Coffee Drinkers -- How do you make your coffee?

DR Buck · February 21, 2021, 11:01:53 AM

Since we've retired both the wife and I have reduced how much coffee we drink. We no longer drink any coffee after late morning. We'll make a pot using our Bunn type coffee maker first thing in the morning. We usually each drink 2 to 3 cups per day and we were finding that we were dumping ½ a pot or so down the drain every day.

Against even my wife's request, until recently I've resisted the Keurig type coffee makers ever since they've appeared. My biggest issue was the "cost per cup" when using them. This cost goes up quite a bit when you buy decent or name brand coffee blends like Folgers, Maxwell House and others. Buying the budget store, no-name coffee the cost per cup comes in at 20-25 cents per cup. And most of it tastes like crap.

When you get into the name brand stuff cost can jump to 40-70 cents a cup! I don't even like Starbucks or most of the "designer" coffee blends that can go upwards of $1 per cup.

If you go through the math, even the run-of-the-mill name brand stuff adds up pretty quick. As already mentioned, the wife and I usually drink 2 to 3 cups per day. So, if I average 2.5 cups each, that's 5 cups a day. Multiply that by 30 days per month at about 50¢ per cup and it comes in at $75 a month to drink coffee. Who calculates that into their budget ???

About a month ago I caved in and we got our first Keurig coffee maker and a few boxes of the K-cup coffees. We tried the name brand and a couple different of the budget stuff. There will be no more budget coffee bought!
Our new Keurig coffee maker came with a refillable K-cup pod so you can use regular container coffee to make a cup. This is a great concept because it brings the cost of coffee down to around 12¢ a cup, and you get to drink your favorite coffee at very little price increase.

The downside of this is the mess of cleaning the refillable pod for each cup. :-\ Let me say that you can also buy additional refillable pods and run them through the dishwasher . . . . . . after dumping (the messy part) the coffee grounds out. The point here is the required clean up after making coffee. This is counter to the reason for even considering Keurig over a regular coffee maker. :

After about three weeks of the new Keurig, I got thinking that there has to be a better way.

So, I went to my friend Google, and asked if there was any place that I could get empty "use once" K-cup pods. Well to my surprise, my friend told me about a lot of available options. smiley_sidelightbulb Through Amazon I can get the "use once" highly rated coffee pods. They are quick and easy to fill. I can fill a dozen or so in about 2 minutes. Buying in quantity and using these "use once" disposable pods the cost per cup comes down to 26-30 cents per cup. This includes the cost of decent coffee. This is still not as cheap as brewing or using a regular pot type coffee maker but for the convenience I find it acceptable.

So from here on out I think we are K-cup pod users.

pineywoods · February 21, 2021, 11:11:37 AM

I have found that with most of the K-cup's you can run it through a second time without a problem. ,cuts the cost in half. Don't try that with the hot chocolate tho.

sawguy21 · February 21, 2021, 12:20:44 PM

I buy Maxwell House or Nabob when it's on sale and make it in the drip maker. I tried no name brands to save a couple of bucks but ended up throwing it out. Melitta is my favourite but my oh my they are proud of it! Two large cups to start the day (on the first now) and that's it unless I am out visiting or at a restaurant. At one time coffee was a basic food group, always had a cup in hand while on the road, but had to cut back. Too hard on the stomach and too many pit stops.

SwampDonkey · February 21, 2021, 12:22:40 PM

This

Plus water and this. :D

Three or four cups, good for the day. ;D

Magicman · February 21, 2021, 03:46:11 PM

My quest and for the record it's nothing but my Maxwell House. No more experimenting: LINK

The only refillable "use once" pods that I found were ~30¢ each. ??

SwampDonkey · February 21, 2021, 03:59:30 PM

Quote from: Magicman on February 21, 2021, 03:46:11 PM
My quest and for the record it's nothing but my Maxwell House.

