Can we just talk today about the crazy price of coffee? Dialectic Alert

Okay, I'm grumpy. I ran out of coffee yesterday and had to go to the store and pick some up this am. I went to Tops and coffee prices are out of this world. The big cans are over $12. That is over 2x the price they were just last year.

We found some Maxwell House Master Blend small plastic container for about $3.99 with store sale. I'm a person who usually enjoys Columbian coffee but have not been able to afford it. Master Blend is somewhat equivalent to airport vending machine coffee.

So there is my rant.

Then I read the paper and read about the Somali refugees and feel very churlish for pitching my fit about coffee prices.

I think I will have to redevelop my appreciation for store brand tea and still count my lucky stars I get free coffee at work.

OOPS, Tea prices are going thru the roof too!

I'm in the UK; retail cost of a half-pound bag of Sumatra coffee beans, from Starbucks, is £3.95; ordered from a roaster online, it's £50 for five kilos (11 pounds), so a comparative savings of £30 or so. That much coffee lasts about three months, and it's fresh-roasted so it keeps well in the vacuum-sealed bags. I'd recommend looking online for someplace that sells beans direct in your area.

you can do it in small batches with one of those air popcorn poppers, or go to www.sweetmarias.com

coffee at Wal-Mart the other day for $3.68. It's the store brand, but it tastes fine to me. They had the big cans of Folger's and Maxwell House on sale for $9.98 and $9.99 respectively. I've found that chicory coffee is often cheaper than regular coffee, if you like it. Sometimes I have a real craving for it. But coffee is way too expensive, I agree. I wish I could find a suitable substitute for it.

The two of us drink only 3 cups combined per day but I look for sales and bargains all the time. I would love the really good stuff but I settle for the near best and the best price.

I usually buy the cheaper coffee, too. I don't necessarily buy the cheapest coffee; there are some brands that I just can't stand. I've never liked Maxwell House, for instance. I'd rather drink Best Choice or Always Save. The problem I have with the cheaper brands is not so much the taste as the strength. If I use Always Save coffee, I have to use twice as much coffee as the regular brands in order to get it to the strength I need. I never waste coffee, though. If I have some left over from a pot, I pour it in a container and put it in the fridge. To me, it tastes just as good after I put it in the microwave.

Hope you have your Nomex undies on...
Yeah, I shop there too, what can I say? not that many places to shop around here.

but I spend about half of my grocery budget there. I also buy things like over-the-counter drugs and toiletries there. I don't buy meat or fish there (other than a little sandwich meat) and I don't buy much produce there, either. I buy what I can at the little grocery store nearest to me and the dollar store, but due to a tight budget I can't help but buy some things there. If someone doesn't like it, they can send me some money and I'll be glad to shop elsewhere.

I have found that they do NOT have "always the lowest price always", and there's some things you just can't get there.

For the rest of my groceries I shop at stores that are Union-organized.

And if somebody doesn't like it, I'm taking donations for the 150-mile round trip to my nearest COSTCO.

We made it through 2010 hoarding when the price was reasonable.

It hasn't been priced to be able to do that in many months.

:eyes:

:eyes:

I can get decent organic coffee at my local Sunflower Market for $9/lb and good coffee for $15-35/lb online

...largely because of weather problems.

I realize not all of you are near-bachelors living in poverty and squalor, as I am. But the French press has a lot of advantages over other coffee makers:

* If you're shopping somewhere other than Wal-Mart or a high-end kitchen goods retailer, French presses are usually under ten bucks.

* Per-teaspoon strength of the coffee is increased because the coffee actually floats in 3-dimensional suspension, allowing the water to dissolve more of the goods you want.

* A second batch of similar strength can be made by adding a fraction of additional coffee, and running the previous grounds through a second time.

* The device is designed to sterilize itself during use, so slackers in a hurry like me can simply rinse and re-use.

* Shitty coffee tends to taste much better through a French press. Good coffee through a press is also better.

* If you have gas heat and can boil water quickly, the time of preparation is under five minutes, with no additional energy expenditure beyond boiling the water.

* You can also make a pretty decent batch of ramen noodles in them.

* They are excellent demonstration aids when you are teaching your niece about the principles of the internal combustion engine.

I typically make close to 1.5 liters of coffee in a morning using five teaspoons of the cheapest ground crap for the first batch, and two additional teaspoons tossed into the second. No, it's not excellent. It might not even be good. But it does the job, so well that I'll never go back even if my fortunes do change.

Due to the higher than atmospheric pressure involved, the mixture of water and steam reaches temperatures well above 100 °C, causing a more efficient extraction of caffeine and flavours from the grounds, and resulting in a much stronger brew than that obtained by drip brewing, but captures more of the coffee's flavour and essential oils,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot#Moka_coffee_vs._drip_coffee


A french Press enhances the coffee too, so either the moka or french works and saves money with no filters too.

real travel kit.

Otherwise, here at Medusa's, sorry, my Muse's home it has to be Nespresso,

darling.

So "clean" and aseptic.

I saw them in northern Italy back in spring of 08...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83_ceB0TsiY

3 big cups.

I'm not in that price league

AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker

Lots of Youtube vids of this, with variations on how to make a cup.
I like that it is fast, and it has VERY high reviews over at Amazon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9GCPrv0qdw&feature=related

Fast, easy, minimal cleanup, all sound good to me.

in the morning we continue to use our Cuisenart drip machine we got ten years ago for free just for trying out monthly coffee club.

