Coffee whiteners, you don't need them!

[Lady Schist]

Now. I'll preface this with saying that not all of us drink coffee, and not all of us put coffee whitener in it of any kind.

But there are quite a few youngin's here, and not to label, but it's usually young people who are likely to put cream in their coffee. And some of us, (I was an offender) put way too much cream in.

Truth is, if you brew your coffee properly, and buy good quality coffee you REALLY don't need cream.

Now. When it comes to brewing your coffee if you use a drip maker, make sure you don't leave the coffee grounds in the maker after the coffee is done, that's because the last drips often will make your coffee bitter.

Coffee you use, depends on you. You can use a normal blend, like from starbucks, or you can grab nice organic coffee beans and blend up your own.

I blend up my coffee with cardamom, fennel, and anise seeds, with raw cane sugare and cocoa, as well as fresh grated cinnamon and fresh vanilla beans,

It's WONDERFUL!

Who puts cream in their coffee?  

[Starlurk]

Wow this is great! I never thought about actually mixing my own coffee the way you do. This makes me want a coffee maker more because I loooove the over priced fancy coffee you get from coffee shops and I hate the bitter coffee you usually get with a maker.  

[Lady Schist]

Totally not required. Get a bodum press, the spices steep more and mask the bitterness. Or if you get a good one, it compresses properly!  

[Iconised Ghost]

im not big on coffee at all, mostly because i find it bitter even when well made, but when i do have coffee its usually a mocacino. Its sweeter than coffee by itself, i dunno if it is less fatty than having cream in coffee though.

Chocolate coffee beans are better anyway mrgreen  

[Divash]

First things first. I have to get this out of the way. Starbucks has what they call a French roast. What that means is that they take it to a medium cinnamon-brown (ideal), then roast it twice as long (Italian roast, not awesome but not awful either), and then roast it for half again as long (French roast, turns darkest, still acceptable but only marginally), then they do it for another ten or fifteen minutes (charcoal, i.e. what Starbucks things is sophisticated). Their coffee, in other words, is basically just terrible. They manage to roast it long enough to destroy all the flavor-oils. By that point, you need cream or other whitener just to make it barely potable.

Okay, onward.

My RLSO has a French press, which is ideal for most people. You pour the boiling water over the coffee in the press, let it steep for one to two minutes, and press down the grounds. This method allows the most contact of water to beans, yet doesn't permit over-steeping to the point of bitterness.

I prefer my jezve (Turkish coffee pot), also known as cezve or ibrik (Ibrik is the Greek word for it). I buy Caribou Coffee's lighter blends, such as Kenya roast, normally, but sometimes I buy unroasted beans and roast them lightly myself. A lighter roast will bring out the flavor but not kill it or turn it bitter. Ideally you'd grind this just before a meal, and serve the coffee afterward. If you can't do that, grind a very little at a time, then store it in an airtight container in the freezer until you want to use it. After roasting the beans, I also roast a spice mixture: one cardamom pod, one whole clove, one allspice seed, three small anise seeds or one star-anise, one-half a cinnamon stick, and about three grinds from a whole nutmeg seed. Set aside.

Then I grind the beans (or have Caribou do it for me) to powder-fine consistency -- if you have this done, ask for "Turkish grind." Caution: a regular home grinder won't do this, so you'll have to invest in a rather expensive steel burr or stone burr grinder that specifically states that it can do Turkish grind, which is even finer than espresso grind. After grinding the coffee, I grind my spice blend in a different grinder, to the same ultra-fine consistency, and freeze that in a separate airtight container.

To prepare: one heaping teaspoon of ground coffee per 8 ounces of filtered water, plus one-quarter teaspoon of spice blend per cup, plus one heaping tablespoon of sugar (I like brown sugar, agave syrup, or turbinado sugar, but plain white sugar will do just as well). Turn the stove on high and set the jezve on top. DO NOT STIR. Let the water come to a boil. The coffee will froth towards the top of the jezve. Remove from heat and turn heat to simmer. Skim solids off the top of the coffee (again, DO NOT STIR) and dump them out. Return to heat. Do this for a total of four boil-ups (the first of which was on high, the rest of which are on simmer). Keep skimming off the top, and do not ever, ever stir the coffee. Ever. Ever. If you stir the coffee, I will hunt you down, I swear.

Serve in a demitasse, also known as an espresso cup. Drink until the coffee tastes thick. This will be a very strong coffee, yet it will not need cream, because you (or Caribou) didn't over-roast the beans.  

[Starlurk]

That's nifty Divash biggrin (I was wondering why I hated Starbucks and now I know XD)  

[Lady Schist]

I love you Divash, I certainly know why I hate their lattes.

That said, I've loved the taste of coffee since I was young so I'd just eat coffee grounds sometimes. YES. It's PSYCHO!

But I love turkish coffee.. I love it SO hard. My favourite restaurant closed down so now I can't find turkish coffee anywhere. Mayhaps I should make it myself.

... but grinder soooo expensive. ._.  

[Divash]

You can get your own grinder for fairly low cost. It'll be a hand-grinder, mind you, rather than a fancy electric on.

You can also get Caribou Coffee to give you an espresso-grind, which is actually very close to Turkish grind, and will make quite a nice cup of coffee -- though if you have a Caribou nearby, go into the shop and ask specifically for Turkish grind, and it'll be even better.