I'm not picky with coffee, as long as it's not instant or too weak. If I'm at Costco, I buy their Kirkland Brand which is very good and cheap. At the supermarket, I'll buy whatever is the cheapest but dark or bold. If I have no choice it's medium roast. If I feel like splurging I'll buy a bag of either Starbucks flavored coffee or a type of Kona Coffee.
@Frank Sanoica , I should have planted last year to get anything for this year, but didn't get the area by the garage cleared in time. Oh well, I got time. Having to wait is something I'm use to with Hops.
Hops are prolific growers, @Tim Burr , so there is a possiblity that you might have hop blossoms this year. When I lived in Idaho, one of the things they grew up there was hops, and I worked in the hop fields for several years. First, we dug up the roots in the early spring, cut them into pieces, and then those were planted. I don't remember if they were able to harvest anything from those hops the first year or not. Once they were established, the hops seemed to grow almost a foot per day ! It was incredible. It was not that fast of course, but they did grow really, really fast . We would start training them up the ropes when they were about a foot tall,in the spring, and then two weeks later, we went back and trained them again, and they were about 3-4 feet tall by then. And yes, @Frank Sanoica ,hops DO stink, they smell awful, and so did we after harvesting hops all day long. You could smell the hop plant when you were coming down the highway, it was so strong. The first year working there, I drove the 2-ton hop truck through the fields as they cut the ropes and the hops fell onto the truck like enormous 20 foot strands of green, leafy spaghetti. We drove 12 hour shifts around the clock, and I dreamed I was still driving in my sleep at night.
I like the freshness of fresh-ground coffee so, other than the K-cups which we use for convenience upstairs, I have been buying whole bean coffee for years. I was using an electric grinder most of the time, but we had a manual one that we were using as a decoration. I tried that one day when we'd left our electric one in the car (because we use our own coffee machine and grinder when staying in hotels, sometimes), and found that I preferred the grind. It grinds the coffee to a mixture of course and fine grind which, for some reason, seems to make better coffee. I don't know if it's a knock-off or an old coffee grinder as we bought it at a yard sale. They still make these and it looks too new to have been a vintage grinder, so I'm guessing that it's a knock-off. I have been using this grinder for the past year or so and I like the grind, only I have to keep tightening the screw that holds the crank handle in place, so I thought I'd try another one. This, I know, is not an antique, although it has that look and it's made of heavy cast iron. Unlike the other manual grinder, it has an adjustment for the type of grind that you want. I haven't figured that out yet, as the directions show me where the adjustment is, but not how to adjust it, but I have just used it for the first time, so I haven't had time to play around with it. As it came, all of the screws were loose so I had to tighten them up, but that's not a big deal. It took longer to grind enough beans for a pot of coffee than the other one does, so this might end up being the decorative coffee grinder.
My sister in NJ has a huge machine that dies everything from grinding the beans, etc....too complicated. Every time I visit it takes my whole trip to learn again how to make a cup of coffee. Right now I'm drinking Costco Kirkland Brand coffee, it's actually one of my favorites.
Guess what I found in a grocery store a few days ago- French Market brand coffee & chicory! Had to buy one!
One of the first jobs I had was waiting tables at the Cafe' du Monde, the originator of French Market Coffee. At that time, cafe au lait went for $1.50 and a plate of 3 beignets was a buck fifty as well. When someone would order from the kitchen, I paid for the coffee and pastries and then collect the cost from the guest plus the tip which was generally .25 per customer. Twenty five cents tip per guest doesn't sound like much but I was pretty wealthy by the standards of 1963 because I seldom walked out with less than $75.00 a day in tips. Yeah, you could say I absolutely loved French Market Coffee......a lot, and the 8 hour workout I got wasn't bad either.
Brioche.. I love this stuff, with my coffee- was suppose to stop coffee 30 years ago...yeah, well that did not happen either. But , I do use mainly the 50/50 Folgers. Have tried Community coffee and tea, both were good. I have never ground my own beans though. I use a commercial Bunn coffee maker...coffee in 3 minutes...tasty
Aaahhh, wonderful........... I just made my first iced cappuccino of the summer, and it is SO delicious ! I made it in the Vitamix and blended in some of my fresh shredded coconut; so it is really rich and creamy. I actually made it with some of the herbal coffee that I had this morning; but I also added some instant coffee and coconut milk and a little packet of stevia for sweetener. I really enjoy the iced coffee in the summer, and when I use the coconut milk, then it is low carb, too.
While we are on the coffee subject, just saw that Costco is having a sale on their Kirkland K-cups starting tomorrow. We like the Pacific Bold pods. ( Green Mountain makes them for Costco and we enjoy the other Green Mountain brews )
I'm almost out if my Kirkland brand coffee and I only shop Costco when at my daughter's ...don't think I'm going before I'll have to buy some other brand at the store...hmmmm, don't know what to get. Could buy the cheapest to tide me over til I go to the coast or treat myself with something good...just got my widows benefits today, maybe I'll go all out! Nice to see you back, @Tim Burr ...haven't seen you in awhile.
@Chrissy Cross Yes, being on the 4th week of the month is just the curse of being born in the latter part of the month. Thanks. I had seemingly just shut down on a lot of things. Nothing serious. Just being a 'slug'. Missed the place.
I was born on the 18 @Tim Burr but I think they use my deceased husbands birthdate for my widows benefits...his was the 25th. My Medicare card has my husband's social security number on it, not mine.
Now after all these years research shows drinking coffee will aid you in living longer. My interpretation : coffee is going to go up in price ..but they want to insure that you still buy plenty
If you can grow endive, you can grow chicory. They're both related and the leaves of both are great in a mixed salad but I personally do not like too much of either in the mix. They're a little bitter and dry so just enough for texture and color does it for me. The roots of both are used to make coffee while the chicory variety is mostly cultivated in Louisiana.