Coffee drinkers: how do you get your fix?

[Bertha Venation]

I'm down to my last few K-cups. When they're gone, I'm going back to drip coffee to save money. (BIG trip coming up!)

13 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	brewed at home (drip, percolate, french press, etc.)
	8 (62%)
	pods at home
	0 (0%)
	K-cups at home
	2 (15%)
	coffee house -- local
	0 (0%)
	coffee house -- chain
	0 (0%)
	combination -- describe
	1 (8%)
	other -- describe
	2 (15%)
	I don't drink coffee. I drink (fill in the blank)
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[Baitball Blogger]

1. What are K cups?

[ohiosmith]

3. HopeHoops can answer that for you!

[Bertha Venation]

4. They're small cups full of coffee grounds that you use in this machine:

A box of 80 cups costs between $35-$50, depending upon your online shopping savvy.

[Chan790]

7. They now sell a refillable reuseable K-cup.

I saw it at Target in Wheaton Mall, I think it was like $6-8. You fill it with the ground coffee of your choice (it has demarkated fill-lines) and use it in the machine for the same Keurig convenience.

[ohiosmith]

10. I need one.

[reformist2]

35. Soon to be followed by a refillable, reusable multi-serving K-cup? :)

[ohiosmith]

8. Usually get my cups at Costco. Newman's is about $33.00 for 80. Also every month or so Kohls sends

out $10.00 gift cards. Their K-Cups are usually on sale for around $13.00. So with the gift card I get a box of 18 for $3.00. Oh! And if I go on a Wednesday, Kohls gives an additional 15% off to seniors.

[Bertha Venation]

12. You're a senior?

Who knew?

I like Caribou Coffee, and it's only sporadically in stock at Costco, so I usually buy mine online. Well, until now. Back to the Chock Full o' Nuts.

[ohiosmith]

17. Sure am! Our Costco doesn't stock Caribou. The have Starbucks but it's twice the price of Newman's.

[HopeHoops]

34. They're somewhat larger than DD cups.

[Baitball Blogger]

37. Boom-boom

Someone said you would be around to answer.

[HopeHoops]

39. I noticed.

[ohiosmith]

2. Love my Keurig!

[Chan790]

5. Other: "At home, but better"

I used to be a US Barista Championship-level barista and a barista-trainer, as well as a coffeemaster...so I am an "at-home" but I am my own coffeehouse effectively; I have both the skills and equipment to make my own fancy coffee at home for about 1/5 of Starbucks pricing.

A quick hint: The secret to why Starbucks and DD seem to have better coffee has nothing to do with their coffee. They use filtered water...as 99% of the volume of coffee, water has one of the largest effects on the quality of your home-brewed coffee. I use bottled water at home for making coffee. (The $0.50 1gal jug from the supermarket, not Deer Park or anything like that.)

[Bertha Venation]

6. I'd love to have an espresso machine

I worked at a local coffee house in the late 90s, a wonderful experience except for the hurting feet. I would never call myself a barista, but of course I did learn to make espresso drinks. That's when I got hooked.

Do you know how to make fancy designs in the foam?

[Chan790]

18. That's why I left.

I was only 27 but I could already feel it in my legs, my legs/feet/knees were going to be shot if I spent the next 20 years standing up making coffee 8 hours a day on a polished concrete floor.

I know how to pour latte art; once you know the pouring technique, it's just a lot of practice to be able to make designs consistently and a lot of trial-and-error to create new designs. The following guide from Coffeegeek explains pretty well, with a gallery of home-learners latte art on the next page. http://www.coffeegeek.com/guides/frothingguide/latteartguide

[handmade34]

24. on the road...

these two - with good espresso roasted (and ground) coffee... make a pretty good brew at low cost

[hlthe2b]

14. Oh, I definitely echo the need for filtered water. I use it for coffee, tea, ice--everything.

It makes a tremendous difference in coffee and tea.

[In_The_Wind]

9. I grind & brew at home.

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I also take my coffee pot with me when I travel. Nothing taste as good as my coffee made with spring water. Yes, I also carry water with me instead of drinking whatever is on tap in my motel room.

Have a wonderful trip.

Joani

[Bertha Venation]

15. Thank you, Wind. I can't wait!

And it's nearly seven months away yet!

[In_The_Wind]

16. The time will fly by.

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[hlthe2b]

11. I have a nespresso (one of the first manual models) that I love.

I also brew coffee and in the summer I cold filter to make a concentrated low acid brew using a toddy system.

As I am in the habit of buying high quality coffee, even to brew, this question of saving money has been getting me too. Nesprsso is great and the pods with shipping come to between $0.57 and $0.67 per serving, if I buy a fairly significant quantity. Starbucks coffees I have been buying for iced coffee are running between $12 and $14/pound (plus tax) and the cold brew system usually gives me 16 days worth for iced lattes daily ($ 0.87 daily). So, it is sort of a wash. I buy my milk by the gallon at a good price so I figure I am saving at least $2.00-$2.80/day over frequenting starbucks or other coffee shop).

Drip brewed coffee is probably about the same. I always use enough to make five (six ounce) cups because less than that it doesn't seem to come out right and I drink probably 3/4 of it. SO, there is waste. And brewed cheap coffee means I have to make it taste like something with more cream.

So, there ya go...

[Wounded Bear]

13. Drip at home, local coffee stop when on the road...

I avoid chains, especially Starbucks.

Well, I've been know to hit the bikini barristas a time or two. Just as research, you know.

[pipi_k]

19. K cups but not the kind

that are already made up.

I have the little plastic K cup pod/filter thingies and I put my own coffee in them.


PS...when the power goes out up here, as it tends to do a few times a year, I use my vintage/antique drip percolator (propane stove) or my French press.

