Any Coffee Lovers???
 

I have decided that I need a cappuccino maker. Can anyone recommend a good one???

I presently have a Mr Coffee plain Jane coffee maker. It's OK, but regular Maxwell House is just, well, OK too. I've tried Folgers, 8 O'Clock, some others I can't even remember...They're not as good as Maxwell House.

Some time back, I tried Starbucks on the NYS Thruway. Overpriced and not even as good as the corner mini-mart/gas & go.

I'm serious. It's a Crosby's chain mini-mart/gas station and their cappuccino is the best. 20 oz cup is just right. I drink it through a straw [driving mostly].

Only other coffee I've had lately that was delicious was out of a vending machine at the local hospital. Not as good as Crosby's but definitely #2.

So - Anyone have a home cappuccino maker??? If so, can you recommend the cappuccino for it???

Thank You! :D

Coffee!! Now you're talkin'!

I don't have a machine, can't recommend one in particular, but suggest checking the reviews, consumer reports, etc. It's just a matter of shooting steam through a charge of grounds, or through a side pipe for foaming. It is with disdain that I look upon those machines that work with those creamer-sized pods!

Concerning the brands you've already tried, I'm not seeing much outside the traditional brands, and you didn't mention whether you've tried different brewing methods. Moreover, I'm speechless about your affinity for gas station and machine brews. In college, there was a thing we called the "hot sludge machine", which also dispensed chicken soup and tea, your choice, but seemingly all from the same nozzle into the cup.

First, get yourself a plunge pot. Don't worry they're generally inexpensive! Grounds steep in the full charge of water for three minutes, then the plunger/screen is pushed s-l-o-w-l-y down, taking all the grounds to the bottom. This method yields more of the aromatic oils than coffee run through a filter.

Next, explore the world of different roasts. I recommend whole bean, grind as you go. Try the darker, espresso and Italian roasts. If they're too demanding, throw in some 8 O'clock beans to mellow it. Hot water can turn down the strength if you've gone too far

Different lighteners have different flavors. Heavy and light cream, half and half, whole milk, simmered whole milk will all influence coffee to taste differently.

You now are presented with a plethora of combinations and options! Rich, you gotta check this out! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coffee_beverages

Richard

I don't want it to look like an advert, but I could advise you the one we use at home, the make is "Bialetti" and this model is called "Mokona", it works really well, has got there different ways of making coffee, and the little pipe you see on the left is for the steam, and can be used for the cappuccino creamy foam.
I don't know if you can find it in the States.

Anyway I'll send the link in English:

http://www.bialetti.it/uk/catalogue/...asp?id_cat=423


Sergio

Sergio,
Interesting machine! It looks like you can order it on-line. At 99.90 Euros plus shipping it is surely for a true coffee "geek"!:)

Just hand me the coffee, slowly... ...and nobody will get hurt!
:biggulp:

I like mine COLD... with ICE, and a touch of French Vanilla...

"First, get yourself a plunge pot. Don't worry they're generally inexpensive! Grounds steep in the full charge of water for three minutes, then the plunger/screen is pushed s-l-o-w-l-y down, taking all the grounds to the bottom. This method yields more of the aromatic oils than coffee run through a filter."

I think they're also referred to as a "French Press." And yes, they're great. It'll take a little experimenting to get the blend and proportions to your taste but that's part of the fun. And Ithaca is right about those coffee pods; you end up drinking what THEY want you to.

You can spend hundreds of dollars on an espresso/cappuccino machine (My son-in-law did!) or you can get an el-cheapo at Wally World. I bought a "Militta" on sale at Sears a few years back for $29.95. I ain't high production - one cup at a time - but it works just as good as the Yuppie ones.

I'm going upstairs now to get me a third cuppa joe. :rockon:

Gunny John

Get a Keurig. problem solved.

I agree Jerry. Living alone, the Keurig is perfect for me. I use Eight O'clock Dark Italian Roast and it makes a very nice, full flavored cup.

