Coffee recommendations please

I really like Italian Style Fairtrade Ground Coffee by Sainsburys. I make it in a cafetiere. One son has a coffee machine and grinds beans. The other son is quite a coffee buff and yet prefers my coffee when he visits although he uses twice as much as I do in the cafetiere!

Nespresso every time. We have the DeLonghi Espresso with the large milk frother. The milk is so fluffy & frothy. We use some of the Nespresso pods but you can get very good cheaper ones online too. Wouldn't be without it & all the bits are dishwasher proof.

Nothing like fresh ground coffee. My DH (coffee lover) recommends investing in a good burr grinder. For freshness, avoid buying large quantities. Beans are freshest when they have a shiny coat of oil. Refrigeration and Freezing dries out the beans. The roast is also important. Some people like dark roast; others prefer medium or light. Arabica beans are the most popular. Best coffee is grown in volcanic soil.

I know a number of you have recommended Nescafé or Nestle products.
Please can you have a think about this company and its marketing? I am sure it’s not so blatant or damaging as it was in the 1970s and 1980s but I still don’t want to buy it and feel maybe some people aren’t aware of the way it markets its infant formula to people in less fortunate situations than most of us here on Gransnet.

Here’s an article from last year:

www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/01/nestle-under-fire-for-marketing-claims-on-baby-milk-formulas

A friend (richer, posher & foodier than me) gets his coffee from here...he goes in person but they do mail order. I can say every cup I've had at his is superb. He gets various kinds.

algeriancoffeestores.com/

Aldi now sell pods which are compatible with Dolce Gusto machines, latte and Cappuccino I think - just as good & much cheaper (needless to say). Asda's own drinking chocolate pods are good too!
I put the coffee grounds on my garden - stops the local moggies fouling.

We buy our coffee from a local grocer (understatement deli really), who hand roast all their coffee, and blend their own tea and coffee. ( I used to work in the same parade of shops and the smell of roasting coffee was wonderful) They have Blue Mountain but it has rocketed in price over the last few years. We use their breakfast blend in the morning and decaff and night.
They do on line - so here's a link: www.guntons.co.uk/

I'm with you on the blue mountain, its superb. However Ive recently bought M&S italian, the Ikea coffee I recently had we enjoyed as did our guests who made a note of it. Have found aldi good too. Dont buy decaf.

Oh dear LondonGranny that sounds nasty. I put coffee grounds in the wormery as they seem to really like them.

You know I noticed the other day that TK Maxx has lots of varieties of coffee. I am not sure what they are like as I am not a coffe drinker. I have been told that freshly ground beans are better than boought ground though - I expect you know this.

GrannyBeek
I used to have a stovetop cafetiere but it was such a b*gger to clean properly. Then I moved over to one of those coffee pots with a plunger thingy you push down until one day hot coffee splurged straight into my face and I had a nasty burn. Now I use filter papers in something that sits on top of the cup. The paper filter & coffee grounds go straight into my food waste bin and are turned into compost along with banana skins etc.

DH has Lyons coffee bags. I like Robert Timms 1. But can’t find it in this country. Don’t like it bitter or strong

LondonGranny that’s what I thought. Very worrying. Maybe I’ll stick to the cafetière.

jenni123 The "Brown Bear" name is just a name! It is NOT - repeat NOT - Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

Lavazza for me. I buy it in Costco.

GrannyBeek
Unless they're clear plastic they cannot be recycled. Usually pods are black or dark brown and go to landfill. I worked somewhere that had coffee pods and the sheer amount that went into binbags every week was alarming.

We have for years used a Senseo coffee maker and get the paper pods from Amazon. Everyone we know loves our coffee. The machine is Dutch and the Dutch make the best coffee in the world.

I buy Azera Americano for ‘ordinary’ and decaffinated.Have also just bought some Percol coffee bags ,which are good for a quick ‘proper’ coffee. I am fussy about coffee as I don’t like tea.apart from fruit ones.

Lavazza is our favourite.

I’m looking for a coffee machine and those with the pods look easiest to use. Can the pods be recycled? I would use lots and I do try to avoid single use plastic.

I should have added that I was bought one of the 'pod machines'. All very good BUT, I'm trying my best to cut down on 'single use plastic' - so using it makes me feel quite guilty .

I have two cafetieres - one for a single person and one for a couple. I also have one of the 'Moka' stovetop pots. My PACT coffee is suitable for both of those methods. They do different 'grinds' of coffee - depending on how you want to make your coffee.

My personal favourite is PACT Coffee - www.pactcoffee.com/sign-up/welcome?gclid=CjwKCAjwibzsBRAMEiwA1pHZrlrmAGoHQ-s5IRWupzgB15oHmRX_W6buwM9H7h0pF8DnZuh7gmquuBoCKPAQAvD_BwE&voucher=FREEV60KIT. The guy imports the beans direct from small farms. They are roasted and ground just before being sent out to customers.

Especially good if you want to source your coffee via ethical trading standards. I buy a pack each month - they let me know via email when it's being sent out and it usually arrives the following day. It comes in a fairly flat package that easily fits through the letterbox. I particularly love their Decaff - very difficult to tell just by taste alone that it's actually 'decaff'.

nannylovesshopping - There have been serious fires in Jamaica, the home of the fabulous Blue Mountain Coffee, and the crops were destroyed - Fires and the unrelenting sun destroyed the rain-fed farms of prized Blue Mountain Coffee crops, vegetable crops and Christmas trees that are grown in the buffer zone of the Blue Mountain National Park. There are draconian restrictions on all water useage in Jamaica, with the meagre supplies of all water only able to be used for human consumption and sanitary use. Severe fines to anyone using water for plant irrigation apparently. This particular Coffee has not been easily available for many years - we loved it also! We did find a similar one called "High Mountain" - but it is stormingly expensive ... £20 to £30 for a measly 100 grams - sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

Good old reliable Nescafe, every time. It can't (IMHO) be beaten.

Lavazza Oro. In a cafetiere or expresso pot on the stove. Asda had an offer on for ages and I had to stop going past that country. No more room in the cupboard.