Where Do You Buy Your Coffee Beans

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I agree Mark and same for me around here and that's why I started this thread.

FWIW I use Starbuck's Espresso whole bean. My Jura-Capresso has a burr grinder and for me the coffee is good.

I sense Ken must be smiling now as he reads this as he spent a weekend with me and drank my espresso.I never knew he was such a coffeephile
 

mep

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Apr 20, 2010
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I just wish Starbucks had a better variety of beans to choose from. Can you believe they don't sell Columbian beans anymore? That's like an ice cream store not having vanilla or chocolate ice cream.
 

RUR

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Apr 20, 2010
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I have heard of a 2 day wait after roasting the beans and a "7 minute rule" for brewing after grinding. But I'm not sure if it's an urban legend.
I've never heard that! Perhaps the 2 day rule doesn't apply to me since the roaster takes care of that before the beans are sold to me. I'll do some research! ;-)

Ken

a pound per week just for you?
I do, Steve. Two doubles bang-bang when I wake up and then one in the early afternoon. That's 42 shots per week and don't forget the beans are ground very, very fine, so it goes quickly.
 
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RBFC

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Apr 20, 2010
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www.fightingconcepts.com
I buy Starbucks whole beans because that is the highest quality of beans we have around here. I know many of you turn up your nose at Starbucks, but I like it. I have a burr grinder and a Krupps coffee maker that uses #4 cone filters. As soon as the beans are finished grinding, they go straight into the Krupps and the brewing process starts. My water for the coffee comes from our RO system so the water quality is very high. I think the quality of the coffee is pretty damn good.

RO filtration produces very good water quality indeed. We added a calcite post-filter to put a bit of hardness back into the water, improving the taste even more. This is especially noticeable when drinking the water by itself. Calcite filters are quite inexpensive and made a substantial improvement to the taste of our water. They don't add enough calcium to cause deposits, etc. in your kitchen equipment though.

Edited to add: A small amount of minerals is one reason that folks continue to buy bottled water, preferring it over RO home systems.

Lee
 

ack

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May 6, 2010
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Update on my Krups 5240... This machine needs a little bit of warm up to reach the 198F degrees for, ahem, rapturous espresso, measured at the group head as best as I can. The temperature reading is really around 196F which is still very good, and definitely never too hot. I usually now pull 4-5 double empty shots with about a minute between each, to warm up the head and everything else. Doesn't feel like I need a PID here, but I am still experimenting.
 

SysOp

New Member
Jun 18, 2011
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Yes!! A good coffee thread. Nice to see some fellow "baristas" here. My setup:
La Spaziale S1 single group, with a few minor mods (of course)
Rancillio Rocky doser grinder
Commercial water filtration system including specific finishing filters for taste (No RO, just triple filtering)

Was just up in SFO the other day, stopped by Graffeo in Little Italy. Now that is some high end espresso bean! I highly recommend their dark espresso roast ($16/lb) over Intelligentsia Black Cat - very rich, nutty, hints of chocolate, massive crema, smooth finish. I'm still experimenting with grind and temp, right now using a finer grind and temp of 198, pulling ristrettos with a double basket. For my "daily bean" I'm using Starbucks espresso roast, mainly becuase it is easy to re-stock. it is by all means very marginal, but with the right temp / grind it can come out quite decent for lattes / caps. Straight shots are too bitter.

You can order from Graffeo directly but it literally takes 1 to 2 weeks to get your order, they receive over 200 online orders per day and roast daily in small batches. http://www.graffeo.com/
 

DS-21

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Aug 23, 2010
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There is nothing wrong with Starbuck beans or the way they roast. The problem is they brew their coffee way too strong which turns many people off. If you buy Starbucks beans and grind them in a good burr grinder and use good water, you will make a great cup of coffee.

Starbucks always tastes burnt to me.

But truth be told I haven't found an American roaster I really like at any price.

My favorite coffee roaster in the world is Austria's Julius Meinl. Fortunately, they sell direct from Vienna*, and pricing is even competitive with Starbucks and the like. Meinl charges a flat fee of $20 for shipping up to 10kg, but they also discount 20% from the posted prices (because Austria's VAT is 20%) so prices are quite fair if you have a means of storing it.

We drink the Fruhstück (breakfast) blend most of the time, but occasionally will swap in a Jubilaeum or a Präsident. Prep is nothing special, just rough grind on an inexpensive burr grinder, then into a bog-standard Bodum French press with filtered water boiled in an electric kettle on top of it. I also keep a tin of coffee and an integrated press-travel cup in my office.

*Meinl has two cafes in Chicago that will also sell you beans. They are more expensive than shipping fom Vienna. In DC, Leopold Cafe over by all the modern furniture shops in G-town serves Meinl as well, and will sell you beans. But again, unless you just want a pound it's a lot more expensive than going directly to Vienna.
 

SysOp

New Member
Jun 18, 2011
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Yep I heard you on that- I was indeed pleasantly surprised by Graffeo in San Franciso. All they do is roast beans and ship them, the business is owned by a 68 year old Italian guy who knows his beans. I found them by accident- I was in North End (little Italy) area and popped into a local hole in the wall shop for an espresso. It was one of the best I'd ever tasted, pulled right from a classic Elektra double group machine (simply beautiful). I asked where they bought their beans, and the guys all spoke up at once (with typical Italian flair and hands waving) and shouted "Graffeo- down the street - we only use Graffeo!" I was told to get the half dark and half light mix (what they use), but I opted for the all dark. Which was wonderful, very much a lot of chocolate and hints of cinnamon. Heck of an amount of crema (sometimes more than half the double shot is nothing but crema)- very easy to pull a Ristretto once you find the right grind, and extremely tasty. I'm going to re-order a few pounds of the half/half mix, or just get a few pounds of dark and a few pounds of light / mix my own. It is $16/lb and an order will take 2 weeks to fill- they literally process 200+ orders per day online.

Outside of thtat, Intelligentsia "Black Cat" is a decent one, not as good as Graffeo but far better than SBUX. There is no way you can ever hope to pull a Ristretto with starbucks beans, it is an over roasted and poorly done blend- but, it is not expensive and easy to get. I only make milk drinks with it- Straight espresso shots with it are way too bitter.

What out of country beans are you using?
 

SysOp

New Member
Jun 18, 2011
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Beverly Hills, CA
One good thing I did come across at Starbucks recently- and I got this from a friend of mine- Have them make you a french pressed cup of Italian roast. They will do it if you ask. It is hands down an excellent cup of coffee, something about that Italian roast pushed through a french press really turns out spectacular.
 

Ronm1

Member Sponsor
Feb 21, 2011
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Starbucks always tastes burnt to me.

But truth be told I haven't found an American roaster I really like at any price.

I know where your comon from. Almost started to roast my own till I found a local roaster I was in sync with....does a fine light roast on Central/South American varietals, so they don't lose their cirus obertones, IMHO of course

http://www.kingdavidcoffee.com/
 

jwhite613

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2012
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New Mexico
We use to buy our beans from Captain’s Coffee but now we buy from Coffee Bean Corral. I order green coffee beans and roast them myself in a Behmor roaster
 

Gregadd

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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One good thing I did come across at Starbucks recently- and I got this from a friend of mine- Have them make you a french pressed cup of Italian roast. They will do it if you ask. It is hands down an excellent cup of coffee, something about that Italian roast pushed through a french press really turns out spectacular.
how much?
 

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