[Populist_Prole]

20. I ease into the day: 2 hours from waking to out the door, with help from 3 mugs of coffee

My Braun coffeemaker makes great coffee. I like it rich and bold, but also sweet and light, with lots of coffeemate.

It's just a wake-up drink for me, and it helps my innards....um.....ya know.... Anyway, I don't drink it any other time of the day like it's just another beverage, like many where I work do.

[HappyMe]

21. Brew at home

using my trusty drip coffee maker.

[pink-o]

22. I am a caffeine-based Life Form

You are gonna have to pry my 16 OZ latte from my cold, dead hand. I first smelled the roasted beans at 6 yrs old, drank my first cup at 9, and by 14, I took it black, no sugar. Then at 16 I discovered North Beach, had my first. Cappuccino, and there was no turning back.

So I feel I deserve the stroke of luck I got 2 years ago, when I bought a DeLonghi fully automatic espresso machine off Craigslist for $125.00. Thing grinds the beans, expresses the coffee, and froths the milk with the touch of one button. And when I went to download the instructions, I checked the retail price for a new model: $1300.00. I never get this kinda bargain; totally fitting it's all about coffee!

[noamnety]

23. burr grinder and french press at home.

I temporarily gave up the french press because of cholesterol (paper filters absorb the oils) but then my doctor said to go ahead and keep that luxury as long as I cut way back on the eggs. I gave up the buttered coffee because of the cholesterol too, but now I'm thinking I might make it with coconut oil instead.

I gave up all sweeteners in my coffee a year ago because of weight - I wasn't sure I could retrain my tastebuds at this age, but it worked just fine. I do hit it with cinnamon and unsweetened cocoa most days.

[Honeycombe8]

25. Old fashioned percolator with a clear thingie @ top. Just like the old commercial.

Pook-a-pook-a-pook-a....shhhhhhhhhhh. Done!

[Avalux]

26. Dark roast, grind my own, french press. And I don't adulterate. n/t

[whistler162]

27. Where is the IV option?

Single cup maker at home and Keurig at work.

[Curmudgeoness]

29. That was just what I was thinking.

And if I could, I probably would! I think that coffee messes up my stomach---not that it will stop me.

[davsand]

42. Yep. I was looking for the IV Drip option too.

I use an autodrip at home and drink it either hot or iced. I have used a cold brew for iced coffee before, but that requires advance planning and I'm an immediate gratification kind of person, so it doesn't always work out. I'll take my joe in any form that I can get it!!!







Laura

[6000eliot]

28. I make my own lattes.

My machine is an Italian restaurant model, and it's hooked up to the plumbing.

[Taverner]

30. Anyone do old school percolator?

Occasionally I need the pure caffeine rush of percolator coffee....

Remember, it has to be crap coffee is you're going to use a percolator

Basically, freebase coffee

[Tom Ripley]

32. I have really considered a percolator in order to bring back great memories of childhood

that smell....
that sound...

[HeiressofBickworth]

31. I'm a tea drinker

I have a lovely round thermos (made in Germany). Every morning I make a pot of tea in it and that's what I drink the rest of the day. As for type of tea, there are several I like and I alternate. Yunnan, Keemun, Queen Victoria, Dragonwell Green and my granddaughter recently gave me a box of a lovely tea with roses and lavender. Just today my daughter got back from Disneyland and brought me a selection of Disney teas -- like Mad Hatter Tea Party. So, I drink tea every day but it isn't the same thing every day.

[HopeHoops]

33. I used to drink two pots of coffee a day. Now I don't even touch caffeine.

It's weird, but my consumption just slowly went down until I didn't bother with it anymore. My wife still drinks two or three cups in the morning, half-n-half, made with a drip brewer that has a clock and an automatic start-up setting. It's a good machine.

On Edit: I'd probably have a cup again some day if it was with fresh-ground beans and brewed in a percolator like my grandmother always used. I have one somewhere.

[Graybeard]

36. 2 cups of Martinson's in the morning.

My breakfast ritual for many years made even easier with the great invention of the Mr. Coffee-type drip maker.

[supernova]

38. Grind and brew my own espresso at home

I have one of those Bialetti stovetop espresso pots. They make the best coffee.

I use a braun electric coffee grinder I got 20 years ago. It doesn't take special coffee, either. I can make great coffee with specialty house coffees, single bean origin, or the cheap stuff at the grocery store. Of the gourmet variety, I love Sumatra coffees, really deep flavor, but no bitterness. Of the cheap stuff I like 8 O'Clock brand. I grind it until it is very fine, starting to clump in the grinder.

Add to the B. filter, but don't overfill it. It will make the sides steam from the overflow.

Water is not a problem. I have a well with fresh tasting clean water.

It's ready in less than 10 minutes. I add in flavoring extracts, usually vanilla or rum. A dollop of cream and then I round out with Half & Half. No sweetener.

[datasuspect]

40. 40s era coffee percolator

Princess Ware line, made in USA.

[libodem]

41. Hey

Howdy.

[shadowrider]

43. I refuse to pay $6 for a cup of coffee (or more). I only drink 2 cups a day anyway

both in the morning before I go to work.

[tjwmason]

44. Two stage process

First coffee is made at home - cafetiere (alias French press) left to become the strength of road-tar whilst I'm in the shower. Then second coffee is at work, we have a coffee shop on-site and I go down for an Americano at about 10.

[fortyfeetunder]

45. French press or (gasp!) SBUX

At home it's the French press and this weekend I am enjoying coffee purchased from my travels to local roasters. When I need extra fire power on the way to work-- the local Starbucks for a grande redeye.

Regardless, I am down to 2 cups a day.