!! I will admit that the coffee there makes the best fertilizer!

Tell me what coffee you buy? Flavored? (I get those sometimes, but prefer to mix my own--ie, crush one pecan and sprinkle it over the grounds before brewing, a lid of vanilla, etc) Types of coffee? A particular version of roast?

When I worked in the ER, we'd go through a pot about every 15 minutes--it was awesome. The stuff was super strong and no cup was unstained. No one EVER washed that pot or the dispensers either--until I came along--and I did on occassion. Didn't matter--the stuff was wonderful--bitter and heavy and often the nurses would double the coffee packs in them. (Coffee service, of course--can't go wrong there!) I survived many a double shift on that coffee. And I miss it. (And that coffee that I occassionally snuck to my patients and their families did more for patient moral than anything except the calmly spoken promise that I was not going to do anything to increase my patient's pain and for them to trust me. Of course, this is always spoken with me leaning over to give the guys that distraction of the view my milk-colored tits contrasting nicely under the neckline of my navy blue scrub tops....LOL My patients really loved me! It seems that I used to get lots of letters from my patients who remembered that I made it better when they were there. It was probably just the coffee though-LOL)

 

[Demian]

I asked a good Friend...

I woke her up on Saturday, and she said Pray...lolololololololol

Well, back to the Beer...

 

[bluntforcemama]

Try a brita filter for the water? Sometimes the water here makes really BAD coffee.