OT: Best coffee beans for non coffee lover…
 

Not a huge fan of coffee. That being said trying to up my morning game.

French press will be used.

What’s your favorite not too dark coffee bean that I should try.

Only beans I’ve really liked are the super expensive Yemenese coffee that runs like $25 a bag or more. Light, nutty, no sugar or creamer needed. Almost more like tea to me which I love (drink lots of tea), looks like light brown muddy water… smells wonderful and nutty, nothing like Dunkin or Starbucks to me…

Any advice for something else to try? Definitely nothing dark, but anything else out there that is just good simple coffee for a non coffee lover to try? I don’t love dark roast at all, looking for something on the lighter side to try out….

:beer:

https://www.kittytowncoffee.com/prod...riginal-sydney

It's good, light and nutty.
And with every bag, some funds go to help cats.

If you don't like coffee why even try and find some you like? Be cheaper to just drink hot water. Actually that is what my brother in-law does as coffee messes with his gut but he likes having the hot mug in his hands.

Yeah, definitely stick with light roasts and try and be accurate with water temperature. You'll have to settle on the grind that's right for your preferences and your French press.

If you live in an area where Kroger or their many subsidiaries have a presence I recommend giving their Private Selection Ethiopian Yirgacheffe a try. At $9/12oz it's an inexpensive try. I buy these beans to fill a short gap between monthly shipments from Atlas Coffee Club. Finding a bean that is consistent year round isn't the easiest with small roasters sometimes and can lead to a let down if you find a seasonal or small batch bean you really like.

We can all point you in some good directions, but it will require your own trial and error. Good luck!

https://images.albertsons-media.com/...=Not_Available

my goto bean on the cheap. ( I only buy the beans version, too lazy to search for image)

It will be curious to where this thread goes.. gonna be lots of opinions.. my wife decided she wanted to drink coffee and I started with a medium roast coffee (Blue Bottle Balanced is nice as is Dancing Goats).. not sure I’d start with a dark roast as those are typically a very strong flavor profile and a French press is likely to intensify that in my experience..

Plus the darker the roast, the less caffeine content.. as counter-intuitive as that may sound.. if that’s important to you..

Coffee Beans are best when fresh
 

So we grind our coffee beans for each use

I gotta say, I’ve always heard this and, my family being in the business (they build roasters), have been told the “why” several times.. for me, I don’t taste a big difference.. I do grind my beans each use, but if someone didn’t want to mess with that, not sure it’s that big of a deal.. for me anyway..

Worth noting that the brewing method has a huge impact on the flavor too. Personally, I'm not a fan of dark coffees OR French pressed coffee. Because the filter is just mesh, it lets more of the oil and sediment into your cup. This results in a more full-bodied and richer flavor than you get out of a percolator or pour over. For some people this is good, but for others (like me), it's not. I prefer bright, fruity, citrusy coffee so I use a Chemex and almost exclusively light roast beans. It might take time to find beans you like, but don't overlook the potential of different brewing methods either.

Unfortunately most of the stuff you can get in grocery stores is going to be pretty dark (especially Starbucks... Even their light roast tastes burnt to me). One that I've found doesn't offend me is Jose's Organic Mayan Blend. We get it at Costco, but looks like you can order it from Amazon too. We mostly use it to make cold brew, but I drank it hot when I ran out of other beans and I think it fits the bill.

Only really matters if you don't go through a lot of coffee - ground beans oxidize super fast. In my house, at 2#/ week, it's not a problem. But I roast my own anyway, so that's not going bad any time soon. In fact, my problem is often waiting long enough for the beans to stop off-gassing before I need to grind and brew.

Question: is roasting your own beans really worth the effort vs. beans that aren't fresh and kept in a sealed coffee bean container? I bought some fresh roasted beans from a local roaster and really couldn't taste a difference between that and beans I bought from Costco. I'm making cappuccinos though.

I find the more stuff you add to your coffee, the less the bean matters. I use Costco beans for cold brew because I dilute it with milk and simple syrup. But for hot, black coffee, the difference is immense. Never roasted my own, but I have no problem paying for good beans from a local roaster.

We do the same. One of the most accessible, universally liked blends we've come across is Stumptown Hair Bender. We've found it in several local PNW restaurants, the kind with bottomless coffee, and we've had people ask us what it is when we serve it at home.

https://www.stumptowncoffee.com/prod...42460851896488

I'd for sure go for a light roast.

Most Targets and many grocery stores, and even walmart, carry some quality coffee from roasters like Intelligencia. They may be big now, but I've grabbed some of their stuff in a pinch and it's still great, I've gotten whole bean too. Even Whole Foods will have a wide variety of optoins. bonus is you can pick up and squeeze the bag to get a smell. (I could list a ton of roaster's I love if you just wanna order some stuff online lol).


Personally a French Press is just about my least favorite way to brew coffee, but you've got it so try it out before spending more money on an alternative method to make something you still may not even like.

https://georgehowellcoffee.com/pages...e-french-press

I'm a black coffee purist, but dont be afraid to add some sugar or milk at first to get to the point you like coffee enough to keep drinking it... then cut back, if you chose.

Bonus tip, haven't really tried it in french press but have for espresso, a pinch of salt mixed with the grounds can kill off some bitterness.

If you want tealike you want African coffess (most famously Ethiopian yirgacheffe) that is NATURAL SUNDRIED as opposed to washed. These are far fruitier, brighter, and more tealike than standard coffess from the grocery store.

Lots of options but I have a soft spot for counter culture coffee. Oddly I don't see a natural sundried Ethiopian on their website right now but Apollo is the year round Ethiopian that is very good.

https://counterculturecoffee.com/products/apollo

In general be prepared to pay $20-30 a pound for good light roast coffee of this type. It should also be noted I don't normally make this type of coffee with a french press (unless doing cold brew). I prefer pour over for light roast fruity coffees.