:D :D :D

Old Greenhorn · February 21, 2021, 06:12:17 PM

Coffee is a serious subject with me. The poll didn't cover our options, but I voted for one part of it. We use a Farberware 12 cup perk pot that is set up every night before bed and goes on at 4:30 am unless I get up earlier and manually trip it on. My wife drinks 2 mugs but has this routine where she doesn't have her second mug until after her shower, so I have to wait until then to finish the pot. Sometimes I don't finish it and just unplug it and will come back later in the day, like lunch time, fill a cup and re-heat it in the microwave. Rarely do we dump more than 1/3 before cleaning. Now that gets me through the morning and most days, but some days it doesn't touch the need as much as I'd like (like today), so I have a classic camp stove perk pot I fill with water and bring out to the shop and set on the woodstove and perk another pot out there. That pot empties pretty quick, it's only 10 cup and I can't find my 12 cup just yet (I also have a 24, just in case company comes). That little pot gets me through the rest of the day and I have my last cup around 3-5pm, which coincides closely to just before I have my first beer of the day, so there is balance in the universe. ;D
Now I know my proclivities are not for everyone, and we all have to do what we can to get through the night (or day as it were). I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings because I realize we all have different needs and if it works for you I say, GOOD ON YA!
But for me, I ain't got no time for no K-cups no how. Sorry, not for me. They forced that stuff on us 4 years before I retired and a lot of the guys and gals in the office used it once a day to make their favorite 'thing' and it was great, except for me and one other (old) guy who were miserable. I finally found an old Bunn 2 burner commercial coffee maker and rebuilt it and put it in service, right next to the thig-a-ma-jig thing. We took turns buying 3 pound cans of coffee and went back to being productive and (relatively) happy.

Rarely would we throw out more than 1/2 cup (usually done by noon) and sometimes we made a second pot on rough days. (We also noticed an uptick in coffee thieves from our stash and had to take 'measures'.)
Here's my issue with the K-cups, because really, I did try, honestly, to make a go. But I didn't like the coffees, they aren't bad, but they were not what I was used to (everything had a 'flavor' or a 'special blend'). My wife got me one of those re-fillable things and I used that for what seemed like forever, but the thing that really got me was that I used 4 spoons (scoops) of coffee to make a 12 cup pot and it take nearly one scoop to fill those k-cup things, so for the 'cost' of 4-5 k-cups, I could have had 12 cups of coffee. Also, the time wasted every time I made a cup of coffee was just about as long as it took me to clean that bunn coffee pot, fill and make an entire pot. Maybe I am turning into my father, as they say, but I ain't got no time for those k-cups. If they work for you, I say, good for you and do enjoy it. But I like my coffee the way I like it and when they messed with my coffee they had no idea the beast that would come out of me. ;D
Sorry, I know I didn't get you useful information here, but I think those things put more junk in the landfills and take more money out of folks pockets than they need to. BUT I will defend your right to use whatever you want, it just isn't for me. :D ;D

sprucebunny · February 21, 2021, 07:20:40 PM

I use a pour-over device. Used to be Melita. I grind whole beans each morning for the one cup I drink.

armechanic · February 21, 2021, 08:58:31 PM

My Dad always said, "There is no bad coffee, just some better than others". He carried a small jar of Maxwell house in his overhalls when he went visiting to be sure there was coffee.

SwampDonkey · February 22, 2021, 03:29:46 AM

Dad's cousin just down the road a spell said, "You gotta boil the L out of it" :D

It's funny, dad was never a coffee drinker, except maybe a Sunday morning when he didn't have to work his but off all day. When he retired, he had a cup when coming home from the golf course and 'something' smothered in peanut butter to go along with it. :D And that right there is funny to. ;D Golfing? You kidding me? Dad!!!? :D :D Retirement must be a disease of the mind, you do stuff you'd never do otherwise. :D

doc henderson · February 22, 2021, 07:00:50 AM

we resisted going to K cups for years. my brother who always tells me how much money they do not have, got one 20 years ago or so. We held out, but my wife like Maxwell house and only has one cup a day. I have developed a taste for a dark or French roast as I get loder and have 2 or 3 over the morning. My son may have coffee, hot chocolate, or apple cider for breakfast. so the convenience and everyone getting what they want, cut down on waste as we do drink all that we make. we used to maybe toss out half a pot, and no one really got what they wanted. It is fresh at noon, like it was in the early morning, as it is made fresh. I get Starbucks French roast, and we get a big box from Sam's. Maxwell house for my wife.

Raider Bill · February 22, 2021, 09:36:41 AM

You forgot a good old percolator! Right now I am using Utica Coffee Grounds.

The office girls like this coffee pod from Amazon for .24 ea. I run them though twice on strong.

LeeB · February 22, 2021, 09:52:10 AM

I clicked on stove top, which I do have several of, but I mainly use an electric percolator. I don't drink coffee every day but I do drink a whole pot when I do.

