I'm doing a blend of Kona from a local store and whole food Kenya. It's a 70/30 of Kenya to Kona and taste great. The Kona alone I got taste and looks like really dark soil after a brew, so I picked a lite roast to see how it would go and I'm happy.
I haven't had too many Kenya coffees, but if you have a whole foods nearby this one tastes good to me.
I lived on the big island and my boss owned a coffee farm in Kona. He brought us a couple bags on roasting day. Still the best coffee I’ve had by miles and miles.
Yeah, I'm not sure I want to get another bag for a while. It tastes like I'm drinking burnt dirt runoff lol I think my garden likes it however. It's fine, I'm mixing it in and making something that tastes good.
I was just gifted a bag of Domain Kona and thought it was excellent. Admittedly I’m new to better coffee so my palette may not be as refined as other people’s, but I haven’t had anything better yet. This stuff is very pricey so I’m searching for some middle ground, but I would treat myself to this again.
It used to be $6.99 a pound ten years ago. That was wonderful. While it's still my favorite light roast, it's expense means I drink it maybe once a year when I get a bag as a gift or a treat for myself.
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe G1 beans. Very nice. A little funky from the natural process but otherwise very tasty. Light roast. Ground using Fellow Opus and brewed with Hario V60.
I got it from the store today because I was feeling lazy/on vacation, but I grind it myself fairly regularly too and I'd say it's a reliably OK cup of coffee. Not terrible, not great.
I've been drinking a Colombia I roasted at work on our Bullet roaster. Being able to roast green that I purchased for myself on that little machine brings me back to my early home roasting days. Otherwise I drink whatever's brewed at work that I roasted on our two Loring machines.
I've been roasting my own lately, in a popcorn popper. It's cheap, quick, fun, actually decent if I don't completely mess it up, and occasionally even surprisingly good (as in, "I'd pay $20 for a bag of this"). Because of the size of the popcorn popper, I only roast ~100g at a time, so lots of experimentation with roast times, etc. I definitely go on the lighter side.
My local Walmart has given up on Aeropress, so I picked one up today in the clearance shelves for USD$15. The price label says it normally sells for $34.98.
I'll give a report after I figure out how it's best for me to use it.
For my daily driver french press, it's back to working on that bag of Mexican organic dark roast whole beans that I got at Grocery Outlet months ago.
For a dark roast, it's smooth and sweet.
Being able to grind a week's worth of brews at a time is helping the beans retain their flavor longer, I hope.
I picked up a bag of Four Sisters dark roast donut shop blend grounds, again from Grocery Outlet, so I'll be trying that out in the next week or two.
Again looking at what's in Grocery Outlet, I just can't bring myself to buy a bag of Dunkin Donuts beans/grounds with less than a month to their best by date, when there are better options.
I use the winning recipe from the world championship, from the second one (2009). You like brew the coffee for 15 seconds and then done. I only use 14g max, but it's basically instant coffee that tastes like great coffee.
First attempt: Hmm... Not bad. Nice and strong, certainly tasted better than standard drip.
It lacked that fragrant aftertaste, i.e. the oiliness, that I'm used to getting from my french press though. It could be the paper filter.
The temperature was a bit middling too.
I can see why some recipes call for preheating the Aeropress parts and mug, and blooming the grounds with a little water, then adding the bulk of hot water just before pressing.
It is fast, though that time demanded my full attention not to tip over the inverted brewer.
I was a little disappointed in the volume coming out of my original model too. Even with the water filled above mark 4, my mug was only a little over 1/2 full. I think I really need an XL, or a smaller mug
Things to try next time, with objective of getting hotter coffee: Preheat the mug. Bloom grounds for 30 seconds. Add hot water just before pressing.
2nd attempt: It worked! Preheating the mug, half-filling the aeropress with water and grounds, stirring to wet all the grounds, blooming the grounds for 15 seconds, then filling the rest of the volume with fresh hot water just before pressing resulted in a nice hot cuppa!
The taste was about the same as last time: Strong, but without the oily aftertaste of french drip.
Things I am not liking about the aeropress: Fiddling with the paper filters before I've had coffee - They are sticking together. I'm looking into the stainless mesh filters both OEM and third party, Plastic - Although it feels well made and durable, a mostly glass or stainless steel version would be welcome for environmental purposes, and microplastics anyone? Although I suppose the silicone plunger is unavoidable, The brewing process feels bit fiddly - I'm not used to it and haven't optimized my process yet.
I work in a café, so I usually drink what we have for espresso which is a medium-dark roast from Barista in Montréal
At home, I currently have a bag of medium roast blend from a local roaster, nothing fancy. I've been on a French press kick recently, and it does the job.
Just finished the last of a bag of Counter Culture natural sundried Mpemba and I'm back to my standby inoffensive daily blend. The Mpemba was the best bag I've had in the last few years, I was put off at first by the figgy/fermented funk when I opened it but damn did it smell good after it was ground. The last creamy berry bomb I had that was this good was a natural process Yirgacheffe but that was more blueberry/blackberry than the strawberry/fig the Mpemba offered. Anyway, it was good stuff and I'm bummed it's out of stock when I'm looking to order more.
Moccona… I recently, temporarily moved in with some friends who aren’t coffee people, and I let my old flatmate take the coffee machine because I’m about to move overseas. I’m counting down the days until I’m in my new permanent place and can finally have real coffee at home again!