Black coffee drinkers

kchuch77
kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys -

I love coffee & drink mine with a little cream, but want to start drinking it black. I see a lot of people say if you have good coffee, you don’t need to add anything to it, so for all you black coffee drinkers out there...is there any particular brand & roast you prefer? I’ve been drinking plain old Maxwell House Medium Roast...
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Replies

  • juliegilburd
    juliegilburd Posts: 145 Member
    Depends on your budget. If it's in your time budget and your money budget, I recommend buying whole beans from a local coffee shop or supermarket and grinding just enough to make one pot. For standard drip brewing, this is the way to maximize the flavor. (There are fancier ways to make it, like French press, that are worth looking into as well.)

    Otherwise, just try out different off-the-shelf brands/roasts and see what you like best.
  • michael1976_ca
    michael1976_ca Posts: 3,488 Member
    i just drink it straight up. you get use to the taste after a while
  • 777Gemma888
    777Gemma888 Posts: 9,578 Member
    Turkish coffee brewed with 2 cardamom pods and served with cracked pistachios. No sugar. Yum!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Mostly coffee from local specialty shops in town.

    You're probably going to have to experiment with different roasts as well. I like a medium roast black...I have to cut a dark roast with a little 1/2 and 1/2 as it's a bit too bitter straight up for my taste. I don't like light roasts at all.
  • kchuch77
    kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
    mutantspicy wrote: »
    For my money. Whole bean Eight O'clock French Roast is just fine.

    Yum! I used to buy whole bean Eight O’clock & grind it fresh in the store years ago :-)
  • kchuch77
    kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Coffee is a global commodity product. There are 2 varieties, Robusta and Arabica. There are 2 ways of purchasing, roasted and green.

    If you buy green and roast it yourself with each cup, you'll get the best flavor. Everything else is just rancid.
    Yes, rancid. Once roasted, it begins to decay. Vacuum-packing is intended to slow that decay. Opening the vacuum pack permits the decay to proceed. It doesn't matter what brand of roasted and ground coffee you buy, it will decay quickly after you break the vacuum seal.

    That said, there is quite a bit of art in all the steps of coffee-handling prior to the vacuum seal being applied. It does seem to make a difference, although I'm not particularly sensitive to those subtle differences.

    I buy the cheapest rancid coffee I can find, and drink it all day.

    Haha yep, looks like I’ve also been drinking rancid coffee for years! ;-)
  • kchuch77
    kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
    michael1976_ca wrote: »
    i just drink it straight up. you get use to the taste after a while

    You know...I tried it black a few times & if I closed my eyes, I couldn’t really tell a difference in taste. I think I’ll adjust pretty fast. I went from cream & sugar to just cream, so black is the next step :-)
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    edited April 2018
    It just depends on your personal taste and that's going to take some, well, tasting. I personally am not that picky, but I like fairly dark roasts without much brightness and acidity, and I got there just through trial and error. I don't have trouble finding coffee I enjoy at the grocery store now that I know what flavour profile I like though.

    I do stick to whole bean and I brew it pourover since I find that more agreeable than pre-grounds in a machine, but that's as far as the snobbery goes for me.

    Right now I'm buying Kicking Horse (Grizzly Claw or 454 Horsepower) and Salt Spring (Canopy Bird or Sumatra), both Canadian roasters easy to find in my area, but decent coffee is being roasted just about everywhere in North America now.
  • MerryMavis1
    MerryMavis1 Posts: 73 Member
    edited April 2018
    Coffee is so varied that you really do need to experiment with different ones. I highly recommend buying a coffee grinder ($20ish), and grinding your own beans (I usually do two days worth a time).

    My favorites are a Haitian bean that I buy through a local organization and then a Kona blend, which is a specialty coffee that a local grocery chain carries. Kona blends are very popular and taste great, definitely give one a try!

    I also love a peppermint coffee that comes in a kcup, can't remember brand off the top of my head but it's like drinking a peppermint stick (I add a half a packet of splenda to it).
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    Kirkland/Costco House Blend (actually a Starbucks Medium Roast), whole bean. Good and not too spendy. Brewed in a French press.
  • Casydee
    Casydee Posts: 2 Member
    Whole bean is good; I drink that on the weekends. I look for local brands, but that's easy to do in St. Louis! Maxwell House has always tasted off to me. Yuban is about the best commercial type I like. I just started drinking it black years ago when I didn't have time to dump in cream and sugar. Now I can't stand anything in my coffee.
  • vallary14
    vallary14 Posts: 215 Member
    Guatemala Antigua from Starbucks is my usual weekly pick. Italian is very good black too.
  • kchuch77
    kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
    Casydee wrote: »
    Whole bean is good; I drink that on the weekends. I look for local brands, but that's easy to do in St. Louis! Maxwell House has always tasted off to me. Yuban is about the best commercial type I like. I just started drinking it black years ago when I didn't have time to dump in cream and sugar. Now I can't stand anything in my coffee.

