Coffee - brand recommendation?

just when things can't get any worse the coffee machine is now kaput and has gone off on a little vacation to the repair shop. Now I am sat trying to install programs on the bloody computer with a Rooibos Tee instead of a triple espresso

I am planning on bringing my Cafetiere in to work tomorrow but can anybody recommend a decent brand of coffee, preferably an espresso blend? I have only bought one lot of coffee since I have been here (can't remember the brand) from the limted range in the local supermarket and it tasted like the sweepings from the factory floor

Please help before I go mad and my stress levels go through the roof

Have you tried Senseo? I would not drink anything else now
but of course you need the machine too

don't think so... is it already ground? My coffee grinder is in a box in someones loft in the UK!

take a look here

Senseo

Nescafe Gold - instant coffee ... it actually tastes better & isn't so rank on the tummy.

@ willy, thanks for the suggestion but I use to drink Gold, in the days I still drunk instant, but my tastes have changed and it's not strong enough now - I need about 3 heaped t-spoons!

@ bully, I notice it's Douwe Egberts - do you know if it tastes like the instant coffee of the same brand? Nice machine!

My girlfriend buys Jacob's Krönung, which is quite good.

At work we have a Senseo machine. I'm not a big fan, but it's drinkable.

I'm a coffee snob and either buy my beans from the local organic coffee shop or when I'm in the states I bring back with me several kilos of Batdorf & Bronson, best damn coffee in the world.

http://www.batdorf.com/

I have never tried their instant coffee but it tastes different from their normal brands. We now have 3 of these machines no not all at home
The coffee is really hot when it comes out not like the normal coffee machines.

do you know what bean that is? Quite happy to buy organic if it tastes good...

@bully, that might be an opition then. Their instant is vile so I wouldn't advise trying it...

Their website

http://www.jacobs.de/jacobs/page?siteid=ja...e1&PagecRef=188

is not terribly informative about what blend of beans or roast is used. I'll look on the package when I get home, but I'm not sure that will say much, either. This is not great coffee, but a very a drinkable mass produced sort. I'm sure it is neither organic nor shade grown, but what you buy in the supermarket rarely is.

If you want an espresso style coffee try Lavazza. They sell it in most supermarkets. Although if you are making it in a cafetiere it may be too strong, you may need one of those electric espresso machines Tchibo

thanks Nicole, and trust me it won't be too strong

QUOTE
Nescafe Gold - instant coffee ... it actually tastes better & isn't so rank on the tummy.

Anyone who tries to spread the instant coffee habit in Germany should be deported back to Britain on the very next flight! :-)

If you compare the Senseo price per 100g, you'll find it is way over the normal price. As far as I know you cannot buy cheaper brands because the pads are made to fit. I personally find a medium priced expresso coffee with frothy milk tastes best. The best coffee is not to be found in supermarkets. We have a specialist coffee shop here nearby in Hamburg-Blankenese and that really makes the difference.

The coffee machine is also a deciding factor. A good coffee can taste awful if made by a cheap machine. Some expensive machines are useless too. It pays to find a website about coffee and also coffee machines - find test results. Research is important if your coffee is important. We use an italian coffee maker pot on the cooker. Then we heat the milk for 50 secs in the mug in the microwave. To froth up the milk we use a cappucino whisk, which cost 5 Euros in Real, the supermarket. We pour the coffee through the milk... ready!

You lot make me feel so old fashioned.
When I was growing up we just had a perculator on the stove for coffee.
Nowadays I just grind the beans (decent stuff NOT supermarket) myself in a hand grinder and use one of those plunger jugs.
None of this machine business. I must be getting old before my time

You can buy cheaper brands for the senseo coffee machine they work just as good, what you should not get is one of the refillable thingy's for it.

send me with them aswell then
But you are right, before my bf moved here I never drank so much instant coffee than I do now. I like maxwell house most by the way

oh, please Maxwell House, I hope you are joking Hannah!

We do have a very good coffee machine at work apart from the fact it is being repaired at the moment!!! It's an all singing and dancing one, you can independently adjust the coffee amount for each setting and it has a milk frother thingymejig.

The Cafetiere is just an emergency temporary message and mainly because I don't want to have to go out to buy coffee everytime I want one.