Neil..I LOVE coffee but only GOOD coffee and for 2 decades I have tried everything. I found that water is the key..use only pure water. I use reverse osmosis water in Arizona cause the water there has salt, chlorine and other impurities..Here in Colorado I have mountain spring water..from my artisian well. Pure as snow. Once you get the right water..anything you make will be BETTER. A keurig might not make the World's best cappuccino..I don't know as I have never tried a K cup of cappuccino in mine. I have bought the best coffee's I could find..GEVALIA is a great company offering premium coffee's but I have change almost exclusively to a Keurig and K cups. Fresh and VERY good. There are likely better coffee's and methods but for the half dozen cups I drink per day the Keurig is excellent, fast and convenient. I did try a cup of Island Coconut the other day at my stylists..she has a keurig, and it was very good. About as close to a cappuccino as I have tried. Worth a look for anyone wanting convienience.

I keep looking for one that has an IV hook-up.:D

I guess I'm old school, no fancy coffee for me, Folgers Classic roast. My wife makes it very strong, I refer to it as Death blend.

Sheep, you're in W New York, you should be able to get Tim Horton's.....it's pretty darn good for lower priced brew.

I had so much bad coffee over the years thus I am not particular.

A man after my own heart! Near the end of the last century, I was able to go to Negril, Jamaica for teo weeks. Anywhere in Jamaica, you can discover Blue Mountain coffee--estate grown beans from above a certain altitude only, to be certified. One can buy it there at the grocery store, in standard bagged format. There, it's not particularly more expensive than other coffee.

Upon my return, however, I found that,at the time, it was the most expensive in the world at around $40/lb.! Amazingly, it is still available at this price from a source I know. Nonetheless, I drink a blend, which is less than 1/4 the cost--for obvious reasons.

Blue Mountain coffee was beaten out as the most expensive several years ago, by the brew made from beans that had passed through the digestive system of the civet, which would eat them. The beans are gathered from the forest floor and turned into a mountain of cash! (I recall $800/lb.!) That coffee, in turn, was beaten in the "pricey" category by current offerings of coffee which undergoes a similar "conditioning"--but through an elephant--for $70/cup! You'd think it might be cheaper, in that the latter process can probably accommodate a greater number of beans pre "charge", and the results should be easier to find, collected within huge lumps v. onesy-twosies from the civet, but it's not.

(Sergio, I took the liberty of correcting the typo.) This looks like a handy appliance to be had. I'd not mentioned the espresso pot method of brewing, and this little machine appears to perform that, as well.

If one has more extra space than money, it's less expensive to own a filter cone, a French press, and an Italian espresso pot separately. One should also be able to find a decent percolator at a yard sale, and there's a very simple, effective, and economical little apparatus for getting steam by attaching it to the snout of a tea kettle. The benefits of economy class with the flavor of first class, whichever method you're into at the moment!

On a final note, the biggest enemy of the flavor of coffee is oxygen, which immediately degrades it in a major way. I recommend that whichever method(s) one prefers, it is always best to brew and serve in apparatus that closes things off to the air. The carafes with internal bladders do an excellent job of maintaining peak flavor for extended periods. A filter cone should have, at least, a lid while brewing The other methods limit air by their nature, except percolators--which cycle the liquid through the grounds repeatedly, and "cowboy coffee" prepared in a saucepan and then filtered or left to settle. Then again, I suppose one could put a lid over the pan while the coffee steeps. I was able to correct a server once, who, in an effort to be flamboyant, barista style, dispensed the coffee from the urn in about a 30" stream to the cup, held very low. I explained about air degradation and asked him to keep the cup up by the spout when he dispensed the refill, and it was remarkably different in how much more flavor it presented!

After 20 years of GI mess hall and field brewed coffee, if you can pour it into a cup and don't have to use both hands to push in a spoon it meets the need.

I also experienced the GI mess hall and field brewed coffee for 20 years too. I would guess that the best coffee I ever had, was in Vilseck Germany... field brewed coffee. You put a few handfuls of grounds in a "clean" wool sock and tied it in a knot, then heated the water in a metal GI helmet, and after it boils then threw the sock in...

You just don't drink it until it looks dark enough to be coffee... and by that time you are freezing... It just doesn't get any better than that! :D

I'm glad you put "clean" in quotes...I thought for a moment you had wimped out on me. :)

Interesting replies. I went online, Amazon mostly, and looked at 'cappuccino' makers. They seem to be multi-purpose machines, capable of making espresso, cappuccino, and latte.

