Probbly just stale beans.

Try Latino style expresso, pre-ground and packed in the hermetically sealed bags. You'll get aroma!

I don't drink anything else now. The best way to make it is with the sit-on-top of mug or carafe cones with recycled paper filters. I boil the water in the tea-kettle, take it off the boil and pour into the cone. The aroma will reach anywhere in the house. Pre-heat your mug with boiling water.

If you are used to coffee from those wretched electric auto-drips, you'll think you died and went to heaven.

My late neighbor used to add chicory to his coffee. I used to be able to pick up ground chicory when I visited family in northern Ontario, but it's no longer available there. Has anyone roasted and ground chicory themselves? Is it the root of the blue flowering kind I have all over the place anyway?

katie

I drink roasted dandelion roots, myself! Yum...I like it as much as coffee! Except- that Iam taking a ten year sabbatical from coffee right now...I was up to almost 20 cups a day! It was basically the only liquid going in my body. Could actually hear my heart pounding some times or pulses beating in my ears and chest racing.

I use to own my own coffee and tea house...I would order up to 500 lbs fresh roasted beans weekly from a roaster out of New York City...Anyway I was spoiled with coffee from around the world. Kenya, Guatamala Antiqua, Jamcian Blue, Kona, & etc.,

So if you are fortunate enough to aquire freshly roasted beans (perhaps mail order?) then grind them in your blender or get a little coffee grinder...they make them for home use. Then you will release the fresh aromatique oils of the beans to permeate the air and dance in your senses.

If you are not so lucky to have the luxury of fresh beans and grinding or better yet to roast your own like in third world countries! Then I would advise you to store the freshly open contents of the tin can coffee into an airtight container and store in the freezer. Always store coffee beans in the freezer in an airtight container. Coffee will absorb all odors in the refrig in those paper bags. Not good...yucky yuck after short period of time.

I have gone 5 years of my 10 year break and am looking forward to my coffee party in 5 more years!yeeeehaaaa

Well, I was helping my neighbor try to find a buyer for her coffee crop and called a guy in California who buys coffee. He said that roasted coffee will lose it's aroma within several weeks, but green coffee beans are fine for several years. He said aging the green coffee beans actually improves them, but don't keep them for over a year. Maybe the coffee at the store had been kept for too long.

In an ideal world, you could take a handful of green coffee beans and roast them (an air popcorn popper works well for small amounts), then grind them and then make coffee. My personal preference is to use a french press since it makes coffee with a lot of "authority". It isn't as aromatic as the percolator, though.

We prefer our "backyard brew", but when we run out of our own coffee, (I only have a dozen trees, not like my friend who has a whole farm full) just basic Yuban in a big can with a little bit of some sort of really good coffee mixed in with it is good. Other than fresh roasted beans, the other way to get more flavour is to use more coffee. Try adding an extra scoop and see if helps.

Ill trade you kona coffee for something from your state
aloha Bud

My wife, a coffee fanatic, bought a perculator a couple of months ago and swears that it is the best coffee she has made in twenty years. She doesn't buy canned coffee, but rather grinds her own.

Or find Lavazza brand espresso coffee, already ground or in beans. Fantastic.

If you mean old fashioned coffee the way the pioneers drank it...

Use any old pot or kettle and scoop some coffee into it to taste. Add water and boil it to the desired strength.

Just before you are ready to drink, crack a couple of raw eggs and drop them in. Stir it around and pour the coffee into your cup. The egg congeals and collects the coffee grounds! Feed the egg and grounds to your burro so he has the energeny to plow your fields!

Alas! Nothing smells as well or tastes as good as it did when I was a lad 70 years ago.
Except my Scotch and water which would have tasted terrible back then.

I wasn't too keen on coffee I made in my old Pyrex stove top perculator... but that was quite a while ago and I'm thinking of trying again. I mostly bought it because I like old pyrex things. Silly me!

I use a french press for my tea, and I like it with coffee too. Nice, fast, and simple! Cheaper than a coffee pot to boot!

"Except my Scotch and water which would have tasted terrible back then."

LOL...

i had some Kona coffee 15 years ago.....it was delicious!

I like the camping percolator heated over the camp fire.