I spend over a month in Italy every year ... and my instant Gold coffee ranks right up there!!!

Sure I'd love to spend a weekend in Lodon ...

I agree! Every time she comes to visit my Mum insists on bringing her own instant coffee with her as she thinks I have no idea about coffee since I don't like it.

What she doesn't understand is since moving to Germany I have discovered I actually like coffee just did not like the rubbish you get in the UK.

I still follow the golden rule - never drink tea in Germany and never drink coffee in the UK!

the main reason is, that my german ex husband did not drink much coffee at all, so it wasn't a big deal to use the coffee machine at home once or twice a day. But my english bf drinks it like water and the instant thing just goes faster.
When he is out I often enjoy fresh brewed coffee all for myself

I can only drink Nescafe I find German coffee is to strong. Tschibo coffee which is sold everywhere is just terrible IMO.

It's the same with tea over here the only semi good tea is Teekanee I usually stock up on Tetleys. I find the mini bags of Tetley are the best they seem to have alot more flavour than the big packs.

I'm not a tea drinker, but many tea drinkers have told me the East Fresians have the best tea in Germany. The Schwarzer Friese is top according to many tests - they even do tea bags.

So you know what to look for, click here.

Oh, and don't forget the Kandis.

[img]http://www.mauschristoph.de/Kandis.jpg[/img]

The organic beans we've been using lately. So good it makes your head spin, and available in most ökoladen.

"Minge Kaffee" Entirely because of the name.

I only drink espresso here which I buy in the Netherlands, it doesn't matter what brand, usually the supermarket's own brand, whatever is the cheapest. I then make the espresso in my espresso jug for the stove and create a Latte Macchiato with warm frothy milk.

Jamaican Blue Mountain wins every time with me.

last time i was in a coffee shop in Holland they had no coffee

@BBulldog: No comment!

If you're ever in Frankfurt, try Stern-Kaffee on Leipzigerstrasse in Bockenheim, they have a good choice of coffee and all the beans are roasted daily on the premises. I think it's one of only two surviving rösterei's in Frankfurt.

are you going to Holland anyway and is it really cheaper there or what is the reason?
Because if not it won't be worth going cuz you get the same brands here as in Holland in loads of supermarkets.

We go to the Netherlands every few months, it's only just over an hour's drive from Hagen and I then buy my coffee there. It is quite a bit cheaper over there. Glasses (as in spectacles) are cheaper there too. It's amazing how many opticians there are in Venlo.

ah. Well my bf lived by Amsterdam before the Euro came and it used to be cheap in Holland for us Germans. Since the Euro it's quite the same prices. Went to see some friends there 2 years ago and it was bloody expensive to go dining and for drinks. Clothes also seemed to be more expensive then.
They were here a few weeks ago and said Germany was cheap for them now.

Things used to cost 1 Gulden years ago, which was about 45 cents, now the same thing costs 1 Euro they say

erm..ok back to topic. COFFEEE (need to get one, mine just went poof, guess the mug must have a hole)

i owned a cafe for 4 years, and before that worked in cafes for about 10 yrs so, having made about a thousand coffees a week for a long time, here's my 2 cents worth:

if you want the best espresso, buy illy. it's a bit soft for a milk coffee, and of course expensive, but the best, IMHO. you should be able to get it from a good deli or the like. Lavazza, as Nicole mentioned, would be my choice for a coffee with milk.

there are a few things which contribute to a good coffee. freshness and good roasting of beans i think are the 2 most important, which count out all of us who make coffee at home - you need nice, fresh, oily beans, which are fresh themselves and then freshly ground. that means going thru a freshly opened packet of beans in a day, and grinding each one to order...who does that at home/work?

a really good espresso should run through a machine in about 30 secs, and have about 1cm of crema, the yellow foamy stuff on top. my new senseo uses pads (which i know illy makes, though i haven't yet found them here in frankfurt) and produces an espresso almost as nice as the huge professional machine, calibrated regularly by the technician, which i had in my cafe. at about 1/50th of the price, and 1/10000000th of the ease to use, why not invest in one?

btw, anyone keeping coffee in the freezer for freshness, don't! it'll bugger it!

cheers, monkel xx

Cool, good to know!