Coffee advice?

starrybee

One of the items on my dad's Christmas list is 'speciality coffee' whatever that means! I queried it and was vaguely told 'some quality beans, or maybe something with an interesting flavour like rum'

I hate coffee so don't really know what brands are good quality, I saw some rum flavoured beans on the internet but again have no idea if they'll be any good.

Any advice or recommendations appreciated

kitschkitty

http://www.whittard.co.uk/coffee if you want something not too expensive.

Sosdon

Cheers for the link Kit...
Gone for the Amaretto and the Cinnamon Hazelnut ones.

nadja

Hi Starrybee,
I think that firstly you need to determine if your dad wants coffee beans or ground coffee.
My husband uses coffee beans, we have a machine that grinds them, then makes the coffee. Our son in law uses ground coffee and he has also asked for some speciality coffee for xmas. If you buy the wrong one, he won't be able to use it.

starrybee

nadja wrote: »

Hi Starrybee,
I think that firstly you need to determine if your dad wants coffee beans or ground coffee.
My husband uses coffee beans, we have a machine that grinds them, then makes the coffee. Our son in law uses ground coffee and he has also asked for some speciality coffee for xmas. If you buy the wrong one, he won't be able to use it.

Thanks I had a sneaky look in the kitchen and found a pot of ground coffee so I guess he uses that! I swear he said the word beans to me though! Perhaps he has a way of using both....think I'll stick with ground though to be safe!

Thanks kitsch for the link, some of the flavoured ones look interesting

philhoggins

The thing with ground coffee is that it loses it's intensity once opened. Beans hold their flavour for longer. I've had many espresso machines over the years, mainly gaggia bean to cup machines and I have to say that the pod systems deliver the most consistent coffee. The purists will argue but unless you turn your beans or ground coffee over regularly the coffee with never be as good as the first cup. I'm using a Nespresso Pixie machine right now and I really cannot fault it, consistent coffee that tastes great, once you have found the pod that suits you best.

I know this is not particularly answering your question but if your father is like my parents....have a special coffee for Christmas...and just throw boiling water over it then buy the cheapest you can find, it really isn't worth a lot of effort.

Sosdon

With regards to storage , i keep my coffee in the fridge in a sealed container , seems to keep it really fresh ..

philhoggins

Sosdon wrote: »

With regards to storage , i keep my coffee in the fridge in a sealed container , seems to keep it really fresh ..

It does to a certain extent but how long do you keep it there....think of chicken going off after a few days...coffee is no different

kitschkitty

philhoggins wrote: »

It does to a certain extent but how long do you keep it there....think of chicken going off after a few days...coffee is no different

lol, not a great comparison, but buying ground coffee beans is like buying your ground spices & dried herbs.

Most of us go for the convenience of them (and often they are much cheaper than buying whole spices or fresh herbs) but we often end up with a spice rack full of old stale jars that need chucking out as we only ever used them for one recipe, or find an empty jar when we need the garlic or parsley etc. as we use it so often.

We don't drink a lot of fresh coffee as we just can't be bothered, yet still have 3 or 4 lots of ground coffee in the cupboard (Starbucks) as we don't always check that we've used up the old lot before we are tempted to buy a new bag.

Personally if I could afford it the only coffee I'd bother to buy would be micro-ground - all the flavour with none of the hassle. But hubby drinks so much coffee we have to have instant in.

indigoheart

Hiya,
I use Jaccs Coffee (sorry can't post links but just Google it).
Excellent coffee cheaper than Whittards and some fantastic flavours to choose from!

Mojisola

The coffee nut in our family likes this site - https://www.hasbean.co.uk/

His starter packs make a good present. For a main present, the subscriptions are great.