In the Moka pot we like to use Lavazza espresso beans, it's yummy!

from old age :(

It is surprising how this country was sold on drip coffee machines, as if making coffee were some kind of high tech process.

I'd bet for most who haven't tried one... If they did, they'd wonder why they used anything else.

I have managed to get quite a few friends and family to make the switch.

one family introduced us to the french press. We still use it from time to time, although it just doesn't make enough for the entire family of 6, lol. Absolutely yummy! It's also great to have when the electricity is out.

http://www.boldbeancoffee.com/learn/brewing-guide/aeropress/

They're only about $25.

I loved their flying discs, but they never lasted around my drinking friends.

($5)and a big Folgers ($10). I then received $5 CVS bucks back and promptly used that to buy another Folgers.

It's DOUBLED plus in the last year. I'd stock up when it would go on sale, I don't remember the last time I saw it on sale (under $10-$11). We drink a lot of coffee too. Hubby drinks it in the morning...I drink it in the afternoon--a couple of cups--and when the weather is cool/cold we have it in the evening. It's not like I buy the real expensive kind either...I buy Foldgers and mix (equal) parts with a better coffee to help the taste.

a year ago he was having very bad vertigo problems, he was diagnosed with Menere's disease, now he can have no caffeine. I couldn't see the sense in making coffee for one and didn't like "teasing" him with the aroma, so I just stopped drinking it as well. I hope they don't start doing the same with tea.

suggestion here is not a bargain one, and it is not next door...Coffee not to be believed, Rochester NY, the Coffee Connection, http://ourcoffeeconnection.org/The_Coffee.html
If nothing else, a great place to stop in for a cup if you get to Rochester. Community oriented, woman centered, fair traded cups of dank glory.

It is about 90 miles away from my area. For really good coffee I go to a place in Eastwood called Cafe Kubal--they roast their own beans and put together some great blends but it is pricey. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is annexed to Sacred Melody a Christian bookstore--could use better ambience as there are more interesting and fascinating 2nd hand bookstores about 7 blocks down the street. If I prefer to stay on my side of town, I go to Freedom of Espresso or another great coffee shop in the Liverpool village and take a stroll along the lake. That is not even a weekly treat though.

still a good deal. Last year it was 3 lbs. for $9.99. Last month it was $13.99. From $3.33 a lb. to $4.66 a lb. still cheaper than at a traditional grocery store.

And "Rainforest Blend" is completely gone, it was by far the tastiest coffee they used to sell.

can that I buy, Kirklands. Mom gets the green can, decaf.

I'm a coffee snob. Though in a pinch I'll drink anything except coffee brewed at Starbucks, gas station coffee is better.

We have a French press, but he seems to prefer using the old skool Mr. Coffee drip machine. We get coffee for him at Costco.

I'm hopelessly biased, but I wish EVERYONE had a Costco.

:woohoo:

and Sams, of course. There is a Maine's Cash and Carry which doesn't require a membership too.

but, oh so delicious.

water, or pour boiling water over and then drink that.

Organic Free Trade coffee is $9.49 @ pd now. I think it was somewhere around $6. a pd when I started drinking it several years ago.

I have cut back from however much I wanted to 2 cups a day now.

http://www.wslc.org/coffee.htm

:)

:hi:

areas have reduced the crop while demand has gone up. And, of course, speculators in the commodities markets have driven prices up even higher.

Blame global warming and increased Chinese demand for this, if you must, but for whatever reasons the price of raw beans has doubled, and the best arabica beans are through the roof. Shitty Vietnamese and Haitian robusto coffee is still out there in quantity and nobody wants it but the price is still going up.

Waldbaum's (A&P in other places) has 8 O'Clock coffee on a BOGO again, so I'm stocking up on the Columbian 32oz bags of whole beans at 2 for $16. That's 4 bucks a pound and you can't do better than that any more. I have two bags left from the last sale and was getting a little worried.

I shouldn't complain, even at $18 it's still dirt cheap relative to the grocery store.

I have cut down on the amount of beans I use per pot by a little.

http://www.wslc.org/coffee.htm

It might be a little more expensive but it will taste better and be more satisfying knowing where it comes from and who is making it :)

is now 2 lb1 oz and 15 fucking dollars a bag at Meijers, and never ever goes on sale.I love my eight 'o clock coffee but I am being forced to buy a cheaper brand when I run out because I can not afford it any more . I buy store brand everything else dammit--but my COFFEE???? I used to get the three lb bag for ten dollars on sale and stock up . It keeps forever in the freezer.

It goes on sale about four times a year. Stocked up this week with ten ground bags, 12oz each, for 3.50 per bag.
Affordable.
Can't remember the last time I didn't buy it on sale.

We also love 8 o'clock, it's what I grew up with as a kid.

Coffee originated in East Africa. Kenya AA trounces any Columbian.

this didn't just happen overnight, prices have been going up awhile and are predicted to continue to rise. We usually keep an eye out for Amazon sales.

Great variety, reasonable prices. You can buy whole bean and grind it there, or buy pre-ground. I'm hooked on the New Orleans Chicory Roast. $5.99 for a small can that lasts me about a week.

any non-shade coffee means cutting down crucial habitat, spraying with pesticides, etc.......

good coffee for bargain prices. My mom buys it there all the time and I recently got some Starbucks there myself. It was still fresh and tasted fine and was less than half the price than the grocery store.