Now the ignorance...What is this I'm getting at the corner gas & go??? I've been under the impression it was cappuccino...But it has minimal froth; in fact, it looks like a chocolate milk shake...but hot. I get the 'French Vanilla' flavor; sometimes, if they are out of that, I get the Hazel Walnut (or something like that).

Am I really getting latte or espresso???

I drink my coffee [Maxwell House] out of a 16oz plastic travel mug, with 3 heaping teaspoons of Coffee Mate [French Vanilla] and 3 level teaspoons of sugar. It's acceptable.

Best coffee I have ever had (not cappuccino) was in Panama. Coffee brought back from Colombia, in our planes, by the pallet load. $10 a case, orange 1 liter brick/box, with a pic of Juan Valdez & his mule on it. Writing in Spanish of course. Twice as strong as the 'regulated' coffee available here in the US.

There is a Tim Hortons down the street from me. The supermarket also sells the TH coffee. I've never tried it. (It's a brand new TH store).

I use tap water. I happen to love tap water, fluorine enhanced. I don't like bottled water. It has no taste. There have been mornings when I am recovering from some malady that cold tap water is just the bees knees.

I'm going to go out right now and get a mug of gas & go 'cappuccino' and ask my favorite crocodile/waitress what it is...

Good Lawd! I love everything about coffee.

But, yeah, field/cowboy coffee is the best on a cold morning and from a "clean" canteen cup; great ritual, great coffee and it warms your innards as well as your hands.

BTW, A tanker's breakfast is a cuppa joe and a Lucky Strike. :biggulp:

Gunny John

Here's my cappuccino from Crosby's gas & go/mini-mart. Cell phone pics, with about 10 people staring at me... :D

I asked the clerk what the brand name of the blend they dump into the hopper is...It's a no-name aluminum foil bag, no brand name, just 'distributed for Crosby's' on it... :(

The cappuccino is thicker than regular coffee, sweeter too (no sugar needed), so it's pretty much an all-in-one mix. It clogs fairly often too.

Good though... :p

Edit: Machine says Curtis 'Primo Cappuccino' and 'The Corner Cafe Coffeehouse'...

Keurig sort of sucks.

N'espresso is better tasting if you like these "puck" machines. but pucks can get expensive over time. but now they have refillable plastic/metal pucks you can add your own grinded coffee in.

machines are pricy, but if you stop going to starbucks and only use your machine at home, you save lots of money in each year.

we like this machine. the milk container (nozzle gizmo) cleans after each use and then you put it in the refrig so the milk not used can be used the next time. very clever design.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DeLonghi-Nes...item4adb8aa191

Regardless of the machine used to make it, the end product is only as good as the raw starting materials. In many respects, the country of origin (e.g., "Colombian grown") doesn't mean nearly as much as the species of plant from which the beans were obtained; location of growth is important, but it definitely is not the overriding factor (contrary to all of the Juan Valdez advertising). The following Wikipedia link is a nice general overview of the scientific/botanical classification of the two major types of coffee beans consumed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee

More specifically, the two general species of beans are Arabica and Robusta (respectively):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_arabica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_canephora

In the coffee world, Arabica is the expensive/preferred bean whereas Robusta is the abundant, cheap stuff. Most mass-market coffees in the US are almost entirely made of the cheap, acidic robusta with just enough Arabica blended-in to make it tolerable. When shopping for coffees, it is advisable to purchase 100% Arabica bean products without flavorings (e.g., vanilla, cinnamon, etc.); flavorings are used to mask bad/off-tasting flavors in the coffee batch. After that is the roasting process - roasting burns the bean and the darker the roast the harsher flavor.

Some brands which sell 100% Arabica coffees in the US are Lavazza, Illy, and many of the Trader Joe's house brands/blends.

The way the professional coffee tasters for major coffee buying companies "taste" coffee is by brewing it fresh in small batches and slurping (not swallowing) a spoonful at a time then spitting it out. These are the people who are responsible for accepting or rejecting entire crops or freighter ships full of product, so they probably know what they are doing.

A good rule of thumb is if you don't like the taste of your coffee brand brewed straight, unsweetened, and unflavored, maybe you shouldn't be drinking it. Try a freshly-brewed coffee straight and it shouldn't be offensive to the palette - if you can tolerate it or actually like it straight, odds are you will like it even better sweetened, flavored, and creamed to your taste.