    Hmmm this Yuban you speak of, lol, I just googled it & see its pretty cheap at Walmart. Hopefully my Walmart sells it. I see all good reviews...will have to try it :-)
  • kchuch77
    kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
    Thanks everyone for all the feedback! Looks like I will be trying some new coffees & maybe a grinder too! :-)
  • gophermatt
    gophermatt Posts: 129 Member
    Experiment with the roasts you try as well. I love a really strong flavored acidic coffee, French Roast is my go-to but dark roasts generally are my preference.

    If you want to get into it, try a French press for making it when you have a few minutes.
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Coffee is a global commodity product. There are 2 varieties, Robusta and Arabica. There are 2 ways of purchasing, roasted and green.

    If you buy green and roast it yourself with each cup, you'll get the best flavor. Everything else is just rancid.
    Yes, rancid. Once roasted, it begins to decay. Vacuum-packing is intended to slow that decay. Opening the vacuum pack permits the decay to proceed. It doesn't matter what brand of roasted and ground coffee you buy, it will decay quickly after you break the vacuum seal.

    That said, there is quite a bit of art in all the steps of coffee-handling prior to the vacuum seal being applied. It does seem to make a difference, although I'm not particularly sensitive to those subtle differences.

    I buy the cheapest rancid coffee I can find, and drink it all day.

    You Sir are very funny. I do the same lol. But I am told that if you buy a cheap popcorn popper, you may roast your own green beans in it very well.

    As soon as I can get my hands on one of these I will try it.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    edited April 2018
    I just drink dark french roast that I buy at the supermarket (or elsewhere) for the cheapest price that I can find, grind it there and prepare it in a french press.

    They all taste the same and fine to me, regardless of the source. Normally, I don't pay more than $7/# but recently bought some Starbucks ground french roast "on sale" for $9/# (retail is around $13-14/#) but it doesn't any better to me.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
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  • YvetteK2015
    YvetteK2015 Posts: 654 Member
    I was just talking about this with someone today. Roast really does make a difference. I used to be a dark roast person, but anymore I really, really love the blonde roasts. They are bold, but so ultra smooth. They don't have a hint of that "burnt" flavor that you can sometimes get with darker roasts. So perfect for black coffee.
  • triciale555
    triciale555 Posts: 57 Member
    Starbucks Sumatra - I think it tastes better when made at home rather than at a Starbucks
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    Once I started pushing myself to drink cafeteria coffee at work black, all other black coffee tastes amazing.

    Victor Allen: Amazing.
    Green Mountain: Amazing.
    Great Value: Amazing.
    Instant coffee crystals: Tolerable in a pinch.

    Cafeteria coffee: *shudder*

    I had to laugh at this but I agree. I started drinking black coffee in diners and the generic stuff from the supermarket so now everything tastes great.

  • litoria
    litoria Posts: 239 Member
    I've been drinking coffee black for a couple of months now, and I can't imagine having it any other way now. I appreciate good coffee on a whole new level ..
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    For me, always arabica, the brand doesn't matter as much as it being fresh. I'd love to buy a good espresso machine, but so far settle for the one at work.

    You could try having your coffee:
    - espresso
    - filter
    - turkish (you need a finer grind for that)
    - stovetop (boil water, shut down hob, pour coffee, cover or pour a bit of cold water inside to let the grounds sink, serve)

    My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE is the Brikka - http://www.bialetti.com/coffee/stovetop/brikka-c-1_7_24.html. A wonderful piece of Italian ingenuity. Breaks my heart that it does not work on induction hobs.
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
    edited April 2018
    YvetteK2015 wrote: »
    I was just talking about this with someone today. Roast really does make a difference. I used to be a dark roast person, but anymore I really, really love the blonde roasts. They are bold, but so ultra smooth. They don't have a hint of that "burnt" flavor that you can sometimes get with darker roasts. So perfect for black coffee.

    I would love to try this, but I only drink decaf. I wonder if I can find a decaf blonde roast?

    I can't be bothered to grind my own beans, so I just buy them already ground. Usually Starbucks decaf House blend, or maybe Dunkin' Donuts decaf. Sometimes I'll try some of the organic decaf coffees if I can find them. I do agree, the roast really matters. I don't like a French roast or dark roast. I like the milder roasts, maybe a breakfast blend. You'll have to try a few different things. But it stinks to buy a whole bag of coffee that you end up not liking. When that happens, I save it and mix it together with one that I like better.
  • mutantspicy
    mutantspicy Posts: 624 Member
    While overall I'm not too picky, I've drank coffee black from the beginning even as low as gas station coffee. However, I remember my first trip to Europe. I was in south west Germany, not too far from Cologne. I stopped at a cheap little no frills deli and had a café and a sandwich for 3 EU or so, and it was thee best coffee I'd ever had. It just a basic commercial coffee maker but it was so good. Just black w/ that little foamy crema they get from the brewing process. I've always been puzzled why no one in America makes coffee like that its so delicious.
  • Meaganinsardinia
    Meaganinsardinia Posts: 42 Member
    I drink Illy or Lavazza from La Cafetièreat home. Pretty much every bar in Italy uses the same brands.

    I went to the USA once and tried filtered coffee. An unpleasant experience for me.

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