DR Buck · February 22, 2021, 11:21:07 AM

Quote from: LeeB on February 22, 2021, 09:52:10 AM
I clicked on stove top, which I do have several of, but I mainly use an electric percolator. I don't drink coffee every day but I do drink a whole pot when I do.

I fixed the choice for ya. ;D

Runningalucas · February 22, 2021, 11:57:54 AM

I only buy coffee in the whole bean bags, and grind it myself. If you read the labels on food in the grocer store, and start realizing the crap they consistently put into the food that doesn't need to be there, like sugar, well, for myself, I'm that much more anal retentive in regards to what I buy to consume... Your body is your real temple after all; we're all stuck in them.

The reason I only use whole beans, most, and all name brand ground coffee puts tons of additives in, like more caffeine, of course to make up for things like colored cellulose being added as filler.

Jeff · February 22, 2021, 12:01:17 PM

Mr. Coffee, 19.99 last about 6 months, 6 months and 2 weeks with vinegar cleanings, so, 6 months.

Folgers, classic medium roast. 3 scoops per pot.

sawguy21 · February 22, 2021, 12:13:36 PM

I tried Folgers, didn't care for it.

Raider Bill · February 22, 2021, 01:50:45 PM

I fill the basket up to about 3/4 of a inch from the top.
Mostly that's the reason the office girls drink pods mine is too strong.

nativewolf · February 22, 2021, 02:00:06 PM

Quote from: sprucebunny on February 21, 2021, 07:20:40 PM
I use a pour-over device. Used to be Melita. I grind whole beans each morning for the one cup I drink.

Pour over is a great way to get a good coffee. Now look up counter culture coffee down in Durham NC. Maybe the best roaster on the east coast. Find a east african sun dried coffee (Tanzania, Ethiopia or Kenya). Get a bag as a treat but don't try to save it, best consumed as fresh as possible. Yumm

nativewolf · February 22, 2021, 02:11:34 PM

My favorite is a good sized french press that makes 3 large cups of coffee. My favorite beans are East African. Not a big fan of columbian, Jamacian and Hawaian are ok. Drinking a Guji sundried by lone oak coffee out of winchester, our go to folks- very reasonable for whole beans in wholesale amount.

Rhodemont · February 22, 2021, 02:56:52 PM

Farberware 6 cup percolator with whole bean Down East breakfast blend from here in RI every morning. Cream no sugar Two cups to get started and one for the road. In the winter evenings after coming in a cup of 'Lavazza' Kilimanjaro in the Moka Pot on the woodstove for a hot espresso warm me up, black. When camping with the horse trailer a Colletti Bozeman stainless steel percolator with coffee from a can of Chock Full of Nuts, black. My dad used a Farberware with CFN as long as I can remember, I did not know there was anything else for the longest time.

doc henderson · February 22, 2021, 03:05:29 PM

In scouts, put the coffee in cold water in a coffee pot, over a camp fire. boil then let it cool some and pour slow to not get too many grounds. Roy Wilson was a WW2 vet, and scout leader. one fall we were having coffee at a camporee and tons of leaves on the ground in a wooded area. rustling the leaves with your feet smelled great. he told scouts that the coffee we were drinking came from the leaves on the ground. How could we predict that the good and loyal scouts would fill their back pacts full of leaves to take home for their moms to try. I am sure the moms were thrilled! good cooffee (as they say in Albany, NY).

Jeff · February 22, 2021, 03:07:48 PM

Quote from: sawguy21 on February 22, 2021, 12:13:36 PM
I tried Folgers, didn't care for it.

I'm not picky. I just drink it black, Tammy mixed hers with flavoured creamers. :D Don't get me wrong, just because I'm cheap doesn't mean I don't appreciate a good cup of coffee when I accidentally get one somewhere. :D

sawguy21 · February 22, 2021, 03:09:33 PM

Ahhh doc, now that is the way to make coffee on a cool morning in the bush!

doc henderson · February 22, 2021, 03:14:17 PM

at camp alexander in Colorado in June, if you had mess duty for breakfast, had to get up early to get flag up in camp and go to mess to serve other troops. someone would go get coffee started. It is in the mountains west of Colorado Springs, so no flat ground. I remember setting my hot coffee on a table in the early mourning, as the cup began skating down hill with frost on the table, and I had to grab it. good times. made the coffee taste even better.