Last bit of unfortunate news for the aficionados out there, almost none of the major coffee purveyors out in the market actually use "good" coffee (e.g., majority Arabica) in their beverages. That is why they feel the need to add strong flavor agents like cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, etc.

Cheers.

References: In addition the to the Wikipedia links provided, much of the above is a synopsis of conversations had with a relative who retired as a professional coffee taster for a major corporation.

Good info!

I HATE Starbucks coffee..It is always burnt tasting. I found out why. They over roast (burn) their beans because of all the flavorings added to their coffee's. That way they get SOME coffee flavor coming through the...whatever all that stuff is that people put in it. Nasty stuff.

I have tried Starbucks coffee 2-3 times, and have yet to see what folks think is so super. I tried a couple of different ones, with the same results. I just drink black coffee with nothing added, so maybe that is the problem.

I have consumed so many gallons of hospital coffee that one can stand a spoon up in it, perhaps my taste buds are shot!!

I have tried Starbucks coffee once and did not think it was worth the price I paid for it.

I think that the best coffee we ever bought came from rural Puerto Rico, and grown was roasted from fresh near where we bought it. Just a little roadside stand selling roasted beans. Venezuela also had some very good coffee.

The French Press process probably makes one of the best tasting cups of coffee. We've gotten lazy and are using a drip machine right now.

Time and excessive heat are the enemy of coffee flavor. If we're not using it for a few days, I store ground coffee in the refrigerator.

My YMCA recently put in a FREE coffee machine with 4 versions of coffee available. Now that's thinking!

Boys, I lucked out in the first draft lottery held. One of the reasons college was attractive to begin with, other than meeting parental and other expectations, was the draft deferment it represented. I worked at the college radio station at Clarkson, and all staff otherwise not busy dropped by to wait for the numbers as they were drawn and announced, almost real-time, on the teletype (remember those?). My number finally came in, 327, and I never again attended an institution of higher learning after that unless it was my desire. ROTC was kinda fun, but once I got the year's requirement in, I didn't consider it a career path thereafter.

The closest I ever came to military style coffee was on a trail blazing trip to the hunting camp in the Adirondacks, of which my brother's friend was a member. In light of current state of ecology, I shudder to remember hacking the bark from enough trees to create blazes to follow back to camp by flashlight, later, during hunting season. I remember it snowed that Easter weekend. And I was awakened in the middle of the night by, I swear, a mouse running across my lips.

The coffee was horrendous the way we made it. The camp recipe dictated the use of an enameled sheet steel coffee pot, about a foot tall, and just about as big around at the bottom. This jobber went onto the wood stove until the water in it boiled--double duty 1)up to temp for the coffee and 2) hot enough to kill whatever accompanied it from the creek--and then the coffee was poured in by counting, not measuring, from a can of Maxwell House or whatever. At some point, an egg was added, probably for reasons in some urban legend. While sipping on his hand and heart-warming dose from a tin cup, my brother said, "If my wife ever served me coffee like this, I'd kill her." But all agreed it was invigorating and cheering as we watched the snow come down.

Rich, I think you've encountered something at the stop+go something categorized fondly as "Sisco's Finest"--or its equivalent. They have that purveyor in your area, too, right? They mostly peddle inexpensive goods and produce to restaurants, etc. which will never make it to a top-ten list anywhere in any category. Their offerings are known for being 'craptastic"!

Gunny, my first cig was one of my dad's Luckies, out behind the lumber pile when I was ! 5 or 6 years old. LS/MFT! My brother and I were busted in the process by the next-door neighbor.

I was at the supermarket just now and saw they had Dunkin' Donuts coffee and LaVazza. I've never tried DD's coffee (but I love their buttercreme filled donuts) so I got 12oz of that. I'm going to the corner Tim Horton's tomorrow morning and try their fresh [20 min guaranteed] coffee. Maybe a breakfast wrap too, or whatever they have.

On to Crosby's. They have a web site, and a string of stores/gas & go's here in WNY. Oddly, their web site lists Subway and Tim Horton's ads.

http://crosbysstores.com/

I emailed them about their cappuccino and if it is available for purchase. I doubt they do, and even if they did, I don't think my present coffeemaker would process it.

