Teach me about Coffee please. House blend, morning blend, WTF? page

[Jamie Madrox]

What does all this shit mean?

I just want the one that means GOOD COFFEE?

what is house blend or morning blend or sunrise, sunset blend I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

also what is a good coffee i should get? I want to splurge for some coffee from some magical valley of coffee of amazingness. Money is no object.

[JoanieL]

As far as which blend to get, that will depend on what type of roast you like. Lighter roasts have a brighter taste and slightly more caffeine. Darker roasts have an earthier taste.

Grinding is best done at home. You can find manual grinders and electric ones. You don't have to spend a ton of money. My little electric grinder is still going strong after seven years and I paid less than $10 for it.

Preparation also depends on your tastes. With a drip pot, the water spends the least amount of time in contact with the coffee; the water is heated up and then dripped through the grounds, and gravity does the rest. With a French press, coffee is put into the bottom, water is boiled and added to the coffee, and then the preparer can decide how long to let it stand. A plunger then pushes all the grounds to the bottom and the remaining coffee is poured to drink. A stove top espresso maker lets the boiling water be pushed up through the ground coffee into the chamber above. A percolator (not used too much anymore) is sort of like a repetitive drip. Water gets forced up, then drips through the grounds over and over until the preparer decides it's dark enough.

Looking for which blend you like is as easy as buying just a quarter pound of various blends. When you find the blend you like, you've got it.

There are also issues of organic and fair trade, but they aren't related to taste.

Hope that's a start.

[quelsen]

Coffee roasting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
the bold items are the ones most commonly found on your local mega mart shelf


195 °C (383 °F) Cinnamon Roast - A very light roast level, immediately before first crack. Light brown, toasted grain flavors with sharp acidic tones, almost tea-like in character.

205 °C (401 °F) New England Roast - Moderate light brown, still acidic but not bready, a traditional roast for Northeastern U.S. Coffee, at first crack

210 °C (410 °F) American Roast - Medium light brown, the traditional roast for the Eastern U.S. First crack ending.

220 °C (428 °F) City Roast - Medium brown, the norm for most of the U.S., good for tasting the varietal character of a bean.

225 °C (437 °F) Full City Roast - Medium dark brown with occasional oil sheen, good for varietal character and bittersweet flavors. At the beginning of second crack.

230 °C (446 °F) Vienna Roast - Moderate dark brown with light surface oil, more bittersweet, caramel-y flavor, acidity muted. In the middle of second crack. Occasionally used for espresso blends.

240 °C (464 °F) French Roast - Dark brown, shiny with oil, burnt undertones, acidity diminished. At the end of second crack. A popular roast for espresso blends.

245 °C (473 °F) Italian Roast - Very dark brown and shiny, burnt tones become more distinct, acidity almost gone, thin body. The common roast for espresso blends.

250 °C (482 °F) Spanish Roast - Extremely dark brown, nearly black and very shiny, charcoal and tar tones dominate, flat, with thin body.


Caffeine content varies by roast level. Caffeine diminishes with increased roasting level: light roast, 1.37%; medium roast, 1.31%; and dark roast, 1.31%.

[not on the rug]

aside from roasting, you also have to take in to consideration the region that the beans were grown in. different parts of the world=different soil=different flavors.

[EagleRiverDee]

Coffee is like wine. What one person likes, another person may not like. For me, I prefer a really dark, really bold coffee. French Roast is my favorite, Sumatra is what my DH and I compromise on because he prefers that and French Roast gives him heartburn. I cannot stand mild coffee or light roasts, and yet other people consider those roasts to be "smooth" and they hate what they perceive as "bitterness" in the bolder blends that I prefer.

So I guess short story is that you need to experiment. And IMO the only coffee worth drinking is freshly brewed- as in, it JUST got done brewing. If it sits for very long the flavor changes - significantly, to me. So brew only what you're going to drink.

Personally I'm still a fan of "real" coffee. The stuff in the pods for those single cup brewers just doesn't taste that good. Coffee is only worth drinking if it tastes good, to me.

If you frequent a coffee stand that you like the brew, ask them what kind of beans they use, and what roast. It's a good way to get a feel for what you like. And what you don't.

[magnolia1973]

Go to a coffee shop (local, maybe not Starbucks). Try some coffee and see what you like. Most sell the coffee beans.

[Jamie Madrox]

alright but what the fuck does morning blend and house blend and all these blends mean?

i mean go down the coffee aisle and ever coffee package is a "blench of some sort" if it doesnt have flavorings what the fuck is it blended with.

[eKatherine]

alright but what the fuck does morning blend and house blend and all these blends mean?

i mean go down the coffee aisle and ever coffee package is a "blench of some sort" if it doesnt have flavorings what the fuck is it blended with.

It's somebody's idea of what a tasty cup of coffee should be. If a restaurant that roasted their own called a blend "house blend", the blend was probably created just for or by them. It doesn't mean much if it's mass-produced.

Of the many varietels of coffee available as green beans, some are versatile enough to be roasted to different levels of darkness, while others have an ideal level of roast mostly independent of personal preference of the drinker. A master coffee roaster/blender would design a blend with all the different beans it contained at an optimal roast level before blending.

[TCates190]

I like Jamaican blue mountain coffee or Sumatra. Both ground at home.

[eKatherine]

I like Jamaican blue mountain coffee or Sumatra. Both ground at home.

Neither of these are blends. They are both varietals.