Shameful situation with Vancouver only spitting distance away. But lets face facts - until the chinook winds finally blow down, folks from Edmonton and Saskatoon all the way to Halifax (which is everyone downwind of Alberta feedlots) have little to cheer them up except icefishing, indoor rodeo, record plywood production and - fer heaven's sake - a decent cup of hot coffee. Tim Horton's is not enough - you deserve better.

You need to roast your own. Can we talk? Can we talk? :-)
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Your right about Timmies. I personally don't care for it but you should see the line ups at the drive through. I just can't understand why they would sit in line up for over twenty minutes for a cup of average coffee. I live in Red Deer a long way from feed lot alley. thank god that only exists in a small part of the province. I have thought about roasting my own. I read about hot air popcorn makers and the bbq method but I don't have a bbq (strange for living in Alberta).
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This machine saves lives.....it's true.
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Consider the SCCO - simple to make, inexpensive, easy to use, highly reliable, a pound in 20 minutes. I used one for years with nary a problem.
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Roasting is as simple as a skillet on the burner or camp stove outside, or get fancy and get a stovetop popper with a hand crank, or a heat gun and a bowl, or a pan in the oven.
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I've gotten into good coffee since the coffee forum here, but I find I can still put up with gnarly drip-pot juice. They drink Maxwell House at work and my mom drinks her Folger's (about as high-end as she can go on food stamps I guess), and I'll drink it and be satisfied. I don't find it disgusting, bitter or repulsive in any form, just not nearly as good as my Peet's or Juan Valdez out of the French press.
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Well, I can't say I'm as far down the path as Mister Moo, but in the Barney household the past couple of days have been traumatic. I woke up Sunday morning to find that our nice burr coffee grinder was inoperable beyond repair. Now, for some reason Fayetteville, NC does not have a store that sells a burr coffee grinder and so for the past two mornings I have been forced to drink coffee from a certain unnamed fast food restaurant because we have no ground coffee in the house. So, my answer to the original question is yes, if I am forced to in extreme circumstances. Since we must order a bona fide coffee grinder from the internet I ground some beans at the grocery store today so I would at least have some semblance of good coffee in the morning. Oh, the humanity!
p.s. any good recommendations for a place to order one from?
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I've been using mine for well over three years. I think I'm getting ready to replace the stir-crazy soon because the cord connector is loose (and exposed :-)) but other than that it's by far the best roasting form I've found for under $500.


And by the way - HI DAN!
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Anytime, any place except when it really hot outside and then it's iced coffee for the most part. There are some coffees i do shy away from (Turkish).
The crap they serve at work forces me to bring in my beans , grinder and a fench press.
After several years inthe Pacific Northwest and Europe (thank to the US Army) I now to my demise know the difference between brewed water and a real cup of java.
If it is a grab and go situation Dunkin or WaWa will do just fine, especially when cold from riding the scoot.
Volt can attest to the fact that when your cold even a burnt cup of watever will do.
That being said if I do breakdown and spend 4-5 bucks on a cup of coffee I have no qualms about taking back to the "barista" and have them remake it. If it comes out like crap again, I just don't go back.
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Go to the walley mart and pick up the Black and Decker coffee grinder.
Does the job. Nothing fancy, but you can set how coarse you like the grounds.
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Hello there postwhore. I hope the coffee is pungent and the cigars are snappy over in your neighborhood. What a nice end to the day from hell. Raney. WTH. :-)
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I have to amend this part of my previous reply. Tonight I felt like having breakfast for dinner so I went to the local breakfast joint. I ordered coffee with my food and noticed that they had a dual commercial Bunn coffee maker. One side regular one side decaf, usually not to bad. The waitress brought me a cup and it was weak and tasteless. I mentioned that to her so she brewed a fresh pot and brought me another cup again weak and tasteless. Not wanting to make an issue out of it I said it was fine and just drank water with my breakfast.

About half way through the meal it dawns on me that I have been drinking coffee exclusively from a moka pot for the last month and a half. Compared to the moka pot a commercial drip machine has now become undrinkable for me.

So I will no longer drink whatever swill the breakfast place is serving. The moka pot has forever spoiled me.
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This sounds so coffee-snob but I completely relate. It is VERY hard to backslide from good cigars and good coffee. I will sometimes get gas station 20-oz'ers when traveling but it's medicine - a caffeine dose, not drinking coffee.

The worst of commercial drip, fortunately for me, seems as always to be the heavy robusta content. The stuff tastes like ass but it WILL keep you awake.
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I'd just assume go with a soda or redbull over that :-)
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My requirements are simple and practical, as to do otherwise causes the oils to oxidize and radically changes the flavor profile.

1. Must have been roasted in the last 1-7 days, and the end range of that is really pushing it. Past a week, throw it in the garbage please. I will be able to taste the fail and I won't want any. The scary thing is that it is rare for coffee to reach the endpoint of consumption in any of the big chains before this time, and it usually hangs around on the shelf for many months.

2. Must have been ground no more than 30 seconds before the hot water hits it. Pre-grinding is made of fail, and it tastes flat and sour. Don't do this or I'm not drinking it.

There are a few other tips like keeping the temperature of the water consistent, making sure the grind is clean, using 30 lbs of pressure on the tamp, cleaning the filters religiously, keeping the draw time between 18 and 25 seconds, etc. But if a place is gonna screw it up bad, it's usually with the lack of freshness in roast or grind.

And that's why I roast my own and rarely drink coffee away from home unless I see it being ground and brewed.
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:-)tea tea tea tea tea tea gin opps tea tea tea :-):-):-)
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