Originally Posted by MrEmjoy (Post 9422606)

You can get an O.K cup-o-joe with cheap beans. Its more to do with the method. French presses call for a fairly coarse ground and good timing but it's not complicated.

My method at the moment using a regular blade grinder involves the following:

Boil kettle, when it clicks off start a two minute timer, grind the beans, how long they grind depends on the size of the bean, normally about 15 short jabs of the grind button with the present Ruta Maya Mexican coffee. When the two minute timer is up I add the water, its just below boiling point, stir until you get the 'brown cream' on the top of the beans and then set a 3 minute timer, stir half way through if I've not been rugby tackled by the little one then stir again when the 3 minutes are up, then slowly push down.

Zing.

If I had my way I'd have burr grinder rather than the current blade grinder, burr grinders give you less powder, also, one of the french presses I have has a few extra doo-dads that stop most of the sediment getting in.

This one

It really doesn't take long to get it, and once you do most other coffee with the exception of one from a good espresso machine taste like shit. Drip machines take a lot of cleaning to keep a good consistent taste. I think the last one we had got us slowly used to coffee that tasted worse each time we used it as it was so damn hard to clean the reservoir properly, the french press is a quick rinse and its done and even the cheap ones are good.

Originally Posted by robin1234 (Post 9422623)

Yes, the water in a drip machine is not hot enough.. however you can manually pour boiling water straight from your electric kettle through a filter cone/paper filter. I have several such plastic filter cones (some Mr. Coffee style, some Melitta style) that I've saved from defunct drip machines.

As someone mentioned earlier, another totally different way of making good coffee is using a stovetop macchinetta (Bialetti or similar.) This makes a superb satisfying cup of coffee. But, as someone mentioned, beware of potentially fatal accidents.

Originally Posted by MrEmjoy (Post 9422701)

How do you use a paper filter in a french press? I've poured coffee from a french press through a filter into a travel mug before, is that how?

Originally Posted by robin1234 (Post 9422721)

Yes, sorry I wasn't clear. I was contrasting a French Press (hard to eliminate at least some sediment) with making coffee using filter cone and paper filter, which eliminates sediment. I take your point though, that some French Presses are better at eliminating sediment than others..

Originally Posted by robin1234 (Post 9422658)

Yes, my main problem with the French Press is the inevitable sediment. I've never owned a burr grinder but I would imagine that (compared with my cheapo blade grinder) the burr grinder would partially eliminate the sediment. But again, using a paper filter totally eliminates even the finest sediment.

Originally Posted by Sarah (Post 9422714)

Yeah they're very good especially if you just want the one cup of coffee.
I quite like the stove top machines, I miss having a gas stove to put them on.

Originally Posted by Bob (Post 9423014)

They still work on an electric hob...

Originally Posted by Sarah (Post 9423173)

Yeah I know, but for some reason I like cooking with gas better ;)

Originally Posted by Bob (Post 9423214)

yeah, same here...but can ya get gas here, nope, plus we're renting :lol:

Originally Posted by Sarah (Post 9423329)

Gas stoves are awesome! Halogen hobs are pants

Originally Posted by robin1234 (Post 9424019)

I agree, would much rather have gas. We live out in the country, and only have electricity. We did talk about getting a propane set-up in our house, which would give us a gas stove AND gas hot water heater (much cheaper to run than electricity.) But, when we bought the house 15 years ago, we bought a new electric stove which is still (unfortunately) running fine, so no compelling incentive to invest in the propane.

Originally Posted by Herpes Simplex (Post 9424052)

So break the stove. It's so simple and yet so genius.

Northern NY eh? Are we talking Massena? Watertown? Potsdam?

Originally Posted by robin1234 (Post 9424078)

Out in the sticks, 7 miles from Canton, 16 miles from Potsdam.