Ha! Must’ve forgot about that part of your post as I read it yesterday. You’ll have to excuse me, it’s just past 7am here and I’m still working on my first coffee for the day!
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Though my tastes are usually skew more towards local Detroit roasters, Tim hortons is king of “mainstream coffee” in the northern US/CAN IMHO
Yes, their beans definitely agree with my machine and produce an excellent cup of joe.
20 car line ups every morning can’t be all that wrong either. 
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Not sure if people around here use french press but I recently got the best tips to make the best coffee out of it : do not pour all the water in one go, pour a tiny little bit first, just enough to cover the ground coffee, let it sit for a minute and then pour the rest of your water.
I’ve been enjoying my morning coffee more than ever since I started doing this so thought I would share<3
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I’m a fan of the Aeropress. Other than that, I also have a great local roaster so am able to get freshly roasted beans in a variety of styles - one of my favorites over the years is a Mocha Java blend. A decent burr grinder to grind right before brewing - doesn’t get much better in the AM. Actually having a cup made with Sumatran beans right now.
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Yes, I think they call it blooming…? I was doing that when I was making my chemex coffee.
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Yes, it was taboo to touch coffee grounds while brewing until recently.
Now I exclusively stir after I pour/bloom, some grounds can get wet an entire minute after the first pour, which can only ever yield an uneven extraction.
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Alright, here comes some nerding out…
Fresh beans - when you roast a coffee bean, a chemical process begins. Gasses begin escaping from the bean (namely, CO2). As the gasses move to the surface of the bean, oils are pulled along, where they evaporate.
Edit: because I’m precious about it. Beans directly off roast can be awkward. Espresso fans prefer day 6-10 as the best days off roast for this brew method. I never brew anything until 4-5 days off roast. You’ve got about three weeks until the beans off gas, at this point, mostly the toffee and bitter flavors remain. For many people, this post 3 week flavor is what they’ve come to know as “that’s how coffee tastes.” Now, if you like dark beans that are shiny/oily (burnt beyond all subtle flavors)… these will taste the same on day 1 as day 34567. That’s part of why Starbucks has duped the public to think they are the name in coffee. It’s much cheaper for them this way. Thankfully, this is cracking for many as we turn toward locally owned and smaller businesses.
TLDR: Older beans, less flavors. Pre-ground beans, more surface area to evaporate flavors (don’t do it)
Grind consistency - particle size varies on brew method, however particle consistency is the deal here. Think about it, varying surface area and density, varying extractions from each particle. Coffee that is ground uniformly, extracts uniformly.
TLDR: Burr grinder.
Brew Method (extraction) - Actually, this section should be more about solubility. As, extracting dissolvable solids from coffee is the goal of all brew methods. However, and this is big. TIME is crucial, RATIO is crucial. Coffee is about 30% soluble. However, the most pleasing flavors occur in 17%-24% of the dissolved solids. under 17%, tastes more “sour.” over 24% tastes more “bitter.” The goal should never be to extract all soluble particulates.
Edit: for you french press fans, this means don’t leave your coffee in the press with the grinds until you drink your second/third cups. Freaking pour that shit into a carafe.
TLDR: Time your brew regardless of method. Water:Grind ratio matters.
Yeah, I nerd out on more than music.
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Well that escalated quickly, aha, that’s super interesting tho!
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most people seem to like coffee. would be interesting if someone opens a “No Coffee” thread.
big coffee, milk, no sugar in the morning for me !
but a big NO to capsules !
say NO to capsule coffee !
save the money and buy a good (fair trade) coffee instead.
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for lazy people (like me): i put a spoon of good coffee powder in a cup and add hot water (95 celsius). no filter, no trash. very good coffee !
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I work in specialty (3rd wave, hipster, whatever) coffee by day and drink likely too much coffee. I end up brewing 2-3 chemex’s a day for our office and we have an espresso training lab onsite. Many of us have worked as baristas so there’s typically espresso going around too.
My favorites are usually washed process coffees from Ethiopia, I can’t get enough of those floral notes. I typically brew chemex’s or V60’s at home or just walk over to one of our cafes when I’m feeling lazy.
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I like to go into hipster cafe’s and order a nescafe blend 43 just to see the look on everyones face…
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Light-medium roasts for me…usually Ethiopian or Central American (costa rican).
Aero press and burr grinder at home.
Chemex and crappy grinder at work.
I much prefer aero press/burr and wonder if it’s the burr making the difference! Guess I’ll bring it into work to compare:).
Always a good topic…just after elektron instruments!
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Capsules are additional waste 
… but the coffee grounds can go to the compost later 
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My morning coffee:
Freshly roasted coffee from a local roastery on Chemex.
Maybe a little little bit of oat milk.
I prefer low acidity and medium to dark roast.
I think coffee should be simple
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Funny thing, my grandma used to boil water and use a cloth strainer, and my mom hated that and only used coffee machines…
After moving to my own place I adopted mom’s habit of coffee machine, but after two broke in my hands, I decide to just boil the water and pour myself on a paper filter. Only recently got the Chemex.
I think coffee machines are a waste of space and plastic. 
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