I'll pick up a package of the LaVazza tomorrow too. I'm tired of ho-hum coffee.

I was number 80 in the 1969 draft lottery. I enlisted in the Corps in Dec and got my notification to report while I was in boot camp. We had coffee all through my 17 years in the military, and mostly it was good, as far as I can remember. I know we had C-Rat coffee quite often. Must have been good stuff, I don't recall ever throwing any out...

You're old if...
 

"Gunny, my first cig was one of my dad's Luckies, out behind the lumber pile when I was ! 5 or 6 years old. LS/MFT! My brother and I were busted in the process by the next-door neighbor."

you remember what LS/MFT stands for...as well as all the "dirty" versions!

1) Loose Straps Make Floppy...well, you get the idea.

Gunny John :bigbye:

Dave, I see the Cisco tractor-trailers drive by every day. I have no problem with having low-life tastes; I consider myself lucky to taste anything at all. :thumbup:

Which brings me to an off-topic comment...Cable had a hour on Modern Marvels yesterday about soft drinks. Coke, Pepsi, and Dr Pepper were the top three, no surprise...But that they each have 1.7oz of sugar in each 12oz can was quite surprising to me... :eek:

I drink 16oz of coffee in the morning [my entire breakfast], a can of Pepsi with lunch, and another can with dinner...Now, I have three level teaspoons of sugar in my coffee, so I'm trying to convert that to ounces... :banghead:

(I also love MacDonald's french fries, but anything else there, not so much...)

I have a Keurig at the house but just brew cheap grounds in it. As for coffee to buy outside the home which I really don't do often, I have found out McDonalds has really upped their game in the last couple of years and not priced in the stratosphere like Starbucks and Dunkin.

It's the next morning; I went down to Tim Horton's and got some of their French Vanilla cappuccino. (BTW: Tim Horton was a retired pro hockey player who was killed in a car accident not long after launching the coffeehouse franchise).

The menu and cups don't indicate how many oz of coffee/cappuccino you're getting, so I chose a price near my beloved Crosby's gas & go cappuccino. $1.95 got me 12 fl oz (vs 16 fl oz for $1.75 at Crosby's). It was good, but not as good as Crosby's. Better than the hospital vending machine. But for more money for less, I'll stick to Crosby's. The TH cappuccino was made in a multi-mix machine quite similar to Crosby's. I was actually expecting a large 30+ gallon stainless vessel with chrome spigots, maybe a lever or two (to press the coffee), but just a PC tower sized plastic-looking machine. (WTF is a samovar???)

On to my home coffee. I picked up a 12oz packet of LaVazza and am trying it now. It is not bad, more like coffee than cappuccino [duh!] and I would say better than Folgers but maybe not as good as Maxwell House...I'll have to try more and get a 'feel' for it.

Here's a sampling of my morning ritual. I use two 'scoops' of coffee per 16oz mug. My coffee measurer is somewhat odd I guess; it reads "Measurex 29.6cc Rahway, N.J.". I don't know if 29.6cc is an oz??? Anyway, somewhere along the way in the last 20+ years (prolly my last wife, a nurse) I got this measurer which works good for my taste (the wife didn't).

I put a 'dollop' of honey in my mug along with the three heaping teaspoons of Coffee Mate and three level teaspoons of sugar. I haven't started using the sugar cubes yet, but I remember when my mom used to buy Bazooka bubble-gum-sized sugar blocks, so I got these for nostalgia. Someplace, somewhere, a co-worker told me that a pinch of salt in with the ground coffee gave it more flavor, and I've continued the practice over 40+ years... :)

Edit: I'd forgotten - A lady friend suggested I brew up a cup of white vinegar once a week to clean out the accumulated oils...Followed with a boiled water 'rinse'...I've been doing this for a couple years now, don't really notice any difference...

SH, You really have a complex process to your brewing. I find that I can live with about an ounce of liquid French Vanilla Coffeemate and regular Folgers or Maxwell House thru my drip machine, but the best tasting is using the first cup thru the machine. I also like the machine brewed Capuchino at my local gas station chain. Tom

Here in Miami I can get the best coffee on almost any street corner.

Starbucks and other trendy purveyors of syrup, ('cause it certainly ain't coffee!) have never done well in this town.

