Got this idea from suzi and the guy who sits with me at work who loved in milan. I love good coffee but it is an art and a skill. Anybody else anal about the drink can share here there tips...

firstly suzi can tell me about her special press. My big coffee tip. Well if you liek cappaccino get one of these...

La Cafetiere Bialetti Tuttocrema Frothing Jug, Teflon Non Stick Surface and Double Filter For Extra Frothy Milk


this makes the best froth ever and widely used in Milan by the ordianry folk...

Re... Your French Press question about grind from the interview thread.

It is correct that you usually use a coarse grind of coffee for a French press, but.... mine has a quite a dense mesh basket to it thus I am able to use a finer grind (which I prefer) Coarse grind works fine; I've used both but you would have to grind the beans down to a powder for them to go through the mesh in mine !!!!

I'm not much for any type of fancy coffee like lattes, expresso or the such like. Just give me a nice cup of joe with one heaping sugar and some milk or cream and I'm happy

And in a proper coffee mug; not a paper cup

Coffe in a mug!!!!! aaaarghhh

Gee, Teiny... when you have coffee at home do you have it in paper cups with plastic lids? I think not

Could you please avoid mentioning 'coffee' and 'anal' together?
The last coffee enema gave me a headache, and I'm having a shitty morning...already.

Thank you, 'Mr Tea.'

The Brits drink their coffee from a goblet...
...or is it a chalice?

A cup and saucer man!!!

Don't be such a ponce, man.

I know designer types who drink theirs from a bowl. ( And they don't even have the excuse that they're French.)

How to make coffee: buy a Nespresso machine. (Heston "dog dirt ice-cream" Blumenthal charges £7 a shot for this at his "Fat Bastard" restaurant. 2,333% profit.)

Or just boil the kettle, put a spoon of instant in a cup, add milk and/or sugar to taste and just drink the fuckin' thing. Ridiculous.

Vittoria arabica beans, grind fine, (or just buy their espresso grind if you can't be fagged grinding them) 3 heaped teaspoons in a 3-cup plunger, half fill with boiling water, stir vigorously, let it settle...warm a big mug with some boiling water, tip it out and put in a teaspoon of Beechworth honey leaving the spoon in the mug; plunge the plunger, pour the brew, stir for a while as honey doesn't dissolve as quick as sugar, add a splash of skimmed milk and sup it.
Not sure if you can get Vittoria beans or Beechworth honey outside Australia, but you can probably get something equally good.

I'll never go back to drinking that sludge.

There is some pretty good instant coffee, Kelts. You've been had son. I blame Friends.

It will do in a pinch... I always have a jar of it at home but I do buy good name brand instant coffee. But, honestly ??? Kelts... I think they make it with old ground up broom handles and dried out burls off of trees thus giving it that "broomhandle-ishy taste"

KENCO.

Now, now Sweet Prince.....

You've been drinking too much of the stuff and its making you skittish !!!!

Kenyan elephant ear or Jamaica blue mountain are my personal preference- the blue mountain is ridiculously expensive now but does make an exceptional cuppa...

...just get a massive stove top coffee pot- takes roughly as long as it takes to boil a kettle and tastes 100 times better- mug, sugar, milk, gob, wallop!

stove tops make good crema....

...and frankly if there's no crema it's not coffee. Instant? A caffeine delivery system. But it's not coffee.

"Ne croyez pas le battage publicitaire!"

Honey in coffee? Gosh. Can't do honey: makes me retch.

Nespresso machine and coffee very good: Nespresso attempts to give you a lifestyle (you can only get it in two shops in London or online/mail order and they keep sending you a wankers' magazine with George Clooney in it) execrable.

It's like instant espresso, don. No hassle at all. Except for the feckin' marketin'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...6/drink.comment just about covers it.

I'm not a big coffee drinker, but always keep fresh, generally medium roast Kona or hazelnut coffee beans on hand in the refrigerator. I have a small grinder, and whip those beans into submission as quick as you can say "Starbucks."

I have found with my drip maker (the common Mr. Coffee type) if you don't get rid of the grounds IMMEDIATELY after brewing process is over, the coffee tends to have a bitter aftertaste. This vastly improves the flavor of cups subsequent to the first one you greedily pour into your cup/mug of choice.

Sometimes, I add a package of instant hot chocolate for a Mocha experience. Almost always, I add ice.

I only got it for the magazine.

and Nespresso is also incredibly expensive relative to buying your own beans and making in an normal coffee machine...

Mr. Coffee, a scoop of Folgers in the filter, run it.

At least that's all my addict parents required. They put in Half and Half, I also add sugar. I'm not a big coffee drinker though. Possibly because of the pedestrian brew I've been raised on.

the best I had was a commercial brand I had in Costa Rica- cheap stuff too, but I can't remember the brand name- I'm not even sure it was domestically produced. When our college group actually went to a local farm and sampled something there it was too strong for my tastes- typical, as Costa Rica beans are often preferred for espresso.

Spas.... I had to laugh at your "pedestrian brew" comment. That's pretty much what the mister and I drink in the morning.... My Mr. Coffee coffee maker was retired last December. It was a weddding gift so it had been working overtime since 1986 and still does work. I bought a newer, stainless/black Cuisinart one to match my stainless steel appliances. I swear a Mr. Coffee coffee maker will NEVER die !!!!! And its usually Folgers we drink too, but I think its just fine

I've also had Costa Rican coffee. Before my sister and her husband lived in Venezuela, they lived in San Jose for a couple of years. She also brought back some of their coffee and it was vile and too strong so I know what you're talking about

All this talk of coffee made me think of this.

Yes, but it's sooooo convenient and tastes good.

you just like that actor bloke who fronts the ads. George Clooney!

God, I'm such a wuss: I like Mellow Birds (with lots of milk).

I like mellow birds too...