Big coffee fan but I enjoy a wide variety of types of brew.
Mornings I put two measures of ground coffee in a mug and wet the grounds with some boiled water, let it sit half a minute, then top it up and let it sit until the grounds settle. I drink it with some toast or a croissant and then have a few top up espressos at work or from a café during the day. The beans I use at home are from a smallish semi-local producer that roasts at high altitude and whose coffee is widely available and sells well so it's always fresh. 250g bags here are always vacuum packed, so actually much fresher that most loose bean varieties that never made sense to me unless the coffee was recently roasted on premises.
It's a really good dark roast a bit shy of espresso, I guess closest to a French roast, as strong but really rounded and fresh tasting. People always comment when I serve it, which I make in a Bialetti stovetop coffee maker, those classic aluminum screw-together jobs. I have a bunch in different sizes as they only work well if you use the right amount of beans and water for each size.
French Switzerland has pretty good coffee almost everywhere, and virtually every restaurant, café, bar, or takeaway has an Italian espresso machine. More and more specialty cafés are opening these days and some roast their own beans and sell different makers.
I always drink it black, and only put sugar in an iced espresso that I'll drink on a hot afternoon. I've had cold brewed ice coffee, and yes it's mild and tasty but is lacking the acidity I really like. It is a nice way to have a cold coffee without sugar, though.
But then there's Italy. I've had all kinds of coffee in all kinds of countries, but absolutely nothing compares to virtually any espresso you can find anywhere in Italy. They tend to use only locally roasted beans and the machines and grinders are calibrated daily for temperature, barometric pressure, and type of coffee (larger cafés have multiple grinders with different settings for different length pulls), and everyone has the touch to make a decent cup or they are not allowed to touch the machine. It's uncanny and even the best made espressos outside the country don't measure up to the tiny two sip pinnacle of the art of coffee making that constitutes an real Italian espresso. I've given up expecting a real one anywhere else in the world.
Some of my favorites:
Indonesian 'collision' coffee made the same way I make my morning coffee
Vietnamese Café Pin made in tiny steel drip contraptions that fit over each cup, dripped very slowly into a glass containing sugar or condense milk. It's really exquisite and must be savoured.
Arabic and Turkish coffee, also strong and sweet, boiled three times and poured into tiny cups with the very fine grounds settling on the bottom.
Greek coffee,similar but with a milder roast and only boiled twice.
Greek Frappé, milky cold and sweet, perfect in the summer and what Starbucks should be selling instead of a dessert in a paper cup.
Swedish drip, medium strong and drunk by the mug or large coffee cup, all day. The smell of Sweden is the smell of drip coffee in various clean rooms.
Spanish coffee. Delightful in its multitude of varieties, from the length to the amount of milk, or lace with brandy. Unfortunately there has been a massive shift to darker Italian espresso brands in much of the country over the last decade.
Little known fact: coffee just before bed will help you fall asleep and sleep better, but only if you drink it no earlier than twenty minutes before going to bed. If you don't go to sleep right away, you won't for a long while.
Worst coffee? Often poor producing countries that export all the good stuff. Costa Rica was a pleasant surprise, percolated (!) for ages and served in huge mugs, it is so tasty and round and smooth at the same time it's uncanny. About the only mildly roasted coffee I've ever enjoyed.
To me, it is a very different flavor...better in a lot of ways. Try to buy a cold brew iced coffee somewhere, no cream or sugar. See what you think.
