Coffee Post

Instant coffee gave me stomach cramps and years ago I stopped drinking it.  This was long before "proper" coffee became readily available in restaurants and cafes.

Recently I heard Conor Pope being interviewed on Newstalk about instant coffees.  He commented at the end that buying your own freshly ground coffee worked out at about €1 a cup.

Being an avid reader of anything to do with food or beverages, I read somewhere that ground coffee can have all sorts of other materials in it to bulk it out - which really put me off buying it.  So I started trying to find coffee beans to grind myself.  There is not much of a selection around here, but I started off with a Robert Roberts brand at €4.99 a pack.

We'll ignore the fact Tesco think coffee is Irish

I only drink coffee once a day so I have worked out that I get 9 pots for this price.  That works out at 55 cent a cup (a cup being a decent mug or two small coffee cups).

This is using an old fashioned Italian style coffee pot, which I had to buy a support in order to sit it on my hob.  It tipped over once too many times spilling dark brown liquid down the backs of my new white units.

I have gone through every type of coffee pot known to man.  Here is a selection of what I have left.

I have tried coffee from the Nespressos and the like using capsules and do not rate them at all.  The coffee is way too weak for my tastes, even the strong pods.  The only machine I would rate is the Gaggia, my brother has and it "don't" come cheap, so it would want to be! 

Like tea, coffee tastes better drunk from the correct cup.  I enjoy an espresso occasionally after a good meal particularly when I'm in Italy or France.  When I'm in Ireland I prefer a "decent" cup.

I love the Le Creuset orange espresso cups but the Stephen Pearce and Nicholas Mosse are my favourite everyday cups for a decent cup.

My grinder is years old, bought in England when we lived there and is still buzzing away.  I only use it to grind coffee now as if you put spices in it, it taints the coffee.

I can't wait to try this Java Republic Monkey espresso.....

I really wish Bewleys were still in existance.  The smell of their freshly ground coffees and their selection of coffee beans are vivid childhood memories. When I was small and I went into "town" with my mother it was the smell of the area around Trinity College. My mother bought her coffee and cherry buns or a coffee log for us.  Remember the big bicycle in the window on Westmorland Street?

Tags: Coffee Instant coffee Ground coffee