Does anyone have any great recommendations for coffee makers? Mine blows.

I’m thinking 8-cups or more, thermal carafe… that’s about it.

6 Responses to “Java Devil”

1. GyRo567 Says:
   June 6th, 2007 at 6:10 pm

   I don’t know anything about coffee. Do you have any tips on where and how to start, or should I just give up and go to Starbucks to get a default cup of caf?

2. AB Harris Says:
   June 9th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

   Steve: I wounldn’t worry about getting a maker with a thermal carafe, as a Dewar flask (aka thermos bottle, named after James Dewar) is what you want to get separately.

   So get a coffee maker that gets the water at about 200F, then when it’s done brewing, pour it straight to your thermos bottle and bypass the coffee maker’s heating plate completely – it literally burns the flavor off the coffee. Once it’s in your vacuum bottle, it’ll stay fresh (and hot!) for half-a-day or more.

   Gyro: starbucks indeed has a consistently reasonable cup of coffee; I can go to any starbucks around town and a straight cup of coffee will taste the same. But real coffee geeks would encourage you to roast your own, or at the very least, buy whole beans and grind them yourself for a fresher cup.

   Roasting coffee sounds difficult, but it isn’t. And the end result is a cup of coffee that can’t be bought ready-made anywhere in the US. It’s also much more economical to roast. Check out sweetmarias.com for roasting FAQs, as well as coffee makers for you, Steve. You can also buy raw beans there; sweet maria’s is one of the more popular places for coffee geeks into home roasting.

   Happy Brewing

3. steve Says:
   June 9th, 2007 at 6:28 pm

   Ooh, true coffee geekery. Awesome.

4. GyRo567 Says:
   June 9th, 2007 at 11:53 pm

   Not only that – I just realized that I accidentally utilized Star Wars EU lingo by calling it a “cup of caf”… >_>

   Roasting coffee sounds difficult, but it isn’t. And the end result is a cup of coffee that can’t be bought ready-made anywhere in the US. It’s also much more economical to roast.

   I’ve been going 100% non-measuring cup with my oatmeal for years. There’s nothing like a good custom made bowl of the stuff. I eat it every day. I’m something of an oatmeal connoseir. I wish I could spell that word…

   In any case, I think I’ll try it out sometime at Starbucks and get serious about it if I like it enough. While we’re here: Did you ever notice that a Mr. Goodbar smells exactly like coffee when you eat it at a certain temperature? The flavor of chocolate and the smell of coffee combined!!! =O

5. AB Harris Says:
   June 10th, 2007 at 4:03 am

   Steve, how bout some true oatmeal geekery: I also eat oatmeal, every day, without fail. Have been doing it for 10 years now. But I measure mine… 1 level cup of dry, steel cut oats, not the instant crap mixed with sugar in a convenient pouch. A pinch of cinnamon for flavor, boil tap water and pour it on. Wash it down with a monster protein drink of egg, whey and casein… repeat the next day, ad infinitum.

   Gyro – if you’re a health nut with a daily oatmeal routine, what’re you doing eating Mr. Goodbars? :) I haven’t had candy bars like that in a long time… *sniff* Oh, if you’re suggesting buying whole beans at Starbucks to try grinding your own “cup of caf”, that’s OK. But it’ll cost you about $10/pound, which is quite expensive…

6. GyRo567 Says:
   June 10th, 2007 at 11:50 am

   I tried the egg thing once. Not a fan. I use 2% milk and a bit of cinnamon (sometimes just a bit of sugar instead – my grandparents used to use that instead of cinnamon & it caught on) and I don’t measure anything ever. That way I can vary it up between loose and thick depending on my mood that day. I tend to like it soupy, but occasionally I’ll get it thick enough for it to slide but stick together where it has that “warmer” taste.

   As far as health, I never said I ate oatmeal for the practicality of it… >_>

   I eat it for the flavor, which I find to be vastly superior to cereal. I also go through a gallon of 2% on my own every two days, also entirely based on taste preference, not health bias. One or maybe two full size bars of chocolate always follow at dinner and possibly after lunch if I’m in a good mood. I’ll probably have to stop that practice sometime down the road, but for now I’m thinner than I need to be and I don’t have any health problems yet.

   Actually, I was just talking about buying a cup of coffee there, not buying the beans there… >_>

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