Best coffee I've ever had came from Costa Rica - it's called Cafe Britt. It's become so popular here in the states that many higher-end wine/coffee stores sell it. They have their own website & I think you can order it from the site. They even have a butterfly farm on the property. (I'm not advertising for them... it's just REALLY good coffee!!)

There was an earlier question about chickory coffee. I spent a bit of time in New Orleans & love the coffee. I found French Market Coffee and buy their City Roast 6 cans at a time. Good stuff.

http://www.frenchmarketcoffee.com/coffees.html

try cowboy cofee heat a pot of water to 180 f throw in grounds cover with no more heat then pour off finished coffee in about 90 seconds. the main problems in cofee are too much heat and too long a contact period with grounds. for best flavor grind whole roasted beans when you brew not at the grocer the week prior. you may need to filter or decant a couple times to get the grounds out but cowboy coffee is the best flavor french press can give the same results if times and temps are proper. cup top drippers are available in stainless at many asian grocers

WHY do everyone try and make things more difficult? buy yourself an old cheap percolator from one of the discount stores, buy some good canned coffee (I use Folgers), but if you prefere Chicory, then Lousianne with chicory is good. An electric percolator is a good one to use as it will shut off when the coffee is perked. If you like Army Coffee, cooked in the field,, use a big aluminum or steel cooking pot, let the water get hot, throw in your coffee grounds and let it steep. You may even want to throw in a few egg shells to take the bitterness out of the coffee, just don't drink the egg shells! Ha. Ha.

Coffee tasters generally use French Press for a reason. Oh- that foamy oil on top... uhhh...yummy...

When camping we grind it fine, put some in a cup, add boiling water, stir, let it sit one minute, stir again. Most of it settles and the first sip or 2 have some grinds to spit out. After that it's heaven.

We use a stove top and like it alot. I find it's imperitive to use enough grounds and not be stingy, then boil for less time. In my 8 cupper I never use less than 1/2 cup and sometimes add more. Fresh beans are also important especially for fragrance! I, too, mix a bit of fresh ground, good quality coffee with a cheaper brand of preground coffee.

Cowboy/Army coffee tip: To settle the grounds, dribble a bit of cold water over the coffee after its done steeping and let stand for a minute. Works for loose leaf tea too.

I worked at a coffee shop as well, and I never tired of the aroma of a freshly opened bag of roasted beans!! Mmmmmm.

I agree with xtreme gardener...most people don't use enough coffee to make good coffee...I also use at least 1/2 C for 8 cups but then usually add some for the pot too...A good rule of thumb really is a heaping tbsp for every cup...but beyond that the water has to be hot. Most of the drip pots just don't get hot enough...I just tossed a 6 month old Bunn and replaced it with a Capresso and it is a good pot and makes good coffee...pricey but worth it...I grind my own beans but also use store bought for a quick pot...I make my own mix of a regular kind of bean and a stronger expresso type to give it some depth...If Green Mountain coffee is available to you try that one...it is so good...well I haven't had it since I moved from the NE but I loved it then.

I loved the electric percalator we had.
We now have the drip type and I just don't like it.
It is brewing so slow, and no, the coffee is not as hot because I can drink it the minute I pour it.

Know this is an old thread but read through, & had to post to fellow percolater JAVA lovers...Yes it does seem different, from when we were kids
(even for my younger 43 yr old self)

Ohh I missed fresh Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, my momma, used to make on the stove, as a kid in south philly. I moved over to Pittsburgh for 20 years after I fell for college sweeheart, and moved close to home after she left.

To mend a broken heart, I went to Jamaica(monn)
in 2000.(They use sugarcane or plain white sugar there)in the Blue Mountain coffee..Best in the world, and I like french, italian, kenyan, etc..Met a nice woman there, whom I'm still with 11 years later ;)

I just found a distributor out of South Philly that gets it fresh(within 3 days of harvesting beans he roasts them for you in front of your face ;')

Using a "Burr Mill Grinder" is the only true method of grinding beans, at home. Those cheapy blade grinders really CHOP beans...bad., horrible for flavor, foamy goodness, etc..

1 rounded tsp to each 6 ounce water & 1 for the pot.
Use hot water and boil until it starts to perk.
set to low and let perk for 8 mins ONLY
remove from heat right away, & let sit for 4 mins.

Pour that yummy goodness into a cup, use your favorite sweetner(if you choose & cream for those who need it)

Enjoy, the Delish

JC