I consider sugar a secondary but essential part of the hot beverage I like, whatever it may be called. Pure coffee is the main one, but I don't care for it unaccompanied, just as I don't for white yogurt. YMMV.
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Black coffee appreciation
- Thread starter SwitchGear
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Thanks I'll check it out.
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We have one of these and it isn't bad. It gets bunged up pretty quickly if you don't clean it regularly, especially if you are doing fine grinds with oily beans, but it only takes a minute to scrape it out and if you do that once every couple of weeks, it works well.
My wife got me a french press for Christmas. I've been using it with a finer grind than they recommend and it makes delicious, strong coffee. There's a substantial difference in the flavour between the press and drip coffee. There's an element to it that I also taste in Turkish or quasi-Turkish coffee but not in any kind of drip coffee. Must have something to do with the lack of a filter and/or the way the grounds are mixed directly into the water.
I love strong dark roasts, espresso and Turkish coffee but I gotta have a bit of brown sugar, raw sugar or honey in it. If that bothers the black coffee "purists" I don't give a crap. Life's too short for that kind of nonsense. Drink your coffee the way you enjoy it and to hell with anyone who would give you a hard time about it.
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I was the same way about scotch for a while. I'd look down my nose at anyone who put ice or more than a tiny splash of water in it but I grew out of it. As I said in my other post, life's too short to get my drawers in a knot over stuff like that.
I would consider "black" to mean no cream/milk or sugar when ordering coffee so I always specify if I'm in a place where they add cream and/or sugar for you.
I like my coffee how I like my coffee.
How others like their coffee means nothing to me.
That said, to me, black means coffee only, and sugar, cream, creamer, etc are add-ons.
And Starbuck's coffee is terrible.
How others like their coffee means nothing to me.
That said, to me, black means coffee only, and sugar, cream, creamer, etc are add-ons.
And Starbuck's coffee is terrible.
From whatI I have read I believe frozen freshly roasted and off gassed beans stay fresh until defrosted then age like fresh ones. Ground beans age quickly so I wouldn't stuff about freezing ground.
The flat white was invented in Wellington NZ. Made by steaming whole milk until hot but not boiling and adding to the espresso shot. Yum.
Here (UK) when I was a kid coffee made with hot milk was known as 'church coffee'. Maybe it was really invented in Christchurch
I think it meant religious establishments, though.
A proper flat white is basically an underdone cappuccino, which was how it came to be me made originally, by someone in too much of a hurry I guess. Steam the milk until hand hot and retain the frothy mess on top as you pour the creamy hot stuff from under.Here (UK) when I was a kid coffee made with hot milk was known as 'church coffee'. Maybe it was really invented in Christchurch
To be fair I suspect 'church coffee' milk was simply heated in a saucepan until hand hot. Whether that leaves the milk significantly different to steamed I have no idea. Outside of London or in a Cliff Richard film I don't think anyone in the UK in the 1970s had actually seen anything other than instant coffee anyway. For most of us real coffee didn't really happen until the mid 80s, and it was a revelation that coffee could be pleasant...
If frozen in an industrial freezer, yes. I've also heard the -18 degree or warmer temperatures and humidity of home freezers don't do much the preserve freshness, and is not recommended at all for ground beans either.
my humidity is under control with jam jars. Whatever below freezing has to be better than on the shelf I think. Nobody sells less than 2lb of beans here so unless I go to home roasting I am stuck with the freezer.
To be honest once you've had espresso in Italy you'd probably agree. I really enjoy a decently made one in other countries and I've been cafés run by complete fanatics in various countries who try to recreate the real thing. They are often great and I can enjoy full well any espresso that is made with decent beans and a good machine,but they are a different animal.
It's the combination of perfectly roasted and fresh beans made from perfectly maintained grinders and machines that are adjusted for humidity and barometric pressure, and maintained weekly, and the skill of the baristas and the proper cup and portion sizing, etc.
Even at trade shows when they do everything to make a perfect cup there is often something not quite there.
It sounds bogus and I've often wondered how much is psychological, but every time I'm in Italy and I have my first one, almost anywhere, the difference smacks me in the face.
It's like drinking a good local fresh beer or a good wine when in the region, there are some intangibles that cannot be recreated.
Edited to correct some auto correct chicanery.
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it does sound bogus but I have never tasted a totally perfect cup of coffee and never had one in Italy so I can leave your opinion unchallenged.
Agree. Even the cheap Autostrada service station espresso is better than most dedicated coffee outlets here in the UK.
The best coffee I have ever had in the UK was out the back of one of those mobile coffee outlets in an old vehicle from a company based in Harrogate, and rivalled an Italian cup. It was at a festival and I think I had four or five cups over the course of the day!