We serve REAL coffee here!

Alanint,

One day in 1991 in "Guest Worker Camp 15" (this was about 4 weeks after the cuttin' and slicin' had stopped, I was Battalion OD. (Yes, a Gunnery Sergeant as Battalion OD! Long Story, but I digress.)
A young Latino Corporal from Miami was my Bn orderly. At Taps he pulled out a small metal coffee making device shaped like a fat hourglass. He filled the bottom portion with water and the top portion he filled with a ground coffee his Mama had sent him. It was dark and it was ground as fine as snuff. He screwed that whole contrivance together and placed it over a Sterno stove. When it finished doing its thing he poured each of us a small portion in a demitasse (?) cup and added enough canned condensed milk to bring it to the top. We drank it slow while discussing his brand new baby daughter, Margaret, whom he had not met yet. We finished the coffee and he rolled into his f4rtsack and went fast asleep. I hopped into the OD's Hummer and "toured the Battalion area" for the entire rest of the night! I don't think I slept for the next two days. But, I digress. That coffee (Cuban Expresso?) was absolutely the best I've ever had!

I think I would visit Miami just for the coffee. (Gosh, I guess "Margaret" must be about 23 now!)

Gunny John

Thanks, Gunny!!

You were treated to the famous "colada", which is served all day, usually in those tini plastic cups hospitals hand you with pills in them, if you are out on the street.
A larger Styrofoam cup is usually sold with a number of tini cups for sharing in your workplace. Someone always brings one in when the pm is dragging. A nice cultural tradition that brings a workplace together!

This was common on Okinawa in 1971. We didn't have enough officers (lieutenants) so SSGT's and GYSGT's stood OD. My LT somehow got the idea that when he was OD I would be happy to be the Duty Driver, and spend the night driving him all over the battalion. :mad: Duty Drivers never got ANY sleep. Post inspections, picking up msgs at BnHQ, officers mail call & individual letter delivery (they got two mail calls to our one), picking up midrats at the mess hall, manning the radio/phone (call ins every hour)...Duty Driver sucked the big Juan!!! :soapbox:

Demi-tasse sized coffee...Never had any; but I keep seeing TV news and TV show depictions of Iraqi & Afghani civilians drinking these Barbie-doll-sized cups of coffee and wondering how they keep from just chugging them non-stop until they get 12 or 16 ounces worth... :rolleyes:

Alanint,

Do you know what kind of coffee they use?

On a trip to Italy a few years ago Pat and I wandered into a small neighborhood hardware store and, among the wondrous miniature machine tools I found one of the Coffee Makers the Corporal had used in Saudi. In bad Italian and worse English the store clerk (Great guy, but I digress...) explained how to use it without blowing up the stove. I just now went upstairs, dug out the machine, ground up some 8 o'Clock beans 'till they looked like snuff and made me two oz. of the evil brew. Half ' n Half to the top and I'm drinking it now even as we speak. It's great! But not as good as the Mid-night Cuban Expresso of so many years ago. (But, nothing ever will be. Right?)

"Duty Drivers never got ANY sleep. Post inspections, picking up msgs at BnHQ, officers mail call & individual letter delivery (they got two mail calls to our one), picking up midrats at the mess hall, manning the radio/phone (call ins every hour)...Duty Driver sucked the big Juan!!!"

Ain't it the truth! You know, Sheep, we must be twin sons of different mothers. But then most GI snuffies are, right John and Ron? Like my Dad told me once toward the end of his life (Top Turret Gunner, B-24, 50 Missions, Foggia), Son, (he always called me son, when he wasn't calling me something else, but I digress) he said, I wouldn't take a million bucks for the memories I have of those days... but I wouldn't give you a @#$%&$* nickel to do them over again."

The very best to all,

Gunny John

PS. I just finished my cuppa "Kubano" joe and now I have this urge to unbolt the doors from my little long-suffering Escape and "tour the Battalion area.":bigbye:

I LIKE coffee strong, hot, black with no sugar. Years ago after we closed the local watering hole we went to my buddies house for coffee. His family was up watching TV. The coffee was an Italian blend that was rich in flavor, full bodied and ever so strong. When I started my third full sized cup my friends family where afraid that my heart would stop.

I wish that I knew what blend that coffee was.