Coffee snobs meet here

Charlotta, the machines work best at just under boiling so the coffee is hot enough IF you dont add cold milk. I used a machine for a few years but always heated my milk in a little saucepan. I've now gone back to my little inexpensive single (they call it a 3 cup) cafetier and to be honest cant really tell that much difference as long as I buy a decent bean (which I do grind myself - but hey might give that up too!). The machines are not cheap and I had to replace a part a couple of times because they are working under such pressure. They are also a bit of a fiddle to clean so all in all, to coin a well used pharse....just could not be ar**d anymore.

Every morning I make enough coffee for one-and-a-half mugs each for myself and kind man. I'm pretty slap-stick about measuring, because I've been doing it so long, but it is always delicious. Strong and black, no sugar. This morning, my husband's blood test is needed, so no coffee for him. So I make enough just for me. It was disgusting! I need to learn how to measure just enough for one cup!

fruit spread tub

Easy solution to the too much caffeine problem, isn't there? No sympathy from me. If people know what's causing a problem and won't change their behaviour to make a difference, my attitude is [shrug! why are you telling me this? it just puts you in a bad light].

I agree about hot drinks being hot. That's partly why I find the 'old-fashioned' method of making coffee in a jug with a lid (coffee pot, except mine isn't; it's just a jug with a lid from a fruit spread top plonked on top while I heat the milk) perfectly satisfactory. It probably takes about a minute longer to prepare than instant coffee so if I have five cups a day (it's usually four), that's five minutes of my life wasted every day. Not. Think of it as rest time.

I use a tea strainer to keep the grounds out of the mug. The whole process is just like making tea in a pot except that I don't heat the milk for tea.

I'd love to buy a machine but is the coffee really hot? I go to friends and they serve me a thick white cup or mug and that cools the coffee down and then no hot milk etc. Some people just don't know how to make really hot drinks.

I know another friend who has an expensive machine and she says they drink too much as it is sitting on the kitchen counter and in 2 minutes yet another cup of coffee appears and they can't sleep nights.

We have decaff filter coffee for breakfast and decaff jar of Kenco during the day but when I go into work I have a proper coffee made with real coffee beans from the new machine. Absolutely lovely. It makes it worth going in to work .

Well enjoy jeni and tell us how you get on! Watch the caffeine though....

Well I've done it! I've ordered a delonghi bean to cup coffee machine. I hope I get on better with it than the expresso machine I have! According got the blurb it seems you just press a button and every thing happens.

Coffee? couldnt care less, real or instant both drinkable but neither particulary enjoyed, But tea, ahhh, must be leaf tea in a pot with a tea strainer, delicious

Well off to ALDI. I have quite list of ALDI foods which I buy on a regular basis as well as cat food. I'll try the Lavazza. I have Cafetières in all sizes.

Aldi's Italian medium strength Lavazza coffee for cafetieres is good, I have also recently tried the new "real" instant coffee which seems to be a good subsitute if you are short of time !!
Yorkshire tea for hard water is the best - if you like strong builders tea.

I am not a coffee "snob" at all .I am happy with a cup of Nescafe Original instant, so I will creep back to my own little hovel with my cup of Nescafe

I agree with Joan. You get lovely coffee in Germany and Austria. Most people seem to use the filter method in but I have seen those expensive machines in some kitchens. With coffee it is the same as with tea. Make it strong enough.

They seem to stick with their brands like we in the UK like Typhoo or PG tips etc. They know which they like, and what goes with their water and don't change much. It is true that with a really rich gateau you need strong black coffee as an antidote. I made my first mistake in Germany when I ordered hot chocolate with a cream cake. Never again. But I was only 23, greedy for such things and not used to being abroad.

I like most coffee and most tea, though my every day drink is Aldi green tea.

I got used to all kinds of coffee as a young lass in Vienna: strong brown coffee in a little cup, with a huge glass of water was a favourite there, or a cup of treacly black coffee - I think it was Turkish style. Vienna had a lot of Eastern influence. I would percolate coffee at home there, and drink it with milk and sugar.

At home in England I just enjoyed instant Maxwell House, bought cheaply by Mum from Dewsbury Market. I certainly remember Camp coffee and sticky milk!!

Now in Australia I enjoy a cappuccino when I'm out with friends, or a lovely iced coffee at the caff near the library on my U3A writers' group day. This iced coffee is served in a huge tall glass and has ice cream, cream and a shake of chocolate. It reminds me of holidays at Bridlington as a young lass, when my friend and I would treat ourselves to a Knickerbocker Glory - a tall glass full of fruit cream and iceceam.

On a morning I make myself a small milky instant coffee to get me going, then sit here and check out my emails, Gransnet and my Yorkshire Expats forum.

Then I feed the chooks (chickens).

Love Blue Mountain and Taylors Hot Java Lava. have tried several kinds of percolator and coffee machine and am now back to a cafetiere and using Lavazza. Can't stand American coffee so no Starbucks or Costa for me - we have an authentic Italian coffee shop here but I like a Cafe Nero too. Drink loads every day starting with a big cafetiere all to myself for breakfast. No ill effects that I can detect and none when I tried going without it for a week - i just like the taste.

Forgot about Camp coffee - made up with evaporated milk and perhaps a spoon or two of sugar. Lovely and you can feel your teeth rotting with every sip.

Camp coffee? mm... but I like Kenya ground and Nescafe 37 (used in hotels in 50's) and wish u could get small cups in cafes instead giant size. One a day at 11am as a boost of caffeine.

Have been thinking of buying DH a Nespresso machine for his next birthday.Didn' t do it at Christmas as wasn't sure, but thanks to * maggiep* will think again. I confess. I live round the corner from Cafe Nero, and that is my secret vice. But it is very expensive, so maybe in the end a Nespresso will save me money.?

Mmmm. Mocha is growing on me! Slurp.

I gave DH a Nespresso coffee machine for Christmas, which he had been hoping for, ( maybe I hoped George Clooney would come too!)
We now have such tasty and variable coffee using all those little cartridges.
However and despite often having De caffeinated as well, I started getting quite a lot of heart arrhythmias, missing beats etc, ended up seeing GP, having an ECG and caffeine was the probable cause! Such a shame, so will stick now to decaf all the time. All has settled down.

Agree Mamie about Monmouth; our deli in Ledbury stocks it and it's my treat between Waitose decaff beans now my foweign supply is exhausted. I'm lucky my machine grinds the beans for me.........and does a mean capachino mid morning. Just had a wee decaff espresso..perfect.

Love fresh coffee, make a pot every morning, don't go in for bean grinding though, not enough energy first thing. I have no favourites as such, usually go for strengh 4, 5 is too strong and a bit bitter. Also have a espresso machine which I use at the weekend and it is a bit faffy. My favourite coffee for that is Illy coffee, excellent.
I always pee for England first thing anyway, so can't blame it on the coffee. Don't shake like a leaf though or do I?

I've been through every possible kind of coffee and coffee maker/machine in my life. Now I'm reduced to a few granules of instant in warm milk as coffee upsets my stomach so much . I do miss it as tea never has the same effect first thing in the morning.

The coffee we drink in Spain is called Bonka! My favourite in the UK is Monmouth coffee.

Sainsbury's After Dinner Coffee ,for breakfast that is.., 2 cups each made with the filterholder and filter paper. Not as good as it used to be though. Tastes thin now.
However, we have it strong enough so that it opens up the airways nicely........